Wind Rider (43 page)

“Do not resist, Little Sparrow,” he hissed. “Your man is not here and you left your tepee flap open in invitation. I will pleasure you in Wind Rider’s absence. Perhaps you will find
that you prefer me between your sweet thighs.”

Hannah shook her head in vigorous denial, trying to bite his hand so she could scream. The
pressure on her mouth increased and Hannah
tasted blood as her teeth cut into the tender
flesh of her lower lip.

Rising over her, Cut Nose spread her legs and
flexed his hips, preparing to thrust into her,
but at the last minute he hesitated. Despite
his raging lust, the sounds of shouting and
raised voices drifting to him on the night wind
finally registered in his brain. At first he was too sexually aroused to pay them heed, but as
the voices became louder and more excited, he
could no longer ignore what was happening.

Cut Nose uttered a harsh, guttural cry, then
leaned down and whispered something in
Hannah’s ear that stunned her. “Tell no one
that I was here, Little Sparrow. If you do, I will
kill Wind Rider.” Then, abruptly, the pressure was gone from her mouth. Before Hannah had
time to think about his threat and what it meant, Cut Nose pulled aside the tepee flap and slipped
into the darkness.

Hannah lay in stunned silence, wondering
what had happened to frighten him away and
thanking God for the diversion. A shudder rip
pled through her as she recalled Cut Nose’s
words. How could he harm Wind Rider when he
wasn’t even here? Then she, too, became aware
of the excited voices and shouts of the villagers.
Though she had gained a good understanding of the Sioux language, she still couldn’t make
out what the excitement was about. Was the
village under attack? She didn’t think so, else
she would hear battle sounds.

While she was still contemplating Cut Nose’s strange behavior and hasty exit, Hannah be
came aware of the sudden silence that had
fallen over the village. The abrupt lack of
noise was more startling than the babbling
she’d heard earlier. She sat up, intending to
go out and learn for herself what was going
on, but before she could rise the tent flap was
thrust aside and someone entered.

Hannah drew in a ragged gasp, fearing that Cut Nose had returned. She let her breath out
slowly when she realized that the figure was much too tall and muscular to be Cut Nose,
who was short and squat. The man’s face was
hidden in darkness, but his torso and lower
body were clearly outlined in the moonlight
poking through the smokehole.

Her eyes traveled from his ankles upward,
over muscular calves, corded thighs, and slim
hips, pausing briefly where his breechclout pro
vided scant protection for the bold thrust of his
manhood. Her eyes lifted from that dangerous
part of him to settle on the broad expanse of his
chest. The moment she saw the fading bruises
she knew.

Ryder! He had come for her.

Squatting down on his haunches, Ryder’s sil
ver gaze met the startling green of Hannah’s eyes. Involuntarily, Hannah shuddered, chilled
by the coldness she saw there. Errant moon
beams cast the planes of his face in demonic lines. Hannah wanted to fling herself into his arms, but fear held her back.

“Did you think I would not find you, Little Sparrow? I was on my way to Fort Laramie
when I came across the dead blue coats. Find
ing you with the People is a gift I did not
expect. I cannot say I am sorry that your lover
has been slain.”

Hannah went still. Was he still under the
misconception that Trent was her lover? Would
she never be free of his suspicions and accusa
tions?

Suddenly Hannah realized that Ryder couldn’t
have known about Trent unless he had seen him with his own eyes. Then she was aware that he was looking at her,
really
looking at her. His eyes were keen and sharply penetrat
ing. Her breasts rose and fell with each breath
as she realized what that meant.

“You can see! Oh, Ryder, you have your sight
back!”

“Is that why you left me, Hannah, because I could not see? Did your lover offer more than I
could give you? You almost had me convinced
that you loved me. I decided not to go away for your sake, because you pleaded with me to stay
with you/’

“I do love you. Everything I’ve done has been for you.”

Ryder laughed harshly, but there was no
mirth visible in the silver depths of his eyes.

“You took a lover for my sake?” He grasped
her shoulders, pulling her so close she could feel the heat of his body searing her through her thin chemise. His eyes glittered like shards
of glass. “Explain yourself.”

“Trent promised to arrange your release if
I accompanied him to Fort Laramie. He-he wanted to marry me. I let him think I was
agreeable. He even let me watch when you left
the jail, to prove that he had kept his word. I was grateful that he had notified Zach so that he could accompany you home. I didn’t know that you had regained your sight.”

Ryder’s mouth thinned in derision. “Good, but not good enough. Gilmore had nothing to
do with my release. Zach persuaded the governor to grant me amnesty. It seems the governor
was impressed by the fact that I had no Indian
blood and had been a captive of the Cheyenne.”
He gave a derisive laugh. “Little did he know that I loved my Indian family, fully embraced
the Indian way of life, and scorned white soci
ety. Until...” He was going to add, “Until I
met you,” but he thought better of it.

“Until what?” Hannah prompted.

“It no longer matters.”

“I’m your wife, Ryder. You can tell me anything.”

“My
faithless
wife.” He hurled the words at
her like stones. She flinched and shook her
head in vigorous denial.

“There was never anything between me and Trent. I truly believed you had been freed because of his efforts. I did not know the governor had granted you amnesty. I can’t believe Trent lied to me.”

Ryder sent her a hard look. “Men will say anything to get what they want. But I do not believe for a minute that you really thought he could help me.”

Hannah inhaled sharply. Was there nothing
she could say to convince him? “What
do
you
believe, Ryder?”

Ryder stared at her, his fingers pressing so
hard into her shoulders, his knuckles turned
white. “I believe you saw me in jail and realized
I am not like other white men.”

“That’s the reason I love you, because you are
different from most men. I did what I thought right to keep you safe.”

Ryder sent her a skeptical glance. “Did you
really believe Gilmore had the authority to free me? I did not think you were so naive. He lied, Hannah. He was using you for his own selfish purposes. Did you sleep with him? Did you allow him to make love to you? Did you take
him into your body and cry out in the same
way you did when I made love to you?”

She cringed inwardly. “No! I would never
have allowed him to touch me. I never meant to honor my promise to Trent. How could I
marry him when it’s you I love? But I feared
telling him the truth too soon. Then he might
have wired Denver and had you taken into cus-
tody again. I went along with him and would have told him the truth once I knew you were safe. I feared for your life, Ryder. I had to do something, anything. You couldn’t have taken
many more beatings. The next one might have killed you”

“Why didn’t you tell Zach the truth?”

“I couldn’t; don’t you understand? If you
thought I was sacrificing myself for your sake,
you would have come after me and endangered
your life. I wanted you to think that I went willingly with Trent, that I truly intended to
marry him. Later, after I told Trent the truth,
I would have returned to Denver and confessed
everything.”

Ryder searched her face. “Do you expect me
to believe that you went with Gilmore for my sake, that you didn’t let him make love to you
on those nights you were alone with him on the
trail? Do you think me a fool?”

“No, no fool,” Hannah said softly, “but the
man I love.” Suddenly a thought occurred to
hef. “How did you know where to find me?”

“I stumbled across the bodies of the patrol.
Signs revealed that the patrol had been attacked
by a war party of Sioux and Cheyenne. I recog
nized Gilmore among the dead and knew that
you were traveling with him. When I searched
through the bodies and did not find you I feared you had been captured by men who would take great pleasure in hurting you. Few of the People
outside of Red Cloud’s camp know who you are.
In these times white women are fair game.

“Shortly afterward I crossed paths with the
war party led by Runs-Like-A-Deer. I learned
that Coyote had taken you to Red Cloud’s camp.
I was relieved to know you were safe.”

Hannah stared into the heated depths of his
eyes, stirred by the emotion she saw there.
Relief? Was that all he felt? “Why did you
come after me if you thought I’d betrayed you?
Wouldn’t it have been much easier just to forget
me? Even in this dim light I can see that you’re
still not fully healed. Your ribs must pain you
terribly. It amazes me that you can even sit your horse.”

Ryder smiled thinly. Early in life he had learned that pain was a state of mind. He had tried to put himself above it. It was the only
way he could bear the excruciating agony of
endless days in the saddle on rugged mountain trails.

“At first I wanted to hear from your lips that
you’d gone with Gilmore of your own free will.
But as my anger grew I wanted to punish you. Now I know I wanted to find you for my own peace of mind. I fell in love with you, Little
Sparrow. Against my will I learned to trust
someone white. For the first time since I was
a small child you made me feel that perhaps I
actually did have a life with the white eyes. You
have no idea how it feels to be a man without
roots, to never know where you belong, to feel
the confusion and utter desolation of trying to
find kinship with people who think of you as
a savage. With you by my side I thought it
might be possible to bridge the gap between the society I grew up in and the one to which I belong. My sister made the adjustment, but it
is easier for a woman. I am a warrior. I know
no other life.”

Hannah stared at him, stunned. It was the
first time he had bared his soul to her. She
knew now how deeply she had hurt him and
wondered if she could ever repair the damage
she had done. Would he ever trust her again? Would he ever trust anyone with white skin?

“I don’t care what you are, Ryder. I love you.
You are the man I want above all others; that’s
all I care about. At the time I had no way of
knowing you had already been granted amnes
ty. If Trent knew, he did not tell me.”

His grip on her shoulders tightened and she winced, willing to accept the pain if it helped
convince him she loved him. Their bodies were
almost touching now, breast to breast, thigh to
thigh, their lips inches apart. She could feel the
searing warmth of his breath fan her cheeks
and she swayed against him. He groaned and dropped his hands to her buttocks, lifting her
against him.

The air left his lungs in a harsh expulsion of
breath. “I must be crazy to want you. You have
destroyed my dream of finding a woman who
would love me for what I am.”

Hannah’s mouth went dry. “Do you still want
to punish me?”

“My mind wants to punish you, but my body
wants to thrust inside you until no other man e
xists for you but me. It nearly destroyed me,
thinking about that blue coat making love to you, filling you with his seed.”

“I want no man’s children but yours.” Hannah
nearly blurted out that she already carried
Ryder’s child but deliberately withheld the
information. She wanted Ryder to believe her,
to trust her, before telling him. Otherwise she’d
never know if he wanted her for herself or for
their child.