After The Lies

by Mandessa Selby

  Rafe pulled a pouch of gold coin out of his pocket and inserted it deep into the log. Hopefully, the next time he returned, he would have the information he needed to keep the Army at bay.

  He scuttled backward to his hiding place deep in the brush to wait a few more moments to make certain he’d been unobserved. As he waited, he sensed a movement behind him. Tensing, he turned his head as someone tackled him from the other side. He rolled, his knife out, but the soft laughter of his wife stopped him. He relaxed and returned the knife to its sheath.

  “Would you make your son motherless, husband?” Willow said with a wry giggle.

  “Willow.” Her long black hair fanned across his cheek as he kissed her. Her skin was like satin. Her body soft and hard at the same time. Her name was so appropriate. She bent with the wind, yet remained firmly rooted in the ground.

  “I made more noise than a buffalo.” Her hand crept inside his shirt to caress his chest in an invitation he could not ignore.

  “You’re a very fetching buffalo.” He thought of the fort so close and the danger, but the danger heightened his sense of risk. He untied the leather strings at the neck of her tunic, and reached into the opening to fondle her full breast. Her nipple was already hard. She shifted to give him better access as her own hand crept into his trousers.

  “I will take that as a compliment, my husband,” she whispered into his ear. She unlaced the rest of her bodice to expose her beautiful breasts. They were shaped like tears, the nipples large and dark.

  “I love you, Willow. Everything I do is for you.” He kissed her as he rolled her on her back, and reached for the waistband of her doeskin trousers and tugged it down. He caressed the contour of her hip, his fingers sliding between her legs as she wriggled free of her trousers.

  “And I you, husband.” She kicked her trousers away and lifting her tunic over her head, exposing the beauty of her small compact body to him. She was round in all the right places.

  He reached for her. They had time.

  * * *

  Callie was proud of herself. She had captured enough rabbits to feed everyone fresh meat for dinner. The rabbits hung from the pommel of her saddle.

  Ahead, she saw the thread of dust that followed the patrol. She would be caught up to them shortly, but she was in no hurry. Ever since Luc had discovered her secret, she’d been on edge. She didn’t think of him as Lieutenant Delacroix any longer. The discovery of her secret had created a new relationship between them.

  How could she have been so careless? She should have just let the bandits go. The desert would have eventually killed them and her secret would have been safe. Luc knowing she was a woman left her feeling vulnerable and confused over what he was going to do. Would he reveal her secret and force her to leave, or would he keep it?

  The plume of dust grew lighter. Luc would be calling a halt soon. The sun had dipped low in the west and soon they would have to rest the horses. In the ten days she had been with him and his soldiers on the trail, she had come to know understand how he managed things. In the morning he roused everyone before morning sun had even begun to light the eastern sky. They would roll out of their blankets and eat breakfast, then they would be on the trail.

  The Buffalo Soldiers took great pride in their horses, grooming them nightly until their coats shone and feeding them the best grain. Once the animals were groomed and tied to their picket line, the men started setting up camp. A couple soldiers would set up Luc’s tent, then Lt.

  Cooper’s, while other started the fire and began preparing their evening meal. All in all, the whole procedure had an orderliness to it that Callie almost envied. She liked the structure of the Army.

  She also noticed that the men under Luc’s command respected him deeply, and she suspected they even liked him. The soldiers had little contact with her. The Seminoles were a tribe left alone. No one quite knew how to treat them, didn’t know if they were black or Indian. So the Seminoles kept to themselves. And because she kept to herself, she had built sturdy walls to keep her secret intact.

  She could see the horsemen in the distance. The sun had lost its brightness and the shadows had grown long. Callie urged her horse along faster, she needed to get the rabbits to the cook before he started their usual fare of beans and beef jerky with those terrible rock-like biscuits he called hardtack. How men could survive on such limited food she didn’t know? She wanted to toss a chili into the cooking pot so badly, her hands trembled. Her mouth watered for her mother’s home¬made tortillas and the tartness of a fresh lime.

  The unit had stopped, and as Callie approached the camp, the Luc issued orders and oversaw the outlaws. She skirted the camp, aware of the men horses watching her. Though they treated with a rough kindness, they showed little interest in her. They all had their own duties to perform and she had hers.

  “Cook,” she said as she reined her horse to a stop. She pulled the rabbits up and handed them to the man.

  “Did you catch all these?” The cook held the rabbits up, admiring them.

  She nodded. “We’re eating good tonight.” Callie turned her horse, but the cook stopped her.

  “How’s your ribs?” When he wasn’t being the cook, he was the medic who took care of the men’s wounds. “Need some more liniment for them?”

  “I’m fine, sir.”

  He ran a hand through grizzled hair turning gray at the temples. “Don’t call me sir.” He chuckled. “I work for a living. The Lieutenant wants to see you.”

  “Which one?” Her stomach clenched at the thought that Cooper wanted to see her, though usually he had as little to do with her as possible.

  “The good one.” The contempt on the cook’s dark face told her all she needed to know about how everyone felt about the blonde Lieutenant Cooper.

  Everyone disliked him, except for Luc. And why he liked that blonde weasel, Callie didn’t know. Lieutenant Cooper hated the Buffalo soldiers. He seemed to think that being in command of them was beneath him, or something. When Luc wasn’t around, Cooper really took no pains to hide his hatred.

  She turned her horse and headed toward Lieutenant Delacroix. Her ribs still hurt from where that bandito had kicked her. And if she took too deep a breath, a sharp pain would scissor through her. The Lieutenant had assured her nothing was broken.

  The memory of his fingers examining her sent shivers up and down her spine. She had never been touched like that by a man before. For a second she had thought her skin was going to light on fire it was so hot.

  Luc stood at the edge of the camp directing one of the soldiers in a task. Callie watched him remembering how much she wanted him to go on doctoring her. At night she lay in her bedroll remembering how his hands had touched her body and how gentle he’d been. Her stomach would get all jumpy and her breasts would ache beneath the bindings. Her skin would burn and she couldn’t breathe.

  Why she was acting so silly was beyond her. She’d never felt so feverish about any of the young men in the village. She wished her mama were here to explain all the strange things going on with her. Her mama would know what was ailing her, and more importantly how to make it go away.

  The hardest thing was to push Luc away, when she really wanted to kiss him and touch him. The memory of his bath in the sheltered pond haunted her. The silver moonlight on his body and the cool water caressing his skin invaded her dreams every night since she’d seen him.

  Two men had pitched Luc’s tent. The soldiers always attended to his needs first, despite Lieutenant Cooper’s angry rumblings. Callie dismounted from her horse and waited behind Luc’s tent. He saw her and walked up to her, his face creased with concern.

  “How are your feeling, Cal?” His eyes searched her face as though looking for more than the answer to his question.

  “I’m fine, sir,” she assured him, though her whole body felt as though it was one huge bruise. “I brought some rabbits for dinner. We haven’t had fresh meat since we started on the trail.” She leaned in a bit closer so the other
men couldn’t hear her. “That stuff you and the Army calls meat hurts my mouth.”

  He chuckled. “Mine, too.” He began walking away from the tent.

  Callie gathered the reins of her horse. Shad no choice but to follow him and see what he wanted from her. “Did you want to talk to me, sir?”

  He turned his head and looked over his shoulder. “Back in the village did you have a beau?”

  “A bow and arrow?” She tapped her rifle in its scabbard on the saddle. “I been using this since I was five years old, sir. I could bring down--”

  “I don’t mean a bow and arrow. A love....” He shook his head. “I mean a companion that you love.”

  What was he talking about? Sometimes he could be so infuriatingly confusing. “You mean like my mama?”

  A frown creased his mouth. Bluntly, he said, “Like a man you want to marry.”

  A flush burned her cheeks and necks. Why did he want to know about things like that? “I didn’t have time for that kind of foolery. Why are you asking?” This was not the conversation to have with a bunch of other men hanging around, maybe listening in.

  He shrugged. “Just curious. Every pretty girl I know, has a beau.”

  “I’m not pretty.”

  He stopped and faced her. “Yes, you are.”

  “Sir, you better hope no one notices that I’m pretty like you say or you’re gonna have a hard time explaining why I’m here.” She glanced around at the busy camp. No one seemed interested in her or Luc. Most of the men were busy tending the horses. Even Lieutenant Cooper was preoccupied as he watched his own tent being pitched.

  “How old are you?”

  She tilted her head up at him. “Why do you want to know?”

  “It’s bad enough you’re a woman, but I don’t need a fifteen year old girl running around.”

  “I’m nineteen. Old enough to know my own mind.”

  “I guess you are.” He took his hat off and ran his fingers through his shiny, black hair. He looked tired and drawn. “Did you find any sign of the Comanches?”

  She felt sorry for him. He worked so hard. As hard as his soldiers. It was almost as if he wanted to be like her and the rest of his troops. “Yes and no. Comanche bands are small. Five, ten riders. I found tracks, well-hidden, heading back to Texas. They’re traveling fast which is why

  I found their tracks. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known. Comanches are good at hiding when they want to.” And other things.

  So far, her village had avoided any conflict with the Comanches, but other Seminole villages hadn’t. The Comanches were fierce and noble. At times, Callie admired them. They were fighting for more than their homes, but their future. And she understood how they felt at the loss of their homes.

  “What do you think it means?”

  “Comanches are sneaky. They have lots of tricks. I’d say they’re just anxious to get home. After all, they got horses, rifles and ammunition from Valenzuela. So why not go home? As far as they’re concerned, their business is over. They don’t have anything to hide anymore. So they’re making time as best they can.” That’s what she would do if she could.

  “It makes no sense to split up. Safety in numbers.”

  She shook her head. “That’s the problem with the Army. You don’t think like Indians.”

  The Lieutenant crossed his arms. “All right, little one, explain it to me.”

  “The Comanche’s not only pulled a fast one on the Army, but they pulled a fast one on Valenzuela. They had a hundred horses. Took maybe twenty or thirty for themselves and Valenzuela is short-changed. Army horses are the best horses. Grain fed for stamina and strength, and the Comanche prizes nothing more than a good horse. Valenzuela needs horses, too, for the army he’s trying to raise. The Comanches ended up with some Army horses and Army rifles. Who do you think got the better deal?”

  The Lieutenant sighed. “You put this all together yourself?”

  “I’m smart, I think like an Indian.” She laughed and walked away, tugging her horse after her. “Excuse me, sir, but I’m gonna check on those rabbits I brung to the cook. Don’t want him burning them.” She went about ten feet and then turned around to find Luc still watching her. He held his hat in one hand and banged it slightly against his knee. The last rays of the sun cast a glow over his face.

  Her breath caught in her throat and then she grinned and headed toward the cooking fire. At that moment something occurred to her. This man was more of a danger to her peace of mind, than any Comanche to her body. That wasn’t good. Nope, not good at all.

  * * *

  Luc watched her go. She had a sassy smile on her face and a light in her eyes that told him she was practicing her feminine wiles on him. He shook his head. Just what he needed, a nineteen year old woman, with no experience with men, loose in his command. Though he knew she would do nothing to jeopardize her position, he worried that someone might notice.

  His soldiers treated Callie with a rough carelessness as though she were everyone’s little brother. He had good men who believed in what they were doing. They were courageous fighters, good soldiers, and he was proud to be their commanding officer. For the most part they were gentlemen.

  On the outskirt of the makeshift camp he saw the Private Vern Murdoch examining the leg of one of the solider’s horses. Murdoch had escaped from slavery in Kentucky and set up as a blacksmith in Boston. When any horse lost a shoe, he set up on the trail and fixed it. There was no horse that man couldn’t calm.

  Sergeant John Sims was squatting next to the Vern. Sims had been with Luc for years. He was one of the survivors of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment and decided to make the Army his life after the war. He’d served under Colonel Shaw and his pride was a point of honor. Had Sims been a white man, there was no doubt, he’d be an officer.

  Luc’s pride in his soldiers reinforced his feelings that leading them was God’s way of saying he forgave Luc his deception. He been raised Catholic, and he remembered all the lectures about God’s testing his people. The lovely Callisto was a test. If he could survive her temptation, he could survive anything.

  “Luc!”

  He turned at the sound of Reggie’s voice.

  “You’re daydreaming,” Reggie said as he approached.

  Luc threaded his canvas gauntlets through his belt. “Just enjoying the sunset.”

  “You’re facing the wrong way.”

  Luc chuckled. “A man can only look into the eyes of the sun for so long.” The memory of Callie’s teasing smile returned to him. Yes, she was definitely a temptation, no matter how sexless she tried to make herself look. Now that he knew she was a woman, he wondered if she would be safe from him. “When we return these horses to the Fort, we’re going after the Comanche. I’m tired of them making fools out of me.”

  Reggie shrugged. “They’re making fools out of all of us. I don’t know why the Army just doesn’t do a massive campaign and wipe the heathens out. The settlers and the ranchers would be safe.”

  “And we’d be out of a job,” Luc said. He studied at Reggie as a series of thoughts went through his mind. “Have you ever wondered how they know so much about us? As though they know everything we do before we do it.”

  Reggie shook his head and laughed. “You make it sound like they have a spy in our midst.”

  “Maybe they do.” Luc frowned. “In the fourteen months since we arrived at Fort Duncan, we’ve lost a payroll, food and supplies, horses, rifles and ammunition. Every thing the Army needs to run properly. Every supply route has been compromised. And no matter what we do to combat it, the problem has only gotten worse.”

  Reggie patted Luc’s shoulder. “I think you’re imagining things. There’s no spy, no ulterior motive. Who would be low enough to trade information with the Indians? And what reason would anyone have for such treason? Perhaps it’s all a coincidence. Besides there isn’t one man in this camp who would want to deal with the Comanche for any price.”

  Yet, the Comanches seemed to know when each s
hipment left San Antonio and what route it would take. Though some shipments arrived without incident, others simply disappeared never to be found again. Luc worried at the problem as he watched the men turn this desolate area of the desert into a camp.

  He should write his daily report, but he found himself loathe to go into his hot tent. He wanted to find a place to bathe and possibly ask Callie to bathe with him. He shivered at the thought. Callie consumed too much of his thoughts, too much of the time he should be thinking about his duties.

  Reggie wandered away. The enticing aroma of cooking rabbit filled the air. Luc shook off his thoughts and went into his tent to write the daily report.

  His mind whirled with his suspicions. As he sat in his camp chair, writing by the light of a lantern, he couldn’t forget Callie’s face, the way she had teased him with her glistening eyes and the quirky lift of her lips. She was a natural-born seductress and he didn’t know why the others couldn’t see it. Did they not want to? Or were they so oblivious to her that they paid no attention? He leaned against the canvas sling back of the chair, staring out the opened flaps of the tent. The noise had begun to die down and one of the men had brought out his harmonica and played a sweet, haunting tune reminding Luc of the war and how the hostilities had brought out the best in his men, and the worst.

  Callie sat cross-legged, her back resting against a rock, staring up the sky. Her hat jammed down on her head hiding the contours of her face. Firelight flickered across the high crest of her cheekbones. Luc wondered what she found so engrossing.

  He left his tent and approached her, standing over her waiting for her to notice him.

  “The sky is pretty,” she said.

  “You can see it better away from the fire.”

  “I know.” She jumped to her feet and headed off into the desert, away from the camp.