Yellowstone Heart Song (Yellowstone Romance Series Book 1) (17 page)

****

Daniel followed the Frenchmen’s tracks for part of the next day until he was satisfied that they were heading in the direction they had said. Disgusted with his own behavior, he had stayed away from his cabin the day before until he was sure Aimee had gone to bed. He had no words to tell her he was sorry for what he had done. 

He must have scared the hell out of her this time.  Heck, he had scared the hell out of himself. Truthfully, he didn’t regret that he had kissed her, just the way in which he went about it. And that kiss only left him starving for more. The thought that he could lose control so easily around her renewed his conviction that he had to get her out of these mountains. He would kill any man who dared try to hurt her, and she was not safe from men like those French trappers. And apparently she wasn’t safe from him, either.

He returned to the cabin in a foul mood late in the day. Aimee sat on a log in the yard in front of the cabin, writing in her journal. It was something she did almost daily. She looked up and gave him a hesitant smile as he approached. As always, seeing her smile at him set his heart on fire.

“Everything all right?” Aimee asked tentatively.

“Fine,” he said without looking at her. He strode over to the woodpile, grabbed his ax, and gathered large chunks of wood onto the chopping block. He was about to take a swing, when Aimee walked up next to him.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Daniel lowered his hatchet, and braced his heart. “You can’t stay here any longer,” he said roughly. “It’s not safe for you here.”

“What happened now?” Aimee asked in exasperation. “Is it because of those two trappers from yesterday?” She paused, and glared at him.  “Or the point you tried to make after they left? I got the message, so don’t worry. I’m a helpless woman at the mercy of every man in the wilderness.”

He clenched his jaw and cursed silently. His hand gripped the axe handle.

“If you want to send me away, fine.” Aimee threw her hands in the air. “But I don’t have anywhere to go. I wish you’d stop telling me what’s best for me. I can make my own decisions, damn it!”

“I will leave my father a message, and take you to St. Louis. I should have done this when I first found you.” He ignored her tirade. “We can prepare to leave in a couple of days.”

“I don’t want to go to St. Louis,” Aimee argued.

“You belong in the city,” Daniel growled angrily. “I’m growing weary of having to look out for your safety. You have kept me from my work. I have to prepare for winter, and with you here, I can’t get anything done.” He stared at her coldly. The shocked look on her face, the pain in her eyes, almost crumbled his resolve.

“Well in that case, don’t let me keep you from your work any longer,” Aimee yelled.

She wheeled around and stormed into the cabin, and slammed the door.  Daniel stared after her. It was best that she be angry with him. Tomorrow he would go hunting so they had meat for traveling. To hell with what she said. He had made up his mind. He was taking her back to the city, even if he had to tie her up and carry her all the way there.

*****

Françoise had noticed Daniel’s evasiveness and tension regarding his wife, and he wondered at the reason. The Crow warrior who had told him about Daniel’s woman had mentioned her beauty and unusual light hair coloring. Just the description the warrior gave him set his loins afire. His sexual need had gotten so great he gave the warrior two beaver pelts to find him a woman to relieve his need. But it hadn’t been enough.  He wanted to see this white woman for himself, and perhaps he could steal her away from Daniel. The more he thought about it, the more he came to the conclusion that Daniel was keeping her hidden for good reason.

A slow smile spread across his lips.
Oui
, that was it. Daniel certainly knew that he needed to hide his woman away from leering eyes.

“Pierre.” Françoise turned in the saddle to face his companion. “I think we should be more neighborly and introduce ourselves to Daniel’s new bride.”

“What are you saying?” the other man asked.

“If there is a white woman in these hills, I would wish to meet her.” He shot his companion a meaningful look. “When is the last time you had a white woman, my friend?”

“Two months ago in St. Louis,” Pierre frowned. “But if there is one available close by.” He grinned malevolently at his partner, and spit out some tobacco juice. 

“I grow tired of dark-haired, dark-skinned Indian girls. Even the whores in St. Louis were dark-haired.”

“Let us ride east from here and circle back. We can be back to Daniel’s cabin by nightfall. We will watch, and if he leaves in the morning, we can make our introductions.” He sniggered.

“What if he doesn’t leave her by herself?” Pierre asked.

“Then we may have to kill our young friend,” Françoise sneered. “But I would much rather have the opportunity to steal his woman away. I have always liked Daniel and his father. It would be a shame to have to kill him.”

“What are we going to do when we have her?” Pierre asked eagerly.

“We will ride hard for a day and put distance between us and the cabin. No doubt he will try and search for her, but we will cover our tracks.” Françoise ground his groin against his saddle in anticipation. “My friend, in a few days’ time, we won’t need to seek out the Absaroka women anymore.”

*****

Tears of frustration flowed unabashed down Aimee’s face as she sat on her bed.
Why did I have to fall in love with him?
Why did everything have to be so complicated?
She had no doubt in her mind that, had she met someone like Daniel in her own time, she would have let him know how interested she was. Here in this time, she couldn’t do it. It would be hard enough to leave when the time came.

Let go of your stupid fantasies
, she chided.
He’s proven over and over again that he doesn’t want you here.
If he removed her from this valley, how would Zach find her? She had to stay right here or else she wouldn’t be going home.

Daniel again didn’t come in for their customary evening supper together, and she didn’t bother looking for him. She went to bed still angry. The next morning, he was already gone when she woke, and the sun had barely come up yet. He had left her usual cup of coffee on the table.

Out of spite, she decided to go for a swim, even in the chill of early morning. She had followed Daniel’s advice and not gone in the river again when she was alone. The water levels had receded just as quickly as they had risen the last few weeks, and the waters once again flowed calmly. Out of sheer rebellion, she grabbed a blanket, and her soap and shampoo, and headed across the meadow. To hell with him.
I dumped one guy because he’s overbearing, I’m not about to let another one tell me what I can and can’t do.

She had just reached the banks of the river, when movement in the tree line to the east caught her attention. Two riders approached. They were white men, dressed in buckskins and fur hats. A jolt of adrenaline shot through her. She looked from the riders to the cabin, and tried to judge the distance. Would she make it? She dropped the blanket and the spare clothes she carried, and made a dash for the cabin. The men on horseback saw her move and urged their horses into a gallop. There was no way she was going to outrun them, but she was sure as hell going to try.

One of the riders pulled his horse to a stop in front of the cabin door, effectively blocking her way. In a split second’s decision she ran to the left to try and head into the trees behind the cabin. She heard the two men laugh and whistle behind her.

“Son of a bitch,” she muttered between gritted teeth. Her self-defense training back home hadn’t prepared her for being chased on horseback. She hadn’t even reached the trees when she sensed her pursuers right behind her. Heavy hooves clomped behind her and a horse’s hot breath blew against her neck. A hand grabbed for her arm. She stumbled and fell face forward to the ground. The man was on top of her in an instant.

“Now,
Cherie
, don’t run away from Françoise,” the man whispered close to her ear, his foul breath making bile rise in her throat. “We didn’t get a chance to meet the other day.” He hauled her to her feet. Aimee kicked and thrashed, and she screamed Daniel’s name.

“
Mon Dieu
, you are a wild one!” Françoise panted. He clamped his hand over her mouth. The other man jumped off his horse and helped Françoise wrestle Aimee into submission.

“Tie her hands and put something in her mouth,” Françoise ordered. Then he leered at her, exposing rotting teeth. “I see now why Daniel hid you away from us,
Cherie
. You are more beautiful than I could have imagined.” He stroked the side of her face with a dirty hand. Aimee jerked her head away.

In her mind, she called him every foul name she could think of. The other man tied a piece of leather over her mouth and around her face to keep her from screaming again.

“She is something to look at.” Pierre’s eyes raked boldly over Aimee’s body. He reached out a hand and groped at her breasts. “So young and ripe,” he said in French.  “Are you sure we can’t sample her here right now?” he asked his companion. “I am as hard as a rock just looking at her.”

“No. Help me get her on my horse. We must be away from here quickly. There will be plenty of time to enjoy her soon.” Françoise waved his hand impatiently. He swung into the saddle, and reached for her arm.

Aimee struggled again, and twisted and turned in Pierre’s grip as he hoisted her onto the front of Françoise’s saddle. Françoise’s hand dug painfully into her skin as he held her wrist. Adrenaline flooded her system. She managed to twist away from the horse, and kicked out at Pierre. He backhanded her across the face, then grabbed her around the waist and threw her up into the saddle.

Aimee’s heart hammered in her chest. This wasn’t happening to her. Françoise tugged her in front of him, and roughly pulled her up against his chest. Her eyes filled with tears of frustration.

Her four years of high school French came in mighty handy now. For the most part, she understood what they said. Daniel had been right again. She swore never to doubt him about anything ever again, if she got the chance. How could this be happening? She never imagined she would have to worry about the possibility of being gang-raped here in the wilds of Yellowstone!

The two men kicked their horses into a fast run, and headed north. The man, Françoise, held her tightly to him as they rode, smelling of tobacco, whiskey, and the foul, sour odor of someone in desperate need of a bath. She swallowed back the bile that rose to her throat. Her mind raced with possible ways of getting away from these men. She was helpless to do anything at the moment.

Where had Daniel gone off to? Irrationally, she directed her anger at him for leaving her this morning. How long would it be before he returned to the cabin and found her missing? He had told her he wouldn’t look for her if she went off on her own again.

No. Surely he would realize she hadn’t wandered off. There were too many tracks left behind. She inhaled slow and deep to calm her panicked nerves. Daniel would search for her, but would he find her in time before these men raped her?

Chapter 15

Daniel followed a familiar deer trail in search of game since dawn. He needed to be alone to clear his head. He would take Aimee back to civilization. It was for the best. He obviously couldn’t trust himself around her. In time, he was sure he could stop thinking about her, and his life would return to the way it had been before, the way he always liked it.  He and his father would trap beaver in the fall and spring, and sit around their warm fire in winter and tell stories late into the night. In summer, he would go hunting for bighorn sheep with Elk Runner. It all sounded lonely to him now.

He had just come across some fresh deer tracks, when these mingled with prints that gave him cause for alarm; hoof prints. He knelt down to examine them more closely. Two horses had come through here very recently.

Francoise and Pierre. Could they have circled back around and were in the vicinity? He followed the tracks for several miles. An uneasy feeling crept up his spine.  They were headed for his cabin.

Daniel broke into a run.  He abandoned the deer trail, and cut through the forest. He dodged low-hanging branches, leapt over downed logs, and ran in a straight line for his cabin. A wave of cold dread washed over him, and he cursed his carelessness. He shouldn’t have left Aimee alone. He should have known those bastards couldn’t be trusted.

“Aimee!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, long before his cabin came into view through the trees. From a distance, a pile of clothing and a blanket lay strewn along the banks of the river. He kicked open the cabin door. One glance told him nothing had been disturbed. The interior was neat and tidy as always since Aimee’s appearance. Her backpack sat at the foot of her bed where she always kept it. He ran back outside and called her name repeatedly.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he read the signs on the ground. Hoof prints were everywhere in the yard. He followed them to the tree line behind his cabin, where an obvious struggle had taken place. These men had been in a hurry, and they took Aimee with them. There was still a chance he could catch up to them, before . . .

“Dammit!”

 He didn’t even want to think about what they were doing to her, perhaps at this very moment, or what they might have done to her already. He knew exactly what he would do to them once he found them.

A deadly calm flowed through him. He rushed inside the cabin, removed his powder horn and bullet pouch from across his shoulder, and tossed his long rifle on his bed. He reached for his most prized possession hanging on the wall above his bunk - his hunting bow made from the horns of the bighorn sheep. He only carried this weapon to hunt large game such as bighorn sheep and buffalo, for it was more powerful than the rifle, and deadly accurate. He slung a quiver full of obsidian-tipped arrows over his shoulder, readjusted the tomahawk at his belt, unsheathed his knife, and checked it for sharpness. Leaving the cabin, he took off at a run, and followed the horse tracks into the forest.

****

Aimee’s face burned hot and pulsed from when Pierre had slapped her earlier. The jolting wild ride didn’t help matters. The Frenchmen kept up the grueling pace for what seemed like an eternity, but they slowed down as they headed up a mountain pass. She tried hard to concentrate on her surroundings. They traveled pretty much the same way she had come over a month ago. They skirted around a small geyser and hot spring area at one point, and Aimee vaguely recognized the area. If they stayed on their present course, eventually they would reach the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Another sight she longed to see, but definitely under different circumstances.

The two Frenchmen kept up a lively chatter after several hours, sometimes arguing as to when it would be safe to stop. They rode their horses up several shallow streams, presumably to try and cover their tracks, and make it harder for Daniel to find where they had gone. After a while, Françoise removed her mouth gag.

“No need for this anymore,
Cherie
,” he whispered in her ear. She shuddered involuntarily, and her skin crawled in disgust. “If you try to scream here, no one will hear you. Soon you will be screaming with passion.”

“Over my dead body,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

“Oh, what a shame that would be, for it is a beautiful body to behold,” Françoise cooed. His hand around her waist moved up and fondled one of her breasts. “
Non
, I am sure we will be enjoying you for a long time, wild one. Where did Daniel find such an exquisite creature?”

Aimee didn’t reply. She squeezed her eyes shut. She willed her mind to become numb, and tune out all feeling as the man continued to grope at her.

“When is it my turn?” Pierre asked. “She can ride with me as well. I want to have a feel, too.”

“You will get your turn soon enough,” Françoise said gruffly. “For now she stays with me. This was my idea, so I get her first.”

Pierre made a disgusting noise, but didn’t argue the point. It was apparent that Françoise was the leader here.

At some point they would have to stop, and perhaps she could try and make a run for it. If she could escape into the dense forest where the horses couldn’t follow, she might have a chance.

“Where are you taking me?” Aimee asked when they veered in a more northerly direction.

“Ah,
Cherie
, we are headed for the
Roche Jaune
, not that it should matter to you where we go,” Françoise answered.

So she had been correct. They may not be going to the Grand Canyon, but they were headed for the
Roche Jaune
, the French name for Yellowstone River, nonetheless. She had covered many hiking trails in that area, and she hoped to see some familiar landmarks that might help her in her escape.

Aimee was not used to sitting astride a horse, and her inner thigh muscles screamed in pain. Several times she wanted to ask if they could stop for a while, but then thought better of it. At least while they were on the move, she was safe from what they intended to do to her when they did stop. It was only a matter of time. The horses couldn’t keep moving forever, and it was well into late afternoon. At this point, Daniel wouldn’t find her in time. They had covered a lot of ground fairly fast, and Daniel was on foot.

Please, let me be strong to endure this.

She had dealt with her share of rape victims in the ER, and it was always a horrific experience. What would this do to her? There had to be a way out of this situation.

Thoughts of Daniel flooded her mind.
I love you, Daniel
. An overwhelming feeling of regret came over her. Why hadn’t she told him how she felt about him, and seen where that might have led. Her mind drifted to the day he tossed her in the river when he almost kissed her, and the gentle way he held her the night of the storm under the canopy of pine trees. Would he look at her with desire in his eyes after these men were through with her? Would she even ever want to be with a man again after such an experience?

The horse underneath her stopped, jolting her out of her thoughts. The Frenchmen had stopped in a clearing surrounded on all sides by forest. A small creek gurgled as it meandered snakelike through the tall grass. Perfect! She had plenty of opportunities to make a run for it here.

Francoise and Pierre both dismounted their horses, and Francoise dragged her out of the saddle. Her feet touched the ground, and she couldn’t hold back a cry of pain. Hot needles shot through her leg muscles, and she buckled to her knees.

“
Cherie
, you need to get up and walk. The cramps will go away.” Francoise hoisted her back up. Aimee suppressed another cry as he hauled her off to the creek.

“Drink.”

She fell to her knees and put her mouth to the water. At first, she wanted to tell the Frenchman to go to hell, but Daniel had told her to never refuse an offer of food or water.

How was she going to make a run for it if she could barely walk? Struggling to stand on her feet, she suppressed another cry of pain. With her hands tied, she couldn’t even rub her sore muscles.

“We will make camp here,” Francoise announced. Pierre was already busy unsaddling the horses, which vigorously plucked at the tall grasses.

“We will rest for a while,” he spoke to his companion in French. “The woman needs some time to relax her legs. She is obviously not used to riding. Even I am not that barbaric to take her when she is in such discomfort. She will not be able to spread her legs for us.”

Pierre made a noise of objection. “What does it matter if her legs are cramped? I have an ache, too, between my legs, and it needs to be satisfied soon.”

“It will be, my friend. But give her a little time to rest.”

Aimee stood by silently, taking in all they said. She didn’t understand everything word for word, but she got the general idea that they would wait a little while before having their way with her.

“Do you think we are being followed?” Pierre asked after he returned with a pile of wood.

“We rode hard and fast. Even if he followed us, he is on foot, and I believe we covered our tracks well. He will not be able to track us in the dark. We will be long gone from here in the morning if he finds this place,” Francoise said. He turned to Aimee. “Cherie, we will have some supper first, and then the entertainment, no?”

“Go to hell,” Aimee spat.

“Oh, but quite the contrary.” Françoise smiled. “It will be pure heaven, I am sure.”

After the men built their campfire, Pierre went off in search of meat. Aimee heard several shots. These two were very confident, she thought when she heard the noise. Maybe they were too confident, which could work to her advantage. The sound of gunshot could travel quite far, and maybe if she got lucky, someone would hear.

An hour later, as the sun started to set, a couple of birds roasted over the fire. Aimee sat and leaned against a tree, away from the trappers. They hadn’t untied her. The soreness in her legs was only a dull ache now, but whenever she shifted, the muscles tightened painfully. Moving her legs at all was pure agony. Her head pounded. She wanted to close her eyes and drift off to sleep, but fear kept her awake. Francoise sat closest to her, his rifle next to him, and Pierre leered at her every now and then from across the fire.

Aimee scanned the ground nearby for something, anything she could possibly use as a weapon. One thing was for sure. She was not going to let them have their way with her without a fight. Come what may, she would try and hurt them as much as they planned to hurt her.

Her eyes darted to where Pierre roasted the meat over the fire. He looked up at her and smirked. “Very soon, ma petite.”

Aimee turned her head in disgust. Her mind raced while her eyes continued to scan the ground for something that might help her defend herself. There just had to be a way out of this situation. She refused to believe that this would be her fate.

****

“Pierre! Françoise! Release the woman before I kill you both!” A loud voice broke through the sounds of crickets, and echoed through the forest. Startled, Françoise and Pierre both grabbed their rifles and darted around, pointing their weapons into the forest.

Aimee’s head shot up and her heart pounded in elation. Daniel! He had found her! She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the shooting pain in her inner thighs. She scanned the trees in all directions, but couldn’t see anything. Where was he?

“Show yourself, Daniel,” Françoise called out. “We were trying to do you a favor by taking the woman off your hands. If you wish to reclaim her, come join our camp.”

 ”I’ll not say it again. Release the woman.” Daniel materialized out of the forest, and strode calmly into view. He looked more Indian than before. Aimee had never seen him with the bow he held almost carelessly in his hand. Pierre raised his rifle and took aim.

“No!” Aimee screamed.

With imperceptible speed, Daniel raised his bow and an arrow lodged itself in Pierre’s heart before he fired off his shot. The force of the impact sent him backwards a few paces before he collapsed face down into the fire.