The Outlaw's Kiss (an Old West Romance) (Wild West Brides) (3 page)

“What happened then? The battle, I mean?”

Eli shook his head and blinked a few times. “The
battle’s not important, and honestly I’d rather forget. Point is, so far as I
know, you’ve not had any crying fits, nor any dramatic collapses, so you’re
stronger than I was back then.” He squeezed my hand back. “Everyone gets
scared. It’s just how you deal with the fear that matters most.”

We sat in silence for another long moment, Eli
staring at the sky. I studied his remarkable face. Who
was
he? And how
had I, in all my strange luck, happened upon a man such as this? The other two
wagons were driven by grizzled old men with beards halfway down their bellies.

From nowhere, a shrill cry pierced the night,
shaking me to the core and freezing me in place.

High-pitched and warbling, I knew what it was
though I never thought I’d hear such a thing. Eli told us about the war-cries
the Sioux made before
‘taking’
a caravan, as he put it.

Eli was to his feet and running to his horse
faster than anyone I’ve ever seen.

“Circle up!” Eli’s voice broke the still beauty
like a gunshot. He circled the camp shouting to the other drivers. “Round ‘em
up! James, Green, get the damn wagons together!”

He’d been out scouting, making sure tomorrow’s
trip was to be a safe one. My heart thumped in my chest right along the thump
of his horse’s hooves. “Eli,” I called as he swept past me and I felt the wind
from his mount whip past me. “What’s the matter?”

The wagons, all three of them, moved into a rough
circle under a great deal of straining and grunting from the two drivers, and
the two men. Even the girls helped the little they could.

Eli stopped behind me. “Keep yourself safe, Clara,
these Indians don’t mean a joke with this. Get under the wagons and
stay
there
. Do you hear?”

“Y – yes Eli, but I thought the raids were over?”

“I thought they were. Stay safe, I ain’t losing
you. Do exactly as I said. I’ll take care of this. Hyah!” He spun his horse,
and spurred the beautiful mare, shooting off into the night. I took a moment to
catch my breath and then did exactly as he said.

Our campfire still raged, but the clouds of dust
cast a hazy, thick blanket all around, making it very difficult to make out
much more than shapes moving through the darkness.

One, two...four...six...seven of them? Why are
they here? Do they think we have something worth stealing?

Looking back behind where I was huddled, the three
Grund girls, and their mother, were weeping. Father and Mr. Grund clutched
rifles – though if it came to shooting, I’m not sure my father would be able to
strike the side of a mountain – alongside Green and James, the coach drivers.
Eli, still, was nowhere in sight.

I began to count. Every eighteen seconds, the most
ornately painted of the Sioux went through my field of vision. That meant he
wasn’t getting any closer.

Then, just as suddenly as the activity swept
through our camp, all of the horses trotted to a halt and the shirtless Sioux
with this beautifully painted face hopped off his mottled, bare-backed mare. He
said three words I didn’t understand, and as he moved across the dirt to where
I lay, his horse didn’t so much as flinch.

He crouched in front of me. The fire behind him
bathed his skin in an orange glow that made him look somehow larger and more
imposing than he had when he was atop his horse. The warrior’s hand shot out,
his fingers curled around my wrist and he pulled me out into the night.

I hardened my face. With all the other things he
told me, Eli maintained that above all else, the Sioux value composure and dignity.
Despite my gut-roiling terror, his warning screaming, crying, thrashing and
making a big disturbance made you seem weak and pitiful stuck in my mind. My
lips and my hands trembled, but I clenched my fist and slid my lip between my
teeth, holding myself as still as I could manage.

Eli
. Wherever he’d gone, he said he’d be
back. He said he was going to take care of everything, that I’d be safe.
Everything
will be fine. Keep your back stiff.

With a hand under my chin, he tilted my head
upwards and stared into my eyes. Even with his paint, his eyes spoke more than
words ever could. He searched my face, his gaze strangely calming, considering
the present state of affairs. I heard Eli’s horse getting closer, but nowhere
near fast enough.

“
Wiyuskinyan wanchinyanke.
” His voice was
barely more than a whisper, but I felt urgency in his words. “
Emiciktunza
yo.
”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand...I’m sorry,
but I can’t understand you. Do you speak any English?” As I spoke to him, I
couldn’t help but be fascinated by his gentle nature. This man had just yanked
me out from under a wagon, and although I was supposed to be deathly afraid, I
simply wasn’t, though I can’t say why.

He turned my head to one side, then the other. “I
don’t understand,” I repeated softly. “Why are you doing this?”

Half a smile appeared on the man’s face for an
instant. “
Tokhi waniphica lo.
” He lowered his hands from my face and stared
at me for a moment longer, then turned away, squinting toward Eli.

“
Ayustan yo! Ayustan yo!
” Eli’s voice burst
over all the other noise. “
Ayusta –
Itan?”

My captor turned his back to me and extended a
hand. “
Thehan wanchinyanke sni.
”

As unbelievable as it was, Eli accepted the man’s
offered shake, and hugged him around the shoulder with one arm. They chatted briefly
before they both looked in my direction. Eli’s face was dark with concern. “I
was looking for you,” Eli said. “You promised this was over.”

I couldn’t help but blush when the man called Itan
completely ignored Eli, pointed at me, smiled and nodded. Averting my eyes, I
watched the toes of my boots waggle back and forth for a moment before
returning my gaze to the two men who continued to watch me for a second before
returning their attention to one another.

Itan stood with his hand on Eli’s shoulder. Both
of them seemed very involved in whatever it was they were discussing, but their
conversation was in the same tongue with which Itan had spoken to me, so any
understanding was completely lost. Even so, I just couldn’t look away. The two
of them smiled, though Eli seemed much sterner than his apparent friend. A
short exchange later, the Sioux hopped up on his horse, shouted something to
the other riders, and vanished back into the night.

“I’m sorry,” Eli said, taking his hat off as he
approached. “I can’t believe that happened. Itan, he – well, he had some kind
words about you.”

I shook my head. “Itan is his name?”

“Yes, Miss James, he didn’t mean any harm.”

“I simply don’t know what to say – and please,
Eli, we’ve moved past the formality. You know to call me Clara.” I stepped back
and forth, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, not quite sure what
to do or to say.

“You all right, little girl?” My father’s voice
came from behind me. “He didn’t hurt you, did he? I swear I’ll find that
bastard and kill him if he –”

“No,” I interrupted him. “No, I’m fine. He didn’t
lay a hand on me. In fact, I didn’t feel afraid of him for some reason. I think
it was because I knew Eli was coming.”

The cowboy pushed his hat back on his head and
took a deep breath. “Is everyone else okay?” He called to the rest of the
travelers who emerged from their hiding places one by one. No one was hurt.
Though, everyone was certainly rattled in their nerves, to say the least.

“I thought we were dead,” the littlest Grund girl
said, with tears in her eyes. “I thought for sure that Indian was gonna kill us
and scalp us.”

Eli put his arm around her and crouched. “You
needn’t be afraid of that, dear May. “That was just a, uh, misunderstanding. He
just wanted to see what kind of wagons we had.”

That was either a brilliant lie, or Eli was much
better with little girls than I had imagined him. Either way, May calmed down
almost immediately, though her father was a bit hotter. “Mr. Masterson,” he
said, “you lead us to believe the Sioux were nowhere near here. They’s away to
the west, you said before we left. But then, this happened and, I’m not sure we
should keep going.”

Eli shook his head. “No, no, what I said to your
daughter wasn’t a lie. That is exactly what they were doing. And I promise that
wasn’t a raiding party. If it was, well, I think things would be a mighty piece
more chaotic right now. The bulk of the Sioux
are
ranging out west. It’s
hard to explain, I suppose.”

“Well how about you try?” My father’s voice had
just the slightest shake to it – though whether it was anger or anxiousness, I
couldn’t tell. “My daughter was just dragged out and made to stand tall before
one of them. You can’t just say it was a mistake and then expect me to go along
with it.”

Eli raised his hands defensively. “I know,” he
said. “I’m sorry. I should explain.” He shot me a glance that said ‘
there’s
more to this than I’m letting on
’ before he took a seat on a fireside stump
and indicated the others should sit too. “He’s a Lakota scout.” Eli took a deep
breath. “As I’ve told some of you, I worked for the office of Indian Affairs as
a ranger. My job was to go ahead of pioneer wagon trains and arrange safe
passage through territories claimed by the different tribes. Work out deals,
you see, make sure everything went smoothly.”

He cleared his throat pulled out his canteen for a
drink. “There were very few problems. Most of the tribes don’t care one way or
another about people passing through, just so long as they are sure that’s
what’s happening –
passing through
– rather than staying. Itan there,
that’s his name, the fellow who had a short discussion with Miss James, does
for the Sioux, what I did for the American government.”

Eli fell silent and gave me another of his looks,
which no one else caught. “They just have a more, er, direct way about them, as
you saw.”

That seemed to satisfy most everyone. Father was
still a bit shaken, but what Eli said made a good deal of sense. Slowly,
everyone went to their tents, or their bedrolls as tensions cooled.

“What was that look you kept giving me?” I asked
Eli when we were alone except for the eldest of the Grund girls, who was
watching the stars a distance apart from where we sat.

A silent moment stretched into a silent minute,
then more. He turned his head to me, finally, and opened his mouth before
clapping it shut. He looked a bit like a fish and I couldn’t help but giggle
behind my hand. “What is it? You shouldn’t be coy,” I said. “It isn’t as though
you’re courting me.”

My brashness surprised even me. Luckily it was
quite dark, so the red flush creeping out of my high collar remained hidden.

“It’s just that,” Eli pursed his lips. “I’m not
sure how to explain this is all.”

I turned to face him. “Well for one, I know you
two were talking about me, or at least in my direction. I didn’t understand any
of it, but from the way you carried on, you certainly did.”

He nodded. “It’s a long story. Itan and I are
blood brothers. We –”

“You
what
?”

“We scouted together, after the War. He saved my
life a time or two and I saved his. Driven close by circumstance. One
particularly terrible winter about four...no, six years ago, I had to weather a
blizzard in a Lakota camp. The elder wouldn’t allow it, so Itan vouched for my
character.
That’s
how I know he didn’t mean any harm. And he was quite
impressed with you.”

“You mean to tell me that business about him being
a – wait, pardon? Did you say I impressed him?”

Eli wore a mischievous grin. “When we stepped
away, he said he was amazed at your composure. He expected you to begin weeping
and begging, but you stayed stoic and calm. He said you’d make a fine Sioux
with your courage.”

I cocked an eyebrow. I hadn’t expected to be
complimented, and I’m not much good at taking them anyway, so I covered my
astonishment by clearing my throat.

“Suppose it’s about time to shut my eyes a while.”
Eli stood and offered his hand, which I took. “You should too. Long road
still.”

I nodded and watched Eli wander back to the
circled wagons, where he reclined against a wheel, crossed his hands behind his
head and tipped his hat down over his eyes.

A bureau scout, blood brothers with a Sioux, and
somehow polite to boot, this Eli Masterson was certainly a rare specimen, I
thought, as he stretched his arms over his head.

September 1, 1878

Deadwood Camp, Dakota Territory

––––––––

“H
ere we are, folks,” Eli said. “Last town we’ll
come across until Oregon. Beautiful Deadwood.”

A horse, which seemed almost as mange-ridden as
the man riding upon it, sauntered out into the middle of the mud street, and
did his business. My father and Eli laughed, though I was mortified at their
base humor. Still, it was nice to be somewhere that there
were
other
horses to make such a mess.

The days between our run-in with the Sioux and our
arrival in Deadwood passed without much event. One event of note though, was
May, got bit by some kind of insect and the poor girl’s hand swelled up like a
melon. Eli treated her with white goo from some thick-stalked weed, and she was
quickly right as rain.

He never ceased to amaze. Though by the time our
caravan squished into Deadwood on a road of muck thicker than any I’d ever
seen, I was aware that
I
had become significantly more impressed with
Eli than any of the other travelers. It didn’t hurt that he was forever
checking on me, making sure of my comfort and that I had enough to eat, or
drink, or enough privacy for this-or-that.