by Norah Hess
Headed back to the post a moment later, Kane's stomach rumbled, reminding him that it was well past breakfast time. He hurried along, his brow furrowed in concentration. There was much to do before he and D'lise could get on the trail. First in order, after he had eaten, was purchasing enough grub for one more night out. Thanks to his lust, they were getting too late a start to get to his place before nightfall. Also he wanted to buy D'lise her own mount. She was too uneasy sharing the stallion with him.
Slim's son was pouring D'lise a cup of coffee when Kane stepped through the kitchen door. He sat down across from her and, eyeing her empty plate, teased, "You didn't leave anything for me."
D'lise's eyes widened and she began to stammer, "I didn't—know I—was supposed to share with you. I—I'm sorry."
Kane saw the fear that came in the dark blue eyes and fought the urge to take her into his arms, press her head against his chest. How sad, he thought, that there had never been any levity in her life, no laughter or frivolity that would now tell her that he was having fun with her.
He smiled at her and said gently, "D'lise, I was only teasin' you. The kid will fix me a plate." He then sought for something to say that would ease the tension that had sprung up between them. He started to ask if she had slept well, then thought better of it. She might ask him the same question in return. He'd be hard put to look into those blue eyes and lie.
He asked instead, "Are you ready to hit the trail?"
"Yes," D'lise answered, giving him a smile that made his pulse leap.
"Fine," he said on a sharply caught breath. "We'll be on our way as soon as I eat, buy some grub, and look over Slim's horses. I want to get you your own mount. You'll be more comfortable ridin' alone."
D'lise made no response, but he could see the relief that jumped into her eyes, and his pride was hurt that she didn't like being so close to him. He picked up his fork and dug into the ham and eggs Slim's son placed before him.
D'lise watched Kane eat as she sipped her coffee. He ate quietly, not like Rufus, who stuffed his food in, then chewed with his mouth open.
She was beginning to discover that Rufus and this man differed in many ways. Where her uncle was sneaky, the trapper spoke and acted what was on his mind. Where Rufus was brutal, Kane Devlin was merely strong. Where Rufus would kick a man who was down, the physically fit Kane had left the hill man alone once he was defeated.
But he's still a man, D'lise reminded herself, and maybe no better than Rufus when gripped by lust. She dragged her thoughts away from that. She didn't want to think of Kane and lust together.
She was thankful when Slim walked into the kitchen and looked down at her. "Have you taken care of your ankle yet?" he asked.
Before she could answer, Kane was out of his chair and had her foot in his hand. "Damn," he muttered, "that looks like hell. Does it hurt a lot?" He looked up at D'lise, a frown pulling his eyebrows together.
"Not too badly unless I try to put my weight on it."
"Which you've been doin' all mornin'," Kane said darkly, mad at himself for not remembering her injury. "Why didn't you say somethin'?"
"I did." D'lise sent him a wary look, afraid from his tone that he was impatient with her, that he thought she was going to be a hindrance on the trial. "I told Slim and he's going to bind it up. I'll be fine then," she added anxiously.
Kane heard the undertone of near panic in her voice and wondered whether she was afraid of him, or maybe afraid that he would go away, leaving her behind. He stroked his palm over the swollen area and said gently, "Of course you will."
He sensed the relief that moved through her body and silently cursed the man who had put such fear and distrust in this young, helpless girl.
Slim set a pail half full of water at D'lise's feet. "I just brought this in from the spring," he said. "It's icy cold and will take a lot of the swelling down."
Kane, still holding her foot, lowered it into the pail, and she gasped at the shock of the frigid water moving up past her ankle. Kane chuckled. "You sit there and soak while I go visit the storeroom, then look over Slim's horses."
He stood up and patted her back, then frowned when she flinched away from him. Dammit! he thought. Wasn't he to touch her body in any manner? She hadn't seemed to mind his fingers on her ankle. There was resentment in his eyes when he followed Slim out of the kitchen.
As was expected by both men, price was argued over the trim black mare Kane finally chose from the seven horses milling around in the split-rail pen. A bargain was struck when the proprietor agreed to throw in a saddle. It didn't take long then to purchase salt pork, coffee, and hardtack.
"I want to thank you for lookin' out for D'lise this mornin'." Kane held out his hand, which was gripped firmly.
"I didn't do much," Slim said. "You got there before I could hit the bastard." A hardness came over his lean face. "I've always felt sorry for that little girl and her aunt. Rufus Enger never fooled me like he has everyone else around here. If ever I've seen a downtrodden woman, it was Anna Enger. It always struck me as strange that he was so fat and the rest of them were so thin. I've wondered many times if the people in that shack of his got enough to eat."
"Let me tell you the truth about that man," Kane said grimly, "and you can pass it on to his neighbors. He mistreated his wife so much that she killed herself, threw herself off a bluff."
"The hell you say?" the tall man exclaimed in shock and anger. "The bastard put out the word that she slipped and accidently went over that bluff." His lips curled unpleasantly. "He's gonna find a different reception in these hills from now on. It wouldn't surprise me if he leaves this area."
Kane was tempted to tell Slim what he had done to Enger, then decided against it. The fat man would let it be known soon enough. By now the doctor knew. He pushed away from the counter and picked up the sack of supplies.
"I'll go bind up D'lise's ankle; then we gotta get goin'. It must be near noon."
He found D'lise where he had left her, her foot still in the pail of water. She looked up and smiled at him shyly, then indicated the strip of cloth in her lap. "Curtis cut this from a sheet. It's to bind my ankle with." She transferred her smile to the gangly youth.
"It was an old one." Curtis blushed and ducked his head.
Kane hid an amused smile as he squatted down and lifted D'lise foot out of the water. The kid was quite taken with D'lise, he thought, drying off her ankle, then binding it with the strip of cloth. D'lise watched him wind the cloth around her sprain, marveling that a man so hard and tough-looking had a touch so gentle.
"How does that feel?" Kane looked up at her after tying the binding. "Is it too tight?"
"It feels fine." D'lise ran her palm over the clothbound ankle. She reached down and picked up a pair of moccasins from the floor. "Curtis gave me these." She smiled at the teenager, making him blush all the more. "Wasn't that kind of him? My feet were beginning to feel the cold, especially at night."
Damn, Kane muttered to himself. Why hadn't he thought about those bare, slender feet, realized how cold they must have been? The silent question made him take stock of himself. Why had a kid, still wet behind the ears, seen things that he could not? Had he become that self-centered over the years, thinking only of himself?
He looked at her worn, patched dress. That, and possibly a petticoat, were her only covering against the chilly nights. "Curtis." He looked up at the boy who sat staring at D'lise. "Would you have an extra jacket I could buy off you?"
"No, I don't." Curtis pulled his gaze from D'lise and looked at Kane. "But my Pa has some in the storeroom. An old squaw and her daughter make them for him."
Kane fished in his pocket and brought out some currency. He pressed it into Curtis's hand. "Go pick out a warm one for D'lise." He turned back to D'lise and took the moccasins from her and slipped them on her feet. She smiled as she wiggled her toes in their warmth. They had a softness she wasn't used to. The shoes she and Auntie wore in the winter were so hard and stiff they could hardl
y bend their ankles in them.
"Well, I guess we're about ready to go." Kane broke in on her contemplation of her new footwear. She nodded, picked up Scrag from beside her chair, and rose to her feet. Kane took her arm and helped her to limp outside.
Slim stood between Kane's stallion and the mare, holding their reins. He gave D'lise a wide smile. "How do you like this little mare Kane picked out? Ain't she a beauty?"
"Oh my, yes." D'lise approached the sleek mount and grasped the mare's bridle with both hands. She stared into the animal's soft brown eyes. "She is indeed a beauty," she said softly, "and that will be her name." She looked shyly at Kane. "Thank you. I will give her the best of care."
As usual, every time the dark blue eyes were turned on him, Kane's pulse became erratic, the breath catching in his throat. And as usual, it angered him. "I know you will," he managed gruffly as Curtis ran up with the promised jacket.
Kane took the garment from him and ran his palm over the doeskin. It was soft as silk, with long fringe running down the sleeves and along the hem. The fancy beadwork on each side of the front panels said clearly that it had been made with a woman in mind.
He handed it to D'lise. "Try it on, see if it fits."
"Oh, Curtis, it's beautiful." D'lise's eyes glimmered with tears as the boy leapt to help her into the jacket. "I've never had anything so lovely before."
Dammit, Kane swore silently for the second time within fifteen minutes. Why hadn't he helped her on with the jacket instead of just shoving it at her?
Kane promised himself that he would learn all those nice little things a man did for a lady, and began by placing his hands on her small waist and boosting her into the saddle. From her arms, Scrag spit and hissed at him. D'lise's musical laughter rang out when he hissed back at the tom.
Slim came and stood at the mare's head. "It's been a pleasure finally meeting you, D'lise. If you're ever around these parts again, make sure you stop in and visit awhile."
"I surely will, Slim." D'lise smiled down at the tall, thin man, hoping in her heart that she would never again be in this area. "And I thank you for being so kind to me. And the same goes to you, Curtis. I'll never forget your kindness."
To cover his son's acute embarrassment, Slim said, "Travel safely, and take good care of this little girl. She's a treasure."
"I'll watch over her real good," Kane answered, and winging into the saddle, he turned the stallion's head westward. D'lise clicked her tongue at the mare and it obediently fell in behind Snowy. Just before the wilderness swallowed her and Kane, she turned and waved to the father and son who stood watching them.
Chapter Four
It was as though last night's rain had bathed the whole world, D'lise mused, following two horse-lengths behind Kane. She breathed in the fresh, fragrant odor of pine and cedar as though it were a tonic.
Kane reined in the stallion at the top of a hill and waited for her to catch up with him. When the two mounts stood side by side, he pointed downward. "That's the Ohio River trail. We'll follow it most of the way home."
D'lise looked down at the broad, yellow river that could be seen for miles as it wound around low hills, disappearing into depressions, reappearing again, finally vanishing altogether in the distance.
"It's beautiful," she said in some awe. "It looks so calm and serene, slipping along."
"Don't you believe it," Kane said with a short laugh. "It's anything but calm. It's wild and deep, with a muddy bottom that's dangerously uneven and filled with deep holes that can suck a man to his death. And when it's in flood, it's a real killer."
D'lise gave him a shy smile. "Even so, you sound like you have a fondness for it."
Kane grinned and ducked his head. "Yeah, I reckon I do. But I also have a healthy respect for it. I learned early on not to fight it."
"Does your cabin sit beside the river?" D'lise asked hopefully, entranced with the murmuring water.
"Hardly," Kane said and squashed her desire to live on the Ohio's banks. "The cabin would have floated away with the first hard rain. The river sometimes floods its banks half a mile inland."
He saw the disappointment on D'lise's face and hurried to add, "You can see it from the cabin though. I built high on a hill where the water never reaches, but I can still see the river. Also, a couple yards behind is a tributary that flows into the Ohio. It never floods."
"Oh." D'lise's face brightened.
Exhausting the topic of the river and at a loss to discuss anything else, Kane started the stallion down the other side of the hill. D'lise lifted the reins and the mare fell in behind him.
They had traveled another quarter mile or so when Scrag leapt from the saddle and ran off through the forest to relieve himself. He kept pace with the mounts then, spraying tree trunks and bushes, putting his scent on everything in his path. D'lise had been watching him with amusement when suddenly her eyes widened in alarm.
Kane's hound was running down the trail behind them, panting, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. It took him only seconds to spot Scrag and come to a bristling stop, his hackles raised.
"Oh dear," D'lise whispered, her hand going to her mouth as the big dog began to stalk her pet. Scrag stood with his ears laid back, his tail twice its normal size, and his mouth open and hissing. When Hound was a yard away from him, Scrag let out an unearthly scream and sprang at the snarling dog. He landed on its broad back, his claws digging into the fur, still hissing and screaming. The stunned dog ran around in circles, trying to shake the angry Scrag off his back.
"Dammit, do somethin', D'lise!" Kane shouted, bringing the stallion to a rearing halt. "That damn cat is gonna scratch his eyes out!"
D'lise whacked the mare with her heel and sent her through the trees to where the hound yelped and the cat yowled. Coming up to them, she reached down and grabbed Scrag by the scruff of the neck. As she hauled him onto her lap, Kane leapt to the ground and ran to his panting dog. Going down on his haunches he ran exploratory fingers over his pet's head and down his sides.
"Scrag didn't hurt him," D'lise defended her pet. "He only scared the hound." There was a hint of scorn in her tone.
Kane gave her a dark look, not liking at all that a small cat could frighten such a large dog. "Just keep that animal away from him from now on, that's all," he said, his voice clipped.
"Scrag won't bother him if he keeps his distance," D'lise shot back, equally short. "I told you he could take care of himself."
Kane said nothing more, but he gave Scrag a very unfriendly look as he swung back into the saddle and headed down the trail, Hound trotting along in front of him.
D'lise followed, a proud smile for Scrag on her face. "Size doesn't mean anything, does it, boy?" She scratched behind the sharp-pointed ears, bringing forth loud purrs.
The mare, Beauty, had an easy gait and D'lise scarcely noted the passing miles as the sun moved ever westward. D'lise and Kane had ridden mostly in silence, and she knew he was still smarting that a cat had shamed his dog. D'lise grinned to herself. He wouldn't admit that deep down he felt that she, a woman, had gotten the better of him.
Kane broke his silence when they stopped at a cave where a spring bubbled up from the earth. "It's cold," Kane told D'lise when they had dismounted. He took down a long-handled cured gourd from a tree and handed it to her. When she knelt to catch the clear water he thought, Now why didn't I fill the dipper and hand it to her? Damn, every time I turn around I act like a big dumb lout.
D'lise lifted the gourd to her lips and gasped as its iciness hit her teeth. "I warned you." Kane laughed as she clapped a hand to her mouth. "You have to sip at it like you do hot coffee. See how the mounts snuffle their nostrils over it." He pointed to where a pool had formed a few yards away. "They're drinkin' real careful-like."
"As are Hound and Scrag." D'lise nodded at their pets lapping water. Hound had joined the horses, and Scrag was at the mouth of the cave; they were keeping their distance from each other. Kane watched them a moment, then allowed that t
he two pets would probably get along together. "I expect so," D'lise agreed, making sure she hid her amused grin as they swung back into the saddles.
Farther along the trail, they stopped again to watch two Indians hollowing out a tree trunk about forty feet long. Kane spoke to them briefly in their language, then urged the stallion on. "What are they doing?" D'lise asked when they were out of hearing distance.
When Kane answered that they were making a canoe, she asked, "Why would they want one so long? One that long could surely transport at least twenty people."
"There could be a couple reasons," Kane answered thoughtfully, his brow drawn into a frown. "They could be plannin' on movin' their people farther down the river for the winter, or they could be preparin' to paddle upriver and attack cabins along the way."
"But I thought the Indians were peaceful now." D'lise looked nervously over her shoulder and took a relieved breath when she saw the two men still working on their craft, not creeping up behind her and Kane with drawn arrows.
"At the moment the Indians are peaceful," Kane agreed, "but resentment of the white man's intrusion on their land is deep. An Indian never forgets. It will be a long, long time, years probably, before they will truly live peaceably among us."
D'lise shivered at the dire prediction. "Where we're going, will we be safe from them if they decide to go to war?"
Kane heard the uneasy tremor in her voice. "You don't have to worry about that," he assured her. "The Indians and I get along just fine. I respect them and they respect me."
"That is good," D'lise said. "Respect is a fine thing to give, and to receive." If only Rufus had respected Aunt Anna, she thought, he wouldn't have treated her so badly, even if he didn't love her.
The horses clomped on at an easy walk, and along the way D'lise spotted three different cabins, each sitting on a hill, well away from the river. "How many neighbors are there?" she asked.
"There are five white families settled along here. My cabin is the last one in the string," Kane answered. "Beyond that is unbroken wilderness, with only the narrow trails of trappers, and animal runs."