"Yes," she breathed. "No . . . I don't know." She ran her fingers in his hair. "It feels so wonderful. No man has ever touched me before. No man—"
He silenced her with another kiss. "I'll stop," he told her, glorying in the feel of the weight of her breast in his hand. "Just tell me."
She groaned in indecision. "Yes." She lifted her head to kiss him full on the mouth. "Stop, else I'll have my underskirts over my head in a minute . . . that is if I had any."
He groaned as he reluctantly slipped his hand out from beneath her tunic and the warmth of her silky flesh. "All right." He ran a hand through his hair, trying to catch his breath. "I'll stop, but you'll damned well be sorry in the morning."
"No doubt I probably will." She sat up, her breath still coming faster than normal. "But this can lead to nothing but trouble." She tried to straighten her tunic, flustered.
He reached out and pushed her hands away and straightened the folds for her. "It's all right, Alex. I understand." Of course he didn't, not really. But at this point he was as confused as she was. He didn't understand his uncontrollable attraction to her. Not with Laughing Rain barely cold in her grave. Not with her killer still running free.
She looked up at him, her dark eyes awash with emotion. "No, you don't. How can you when I don't understand myself. I want you, Hunter. It's stupid. It's out of the question. But I do. I—"
"Hush," he soothed, drawing her into his arms. "You talk too damned much, you know that?"
She rested her cheek on his chest. "I know. I know. I always talk when I'm nervous."
"Or when you're content, or sad or happy or—"
She covered his mouth with her hand. "You're embarrassing me, shut up."
He kissed the top of her head. God in heaven. He wanted to make love to her. Now even more than he had a few minutes ago. It didn't make any sense, he knew it didn't, but tonight he was too tired to even care.
With a sigh, Hunter lowered himself down on his sleeping mat, Alexandra's soft form still in his arms.
"What are you doing?"
"Just lie with me," he whispered in her ear. "Let me sleep with you in my arms." He smiled down at her. "Just sleep."
She lifted her head to look directly into his eyes. She was going to say something, going to argue, but then stopped herself. "All right," she answered softly, lowering her head to rest it on his shoulder. "But what will Jon—"
"The hell with Jon, the hell with the world." He pulled a wool blanket over the both of them and drew her close to him. "The hell with them all," he murmured, closing his eyes, ". . . at least for tonight."
Chapter Eleven
For a week the trio traveled northeast without mishap. The wind blew cooler and the leaves began to turn color, showering the travelers in the reds, oranges and yellows of autumn. The mornings were so brisk that when Alexandra spoke, her breath was frosty in the air. But the afternoon sunshine was still bright and warm.
Although they traveled swiftly, she seemed not to tire. The night she and Hunter had kissed in the Shawnee village had been a turning point in her life, if not in his. After the words they had exchanged, the kisses they'd shared, she somehow felt different. For the first time in her life she no longer felt on the outside looking in. For the first time in her life she had a friend—two friends.
Alexandra didn't know what would come of this relationship she and Hunter were developing. She didn't even know what she wanted to come of it. All she knew was that he made her feel alive and vital. He angered her, but he also made her happier than she could ever remember being. He frustrated her, but he made her look beyond the walls of the world she had never glanced beyond before. In these last few days she had learned more about herself and mankind than she'd learned in her lifetime.
Jon kept up his private crusade to try and convince Alexandra to go back to London with him, but he did it in such a way that she was now amused rather than offended. Hunter had toned down his extravagant manner and behavior so as to be pleasant company.
In midafternoon of the third day, Alexandra was walking between the two men, with the pack mule following behind them. The rolling hills of the western Shawnee country had flattened, making the walk easy enough to carry on lengthy conversation. The three were discussing what delicacy each would enjoy when they reached Annapolis. Hunter wanted a slice of beef cooked rare with wild mushroom sauce, Alexandra a cup of real English tea, and Jon a bottle of expensive French brandy and a blond tavern wench all to himself. The three were laughing at their differences when Hunter suddenly ceased speaking in midsentence.
The moment he brought his finger to his lips, Alexandra was instantly silent. She now knew Hunter well enough to know when danger was imminent. Jon grabbed a musket from the pack animal. Hunter slid a feathered arrow from his quiver and notched it in his bow.
Alexandra listened to the sounds of the forest that first were simply a cacophony of confusion, but as the seconds passed they began to filter in her mind and she was able to distinguish one sound from another. She heard the trees swaying in the breeze and the leaves fluttering to rest on the rich ground. She heard the chatter of squirrels building their nests. She heard the late-afternoon song of the swallow.
Then, suddenly a flock of quail burst from a hedgerow just off the game trail ahead. Hunter raised his bow and pulled back the arrow in one fluid motion. Jon cocked his musket with an ominous click.
Alexandra's mouth went dry. She was afraid, but not paralyzed by fear. She wished she had a weapon so that she might fight beside the men. She'd come too far to be killed by an Iroquois arrow now.
"Ne she!" a voice called from the brush. "No. This man comes in peace."
Two Crows. Alexandra recognized his voice immediately. She turned to Hunter as she found that in these last few days she often did when she was uncertain or afraid. "Two Crows," she whispered harshly. "Don't believe him. It's a trick. I won't go with him! I'll die before he takes me again!"
Hunter gestured with his bow. "Step out where you can be seen, He-Who-Wishes-To-Die!"
Two Crows appeared above the hedgerow, his hands raised above his head. His face was bruised hideously, his jaw slightly off center. Where his two front teeth had been, was a gaping hole. He wore bloody rags wrapped around the hand that was now missing fingers.
Alexandra's first instinct was to step back, but she didn't. She stood her ground beside Hunter. "Are you alone?" she demanded. "Or do your dog companions wait in the trees?"
"No. This man is alone. No len ah wai."
"Dog Companions," Jon muttered. "Christ, Alex you sound like Hunter! Hunter, do you hear—"
She shot him such an angry look that he shut up in midsentence.
"Why are you here?" Alexandra questioned, turning her attention back to Two Crows.
He still held his hands high above his head. "I come to warn you, to warn the Hunter of the Shawnee."
"What the hell's he talking about?" Jon sighed loudly. "Just shoot him, Hunter. You told him that if you saw his ugly face again you'd kill him. I'd do it, but I'd prefer to save my musket ball for a deer. I can't eat Mohawks. Just never had the stomach for them."
"Let him speak," Hunter said quietly.
Alexandra glanced sideways at Hunter. Seeing that he was content to let her question the half-breed, she went on, feeling even more confident than before. "You come to warn Hunter? Warn him of what?"
Two Crows licked his lips, his gaze never straying from Hunter's drawn arrow. "I come to warn him of the cap-i-tan. He and his soldier-men look for the Hunter of the Shawnee. They look for the white equiwa called Alexandra. You must not go further north into the rising sun. He camps there."
Hunter motioned with his bow for Two Crows to step out of the brush and approach them. He did so, but cautiously. As he walked, he limped. His leather tunic and leggings were torn in shreds and blood-stained.
"Put down your hands," Alexandra said. "But you move and he'll kill you, you know that, don't you?"
Two Crows slowly l
owered his hands. Hunter relaxed his aim, letting his bow fall to his side.
"I am without a weapon. They took them all. If this Hunter tries to kill me, I am without defense," Two Crows said. "This I know. The Hunter of the Shawnee already gave me life when he could have given me death."
She laughed but she saw nothing funny in his words. "So why do you give up this chance at life? Why did you come back when you knew he would kill you? Why didn't you run when you had the chance?"
"Listen to my words. I come to warn the Hunter. The cap-i-tan looks for him. The cap-i-tan freed me because I said I would bring him the woman, Alexandra. The woman he paid me for." His black eyes sparkled with sudden defiance. "But I will not."
"I don't get this. Is this some kind of trick? Why do you warn me?" Hunter asked quietly.
"No trick. No trick. I warn you so that you will not die."
Hunter listened carefully to the half-breed's words. "It's obvious this captain beat the hell out of you to convince you to see things his way. Why didn't you run north when you had the chance? Or why didn't you try to take Alexandra back to him now?"
Two Crows glanced down at his tattered moccasins. "My father was a man of honor. This man"—he tapped his chest lightly—"has none, but . . ." He looked up at Hunter. "But . . . you give this man without honor the chance to live when you did not have to. My father would have warned you if you had given him that chance."
It was Hunter's turn to laugh. "An Iroquois with a conscience! I'll be damned straight to hell and back. Never heard of such a thing!"
Two Crows hung his head. "I warn you now. Do not go in this direction. To the northeast lies death for you, worse for the white woman. The cap-i-tan will sell her to my people, as he has sold other white equiwa."
"You're serious, aren't you?" Alexandra asked, studying his battered face carefully. "You really did come to warn us."
"Yes, and now the task is done. This man has warned you. Kill me if you wish. If you do not wish, I go home to brothers and sisters on the lakes."
"You've warned me and now you're going to run?" Hunter grimaced. "This captain catches your tail and he'll kill you, Two Crows." He nodded. "Looks like he already tried."
"He will not kill me." He gestured with his bloody bandaged hand. "This man will run like the wind, invisible to the red-bird soldiers."
Jon leaned against a tree and pulled a silver snuffbox from his coat. "It's probably a trap. There's no captain looking for us. Two Crows has got a covey of redskins waiting in the trees for us. I say kill him now and be done with it."
"Kill this man if you wish," Two Crows repeated solemnly. "But these lips speak the truth."
"And what?" Jon asked sarcastically. "You never lied before, Two Crows?"
Again, he hung his head. "These lips have said many lies, many half truths, but I tell you, I speak the truth today."
Alexandra crossed her arms over her chest and glanced at Hunter. It was obvious he, too, was carefully weighing the words and motives of Two Crows.
"What do you think?" Hunter asked so quietly that only Alexandra could hear him.
She stepped closer to him. "I think he's telling the truth."
"Why do you think so?"
She shrugged. "Just an instinctive feeling."
Hunter nodded. "Those are the ones to go by. Listen, watch, rationalize, but in the end you've got to go with what you feel in your belly."
She studied Hunter's handsome face. His earring sparkled in the late afternoon sunlight. "So we don't go northeast?"
He set his jaw. "We have to."
"Hunter—"
"Where is this cap-i-tan, and his soldiers?" Hunter asked Two Crows, cutting Alexandra off.
"Two days' easy walk." Two Crows pointed in the direction Alexandra, Hunter, and Jon were headed. "An English fort. The fort is supposed to protect English land, but I think these soldiers do not protect. Mostly they eat, drink, play the playing cards, and futter women."
Hunter nodded. "We thank you for your warning. You can go."
"You will go this way now?"
"We have to," Hunter answered. "I seek a man. I head for another fort three or four days from here. Fort Maurice. Fort Bend-In-The-River to The People."
"Then take the white woman back if you want to save her. Send her with the Shawnee." He nodded at Jon who was busy picking through the mule's packs muttering to himself about being hungry.
"No." Alexandra spoke up. "We travel together." She looked at Hunter and then back at Two Crows. "We won't separate. The Hunter of the Shawnee seeks the man who killed his wife. We seek him." She didn't know what had made her say that. She wanted no part of this vengeance of Hunter's. She didn't care about his beloved Laughing Rain. She just wanted to get home. Didn't she?
Hunter looked at her and she saw something flash in his eyes, though what, she didn't know. Then he looked back at Two Crows. "The fort I travel to is farther north. I will take heed of your warning and stay clear of the soldiers you speak of."
"It will not be enough." Two Crows shook his head emphatically. "This cap-i-tan, he is evil. He no longer follows the English rules. He has no fort, but many soldiers. There are men of the Iroquois nation who walk with him. I tell you, he will find you, he will take the woman, and kill you for taking what he thinks is his."
"We'll be all right, Two Crows. Now you take yourself and get out of the colony. Run as fast as you can. Run home to your family and never return to the land of the Delaware and Shawnee again."
Two Crows turned to go.
"And Two Crows," Hunter called to him.
The half-breed Iroquois turned back. "This man thanks you. We are even. Now go before I lose my patience and kill you as I said I would."
Without another word Two Crows took off into the trees and disappeared before their eyes.
Alexandra watched him go.
Hunter touched her shoulder. "You afraid to go on?"
She looked up at him. "Yes."
He brushed her cheek with the back of his fingertips. "You understand I can't turn back?"
She could feel herself trembling, though whether it was from fear or his touch, she didn't know. "I understand."
"You and Jon could—"
"I said I'd stay with you until you could see me home."
"Ah, Christ," Jon muttered from where he now sat on a rock beside a tree chewing on a piece of smoked, dried venison. "What? Have you both got a death wish now?"
Hunter looked at Jon, but made no response. "Let's move on," he said quietly. "There's still a few hours of daylight left."
Alexandra walked to where the mule stood and picked up his lead-line. "Let's go, Jon."
Jon rose, shaking his head. "The man tells us there's someone out there waiting to kill us and we go anyway. I don't like this, not one bit." He lifted his musket onto his shoulder and fell in behind Alexandra and Hunter. "The two of you are crazy, I'm telling you. I just can't figure out for the life of me which one's crazier!"
Hunter, Alexandra, and Jon traveled until dusk and then set up camp in a clearing near a small bubbling stream. Once the campfire was lit and the mule hobbled for the night, Jon settled back on his sleeping mat to nurse his brandy bottle.
Both too restless to turn in, Hunter and Alexandra decided to try to catch a few fish to grill for a late-evening meal. With some fishing line and hooks from one of the mule's packs, the two journeyed up stream just out of sight of Jon and sat down on the bank to try their luck.
Using grubs found under a rotting tree stump Alexandra and Hunter sat in comfortable silence for a while, jiggling their lines in the hopes of catching the first fish. Though silence had once made Alexandra uncomfortable, she had grown used to it out here in the wilderness and found that she liked it. As ridiculous as it seemed to her, she just enjoyed being with Hunter. Sometimes words didn't seem to be necessary.
It was Hunter who finally broke the peace of dusk. "I've been thinking about what Two Crows said," he mentioned casually. "About this captain."
He glanced at her. "Maybe it would be a good idea if you and Jon headed south. You could be back in Annapolis in a few days' time."
She jiggled her fishing line. The sun had set over the horizon to the west, but the sky was still lighted by the brilliant afterglow. "You trying to get rid of me?"
"Yes. No." He groaned, seeming to try to find the right words. "Alexandra—"
"We agreed I'd go with you to find Blue-Green Eyes and then you'd take me home."
"But—"
"You'd take me home. Not Jon." She watched the grub on the end of her line bob up and down below the surface of the water. "I like Jon well enough, but I don't know that I can trust him with my life. He can be a selfish man."
"That he can be. But a lot of it's an act. If I asked him to, he'd die for you, Alexandra. He'd die for me."
She didn't want to get into an argument with Hunter over Jon. He was his friend, more than a friend, more like a brother. But the fact remained that it was Hunter she knew would see her home safely. "I said I'll go with you and I will. I'm not afraid."
"Of course you're not afraid. You're the bravest damned woman I think I've ever met. I thought I was going to have to defend Two Crows against you today the way you were interrogating him." He smiled. "It's just that there's no need for you to go with me. This is my battle."
"Jon agreed to go with you to find Blue-Green Eyes. I agreed." She made eye-contact with him and was immediately drawn in by the deep color of his hazel eyes. "I meant what I said today when I said we had to go on. We have to find Laughing Rain's killer."
Hunter tied his line to a tree root protruding from the dirt bank and slid over to sit beside her. "I heard you say that, but I don't understand. You never even knew her."
"No man has a right to do that to a woman. To take a woman's life like that. That could have been me, Hunter."
He smiled, catching a lock of dark hair that had escaped the leather tie at the nape of her neck. He twisted the lock around and around his finger. "I want to kiss you," he whispered so softly that she felt his words more than heard them.
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