Far From Home (28 page)

Georgiana fell to her knees, her body shaking. How suddenly death could come in this wilderness. They could have perished if it hadn’t been for Lake’s swift action.

Kitty’s head and that of Charlesworth’s appeared at the tent opening. ‘What’s happened? Oh, Miss Georgiana, are you all right?’ Kitty asked. Then she saw the body of the wolf as Lake dragged it to the edge of the clearing and threw it over the side, where it crashed down into the trees. She gave a muted cry. ‘Oh, God save us! Did it attack you?’

‘No! No! It’s all right, Kitty. We’re not hurt. Lake has killed it.’ Georgiana went back to Lake, who was staring down into the valley. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘I was so frightened.’

His eyes continued to stare into the distance. ‘It shouldn’t have happened,’ he said harshly. ‘I was unprepared.’ He turned to look at her. ‘I was distracted.’ His mouth pressed into a thin line. ‘This is not a place for women.’

But you said—!’

‘I was wrong.’ He was abrupt and turned away. ‘We must move on. Lead the horses to the stream,’ he commanded. ‘Eat and then we’ll be on our way.’

When they stopped for a rest at midday, she went over to speak to him. ‘That wolf—’ she began.

‘Timber wolf. Was out of place,’ he said gruffly. ‘Usually they travel in packs but don’t often attack people, except in winter when they are hungry and looking for food. He must have become separated from the others. He only attacked us because he was nervous and thought he was under threat. I wouldn’t normally have killed him.’

‘You killed the other one,’ she commented. ‘On our journey here.’

He nodded. ‘Sometimes I have to. He was rabid so he had to die. I’m a trapper. I trap beaver. Mink. Raccoon.’ His eyes glanced over her. ‘I sell the pelts so you ladies can cover your shoulders with fur. I kill for a living. Not for the fun of it.’

As they started out on the final part of the journey she felt jittery and unnerved at the result of the incident and his change of attitude towards her. Why had he kissed her? Was it simply because of an emotional moment? She wouldn’t have guessed that he was an emotional man, yet obviously he was if he could take pleasure in a sunrise. And why then did he become brusque after he had killed the wolf? Was it because he had been caught off guard?

The trail began to drop lower into the valley, leaving the steep mountainside behind. She was able to recognize familiar landmarks and isolated settlements, and her tension eased as she realized they were almost at the Indian settlement of No-Name.

‘How much longer?’ Charlesworth bellowed from the position he had taken at the rear. ‘Surely we must be almost there?’

Lake turned in his saddle. ‘An hour,’ he called. ‘If we keep up this pace. Don’t lag behind.’ Georgiana saw him glance at Kitty and his face crinkle as if he had winked or smiled at her. ‘Watch out for wolves,’ he hollered. ‘They may be following us.’

Charlesworth urged his horse on and came closer to Georgiana. ‘I shan’t come out here again,’ he muttered. ‘And if you’ve any sense, Miss Gregory, you won’t either.’

‘Will you sell me your interest in the mine?’ Lake shouted back to Charlesworth and Georgiana looked up in some surprise and not a little irritation. ‘I’ll give you the value in pelt.’

‘Ah!’ Charlesworth considered. ‘Perhaps might. Yes, perhaps I might! We’ll talk when we get to the place that has no name.’

‘It has a name,’ Georgiana told him curtly. ‘It’s called No-Name! And I asked you first if you’d sell the share to me!’

‘I wouldn’t sell to you, Miss Gregory.’ He drew as near as he could without the horses clashing. ‘This is not women’s work. Besides, it’s played out,’ he said in an undertone. ‘But I want what I gave for it. And if this fellow wants it, I’ll trade for skins and my wife will get a fur wrap to keep her happy.’

Dekan and Horse rode out from the settlement to greet them and escort them in. Charlesworth cantered on ahead whilst Lake and Georgiana slowed their pace now they were at their destination.

‘Any trouble, brother?’ Dekan asked Lake, who hesitated for a moment, glancing at Georgiana before saying that there wasn’t.

‘Lake killed a wolf,’ Kitty piped up from behind Lake’s back. ‘It was about to attack. He saved Miss Gregory’s life.’

‘Then you are in his debt,’ Dekan said to Georgiana in such a solemn tone that she couldn’t be certain if he was serious or not.

‘I’m sure that I am,’ she replied, tight-lipped. ‘But I doubt he would allow me to repay him.’

As they dismounted and the horses were taken away to be fed and watered, Kitty went into the cabin with Little Bear, and Charlesworth went to the men’s cabin, where he declared he would lie down and rest. Georgiana approached Lake. ‘I was going to buy Charlesworth’s interest in the mine,’ she said crisply. ‘Now he’s going to sell to you! Even though he told me it’s played out,’ she added.

He gave a half-grin. ‘What would he know about it? Anyway, you can buy it from me if you really want it.’

‘What’s the point in that?’ She could feel her irritation rising. ‘Why would you buy it in the first place? You wouldn’t work it, you’re a trapper!’

‘And you’re a woman,’ he said slowly. ‘So why would you?’ His eyes didn’t leave her face. ‘I heard you asking him to sell it—’ he continued.

‘You heard—?’ He must have been right outside the tent to hear any conversation!

He nodded. ‘Got kinda wet.’ Still his eyes remained on hers. ‘Don’t trust him,’ he said. ‘Not with Dreumel’s mine or sharing a woman’s tent.’

She was silenced for a moment. He must have stayed outside the tent until he heard Charlesworth’s snores and knew that she and Kitty were safe. ‘So why did you ask him to sell the share to you when you knew I wanted it?’ she persisted.

‘I knew he wouldn’t sell it to you. Not to a woman. And not to Dreumel, in case it’s worth something after all. But he’d trade for pelts because he thinks he’ll make money on them.’ He gave another lopsided grin. ‘And he knows nothing about fur either.’

‘You haven’t answered my question,’ she said. ‘Why do you want it?’

‘I don’t,’ he said softly. ‘But Dreumel does.’

She was silenced once more by him. What a strange man he was. He had already repaid Wilhelm Dreumel for a favour, and now he was bestowing something more. She stared back at him for a moment, then turned away to go into the cabin. He caught hold of her arm. ‘I said you can have it if you want it.’

‘Instead of Dreumel?’ she asked. ‘Maybe I would sell it to the highest bidder!’

He pursed his lips and shrugged. ‘Maybe you would but whoever bought it would never find their way up there.’ His hand was still on her arm. He stroked her skin with his thumb. ‘Perhaps it’s best if I keep it,’ he said softly. ‘Dreumel will be up there until the fall and I’ll see him when I get back.’

‘Get back? From where?’ She felt mesmerized by the pressure of his hand on her flesh.

He pointed north. ‘Lake Huron. For beaver. I’m late, I should have been there already.’

‘Late? For what?’

‘For trading. The trappers meet up at an old fort trading centre. They sell their furs, buy knives, food, coffee, whisky. Some of them drink away the whole season’s skins.’

The hard Adam’s apple in his throat moved as he swallowed. ‘Some of them will even trade their squaws for whisky.’

‘There are Indians there too?’

He shook his head. ‘Some trappers have Indian women as their squaws.’

‘Do you?’ she whispered.

He clasped both her hands, cradling them between his. ‘No.’ His dark eyes locked into hers in such a penetrating gaze that she couldn’t look away. ‘I travel alone. Just my horses and pack mules.’

Fear suddenly struck her. ‘Are you not afraid of being attacked?’

He shrugged. ‘If it happens, it happens. I have my gun and my knife.’ His eyes flickered momentarily and a small grin played around his mouth. ‘If I am not distracted, I shall be safe.’

‘I hope so,’ she breathed. ‘I do hope so.’

‘Miss Georgiana!’ Kitty called from the cabin. ‘There’s supper here for us.’

‘Yes. I’m coming.’ Her voice cracked hoarsely as she called back. Her mind seemed to be blank and she couldn’t think or concentrate. Reality was non-existent. Only her physical senses were working, the stuff of flesh and blood, pounding so vigorously that she had no control over them. The cause, she knew, was Lake standing so close to her, and the effect so consuming that no matter what the future held, she felt she would never be the same again.

‘I leave before dawn,’ he said quietly. ‘I may not see you again.’

She licked her lips. ‘Perhaps not.’ She gazed up at him. ‘Unless you come to New York?’

He smiled and shook his head, dropping her hands. ‘No likelihood of that. The Iroquois no longer live there.’

It was not yet light when she rose from her bed the next morning and went outside. Lake was fixing his high pommel saddle to his mount. He had one other horse and two mules, all three of which were laden with fur packs hanging from either side of the saddle with a further pack on top. Dekan was with him but with a murmur to Lake as he saw her coming towards them, and a brief touch on his shoulder, he melted away into the darkness.

Lake turned to her as she approached. He held out his hand, which she took, drew her towards him and enfolded her in a swift embrace. ‘You don’t belong in a city,’ he murmured, and kissed her long and fervently.

‘I know,’ she answered, her breath taken away, and, putting her arms around his neck, returned his kiss with a passion that she had only ever dreamed of. ‘But I no longer know where I belong.’

‘Only with me,’ he said, gently pushing her away and mounting his horse. ‘And I forever with you.’

Georgiana and Kitty were accompanied by Dekan and Horse across the rocky plain towards the foothills of the mountains where they had first met the Iroquois on their outward journey to No-Name. The two women were again travelling in the dog cart pulled by Hetty. They were wearing their own gowns and petticoats and feeling very restricted after the freedom of Indian clothes. Charlesworth rode alongside. In the cart was a pack of pelts which Lake had traded for the share in the mine. He had insisted that Charlesworth gave him a signed written note to say that the bearer was entitled to the claim.

‘You know the trail to Duquesne?’ Dekan said.

‘Yes.’ Georgiana managed a smile, though she felt sad at the parting. ‘And if we forget, Hetty knows it.’

‘The ladies will be quite safe with me,’ Charlesworth said to the two Indians. ‘I have a gun.’ He patted his thigh. ‘They need have no fear.’

‘I have no fear of man or beast, Mr Charlesworth,’ Georgiana said calmly. ‘I have my blade,’ and she lifted her skirt to show Lake’s knife strapped around her ankle. Though whether I should be able to use it, she thought, is a different matter altogether.

Kitty too lifted her skirt hem. ‘I have one as well,’ she said. ‘Ted gave it to me.’

Dekan and Horse glanced at each other, then at Charlesworth. ‘Don’t cross them,’ Dekan told him gravely. ‘Women and knives don’t go together unless they’re slicing elk!’

They reversed their previous journey, pulling up the mountain track, then down towards the stream which led to the clearing and the drivers’ cabin, where they had formerly spent a night. They allowed the horses a drink and took one themselves, and ate sparingly of the food which Dekan’s wife had once more provided. It was now late afternoon, but Georgiana reckoned that they could reach Duquesne before nightfall. One thing she didn’t want was to spend a night in the cabin with Charlesworth.

He grumbled that they would be too tired to undertake the rest of the journey, but Georgiana and Kitty insisted, saying that they would rather spend the night in accommodation at Duquesne. Finally he reluctantly agreed to continue after Georgiana suggested that if he preferred to spend the night in the cabin alone, she and Kitty would travel on.

‘I must first of all return Hetty,’ Georgiana murmured to Kitty as they approached the town. ‘I shall be so sorry to leave her behind. I’ve become very attached to her.’ Her sense of loss since Lake had departed was made worse by now having to bid farewell to Hetty. She’s just a horse, she kept reminding herself, but after paying the wheelwright for the hire of her and walking away across the square, she looked back and saw Hetty watching from over the fence with what Georgiana considered was a reproachful demeanour.

They stayed at Mrs Smith’s guest house, which this time had rooms available, basic but clean. The beds were comfortable, but Georgiana lay with her eyes wide open for most of the night and sleep didn’t come. She spoke little the following day when they boarded the coach to Harrisburg and didn’t respond to Charlesworth’s constant moans of protest regarding the state of the road, the carriage and the coachman’s unsuitability to the task of getting them back to civilization without breaking all their bones. She sat staring out of the window cocooned in her own desolation, and in the certain knowledge that the one man she could ever love was lost to her.

The journey by river and canal was an unremembered void and she changed boats in an unconscious manner, accepting seats, bunks, food and drink as an instinctive reflex. She would, if not prompted by Kitty, just as easily have done without and not even noticed.

‘Thank you,’ she responded to Charlesworth as he handed her down from the hired chaise at the door of the Marius. It had taken them almost a week of travelling to arrive back in New York. ‘I trust that Mrs Charlesworth will be pleased with her furs and that it was worth the effort of bringing them.’ He had kept the packs by his side constantly and had slept with them beneath his head.

He put his finger to his lips. ‘I shall have them treated and made up,’ he said. ‘But they are not all for Mrs Charlesworth. Oh dear, no! She will have her beaver cape and I hope to get a good price for the rest at market.’ He gave a self-satisfied smile. ‘I reckon I did well on the deal. Better than that half-breed trapper anyway.’

Georgiana bristled at that. ‘You mean Lake!’ she said curtly.

‘Why, yes, of course,’ he said in an astonished tone. ‘Who else?’

She and Kitty spent the next week relaxing, bathing, washing their hair and cleaning their clothes. They walked along the streets of New York glancing in the fashionable shops. New boots and shoes were essential purchases, for their own were quite ruined by their having constantly worn only one pair.