When Passion Calls

by Cassie Edwards

  Shane nodded. "He cannot be allowed to molest someone as sweet and innocent as Cedar Maid," he said. He gave Red Raven a troubled glance, then peered intensely at Melanie. "Too much time is being wasted in talk," he said, reaching to touch her cheek gently. "I must go. Already Trapper Dan has the advantage. He has surely gone many miles since he took Cedar Maid away!"

  "I want to go with you," Melanie said, grabbing his hand and holding on to it for dear life. She had the feeling that she was going to lose him and she had only had him for a short while. She could not bear the loss.

  "It is not wise," Shane said, shaking his head. "Return home where you will be safe. I only wish to have one woman at a time to worry about."

  Melanie flinched at those words, suspecting more meaning in them than he had intended. "I will not slow you down" she argued. "I ride a horse as skillfully as any man. And I can take care of myself! I will go with you, Shane. You can't expect me to return home as though nothing has happened."

  She blinked back a tear. "Shane, I'm afraid for you," she said. "This man you are going after has proven to be nothing less than a fiend! He will not let you take Cedar Maid without a fight."

  "It is my fight," Shane said flatly. "I will fight and I will win." He pointed toward the farm in the distance. "Go home, Melanie. I have no more time for arguing."

  Stung by his actually giving her a command, Melanie gave him a hurt stare, then wheeled her horse around and rode hard away from him. Tears splashed from her eyes, fearing for more than just his safety. She feared that his past would always be there to interfere with his new life.

  Hearing the thundering of hooves behind her, Melanie drew her reins taut and eased her horse around so that she could take a final look at Shane. Wiping tears from her cheeks, she watched him disappear into the forest.

  "I can't let him go this easily!" she cried to herself. "I must follow. I must! He just won't know that I am there!"

  Waiting just a moment longer, Melanie nudged her horse with her knees and urged it into a soft trot, keeping just far enough back from Shane so that she would not be noticed by him or his friend. When she reached the forest, she found cover behind the trees. She rode steadily, never letting Shane out of her sight.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Unaware of Melanie following them, Shane and Red Raven rode endlessly onward. The shadows of the forest loomed around them, yet the air was warm as the sun rose higher in the sky.

  "Are you positive this is the way Trapper Dan traveled with Cedar Maid?" Shane shouted, casting a troubled glance at Red Raven.

  "The tracks of the trapper's horses led in this direction earlier," Red Raven shouted back. "But I lost them at the river! We can only hope now that we are still following them."

  "I cannot believe that the same man can take two of the women I love away from me!" Shane said, his eyes haunted. "Why did he choose Cedar Maid for a bride? Why?"

  "As the story was repeated to me by one of my

  cousins, who sat around the fire with Gray Falcon while the bride price was being paid, the trapper said that he had heard about how beautiful this woman was who had just moved to the land of many lakes from Canada," Red Raven said. "He came. He paid well. Not only did you lose Cedar Maid, Shane, but I also. She was to be my bride!"

  "Gray Falcon will pay for this," Shane grumbled, doubling a fist at his side. "It is only in spite that he sent Cedar Maid away. He wanted nothing in his village to remind him of me! Because of his jealousy and spite, Cedar Maid must now suffer!"

  "Shane, Gray Falcon has won in the battle of the heart," Red Raven said. "Not only Cedar Maid is suffering, but also you and I!"

  Hate welled inside Shane for Gray Falcon. He nodded. "Yes, that is so, Red Raven," he mumbled. "That is so." He thrust his heels into the flanks of his horse and urged it into a harder gallop.

  Tired and hungry, her body feeling as though it were glued to the horse's back, Melanie continued her journey with watchful eyes. She sighed heavily, her hair lifting wildly from her shoulders as the wind whipped it about. "When will they ever stop?" she whispered, her lips parched with her need of water. "Do they have any idea at all where they are going, or is it all a guessing game? If they do catch up with the trapper, what then? Will I witness a side of Shane that I do not even want to know exists? Will he viciously kill the man?" She swallowed hard. "Lord, will he even scalp him?"

  Weary, and too full of questions that she feared the answers to, Melanie chose to drop back away from the two determined riders and return to her farm. This was not a mission that she should be a part of, after all. She could not bear to think that Shane could have a savage side. It would tear at her heart to see him be anything but gentle and compassionate.

  "I don't know what I was thinking by following him," Melanie said, drawing her reins tautly and stopping her horse. "It was foolish!"

  Needing a moment to rest before traveling back, Melanie dismounted. Watching Shane ride farther and farther away from her, she felt empty and frightened. Perhaps this would be the last time she would ever see him.

  Turning her eyes away and stifling a sob in the depths of her throat, Melanie took her horse's reins and led her steed to a great nestling of oak trees. After securing the reins on a tree limb, she stretched her tired and aching bones.

  Just as she started to sit down on the ground for a much needed rest, however, she stopped short and took an unsteady step backward. Just ahead was something that did not look right. It was a pile of leaves that looked as though it had been put there purposely. And the form it took was that of a human body!

  Paling, Melanie stared at the mound of leaves for a moment longer, then, scarcely breathing, she knelt to the ground and began brushing leaves aside.

  When suddenly a face showed up at her through

  the opening, Melanie jolted with fright back to her feet. And as she looked down at the lifeless dark eyes staring blankly up at her, she began to scream.

  Over and over again she screamed.

  The screams reached through the forest. When Shane heard them, chills raced up and down his spine. He stared at Red Raven for a moment, then both wheeled their horses around and began riding back in the direction from which they had just come. Everything was silent now, even the warbling of the birds in the trees.

  After a moment of quick travel, Shane blinked his eyes, hardly believing what he was seeing. It was Melanie. But what was she doing there?

  His jaw firmed angrily as he realized that she must have been following him. But what had happened to cause her so much distress? Where was her horse? Had it thrown her?

  Puzzled, he watched Melanie running through the forest in his direction. Her eyes were wild. Tears streaked down her face.

  "Shane!" Melanie cried, waving her hands desperately. "I'm so glad you heard my screams. Oh, Shane, it's so horrible! Someonesomeone is dead back there. Someone has been buried beneath a layer of leaves. Oh, Shane, I saw the person's face! It was . . . a woman!"

  Shane drew his stallion to a shuddering halt beside Melanie. He was filled with many questionswhy she was there, why she had followed him!

  Yet, nothing but what she had said was important. Who was buried beneath the leaves? A woman?

  No! It could not be! Not Cedar Maid!

  The trapper had paid well for her. Why would he take her as a bride, then kill her?

  Reaching down, Shane swept Melanie up on his horse with him. Securing her on his lap and locking an arm around her waist, he rode onward. "How much farther?" he asked. He was so filled with fear of what he was soon going to find, his voice sounded strangled.

  "I couldn't have run far," Melanie said, sobbing. The beautiful face of the woman, an Indian maiden, haunted her now, and probably would for the rest of her life.

  Her heart faltered as she looked quickly up at Shane. She had failed to tell him that the woman was an Indian. He was looking for an Indian woman.

  Oh, no, it couldn't be! It just couldn't be!

  "I see your horse,"
Shane said, snapping the reins to urge his mount to go faster. "Did you find the body close by where your horse is reined?"

  "Yes," Melanie said, turning cold inside at the thought of seeing the woman again. "Only a few footsteps away."

  Shane drew rein beside Melanie's bay gelding. He helped her to the ground, then swung himself out of his saddle and followed her. When she pointed to the mound of leaves he hesitated, then went on to it. A dizziness swept through him when he found the beautiful doe eyes of Cedar Maid

  looking up at him, yet not seeing him. In those death-locked eyes he could see pain. He could see despair.

  Crazed, Shane fell to his knees and began scraping the rest of the leaves away. Soon Cedar Maid's body was fully uncovered. Melanie saw the bloody wrists and turned her eyes away, bitter bile rising into her throat. She choked back the urge to retch as she hung her head in her hands.

  Red Raven moved to Shane's side. He knelt down to one knee beside him and gazed down at Cedar Maid, unable to hold back remorseful tears. Shane picked Cedar Maid up and moved her from the grave of leaves and took her to a more pleasant spot close beside a flowering lilac bush.

  Melanie regained her composure. She went to Shane and knelt down beside him. ''This is Cedar Maid?" she asked, her voice breaking.

  "Yes," Shane said, his voice filled with venom. "This is Cedar Maid." He lifted one of Cedar Maid's limp hands, studying her wrist. He could tell that the wounds on both of her wrists were self-inflicted. To keep from having to submit to the evil trapper, surely even before he had dishonored her, she had taken her own life!

  "It is because of me that she is dead," Shane said, easing Cedar Maid's hand back to the ground. He reached trembling fingers to her eyes and gently closed her eyelids, then cradled her head against his chest. "I should have been there to protect her." He began to wail and chant, looking to the heavens.

  Shaken, Melanie rose to her feet and stared

  down at Shane, then at Red Raven. She felt out of place, as though an intruder, witnessing their terrible grief.

  She looked at Shane again. His reaction to Cedar Maid's death was so intense. His reaction was that of a man in love.

  Had he desired Cedar Maid but been denied the chance to marry her because he had been banished from the Chippewa village?

  Had Melanie just been someone to comfort him in his loss, a handy substitute for the woman he could not have?

  Turning her eyes away, Melanie cried softlynot only for herself, but also for Shane, and for the tragedy that had befallen this innocent woman.

  So often she was discovering that not only was life hard, but so very, very cruel!

  Red Raven dried his tears and placed a hand on Shane's shoulder. "It is best that we return Cedar Maid to my village," he said. "Then we must go and find the trapper. We must kill him, Shane."

  Shane shook his head as he looked up at Red Raven. "The search for Trapper Dan will be futile," he said. "He knows the wrath of the Chippewa. He will not chance being caught after Cedar Maid is found dead. Did you not see the haste in which he left her? He did not even take the time to bury her except beneath a covering of leaves! He knew that quick escape was vital, or else he would have taken the time to bury her in the ground, to guarantee that no one would ever find her."

  He looked down at Cedar Maid's lovely, quiet face. He rocked her within his arms. "And, no, she will not be taken back to Gray Falcon's village," he said softly. "She was sent away from the village against her wishes. She was disgraced in the eyes of all of her people by having to leave with the vile trapper. She would not want to be disgraced again by being returned to be stared upon with her death mask. No. She will be buried here. Where it is peaceful. Where she chose to die."

  "Ay-uh, that is probably best," Red Raven said, nodding. "It is peaceful here and the fragrance from the flowers is sweet. Cedar Maid will enjoy it in death, as she would have in life."

  "I always swore never to hate Gray Falcon because the old chief would not have approved of such ugly emotion," Shane said coldly. "But I was wrong. I do hate him. And I will avenge Cedar Maid's death!"

  "Together we will avenge her death," Red Raven said, his eyes filled with sudden fire. "Whatever you say, I will do alongside you!"

  "How many horses did Trapper Dan pay as bride price for Cedar Maid?" Shane asked, gazing down at her as she lay so limply in his arms. "Just how many pelts passed from Trapper Dan's hands into Gray Falcon's?"

  "Five horses and at least ten very fine bear pelts," Red Raven said, moving to balance himself on his haunches beside Shane.

  "Then tonight we shall go and steal this exact number of horses and pelts from Gray Falcon," Shane said. "He will lose everything that he found worthy of such a heartless trade. Tonight, Red Raven, if we ride hard, we can be there. As the moon rises high in the sky, it will cast our shadows along the ground as we take what should not be Gray Falcon's!"

  Melanie had stood by, listening. Fear grabbed her at the pit of her stomach. If Shane did not return with her now to his new life, perhaps he would never return again!

  "Shane," she said, kneeling down beside him. "Please don't do this. Let it be. If not, perhaps it won't only be Cedar Maid who dies needlessly. You could die, also."

  She so badly wanted to replace Cedar Maid in his arms. She wanted to cling to him, whisper in his ear what they had found together!

  Had it all been false? Would he ever turn to her again with tender, loving arms? Had his feelings for her all been pretense?

  If so, she would never trust a man again. She would not even want to. He was her life.

  Only he!

  Shane rose to his feet, carrying Cedar Maid. "Melanie, you must return home," he said flatly, his voice cold and unfeeling as he gazed down at her. "I shall follow later."

  "But how can I be sure?" she said, her voice drawn. "Shane, listen to me! You could die while trying to make things right for a woman who is already dead! I am alive, Shane. Alive! Please go home with me."

  "You know that I can't," Shane said, his eyes holding hers. "Cedar Maid's death must be

  avenged. Now that is all that I will say to you about it. Go home?

  "No," Melanie said, lifting her chin stubbornly. "I will go with you. I can help you steal the horses. I am skilled with horses. You know that I am!"

  "I cannot allow it, Melanie," Shane said, impatience thick in his words. "You were told not to follow earlier and you chose to disobey me. But now it is different. You are right. What I have chosen to do has a measure of danger in it. If I cannot achieve this revenge, I would not want to think it is because you got in the way. Do you understand now why you must do as you are told?"

  Melanie stared up at him unblinkingly, knowing that this time she had no choice but to do as he said. It was true that more than likely she would get in the way. And what of Terrance? Once he discovered her gone for much longer than usual, he would come looking for her. He might even bring the whole city of St. Paul to look for her!

  There were more dangers here than she even wanted to think about.

  "I'll do as you ask," she said, trembling. "But I shall not rest until I see you've returned home safely, Shane. Please make it soon."

  "One sunset will pass and then I will return," Shane said, sighing heavily.

  "I only hope that you are sincere," Melanie said, then rushed to her horse and jerked her reins from the tree limb. She pulled herself up onto the horse and wheeled it around. For a moment, she gazed down at the lifeless form in Shane's arm,

  feeling a deep remorse for the innocent woman who had been wronged.

  She then looked up and let her eyes lock with Shane's. A cold rush of fear soared through her, for she was not seeing anything akin to what she usually saw in Shane's eyes when he looked at her.

  Had Cedar Maid's death changed everything, forever?

  Melanie turned her eyes away, swallowing back the urge to cry. She squared her shoulders and thrust her knees hard into her horse's side. "Sugar, take me home," she
whispered.

  She looked to the heavens and said a soft prayer for Shane.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Moonlight spiraled through the dining room window, silvering the floor at Melanie's feet. Seated at a long dining table, a chandelier with melting, tapered candles above it, Melanie only picked at her food. She stared down at her plate filled with tempting morsels, but too many doubts and fears were getting in the way of a healthy appetite.

  She couldn't get Shane off her mind, nor the Indian maiden he had held in his arms as he mourned over her! When she recalled Shane's wails, like those of an Indian in torment, she couldn't stop the jealousy that stung her heart.

  Had he lived with the Indians too long? Was there truly a chance that he could change? If he did return to his farm, could he ever forget his past and live for the present? For the future? Was Melanie truly going to be a part of that future?

  And, oh, Lord, where was he at this moment? Was he safe? Or had he been caught stealing from the Chippewa chief?

  "Sis, you've barely touched your food," Terrance said, startling Melanie's eyes upward. He ran a finger around the tightness of his ruffle-splashed collar, his gold brocade waistcoat picking up the glow of the candles. He poured more wine into his long-stemmed glass. "I know what you're thinking about and it's a waste of time."

  Terrance smiled smugly at her as he lifted his glass in a mock salute. "It's plain and simple, Melanie. Shane is gone," he said, his slow smile tugging at his narrow black mustache. "In time you'll see that you're better off without him. He could never become one of us. He was a part of the wilderness for too long."

  A slow burn was beginning deeply within Melanie. She placed her fork on her plate. Grabbing her linen napkin from her lap, she slammed it on the table, then shoved her chair back and rose angrily from it. "Terrance, Shane will return and he will fit in to his new life," she said, her eyes flashing angrily. "You may as well get used to the idea of his being around, brother dear, because I plan to be his wife!"