Tender savage (61 page)

Erica slipped her fingers through his hair, her touch as loving as his, although her mood was still far from complacent. "Yes, I would, but you have forgotten how many people I met while I worked in my uncle's store. In fact, my aunt and uncle were so upset that I had married you, they might betray you themselves. If the army didn't shoot you on sight, they would take you back to prison, wouldn't they?"

Viper rose up on his elbows, his glance no longer teasing, for he knew what Erica said was true. "I wanted to take you back to the Cottonwood River, but you are right. It would be too dangerous for us to be so close to New Ulm. The state is a large one, I will find land for us where no one can cause us trouble. I will not ask you to dye your hair and call yourself by another name so you will not be

recognized. It is too difficult to pretend I am something I am not. I will not ask the same of you."

"Is it truly difficult for you to be Etienne? You play that part so well, I had no idea it was a chore for you." His comment had amazed Erica, for he had so greatly enjoyed taunting her in his French accent that she thought he relished his role as the Canadian.

Viper sighed wearily as he stretched out upon his back. He had wanted to make love, but with Erica in so talkative a mood, he knew he would have to answer all her questions first. "I would rather be myself, but the life I knew and loved is gone. I want you to help me make a home where our children will be safe and happy. It may be impossible, but I want to try."

The sadness in his voice touched her deeply, and Erica leaned over him to brush his lips lightly with hers. "Nothing is impossible. Viper, and I want us all to be safe and happy, too. We will have to be careful is all, but I will go wherever it is you want to go. Maybe in time I will even become a good cook," she confided with a lilting laugh.

Viper groaned as he recalled the first of her meals. "You were learning. We'll not starve." When she leaned down to kiss him again, he wrapped his arms around her waist so she could not escape him. He soon realized she did not want to. "There is one other thing," he remembered suddenly.

Unable to imagine what more he could want. Erica stared down at him with rapt attention. "What else could there possibly be? I have promised to go with you, and even to leam to cook. What more can you want ot a wife?"

"I want you to marry me. Tomorrow. I want your father to be there, so he cannot complain I have no morals. I want him to understand how precious you are to me. We can tell anyone who is curious that you were married to me in Minnesota. When you thought I had been killed in the uprising, you married Mark. Since I am obviously alive, you want to be married to me again. That makes sense, doesn't it?"

"I don't know if it makes any sense or not, but it is closer to the truth than any other story we might make up." Erica reached out to trace the line of his jaw with her fingertips, and he caught her hand and brought it to his lips. "There's

bound to be gossip no matter when we many, so I think tomorrow is as good a day as any. I know you are doing this for me, and that is so sweet of you, but I have always felt as though we were married even though we had no ceremony."

"I am not doing it for you," Viper protested vehemently. "I am doing it for myselL I don't want anyone to say you are not my wife ever again, most especially not youl" With an agile push, he succeeded in rolling over and pulling Erica beneath him where he nearly smothered her with enthusiastic kisses before a loud pounding at the door interrupted them. Viper swore angrily, then rolled off the bed and hurried to answer before the noise woke the baby. When he found Lars and Sarah standing outside in the hall, he greeted them coldly.

"You have chosen a most inconvenient time to call," he announced without a trace of a smile. Erica came to his side then and ducked under his arm.

"Yes, what is it?" she asked brightly, apparently not in the least bit disturbed that her father had found Viper in her bed.

Lars's glance swept over Viper's well-muscled torso before coming to rest on his daughter's smile. "Sarah made me realize how cruel it would be to try and separate you two. Rather than worry about gossip, I've diosen merely to be practical. Since you have a child, you two should be married, the sooner the better, I might add."

"Did you plan for us to be married tonight?" Viper asked skeptically.

"No, tomorrow or the next day will do." Lars broke into a wide grin then, thinking he had the upper hand now, for the Inman could not refuse to wed Erica and keep the young woman's respect.

"I do not know," Viper began hesitandy. "Among my people a widow does not remarry for several years."

"Oh Viper, stop iti" Erica wrapped her arms around his waist, but when she turned to look up at her father she found his expression one of horrified disbelief.

"Your name is Vijjer?" Lars asked with an incredulous gasp. "Have I just demanded my only daughter marry a man called Viper?"

Erica had done far more than give away his name, and

Viper held his breath as he waited for Lars to realize how mudi trouble he could cause him now. It would take one wire, perhaps two, to discover the army would be delighted to learn his whereabouts and return him to prison.

Erica felt Viper's tension and realized her mistake. "An Indian frequently has many colorful names," she explained with a warm smile. "That's only one of his. Since you have to return to Washington so soon, do you think we could arrange for a marriage ceremony tomorrow? I'm certain with the war, many couples are arranging hasty marriages."

"I didn't hear him agree," Lais turned toward Viper then as he waited for him to respond.

Viper was desperately sorry he had teased Erica rather than agreeing immediately to her father's demand. "I will be happy to marry Erica, tomorrow or any other day. Now goodnight." As he started to close the door. Erica slipped through it.

She threw her arms around her father's neck as she thanked him. "Everything will turn out beautifully, I just know it will." Before Lars could respond, they heard a plaintive meow and turned to find the tomcat at Mark's door. "Oh Sarah, will you take the cat to your room? He doesn't understand where Mark is, ana he's used to sleeping on his bed."

"Of course. Come here, little fellow." Sarah scooped up the cat, and as she and Lars started off down the hall with him Erica returned to her room.

"I am so sorry," she apologized as she locked her door. "How I could have been so stupid I'll never know, but you needn't worry. My father won't give your name to the army."

Viper was standing in the shadows by the door, his frown as deep as his gloom. "How can you be so sure?"

Erica took his hand and led him back to her bed. "Because he loves me too much. He'd not harm you when Stephen and I would be the ones to suffer."

"He is that good a man?" Erica's hands were at his belt, but Viper was uneasy still.

"He is like you in many ways. I trust him, and you can, too. I'm the one you'll have to worry about. What if I can't

remember to call you Etienne?"

"Do you enjoy being a widow?" Viper asked pointedly.

"What an awful thing to ask. No, of cx)urse not."

"Then remember to call me Etienne, or better yet, simply call me beloved."

Erica remembered vividly the afternoon he had made that suggestion, and she began to laugh. As he slipped out of his clothes she tossed her nightgown aside and got into bed. "I like that idea. I will call you nothing but sweetheart or darling, or beloved, since you like that name best." When Viper joined her in the bed and drew her into his arms she pressed close, drinking in his warmth as though it were fine wine.

"You really are my beloved, and I know the life we make for ourselves and our children will be a wonderfully happy one," she promised him sweetly.

Viper smiled as he gazed into her sparkling blue eyes. In the room's dim light their deep color shimmered with a bright glow. The future would not be without danger and adventure, he knew that, but with so magnificent a wife, what a marvelous life it would be. He lowered his mouth to hers, his kiss now soft and sweet as he proved again that when she had chosen him for her husband, she had made a wise choice, indeed.

"I will love you forever," he whispered, before the passionate young beauty in his arms made all thought of words impossible. There was only the wondrous sensation of her love flooding his senses to overflowing with the beauty of her devotion, and he gave that splendor back again and again until, sated by pleasure, they fell asleep in each other's arms. A lingering smile graced Viper's lips at the thought that in a few hours he would again take Erica for his wife. He made a silent vow that he would fill her life with love, for as long as the sun rose and set, for always, and that each day he would give her a new reason to call him her beloved.

^yVale^ loy claecu/eMy

The Minnesota Sioux Uprising of 1862 was only one tragic episode in the lengthy warfare between the army and the Sioux that culminated in the bloody massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. While Viper and Erica are fictitious characters, I have included the people actually involved in the events of the uprising whenever possible in this book. The name of Dr. William Mayo, who served briefly in New Ulm, is undoubtedly familiar. It was his sons who founded the renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

In May 1863, the Sioux who had spent the winter at Fort Snelling were deported under horrendous conditions to a hastily chosen site in what is now the state of South Dakota. The Crow Creek Reservation proved to be such a poor location for agriculture that after three disastrous years the Indians were moved to the Santee Reservation near the Niobrara River, in present-day Nebraska.

The prisoners confined at Camp McClellan fared just as poorly as their relatives. Dr. Williamson was able to secure pardons for forty men in 1864. In April 1866, after 120 braves had died in prison, President Andrew Johnson pardoned the remaining 247. These men then joined their families in Nebraska.

By the end of the 1860s, the Sioux were returning in small numbers to their homelands in Minnesota. In 1869, twelve families left the reservation at Niobrara seeking to live as white men on land of their own choosing. They became successful farmers in Flandreau, South Dakota.

Little Crow's sixteen-year-old son, Wowinapa, who had

been with him when he was killed, was captured and sentenced to hang for his part in the uprising. He managed to escape that fate, however. Wowinapa became a Christian, and as Thomas Wakeman, is remembered for founding the YMCA among the Sioux.

For the shooting of Little Crow, Nathan Lamson received a $500 reward from the state of Minnesota. His son, Chauncey, whose shot had actually killed the chief, received a $75 bounty for his scalp. In 1971, Little Crow's remains were finally returned to his family, and he was buried in Flandreau, South Dakota.

The army continued to pursue the Sioux who had fled to the Dakota Territory in an attempt to discourage raids upon the Minnesota frontier. Forts were manned until 1866, and gradually the raiding stopped and the settlers who had fled the uprising began to return to their homes. Peace returned to the Minnesota River Valley, but at a terrible price to the Sioux.

,v-^