Savage Summer

by Constance O'Banyon

  She stood up and faced him. “If I am as stupid as you seem to think, why do you bother with me?”

  “I wonder the same thing myself. Must I always keep you in my sight to keep you from harm?”

  Her eyes flashed. “I did not ask you to look after me. I wish you would just go away. I don’t want you here. You are hateful and mean. Nothing I do seems to please you.”

  He gave her a guarded look. “If I left you to yourself, you would not survive the first day.”

  “Who appointed you my guardian? I didn’t ask you for anything. I don’t want to be with you.”

  “Then leave. You are free to go. I am not holding you here!” Turning his back, he stalked away, carrying the cougar cub by the scruff of the neck.

  Suddenly she feared what he would do to the cub. Racing after him, she caught hold of his arm. “You aren’t going to harm this baby, are you? I am warning you, I won’t allow it. Only an animal would mistreat another.”

  His dark eyes seemed to become storm centers. “I leave it to your white men to kill animals when it is not necessary. It is not the Indian way. The prairies and plains are dotted with the bleaching bones of slaughtered buffalo, which your people killed only for the hide. Go back to the stream and wait until I return.” He turned away but she heard him mutter under his breath, and his words seemed to cut into her heart. “I grow weary of protecting you from yourself.”

  Danielle was blinded by tears. She wanted to strike out at Wolfrunner for causing her pain. If he thought she was such a burden, she would just remove herself. No man had ever dared treat her with such disrespect. She had no intention of staying with him any longer.

  Watching him disappear up the face of the mountain toward a high ledge, she turned around and ran in the opposite direction. She ran and ran, until she dropped from fatigue. Sitting down on the ground, she pulled the baby rabbit out of its hiding place in the folds of her gown, holding it to her face. After she had rested, she got to her feet and ran some more.

  Danielle was wise enough to move in the direction of the Blackfoot village. She didn’t know how to get there, and she knew it was still several weeks’ walk, but that didn’t matter. The only thing she cared about was getting as far away from Wolfrunner as she could.

  How could she ever have thought she had any tender feelings for that hateful man? All he wanted to do was boss and bully her while pointing out her shortcomings. How could he expect her to know all the things that an Indian maiden grew up knowing about? What had been the harm in her playing with the adorable little kitten?

  It was almost dark when the first drops of rain began to fall. Danielle saw the lightning streak across the sky and heard the thunder rumble down the mountain side.

  She pressed her body tightly against a huge boulder and covered her ears. Fear deeper than when she had been abducted and more powerful than when she had been caught in the prairie fire, filled her being. A wild scream escaped her throat as a jagged streak of lightning split across the sky and struck a nearby bush, causing it to burst into flames.

  It seemed as if the sky had opened up and rain fell to the earth in torrents. Danielle dropped to her knees, crying hysterically. She did have enough wits about her to try and shelter the baby rabbit from the rain. Finding where two rocks came together, she placed the ball of fur back as far as she could reach.

  Danielle knew by now she was hopelessly lost. This time Wolfrunner could not save her, because he would never find her in this rainstorm. Her tracks would be washed away by the heavy rainfall.

  She huddled against the boulder; clinging to it as if it were her lifeline. Since she had been a small child, every time there had been a thunderstorm Danielle had been haunted by nightmares—nightmares more terrifying than any reality she had yet faced.

  Just when she thought she couldn’t stand it a moment longer, someone reached out to her and drew her into his arms. She threw her arms around Wolfrunner and pressed her body against him, trembling with terror.

  “I was afraid you wouldn’t find me,” she sobbed.

  He held her tightly, trying to still her shaking body. “I will always find you, little one,” he whispered near her ear. “Do not fear the storm, I will protect you.”

  Danielle raised her face and looked at him as another streak of lightning flashed across the sky. For just a fraction of a second, his dark eyes reflected the lightning bolt. In that moment it seemed they were both suspended in time, drawn together not by the electricity of the storm, but by the electricity that came from within themselves.

  For days they had been pulling against the force that tried to bring them together. Now, neither of them resisted.

  Danielle’s lips parted as Wolfrunner lowered his head. When his lips touched hers, she melted to his body.

  Suddenly, the storm no longer mattered. It was pushed to the back of Danielle’s mind to make room for a deeper and more meaningful emotion.

  “I have wanted to touch you from the first time I saw you,” he whispered in her ear. In a rush of feelings, almost as if a dam broke and pent-up emotions broke free in a flood of agony, he clasped her slight body to him. “Danielle!” He spoke her name as if it was ripped from his throat. “I cannot help myself for this weakness that burns within me.”

  Danielle felt her heart take wings. As he lowered her onto the ground, she held her arms up to him. “Hold me, Wolfrunner,” she said softly. “Hold me very tightly.”

  “Danielle, I dare not,” he said in a moment of sanity. “If I hold you now, it will not stop there. I desire you as a woman.”

  The rain was pelting her in the face but it didn’t matter. She raised her arms to him once more. “Take me as a woman, Wolfrunner,” she said, feeling a deep need for him to touch her.

  He hesitated for but a moment before he scooped her up in his arms. She didn’t know where he was taking her, and she didn’t care. All that mattered was that she was in his arms and he wanted her.

  Wolfrunner found a place where a bolder jutted out from the mountains, partially protecting them from the rain. He placed Danielle down and then knelt beside her. “If you do not want this thing, you must say so now. Later it may be too late, Danielle.”

  For her answer, she leaned forward and offered him her lips. She wasn’t sure if the groan she heard came from her or from Wolfrunner. She only knew he was kissing her and making her feel all funny inside.

  His hands were trembling as he gently pushed her clothing aside. There was a hard rocky surface below them, so he pulled her on top of his body so the rough stones wouldn’t cut into her soft skin.

  Danielle felt her head reeling as he lifted her up and placed her against his naked flesh. How glorious was the sensation of feeling his hard muscles fitting into her body as if they were meant to fit together.

  “Danielle, Danielle,” he whispered over and over. “Danielle!” he finally cried out in agony.

  Wolfrunner knew he wasn’t thinking clearly. All he knew was that he and Danielle might never make it back to the village. There was a chance that Scar Face would come out the winner in their contest of skill and strength. He would take what happiness he could tonight. The woman he loved was in his arms, and he knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her. Danielle’s soft body had driven him to the brink of madness. Wolfrunner knew he had to have her.

  “You are my heart,” he whispered against her sweet lips. “I love you with my whole being.” The words were spoken in Blackfoot—Danielle did not know that the man she loved had just bared his soul to her.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  So far the homeward journey had been a painful haze for Skyler. She and her Uncle Tag had little to say to one another. They were both worried about what they would find once they reached the Blackfoot village. In each of their minds dwelled the possibility that Danielle might already be dead.

  Days passed and they pushed themselves past endurance. When they reached St. Louis, Tag bought horses and supplies and they pushed onward once more. They follo
wed the Missouri River, sometimes by barge, other times on horseback, until at last they came to Fort Leavenworth.

  As they rode up to the fort, a sentry passed them through the gates. Tag dismounted and helped Skyler from her horse. He remembered being here as a young boy. He and Joanna had briefly stayed with Colonel Jackson and his wife, Kate. He noticed that the fort had changed but little since then.

  “We will need to stock up on supplies here, honey,” he told Skyler. “If you are too tired to go on, we can rest a few days. I have been pushing you hard,” he said with concern written on his face.

  “I am not tired, Uncle Tag. I will be ready to leave when you are.”

  He smiled at her kindly. “This hasn’t been easy on you, has it, Skyler?”

  “It hasn’t been easy on either of us, Uncle Tag. I know what you are going through. I just wish I could help you. I want to give you words of encouragement, but at the same time I don’t want to raise false hopes. We both know the problems we are facing.”

  “We’ll get through this, Skyler. We just have to take one day at a time.” He tied their horses to the hitching post and motioned for her to follow him into the supply store where he purchased food and blankets.

  They had decided to spend the night inside the fort and start out early the next morning. Tag took Skyler to her room and told her he would return later.

  Skyler looked about the crude cabin with its wooden chairs and a bed with a lumpy mattress. It seemed curious that the farther they got from Philadelphia, the cruder the houses and buildings became. They were leaving the white man’s civilization behind and moving on toward the great wilderness.

  She opened her leather satchel and withdrew her beaded buckskin gown and moccasins. After today she would cease being Skyler Dancing. After today, she could be herself—there was no reason to pretend to be something she wasn’t.

  When Tag entered the room a short time later, he was startled to find his niece dressed in her Indian gown and moccasins. He couldn’t believe the change in her. Her hair was braided and encircled with a leather headband. Her knee-length moccasins disappeared beneath the fringe at the bottom of her gown. She was sitting on the bed dangling her feet just off the floor. She held her breath waiting for him to say something. For some reason she needed to be accepted as herself.

  He smiled slowly. “I see no evidence of the elegant Miss Skyler Dancing. Is this some lovely young Indian princess I behold?”

  “I am Sky Dancer, Uncle Tag. I will never again go by my white name. Please do not be hurt, but I want never to return to your world.”

  He drew her into his arms and patted her back affectionately, now knowing the harm that had been done to her. “I now believe it was wrong to try and take you and Danielle out of the lives to which you were accustomed. In your case we took a lovely wildflower and tried to strip it of its true beauty. Can you ever forgive us for that, Sky Dancer?”

  “There is nothing to forgive. I just didn’t fit into the white world,” she said sadly, laying her head against his broad shoulder. “I am not even certain that I will fit back into the Indian world, Uncle Tag.”

  “You were deeply hurt by Morgan’s attitude toward the Indians weren’t you?”

  Sky Dancer raised her head and looked at him. She loved this tall blond man who was almost as dear to her as her own father. She knew the torture he was going through, worrying over Danielle. She didn’t want to cause him further pain, so she smiled.

  “I will survive. All you need be concerned with is getting to my village as quickly as possible.”

  He looked deeply into the eyes that reminded him so much of Joanna’s. “I don’t know if I have told you this or not, but I am so proud of you. You are a credit to your mother and father.”

  Her arms went about his neck and he held her tightly. He’d never realized until now just how much she had been suffering. Sky Dancer was not given to complaining as Danielle had been. Rather she suffered in silence.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked in a lighter vein.

  “Starved,” she admitted.

  “Good, because I have brought us a feast, if you consider dining on army food feasting.”

  They dined on roasted corn, beans, and corncakes. After they had eaten, Tag stretched out on his bedroll, giving Sky Dancer the bed. They were both exhausted and soon fell asleep, thinking about the long journey that still lay ahead of them. There would be days and weeks of hard riding before they would ever know what Danielle’s fate was.

  The next morning as they rode out of the fort, Sky Dancer heard several of the soldiers calling after her. “Are you a squaw of a breed?” one man asked. “I’d like to be your chief,” another called out suggestively. “Come warm my tipi any day, sweet thing,” another hooted.

  Tag watched Sky Dancer raise her head proudly, with her eyes looking straight ahead. Only he knew how she was hurting on the inside. He could have easily started trouble over the soldiers’ remarks, but that would only have caused Sky Dancer more pain. It was better to let the matter drop, since the harm had already been done. He was never prouder of her than when she glanced over at him and smiled.

  “I am the daughter of Windhawk, Uncle Tag. No one can make me ashamed of that fact.”

  He gave her a warm glance, too choked up to speak. Indeed, he thought. She was a daughter worthy of the great chief of the Blood Blackfoot. A princess in her own right, an angel among the dirty swine at the fort.

  Sky Dancer set her sights on the distant mountains. Soon, she thought…soon, she would be home! Perhaps the pain of the last weeks wouldn’t be as acute when she was reunited with her mother and father.

  Morgan sat in the Jameses’ parlor, staring at Alexandria. He couldn’t help but notice how her hand shook as she poured the tea and handed it to him, while trying to avoid his eyes. The doctor in him told him something was very definitely wrong here.

  He had tried to stay away because that was the way Skyler had wanted it, but he couldn’t get her out of his mind. He was here now demanding to know where he could find Skyler, and he was in no mood to be put off by unanswered questions. He noticed Alexandria’s eyes kept darting to the door as if she were expecting someone.

  “What’s going on, Alexandria? I don’t understand any of what has happened. All I want you to do is tell me where I can find Skyler—is that too much to ask?”

  Her golden eyes met his and he saw sadness there. “I cannot help you in this, Morgan. You must not ask me any more questions.”

  “I can see you are upset. Is there anything I can do to help? Would you like me to send for your doctor—or perhaps you would like me to give you something to help you rest?”

  “No, I will be fine. I just cannot seem to talk to anyone right now.”

  Morgan stood up and started pacing the floor. “Do you have any idea what all this is doing to me, Alexandria? I feel like I’m battling a blank wall. You have got to tell me what is happening, or at least tell me where I can find Skyler. I don’t care if she’s at the end of the earth, I’ll go after her. I have had two weeks to think this through, and I have come to the realization that all that matters is that I love Skyler and she loves me. Anything beyond that is unimportant.”

  At that point Farley, the grizzly old trapper, entered the room and looked Morgan over with a practiced eye. Nodding his head, he sat down beside Alexandria.

  “Morgan, I would like you to meet a very dear family friend, Farley. Farley, this is a friend and neighbor, Dr. Morgan Prescott. He’s also a colonel in the army,” she said, glad for the interruption.

  “Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Farley replied. He’d overheard part of the conversation between Alexandria and Morgan Prescott and was sizing the man up. His eyes went to Alexandria and he could see she was very upset.

  “Don’t you think you oughta be in bed, Alex?” Farley asked with concern.

  “Yes, perhaps you are right,” she said, standing up. “If you will excuse me, Morgan, I think I’ll go and lie down. I’
m sure you’ll understand.”

  Morgan stood up and watched her rush out of the room, feeling frustrated. Everywhere he turned he seemed to meet with opposition.

  Farley leaned back and popped a sweetcake into his mouth. “I seed you’re in the Calvary,” he observed.

  “That’s right, Mr. Farley. But not for much longer. I’m on leave until I receive my discharge papers,” Morgan said, looking the old man over. The old trapper’s manner of speech was coarse and he wore buckskins and scuffed boots. His beard and hair were as white as snow, and Morgan was puzzled as to how such an odd character could be a friend of the James family.

  “Name’s not Mr. Farley,” the old trapper corrected. “It’s just Farley, lessen you want to call me by my Indian name, Crazy Fox.”

  “How well do you know the James family, Farley?” Morgan asked, wondering if the old man might be able to help him find Skyler.

  “I knowed them good as some and better than most,” the old man said, eyeing Morgan shrewdly.

  “How about the Dancing side of the family? Are you acquainted with them as well?”

  Farley’s eyes narrowed. “What iffen I am? I just heard Alex tell you she wouldn’t help you find Sky…ler.”

  Morgan opened the top button of his uniform and sat down beside Farley. “If you heard me talking to Alexandria, you must also have heard me say that Skyler and I love each other. I want to find her, Farley. I know I can make her happy. Will you help me in this?”

  “What makes you think you can make her happy?”

  “Because she loves me. Something went wrong between us, and I don’t know what it is. I am half out of my mind, thinking I may never see her again.”

  Both men heard someone enter the room and turned toward the doorway. Alexandria paused as if she were having a hard time speaking. At last she looked into the eyes of the dear old trapper. “I have been thinking it over, Farley, and I believe you should tell Morgan about Skyler.”