Teton Splendor

by Peggy L Henderson

  Unable to hold back any longer, Joseph moved within her. She gasped his name and raked her fingers across his sweat-slicked back, driving him beyond anything he’d experienced before.

  He murmured her name against her lips while her legs trembled against him, and her body shook. Joseph lost himself inside the woman he loved above all else, and in her innocence, brought him beyond the heights of passion. With his body entwined with hers, he drifted back to earth. Breathing heavily, he rolled to the side and pulled her into his arms.

  Passion-glazed eyes stared up at him, and on trembling elbows, Joseph leaned over to kiss her softly on the lips. Trying to keep his erratic breathing in check, he caressed her cheek with his hand.

  “You’re beautiful and wonderful beyond words, Princess,” he whispered.

  Sophie slid her palm up his chest, a dreamy smile on her face. “And you, my husband, are a great warrior.”

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Joseph stared up through the small opening in the teepee’s dome. The blackness of night was gradually giving way to the gray skies of dawn. Outside, people were already busy starting cooking fires and going about their day’s work. He adjusted his hand behind his head, and glanced down at the sleeping woman nestled against him. Her head rested on his shoulder, and her hair spilled down and around her chest and back. She had one hand draped over his torso and her thigh grazed his leg. He’d long ago lost all feeling in his arm, but he remained motionless so as not to disturb her.

  The smile on his face hadn’t faded all night. A slight shiver passed through him, and his heart rate accelerated. It all still seemed so unreal that Sophie was his wife. She was the most incredible woman he’d ever met. That she had consented to marry him in the traditions of the Bannock people rather than in a church with all the eastern traditions she was accustomed to still stunned him. It proved that she loved him, and he swore he would do whatever it took to show her every day how much she meant to him.

  A soft sigh escaped her lips, and she stirred. Joseph adjusted his leg, and groaned. His desires for her hadn’t diminished, even after a full night of lovemaking. Sophie raised her head. Her hand moved over his chest, and Joseph hissed. The pins and needles shooting through his arm, and the tightening in his groin caused the same excruciating discomfort.

  He shifted his weight and reached his hand down to stroke her cheek, pushing some wayward strands of hair out of her face. Her sleep-glazed eyes met his, and her lips curved in a smile.

  “Good morning,” she rasped groggily, and her hand seared his skin as her fingers traced the contours of his chest. She had no idea what she was doing to him. He almost laughed out loud. Hell. It shouldn’t surprise him if she knew exactly what she was doing. Memories of their wedding night flooded his mind. Hadn’t he learned by now that his wife was full of surprises? Joseph leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips.

  “Yes, it is,” he murmured against her mouth.

  Sophie stretched her body like a lithe mountain lion, and groaned. She raked her hand through her hair, and pushed herself up into a sitting position. Joseph raised himself on his elbows. As ready as he was to resume their activities from the night before, Sophie might need some time for her body to recover. They had their entire lives ahead to enjoy each other.

  “Are you hungry? Would you like some water?” Wanting to please her, he moved to get up off the palette.

  Sophie glanced his way. Her eyes traveled up and down his torso. “You might want to find your britches before you go out to bring back some water.” Her eyebrows shot up, and she giggled. “It might not be wise to walk around without your clothes.”

  Joseph stared down at his exposed body.

  “If I remember right, there were no complaints from you last night,” he growled. He flashed a wide grin.

  “You won’t hear any complaints from me, but the rest of the village might object,” she purred, and held out her hand.

  “You might not get that water for a while if you keep looking at me like that,” he said in a sultry tone, and joined her on the palette. He pulled a buffalo robe over both of them, and leaned over her. Sophie wrapped her arms around his neck, her eyes sparkling with love and mischief. Joseph’s heart nearly cracked his ribs. How did he get so lucky to have this woman for his wife?

  He lowered his head. Before his lips could touch hers, she said, “tell me about our wedding yesterday. What was Puhakantum doing with that bundle of hair?”

  Joseph eased his upper body away from her. She would pay later for her teasing.

  “The twine of hair signifies our union. The woman he handed the pouch to will have buried it somewhere by now. The only way we can break our marriage is if someone finds the bundle and one of us unties the strands.” He smiled down at her. “So don’t go looking for it.”

  Sophie stared up at him, her forehead wrinkled. “But your first wife, Feather in the Wind, did she find your hair bundle first, before she . . .” Her words trailed off as if she was searching for the right words. Joseph stiffened. Feather was the last person he wanted to talk about, but he owed Sophie an explanation.

  “She and I never had a wedding ceremony, Sophie. We simply came together as husband and wife. We were both very young. I’m not proud of what we did, and at the time when she decided to go back to her own people, I was angry that she would choose to leave me, more out of arrogant pride than love.” He paused and eased himself back on the palette, pulling Sophie with him.

  “So, you weren’t really married to her?”

  “Our union wasn’t the preferable way two people would be considered married, but it was acceptable.” He inhaled a deep breath before he continued.

  “Sophie, I told you I’d tell you all my secrets. Yesterday, before I came back to the village, I saw her.” He waited for a reaction.

  Sophie’s eyes didn’t waver from his stare. She tensed, but then, a slow smile formed on her lips. Trust shimmered in her gaze, and her hand reached up to touch his cheek. Joseph expelled the breath he was holding.

  “The man she married after going back to her people was killed. She came here to find me, to ask me to take her back. I sent her away, and told her that I’m in love with someone else.”

  Sophie pulled his head down toward hers, and he gathered her in his arms. The noise of the village beyond the walls of this lodge ceased to exist.

  “Have I told you today that I love you?” he whispered against her neck.

  “No, but even if you had, I don’t mind hearing it ag—”

  “Joseph!”

  A loud voice drowned out Sophie’s words.

  Joseph pulled away from her as if his body had been physically ripped aside. Sophie gave a startled squeal. Purely by reflex, he reached behind the palette for his belt and yanked his knife from its sheath. He rolled over and leapt to his feet to face the one who called his name.

  “Dammit, Lucas,” Joseph roared.

  The hide covering the entrance flapped shut, and Lucas came to a skidding halt in the middle of the lodge. His eyes met Joseph’s stare, then darted to the palette. Sophie yanked the buffalo robe up past her chin, a horrified look on her face.

  “Get the hell out, Lucas.” For a split second, Joseph’s hand itched to toss the knife at his brother. He dropped it instead and fumbled for his britches on the ground.

  “I called your name from outside and you didn’t answer,” Lucas said defensively, and wisely turned his back.

  “You’d better have a damn good reason for barging in here,” Joseph grumbled, and yanked his britches on. Without tying the strings at the waist, he advanced on his brother, and grabbed for the shirt at the back of his neck. Lucas ducked out of the way and scrambled behind the palette, effectively putting Sophie between them. She remained buried under the hides, only the top of her head and hands showing.

  “If this is your idea of a joke, I’m gonna kill you, Lucas.” Joseph faced his brother. Lucas always acted in a careless manner, so this should have come as no surprise. He�
��d almost expected him to pull a prank during the night. On the other hand, his brother was a reliable man to have around if someone was in a bind.

  Lucas glanced toward Sophie again. A grin formed on his face, and he ran a hand along his jaw. Joseph itched to punch the smug look off his brother’s face, but with Sophie on the ground between them, he couldn’t risk it.

  “Lucas,” Joseph barked.

  His brother’s head shot up, the smile gone and replaced with a serious look.

  “A couple of Crow warriors came by the homestead before dawn,” he said. “They were looking for Pop. They told me they saw a man wearing an eye patch recently. They said he fit the description of the man Pop’s been looking for all these years.”

  “What?” Adrenaline rushed through Joseph. His own eyes darted to his wife on the ground. A man wearing an eye patch. First the man on the dun horse who had shot at them, and now Oliver Sabin? Was it a coincidence that someone had followed them all the way from the Ohio to the Tetons, and now Oliver Sabin might have appeared again after twenty years? Was there a connection between the two?

  “Get out, Lucas. I’ll be right there.” Joseph waved an impatient arm at the entrance, and Lucas scurried around Sophie and ducked to the outside. Joseph knelt to the ground.

  “Sophie.” He lifted the buffalo hide from her head and pulled it down to her neck. “I have to go.”

  Sophie lifted her head and scrambled into a sitting position. “Lucas was talking about the man who killed my parents, wasn’t he?”

  Joseph pulled her into an embrace. “Yes. If there’s even a remote possibility that he’s in the area, I have to find out. I’m beginning to think there’s a connection between him and the man who shot at us. This needs to end now. I’m not going to live my life constantly looking over my shoulder, worrying about your safety. I have to find that shooter. Something tells me that when I find him, I’ll find Sabin, too.”

  Sophie threw her arms around his neck. “Can’t you send Lucas? Why do you have to go looking for him?”

  Joseph kissed her lips. “I’m not going to ask my brother to fight my fight, Sophie. If Oliver Sabin is back, the only way I can protect you is to find him first. That also goes for the shooter. I want Lucas to stay here with you. This village is the safest place for you to be, but I want my brother here to watch over you.”

  “How long will you be gone?” Her grip tightened.

  “I don’t know. A few days, maybe a week. If I don’t find him in that amount of time, I’ll be back to let you know I’m all right.”

  Reluctantly, he pried her arms away from around his neck. Holding her face between his hands, he crushed his lips to hers one final time.

  “Thank you for the most incredible night of my life, Sophie. I know we’ll share many more like it. I love you.” He raked his hands through her hair. “I promise I’ll be back soon.”

  He stood without giving her a chance to react. Yanking his shirt and belt up off the ground, he hurried through the teepee opening for fear he might not leave if he held his wife one more second.

  Squinting into the early morning sunlight, he spotted his father and Lucas near Two Bears’ lodge. Several of the villagers were gathered around them, talking animatedly. He pulled his shirt on and buckled his belt, then rushed to their side.

  “I saddled your horse already, Joseph.” Lucas grinned sheepishly.

  “If Sabin is back, we’ll find him, son.” Joseph’s father placed his hand on his shoulder. “I think the best place to start looking is to head back toward the homestead. Lucas said the Crow were camped nearby. We’ll get more information from them and go from there.”

  Joseph nodded wordlessly. His father seemed as eager to find Sabin as he was. All these years, he hadn’t been able to avenge his friends’ - Sophie’s parents’ - deaths. If Sabin was back, was he after Sophie now? If so, how had he even known that she was here? Whatever the reason, they would soon find out.

  “You be careful,” Joseph’s mother said, a worried look on her face. She embraced him, and then his father.

  “You’re safest here at the village, Evie. We’ll be back in a few days.” Alex kissed his wife, then mounted his horse.

  “Let’s get going,” Lucas called, and grabbed his horse’s reins.

  Joseph snatched the lines from his brother’s hands, and grabbed a fistful of Lucas’ shirt. “I need to you stay here. Don’t let Sophie out of your sight.”

  Lucas opened his mouth as if to protest. Joseph’s grip tightened, and he stared intently at his brother.

  “I’m trusting you with what’s most important in my life.”

  Lucas returned his stare, then nodded wordlessly. Joseph released him, and mounted his horse. With a final glance toward the lodge where he’d spent his wedding night, he nudged his gelding in the ribs, and followed his father away from the Bannock village.

  ****

  “I think this should be enough, don’t you?” Evelyn Walker straightened, holding her hand against her back.

  Sophia glanced toward the woman, then at the woven basket she held in the crook of her arm. Filled nearly halfway with huckleberries, she nodded wordlessly. She wasn’t in the mood for pie or anything else Evelyn suggested they fix for their supper.

  Three days had passed since Joseph and his father left the village. She’d already spent two sleepless nights worrying about her husband. To occupy her days, she visited with her grandfather, who told her stories of her mother when she was a child, and some of the customs of the people. She helped Evelyn prepare meals, putting the skills that she’d learned from Summer Rain to good use. She even tried her hand at scraping and cleaning an elk hide. No matter what she did to occupy her time, Joseph was never far from her mind.

  Either Lucas or Evelyn was always nearby. Although she appreciated their company, their constant hovering left her longing for some time to herself during the day. Thankfully, they didn’t offer to sleep in the same lodge as where she’d spent her wedding night. At least she had that to herself. Memories of Joseph occupied her every thought during the long and lonely nights. What would happen if he found the man responsible for killing her parents? What if he didn’t? Was he really still after revenge for something that her father had done to him twenty years ago? It seemed highly unlikely.

  “I’d like to head back to my lodge and freshen up, and then I’ll help with supper preparations,” Sophia said.

  “All right.” Her mother-in-law shot her a concerned look. She reached out her hand and patted Sophia on the wrist. “They’ll be back soon,” she said, as if she’d read her mind.

  Sophia swallowed back the lump in her throat. “I know they will.” She forced a smile on her face.

  “Oliver Sabin was, and probably still is, a vile man,” Evelyn continued as they headed back toward the village. They had followed the course of the wide stream until they entered the forest and found the huckleberry bushes, but Evelyn evidently made sure that the village was in constant view.

  “Alex saved me from a horrible fate when that loathsome man tried to buy me at a trapper gathering.”

  Sophia stared over at the older woman as they entered the village. “Buy you? That’s how you met your husband?” she asked, unable to imagine the humiliation Evelyn must have endured.

  She chuckled. “I’ve been in love with Alex since I was about ten years old. He was too stubborn to even acknowledge me when we were children. It was Laurent, your father, who brought me here to the mountains and offered me up to the trappers.”

  Sophia’s eyes widened in shock. Her father was the sort of man who would barter a woman to a fate worse than death? Evelyn laughed softly.

  “It was his clever way of getting Alex and me together, even though I didn’t know it at the time. Laurent was very good at hiding his true intentions from me and from Oliver Sabin.” She paused and looked Sophia in the eye. “Your father was a good man, Sophie. Things back then were done differently than now, and especially differently from the life you’ve
known. A trapper’s life was harsh and unforgiving.”

  Sophia nodded, not quite understanding. Her life now was harsher than anything she could have ever imagined, but she wouldn’t trade it back for all the ball gowns in Boston. Evelyn must have felt the same way all those years ago. That she loved her husband, and that he loved her, was obvious.

  They stopped in front of Sophia’s lodge. She paused before she pulled the buffalo hide back to expose the teepee’s opening.

  “I’ll only be a few minutes,” she said, turning to Evelyn. Joseph’s mother nodded with a smile, and headed for the lodge she shared with Lucas.

  Sophia ducked into the interior of her current home, and let out a long sigh. Her eyes fell to the pile of furs where she had slept. Where Joseph made love to her. A tingling feeling passed through her, and goose bumps erupted on the skin of her arms at the memories. She wrapped her hands around her waist, her fingers feeling the leather sheath of the knife that was strapped to the belt at her waist. Lucas had insisted she wear it during the day.

  “Just in case,” he’d said with a serious look on his face that was so unlike him. “Joseph would want you to wear this.”

  Would she even know what to do if she needed to defend herself against someone? Sophia laughed softly. If someone threatened her, she’d be dead before she could even think to pull the weapon. She made a mental note to ask Joseph to teach her how to use a weapon. Perhaps she should even learn how to fire a rifle.

  Sophia eyed the blue dress that still lay on the ground where she’d removed it on the day of her wedding. She hadn’t worn it since. She preferred to stay in the doeskin dress she’d worn when she became Joseph’s wife. It seemed more appropriate, at least while she lived in the Indian village. Loneliness swept over her, and she fought to control the tears that pooled in her eyes. A sudden urge to leave the lodge engulfed her.