He left her mouth, and she gasped in pain, burying her face against his shoulder as his big, sure hands grasped her under the hips and he pushed himself rhythmically, groaning her name softly.
“Hang on, Agiya,” he told her softly, kissing her hair.
Moments later she felt a throbbing deep inside herself. He groaned with great passion, then seemed to relax. After a few more seconds he pulled himself out of her and held her close, and she could not stop the tears that came then from the realization of what had just happened to her.
“Do not cry, Agiya. I am sorry if I hurt you. The hurt will go away. This I promise.”
Her tears came in bitter sobs, tears over more than the fact that she had just let this near stranger invade her body and rob her of her virginity. She wept over her mother, wept over her terror of what could happen to her if she stayed with Luke, wept over the fact that she had no idea if she could trust this man who held her, if he truly cared for her and would take her away, or if he had just used her. She was so ignorant of men and mating.
Had she just been raped without even knowing it? Were there ways to force a woman without physically beating her? Would River Joe do that to her? Would he leave her now and never come back? Luke had said that River Joe had gotten in trouble over another white girl. Had he done this to others, only to go on his merry way and laugh about it?
He was petting her hair, kissing her forehead now. “Please stop crying, Emma. It will be all right now. You are my wife now. By Cherokee custom I have only to lie with you and be one with you, and you are mine.”
Her heart took hope at the words. She breathed deeply to stop her tears, wiping at her nose and eyes with her dress.
“Do you mean it? I’m your wife?” She leaned her head back, watching his eyes when the lightning came again. She saw love there, saw a gentle smile on his face. Rain fell gently now, the earlier torrent letting up.
“I would not have done this if I did not want you for my woman. Now it is done. It cannot be changed.”
Thunder boomed again, and their eyes held. He leaned close and kissed her again, several times over on the mouth, then the throat, then moving to her breast again, kissing her nipple.
“Someday my sons will suckle at your breasts,” he said softly.
He gently pulled her dress back over her shoulder and breast then, kissing her lips once more.
“You don’t think…I’m bad?” she whimpered.
He smiled. “No. I do not think you are bad. I think you are a good woman, and the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I think the Maker of Breath brought me here so that I would find the woman who can help ease the pain of the loss of my Yellow Sky and help me learn to love again.”
Her heart soared. “Do you love me, River Joe?”
His hand moved over her chest and belly. “I have just told you that I do.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered.
He gently massaged her belly. “The hurt will go away.”
She was glad it was dark so that he could not see her blush. She found it hard to believe what had just happened. She felt light, happy, beautiful.
“What will we do now?” she asked.
He moved his hand up to stroke her hair. “We will wait for the Jasmine. I must get my trading done. Then I will come for you and speak to your stepfather.”
“No!” She looked up at him again. “He said tonight that he would shoot you on sight if he saw you around. He said you killed a man up at the Gillmore settlement.”
He rose, resting on one elbow. “Did he say why?”
She wiped at her eyes more as the rain came down harder again. “He said it was over a white girl.”
He let out a disgusted laugh. “That stupid girl followed me everywhere. She was trying to make trouble and she found it. I finally told her to stay away from me. She ran back to her husband-to-be, told him I spoke to her—called her pretty. She wanted to make him jealous. With her watching, he wanted to show what a big man he was. He came after me with a pistol. I was not even wearing one at the time. He shot at me while my back was turned and ended up killing a horse I had just bought.” He sighed, sitting up and pulling on his buckskin shirt.
“Luke never mentioned that.”
“They seldom mention the truth. Men like Tommy and Luke and the others do all they can to make the Cherokee look bad, and I am considered Cherokee.” He tied the laces of the shirt, then stood up and tied on his loincloth and pulled on his buckskin pants. She could see him now and again as the lightning flashed, studied his magnificent physique, and found it incredible that this wild man of the mountains had just made love to her, had turned her from girl to woman.
“They only tell the parts that make me look bad,” he continued. “When the man missed with his pistol, another man threw him a knife. With the girl watching and his own jealousy raging, he had no choice but to try to kill me with it. But no man comes after me with a knife and lives to tell about it. I am better with a knife than anything.” He moved to lie down beside her again, rubbing a hand over her arm. “You are cold.” He pulled her close to warm her. “When I thought about that dead horse, I could not stop myself from ripping him open once I sank my blade into him.”
She felt a great relief that the girl meant nothing to him.
“Luke says he’s going to let Tommy marry me. But he said he’ll wait for Hank first. I don’t know what for. At least that means I don’t have to worry about Tommy till the Jasmine comes. Besides, Luke says Tommy is laid up bad. He told his pa that his horse threw him.”
River Joe grinned. “He did, did he?” He leaned over her again. “Sometimes I wonder what you would have done to me if you had decided to fight me.”
She ran her hands over his powerful arms. “I doubt I could have stopped you. But I didn’t want to. Some folks would say it was a real bad thing I did.”
He put a big hand to the side of her face. “Not my people. There is nothing bad in doing what comes naturally, Emma, what is right in the heart.”
The rain came down harder and he sat up, pulling her up with him. “You should be inside.”
“Luke was drunk. I could probably go in now. He’ll sleep hard till late morning.” She grasped his arms. “You can’t come here, River. He’ll try to shoot you.”
“Not when he is sober. I will be careful. The Jasmine will come soon. The river is still rising. Hank will have to get back downriver as soon as he can, before the river gets too dangerous. He will come before Tommy can give you any more trouble. I must leave you now.”
“But where will you go?”
“I have a place not far. There are a lot of caves along the banks of the river.”
“If we go away, where will you take me?”
“It depends on whether they let you come with me willingly, or if I must steal you away. We must try to do it the right way if we can, so there is no trouble.”
He stood up, helping her up with him.
“Will you be all right?” he asked.
“I think so.” She hugged him around the middle. “Am I really your wife now, River?”
He grasped her arms, pulling her back and looking down at her. “Yes. It is the Cherokee way.” He put a hand to her face. “You call me just River, not River Joe.”
“River Joe is what everybody else calls you. I like just River. It’s a nice name, one that only I will call you.” She hugged him again. “I never thought something like this would happen to me, River. I never felt special before, and I never knew a man could really care about a woman. I never had anybody say ‘I love you’ to me before. Not even my mama told me that. But it’s all so scary, to think of going off with you. You won’t change, will you? You won’t be like Tommy or Luke?”
His heart ached for her, his own emotions mixed. How quickly she had gotten into his blood. He had given in to his blazing desire for her. Now this young woman with the cornsilk hair belonged to him. She was depending on him. Esaugetuh Emissee had given him a great challenge, b
ringing him this far and letting him set eyes on Emma Simms.
“I am going up to the MacBain village to catch the Jasmine and get my trading done. It is only the next settlement upriver, so I can get back here before the Jasmine does. When I get here, I will have my trading done and be ready to go. The first thing we must do is take the supplies I came here for to my family.”
She looked up at him. “Indians! You’ll take me to the Cherokee?”
He smiled at her childlike surprise. “You will like them. You say you have never known love. There you will find much love, more than you know is possible after living with Luke Simms all your life. And you will be with me. Why should you be afraid? I am like one of them. Is there anything so different about me?”
She put her head against his chest and breathed deeply of the scent of leather. “I don’t even know yet for sure. I’m taking a big chance, River.”
“Not as big as the chance you take by staying here.”
Her heart pounded with anticipation and excitement. No matter what happened, she would at least be away from this dying farm and from Luke Simms and Tommy Decker.
“I know. Come back for me, River. If you don’t come back, I’ll die. I’ll just die!”
“I will come back. This I promise. I have just made you my woman, Emma Simms. And I intend to be one with you again, as soon as I can. Watch for the Jasmine. When you see it, I will be close.”
“I love you, River,” she whimpered. “I might be crazy in the head, but I love you.”
He sighed deeply. “I am probably crazy myself. I have a way of finding trouble without even trying. I will pray to the Maker of Breath that I can have you without a fight.” He pulled away. “Go inside now. You will want to wash. Try to get some sleep before your stepfather wakes in the morning. It will be only two or three days at the most now.”
“I wish I could go with you.”
“I would take you away with me right now, but people would see us together when I trade with the Jasmine, as I must do. I cannot let my family down, Emma. Hank Toole pays well for my deerskins. To take you now without permission would bring us much trouble.”
“I know.” She turned and saw her bloomers as the lightning lit up the shed. She reached down and began pulling them on, blushing again. Her insides ached, but she believed his promise that the hurt would go away. In spite of what they had done, it made her blush and feel weak to think of doing it again. And the thought of doing the more intimate things he had whispered, the thought of his seeing her naked in full light, made every nerve tingle and made her cheeks fiery hot.
“I will go now,” he said. “I will be back soon.” He led her to the stall entrance and she grasped his arm.
“River!”
He pulled her close.
“Don’t let me down,” she whimpered, reaching up around his neck. “Don’t leave me here.”
He kissed her neck. “I will not let you down. Remember not to be afraid, Agiya.”
The rain had again turned to a gentle drizzle, but more thunder boomed in the distance. His lips found hers and she was lost in his sweet kiss as he massaged her bottom with one hand. In spite of her pain, she felt an urgent desire to let him make love to her again. So, this was love, so sweet and wonderful that she wanted him even though she knew it would hurt.
“God be with you, Agiya,” he said softly, kissing her on the cheek.
“And with you. What was that word again, for beloved man?”
“Asgaya.”
She touched his cheek. “Asgaya. I will wait for you.”
He let go of her and dashed out into the dark rain. She watched after him, the bright lightning lighting up the surroundings, but already he was gone. She stood alone, wondering if perhaps she had only dreamed all that had just happened to her. But then she felt the delicious ache deep inside.
She put a hand to her stomach. No. It had not been a dream. River Joe had mated with her. She was his woman now, his wife according to Cherokee custom. River Joe had said it was so, and she believed him. River Joe had promised to come back for her, and she believed that, too. If he didn’t come, there would be nothing left to live for.
Chapter Five
Emma stayed inside the cabin this time when the Jasmine came by. She didn’t want to be around Hank Toole, afraid that her presence might somehow make her more vulnerable to whatever Hank wanted of her. She thought that perhaps if she stayed out of sight, Hank and Luke would forget all about her and not even discuss what to do with her.
Hank had come by on the Jasmine the second day after River Joe had left. He was on his way upriver to the Macbain settlement. She could hear him shouting now to Luke about the problems he was having because of the high river. Trying to go against the current was putting him behind.
“The trip back will be great,” he yelled as he threw a rope to Luke. “Won’t hardly have to fire the boiler at all. The current will carry us damned fast.”
Emma watched from a window in the loft of the cabin, which was her sleeping quarters. She moved back from the window and flopped back down on the feather mattress of her bed, feeling the wonderful fire in her blood at the thought of being with River Joe soon, of letting him make love to her again.
The next time would surely be even more wonderful, perhaps in the light of day. She would lie beneath him, and he would do things to her, work his magic with his lips and his touch. It would be all right because she belonged to him now. He had said so, and she believed everything River Joe said. After all, he loved her. He really, really loved her.
She was a woman now—River Joe’s woman. Who could ever have dreamed this could happen to her? All her feelings of helplessness and a hopeless future were gone now. She wasn’t afraid anymore. River would come for her. It would be only two or three more days before he would come. If Luke would not give his permission for her to go away with River Joe, then she would simply defy the man and go anyway. How was a man like Luke going to stop a man like River Joe? River was the kind of man who took whatever he wanted.
She breathed deeply, feeling as beautiful as River had told her she was. She could still taste his lips, feel the pressure of his strong arms around her, feel his bare skin against her bare breast. She even liked remembering the pain, the piercing yet beautiful pain that told her she was no longer her own woman now—the pain that told her she had been claimed. In all her years of growing up around Luke Simms, having to cover her head with a pillow or run out when he beat her mother and took his pleasure with her, Emma never dreamed that lying with a man could be this beautiful. She loved River so much that she felt almost sick with it, and ever since that night River came to her she had hardly been able to eat.
She closed her eyes to dream of River, while outside Hank Toole handed Luke Simms a leather pouch full of money. Hank grinned through yellow teeth, then quickly spat out some tobacco juice. “Two hundred dollars, just like Mr. Gates promised,” he said to Luke.
Luke nodded. “Good. I was hopin’ the man would want her. I’d let Tommy marry her, but I don’t think he cares that much, and he sure can’t give me this kind of money. Gates will be pleased when he sees how pretty she is.”
Hank rubbed at his privates. “That he will. I’ve been eyein’ that pretty stepdaughter of yours for years now. She sure has filled out this past year.”
Luke shoved the money pouch into his pants pocket. “I don’t give a damn what you do with her. You want her now or later?”
“She’s a fighter, I’m thinkin’. No sense takin’ on trouble any sooner than I have to. I’ll stop and pick her up on the way back. The river is runnin’ fast in that direction, so the return trip won’t be long. You have her ready to go in a couple of days.”
“She’ll be ready. I really can’t do much—don’t want her to know what’s goin’ on till she absolutely has to. You’re right. She can be pretty stubborn. If she gives me too much trouble, I’ll knock some sense into her.”
Hank chuckled. “Just don’t mess up that pret
ty face of hers.” He turned and picked up a case of whiskey. “I’ll be bringin’ you food and whiskey for as long as you need it, just like we agreed—at least till you get this farm sold.”
Luke took the case and Hank rubbed his hands on the sides of his pants. “You’re sure she’s a virgin? You ain’t messed with her, have you?”
“Hell no. I never could when Betty was alive, and after we talked last month when you came by, and I found out how much more valuable she is untouched, I left her alone. I’ve been gone a lot. That helped.”
Hank nodded. “Must have been hard, sleepin’ in the same little house with a pretty thing like that.”
Luke laughed, turning and carrying the whiskey to shore and setting it down. “You’d best be on your way, Hank. We’ve already unloaded all the food. I’m glad you talked this Mr. Gates into buyin’ her.”
Hank tucked dirty thumbs into the pockets of his fancy vest. “Sam Gates is always lookin’ for somethin’ like Emma. He owns a real fancy place in Knoxville. It’s pretty well known he’s got whores upstairs, but he likes to keep it kind of quiet—especially about buyin’ some of the girls and bringin’ them there against their will. He don’t like too many people to know that, if you get my meanin’. Could get him in some trouble.”
“Sure, I understand.” Luke scratched at his curly, black hair. “Only one who knows about this is Jake Decker, and he knows better than to say much. I expect him and Tommy would have liked a turn at her first, but I promised you a virgin, and that’s what you’re gettin’.”
Hank nodded. “I been waitin’ a long time for this. My little girl sure turned into some kind of woman, didn’t she? All these years I been bringin’ her toys and trinkets, and all of a sudden she ain’t a kid no more.” The man breathed deeply, glancing around the farm. “Where is she, anyway?”
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