Marda wasn’t sure what to think.
~~~
“So, what’s your story?” Boris asked Cody curiously as Cody covered Titan with his saddle blanket and fed all three horses. They had the company of a mule and a cow. “It ain’t right that you should be wanderin’ round these parts with a sick woman who is gonna have a child.”
Cody knew he was going to have to be careful with what he told Boris. He didn’t know him and certainly didn’t trust him. But he thought they were far enough from his enemies to be somewhat truthful. “Suzanne was captured by some Indians and I rescued her,” he said simply. “Now we’re on the run.”
“What Indians?” he asked gruffly. “You’re one yourself, ain’t ya?”
“Half-breed. My father was white. My mother was Chiricahua. I lived in the white man’s world, went to their Indian schools where they taught us to read and write and speak properly. After my father died, my mother returned to her people and took me with her. I’ve been in and out ever since and before all of this happened, I was an Indian agent.”
He gazed at the taller, younger man. “Then why ya runnin’? You steal the woman?” he asked suspiciously.
He wasn’t about to confess to that. He hadn’t actually stolen her until he took her from Chief Tall Deer, but he had a feeling Boris wouldn’t understand that. “No, sir. We’re married.”
“I can hardly believe a white woman would pick up with an Injun,” he said wondrously.
Cody gave the man a conciliatory smile. “It happens more than you know.”
“She’d be a might purty woman if you hadn’t beat her an’ all,” he muttered with distaste. “It ain’t right that a man beat a woman like that.”
“I didn’t beat her. I’ve never beat a woman in my life,” he said a little defensively. “The men who took her were very cruel to her.”
“You stole her,” he stated flatly. “You ain’t married t’all, are ya?” he said suspiciously.
“We are married with a child on the way,” he said calmly, trying to keep the edge out of his voice.
“Where you from?” he asked narrowing his eyes.
“Here and there. I don’t want any trouble,” he said seriously. “God knows I’ve had enough of that.”
“Neither do I,” he said coldly and pulled the gun from his holster and shoved it under Cody’s chin. “You’re a lyin’ son of a bitch,” he snarled.
Cody didn’t flinch, but stared unwaveringly into the man’s stormy green eyes, saying nothing to defend himself.
“You bringin’ the law?”
“No,” he said calmly.
“You an outlaw?”
“No.”
He cocked the gun and glared into his dark eyes. “I’m gonna blow your brains all over this here wall if you’re lyin’,” he threatened.
“Boris!” Marda yelled at her husband in horror. “Put that damn thing away before I use it on you.”
He reset the gun and slowly slid it back in the holster, still eying Cody with deep distrust and hostility.
Cody didn’t turn away. He held his gaze until Boris turned away, feeling his heartbeat return to normal. It was never an easy thing having a loaded gun held on you like that, but he never showed his fear. It also made him realize they couldn’t stay here for long. Once Suzanne was well, he’d take her back to where he’d found her.
“Cody, your wife is done with her bath. I fed her and put her to bed,” she said casually.
“Thank you very much,” he said with genuine gratitude. “Is she asleep?”
“She barely made it through the bath,” she said with a slight smile. “She sure looks sore, though,” she added thoughtfully.
“She is,” he agreed quietly. “She’s been through a lot.”
“Not that it’s any of my business, but you didn’t do any of that to her, did you?” she asked uncertainly.
He shook his head. “No, ma’am. I would never hurt her or any woman for that matter.”
She believed him and gave his forearm a squeeze. “We’ll set her arm again in the morning.”
“Thank you, ma’am” he said humbly. “We appreciate it very much.”
She smiled. “My pleasure. I would like to get her back on her feet again so I can have another woman to talk to.”
Boris scowled.
Cody wasn’t sure if that was an invitation to stay awhile or if she was just being kind. “I’d like the same, ma’am.”
“We have a doctor not too far from here. Maybe when the storm breaks, Boris can go get him.”
“I can go get him if you tell me where he’s at,” he volunteered.
“She’ll be okay until the storm breaks. Besides, I don’t think she wants you to go anywhere without her. She loves you,” she said with a soft smile.
He nodded. “I love her, too.”
“I think you do,” she said quietly. “Come along now. I’m sure you’re tired and hungry, too,” she said cheerfully.
He was both and was about to follow her when Boris pulled him back by the arm and pointed the gun at his chest. “You lay one more hand on that woman of yours and I’ll kill you,” he snarled. “Ain’t no man got a right to beat a woman. Injun or no Injun.”
“I have never beat her, Boris. There was a problem at the fort with Major Richards and he had her in jail and was trying to beat information out of her that she didn’t have. That’s when it started. There was a raid on the fort and every cavalryman was killed and the women were taken as slaves. That’s when it continued and I caught Chief Tall Deer and his son, Walking Bull trying to rape her while some others watched and cheered them on. That’s when it ended. I killed all of them and led all the white women out of the village and took my wife with me,” he said impatiently and shoved the gun away from his chest. “Now quit waving that damn gun at me before somebody gets hurt,” he huffed.
Marda came back in. “Boris,” she bellowed. “Stop being so damn territorial and let that young man come inside and eat.”
~~~
With every lie comes some truth, Cody thought, looking at Suzanne as she slept. He’d told Boris more than he ever wanted to and still made him believe that he and Suzanne were married. He didn’t know if that was the right or the wrong thing to do, but it was easier than trying to explain why he was with her since she was a white woman and he was a half-breed. That was usually viewed as hostile on the part of the Indian since no self-respecting white woman would ever willingly be with an Indian man. Then it would lead to even more questions about how it came to be that she was pregnant without a husband. Yeah, it was easier to lie. He would have to tell Suzanne to go along with it if she ever became lucid again.
His conscience tweaked him when he reminded himself that it wasn’t proper for him to sleep with another man’s wife. They had shared a blanket before and he had seen her with no clothes, as had every other man and woman in the Indian village, but it still didn’t make it right. He had seen her when modesty was not an option. He knew it had humiliated her and he’d helped her to recover as much as possible, but he was sure it would come back to haunt her someday.
He put more wood on the fire, then stripped to his underwear and slowly slid into the bed under the heavy quilts next to her. The bed felt so good and he was so tired. The room was warm and he didn’t have to worry about waking up dead the next morning as long as Marda held Boris at bay. Being murdered in their sleep had been a threat every day since he’d killed Chief Tall Deer and his maniac son, Walking Bull. Sick bastards, he thought odiously, then silently cursed himself for putting Suzanne in this position in the first place. He’d been trying to help her and thought that he was only doing the right thing, but how could the right thing turn out to be so bad?
Taking her to Tall Deer hadn’t been the right thing to do. He’d known that when he had set out on the mission. He’d known what tyrants Tall Deer and his son were and how they had no respect for women. He knew they thought white women were not any better than the dogs that roamed the v
illage. They’d been cruel, sadistic, and their torture knew no bounds. It didn’t bother them to torture the women to death. Once the women were dead, they merely walked away like it was no big deal; since he’d turned a blind eye to it, he was just as guilty. He had never participated, but he’d known about it and hadn’t done anything to stop it until it involved Suzanne.
He had helped the one woman escape, but it didn’t appease his conscience. He didn’t know if she’d actually made it back to her husband or how she was received if she did get to him. She’d been violated by several men. She’d even thought Cody was coming for her to do the same when he’d found her in the river, but he’d gone there to bathe and nothing else. He’d gotten her out of the village, taken her to the fort and left her at the gates. He thought of her often and hoped she made it.
He gazed at Suzanne by the light of the fire that crackled soothingly in the fireplace, relieved that he hadn’t taken her to the wicked chief. Cody had made that man and Walking Bull pay the ultimate price, but he didn’t feel bad. He felt more like he’d put sick animals out of their misery, leaving the world a better place.
Suzanne wasn’t strong enough to fight with Tall Deer and his son. Cody had seen and even sampled ladies, real ladies, while he’d been at school and he thought of her like that. Soft in the right places, beautiful, charming and he was sure she would smell pretty, like flowers, if she were given a chance.
He lightly touched her cheek with his fingertips as she slept peacefully. She wasn’t breathing so hard now, but it was still too hard for his comfort. As he traced a scratch on her cheek, he hoped she would forgive him for what he had put her through. She would realize that he was to blame for her situation and hate him. He’d cost her the life of her baby and there was no forgiveness for that.
He’d held her in the saddle for the past week and was sure he could feel the child growing within her, but knew that was impossible since Jenny hadn’t heard a heartbeat. It was wishful thinking on his part and his conscience coming after him again. He should have left her with that damn machine. Somebody from her world would have found her and taken her to safety. He thought again that she might be a person of the stars, but after what she’d endured and the beatings she’d taken with no sort of retaliation, he was convinced she was human and not a spirit. Spirits didn’t bruise or bleed.
As he drifted off to sleep, he remembered what Marda had said about Suzanne loving him. He couldn’t imagine it. He didn’t deserve it. But it didn’t change the fact that he loved her, too.
Chapter 29
Suzanne woke up the next morning in the warmth and security of Cody’s arms, nestled against his chest. She was feeling better now than she had in days. A good night of sleep was what she had needed.
She vaguely remembered Marda giving her some sort of tea that had tasted sweet, but it had knocked her out to the point where she had heard nothing or felt nothing, including Cody coming to bed.
She listened to the steady beat of his heart as the wind howled outside. She loved this man and she knew it. She felt guilty about it, though. Beau hadn’t been gone long. But when she compared the two men, Cody was a shining star. Cody was always so good to her and had always treated her with respect. He was kind, compassionate, and seemed to care.
Beau hadn’t shown her any respect since they were in high school. He had always called her a dumb blond even while they’d been dating. He’d never taken her seriously and had never given any credence to what her life plan had been. It had always been about him. When she looked back on it, she realized what a big mistake it had been to marry him.
She knew that Cody felt obligated to her. Maybe he wasn’t doing this because he liked her. Maybe he was doing these things just to get her out of his hair.
She realized she didn’t know that much about him. She did know that his father had been a white man and his mother an Indian. She knew his father had died, but didn’t know how. She knew that his mother had returned to her people only to be seen as the village whore. No Indian man would ever marry her since she’d been with a white man and had a child with him. Still, the men whom she’d serviced had given her and her son provisions and shelter. The disgraced mother had done what any woman would have done for her child.
Suzanne knew he had gone to school back east and was educated. He was well-spoken, bright, and acted decently. Had he made friends there? Did he have friends now? Did he have a girlfriend or a wife? Did he have children?
She knew nothing about him yet her heart swelled with love for him. He made her feel like no man ever had before. He was the moon in her darkness. She felt safe with him. She knew that he would never let anything happen to her. So, was she in love with him or the way he treated her? Beau’s unceasing cruelty had made her skittish at the thought of another relationship, not that she thought about it much. Her own father hadn’t wanted her. Her stepfather had paid little attention to her since she was pretty much out of the house by the time he’d moved in with his own daughters. Cody was attentive and she liked it.
Maybe she was in love with the way he looked. He was a gorgeous man with the long black hair that hung between his shoulder blades, those incredible dark eyes, bronze skin, tall, and more muscular than most men could ever achieve in a lifetime at a gym. With his square jaw, high cheekbones, thin lips, a prominent nose and a killer smile that revealed his even white teeth, he was strikingly handsome. A man like him never would have given a woman like her a second look in her world.
Maybe she was in love with the way he made her feel. He made her feel like she mattered. Like she was all that mattered. Guilt was driving that, she thought sadly. But when he kissed her, it was fireworks and bright lights in her head. She exploded with feelings she’d never felt before.
At the same time, she was putty in his hands. She couldn’t fight him even if she had wanted to. He never acted like he owned her or that she owed him anything. Instead, he acted like she was doing him a favor by letting him kiss her. She loved his kisses, though. She didn’t want to deny herself the pleasure of that. But kissing led to other things. She wondered what it would be like if they were to…
No, she told herself. Don’t even think about it. It just makes things worse.
Cody woke shortly after she had and was glad that she was so close to him. He held her around her back with his other arm around her waist. Both were lying on their sides facing each other, but she had her face buried in his chest. He could hear that she was breathing easier and hoped she was getting well. A few more days in bed and she might be okay.
He unconsciously cuddled her, rubbing his cheek against her soft, fragrant blond hair. She had some singed ends from Walking Bull setting it in the fire, but it didn’t look so bad and now it smelled good, too.
She sighed softly when she felt the slight squeeze, but when she tried to move away enough to look at him, a sharp pain went through her arm, reminding her it was broken.
He moved away just enough to see into her face. The room was dark now with just glowing embers in the fireplace; the room was cold again so he kept her close. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, trembling with the pain as she struggled to sit up.
He sat up and helped her to a sitting position, keeping his arm around her shoulders as he watched her clutch her broken arm. I hurt her again, he thought regretfully, still keeping his arm around her and pressed a soft kiss to her hair. “I’m sorry,” he whispered and leaned his cheek against her head as he held her close.
“You didn’t do anything. I just moved wrong,” she said in a hushed voice, looking at him in the dark with a slight smile. “I’m okay.”
“I have lots of other things to be sorry for where you’re concerned, Suzanne,” he said with quiet seriousness. “And it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than ‘I’m sorry’ to make it right.”
“It isn’t your fault, Cody. Sometimes things just happen because they happen. You can’t control it,” she reasoned.
He could hardly belie
ve she was so forgiving. He had put her in situations that risked not only her life but also the life of her child. She was sick because of him and her baby might be dead. Not a day went by that he didn’t regret pulling her out of the burning wreckage, but in his own selfish way, he was glad he had. She had changed his life forever.
They gazed into each other’s eyes for a long moment. Just as he was lowering his head to kiss her, a shuffle outside the door caught his attention. He looked at the door with apprehension, slowly reaching for his pistol that was on the floor next to the bed. He didn’t think the Claybornes were out of bed yet. Day was just beginning to break and with the snow and cold, there was no reason to get up.
“What’s the matter?” she asked fearfully.
He crossed his lips with his finger, signaling her to be quiet. He eased out of bed and crossed the room to the door. He leaned against it to listen and heard a gun being cocked. He flung the door open and shoved his pistol into the man’s forehead before the man could even look up.
Boris looked up at him, holding his gun to Cody’s chest. The man was startled, but wasted no time in trying to push his way into the room. “You goddamn stinkin’, rapin’ Injun,” he hollered furiously, pressing the gun into Cody’s chest as hard as he could.
Cody didn’t flinch, but pushed his own gun into Boris’s forehead, pushing him back out of the room. “You get the hell out of here before I blow your brains all over the place,” he shouted back. He’d had enough of this man.
Marda bustled out into the kitchen, still dressed in her nightgown. “Now Boris, I’ve told you time and again to put that damn thing away before you hurt somebody,” she said irritably and went to the two men and snatched Boris’s gun out of his hand. “Honest to John, I don’t know what’s wrong with you.”
Cody dropped his gun to his side, relieved that this incident was over but sure there would be more. Boris was paranoid and edgy about something and he had a feeling it was a lot more than just him being a half-breed with a white woman.
For the Love of Suzanne Page 15