Warrior's Embrace

by Peggy Webb

  Hawk didn’t stop until they were deep in the woods. Then he dismounted, taking Elizabeth with him.

  “Are you crazy?” He hauled her up against him. “Two men have been shot out there today. The barricade is no place for a woman.”

  “I thought you were dead.” She sagged in his arms.

  He pressed her close and began to caress her hair. She shuddered. Hawk rocked her gently, murmuring soft words of comfort in the language of his people.

  They stayed that way for a long while, and gradually Elizabeth became calm. She lifted her head and gently touched Hawk’s cheek.

  “You’re safe,” she whispered. “That’s all I want to know.”

  “Yes, I’m safe.”

  Even as he spoke the words, Hawk knew he was lying. He realized he was facing his greatest enemy: Love. Without his knowledge, love had crept in and lodged itself in his heart. He was in love with Elizabeth McCade. Standing there in the tranquil woods, he knew that he was his father’s son, after all. Grant Hawk had been one of the greatest leaders the Chickasaws had ever known, willing to take up any battle for the betterment of his people—until he had fallen in love. After that, nothing mattered to him except Dovey and the many children they had, one after the other. Their story was almost legend among their people, how the Great Hawk had been tamed by a gentle Dove.

  Love had weakened Grant, had caused him to lay down his shield and sword. With Elizabeth’s hand touching his face and her dark eyes searing his soul, Hawk was tempted to do the same thing. But he had been bolder than his father, had made more enemies. Even if he were willing to divide himself between love and war, he would never expose Elizabeth to the uncertainty, the danger.

  “What will happen now?” Elizabeth took a step backward, breaking all physical contact. Hawk wished the emotional connection were as easily broken.

  “Today’s violence destroyed any hope for a meeting between the Chickasaws and the city government. We’ll have to call for outside help.”

  “Who?”

  “The U.S. Secretary of Native American Affairs. I had hoped to settle this dispute alone, but I can’t risk further violence.”

  Elizabeth was so quiet, he thought delayed shock was setting in. He was reaching for her when she spoke. Quietly he withdrew his hand. It was best not to touch her. Touching her was more dangerous than facing that sniper with the Winchester.

  “But until he comes...” Elizabeth bit her lip. It was a familiar gesture. He had seen her do it many times when he had first hidden in her house. She was fighting against strong emotions. “What will you do until he comes? The television reporter said there was shooting. Somebody is going to get killed.”

  “Fortunately the police had been at the barricade for days, trying to prevent just such a thing from happening. They caught the sniper.”

  “Who was he?”

  “Apparently he was an independent radical. He denies any connection with the developers and with the city government.”

  “Is he the man who burned your house and tried to kill you?”

  “It’s too soon to know.” She was biting her lip again. Hawk sought to reassure her. “I believe he was the one.” He put one hand on her shoulder. “It’s over, Elizabeth.”

  She lifted her chin and gazed deeply into his eyes. “Is it, Hawk?”

  He hesitated only a second. There was double meaning in their words and both of them knew it. They were talking about more than the battle between the Chickasaws and the city; they were talking about their own personal battle, their affair that had burst into flames so quickly, it had almost consumed them both.

  “Yes,” he said. “It’s over. I’ll take you home.”

  “What about my car?”

  “I’ll send one of my brothers to bring it to you when I get back to the barricade.”

  He circled her waist, then stood looking at her. A primitive need rose in him, but it would be selfish and unfair to take advantage of her that way. She wouldn’t deny him: He knew her well enough to know that. But she might grow to hate him, and Hawk could never endure it if he earned the hatred of Elizabeth McCade.

  He lifted her onto his stallion and mounted behind her. Then he set a swift course toward her home.

  o0o

  For the next few days the papers and the television were full of news of the battle at the barricade. The sniper, Graden Hogan, still denied all political connections. With him in jail, peace reigned, and the people of the city drew a sigh of relief. It had been a long, hot, insane summer, and they were ready for the soothing, cooling touch of sanity and of fall.

  Elizabeth followed developments closely. The Secretary of Native American Affairs was scheduled to arrive soon. A quick settlement was expected.

  Newspapers and television were her only contacts with Hawk. He didn’t come to the school house or tribal lands anymore; he didn’t come to any of the rallies she attended, or if he did, he slipped away quietly without her knowing; and he certainly didn’t come through the secret passageway to her cellar. More than once she was tempted to make the journey herself. Especially late at night. Especially when she lay in her lonely bed with her body and her heart aching for Hawk.

  But Elizabeth kept tight control. For the first time in many years, she was in charge of her life and of her emotions—until the middle of September when she awoke and began to count the days....

  She sat up in bed and pressed her hand over her mouth. “Oh, no,” she said with a moan. “It can’t be.” She pulled the covers up to her chin and counted back to the day she had first seen Hawk, the day she had first kissed him.

  Her hands were shaking as she pushed back the covers and got out of bed. She walked to her desk and picked up her diary. She rustled frantically through the pages until she found the ones she sought. Then she began to read.

  The words blurred as her past came back to her, doubled. Quietly she closed the diary and stared into space. Hawk had made his position clear. “I don’t want you in my life or in my bed.”

  The phone jarred her out of her stupor. It was Gladys.

  “Have you seen the morning paper?”

  “No.” Elizabeth cradled the receiver against her shoulder and returned her diary to its drawer.

  “You’re spread all over it.”

  “Why? I certainly haven’t done anything newsworthy.”

  “How is this for newsworthy?” Gladys’s voice lowered an octave as she shifted into her dramatic mode. “And I quote the headline, ‘The Lady and the Hawk.’ There’s a great picture of you and Black Hawk in a clench with the moon shining over your shoulder. It looks like the schoolhouse in the background.”

  Elizabeth gripped the receiver so hard, her knuckles turned white. “Who did this?”

  “You know that brash new reporter... John What’s His Name... the one who was always following us around when we distributed pamphlets, trying to sniff out a human interest story?”

  Elizabeth groaned. Then she clapped her hand over the receiver so Gladys wouldn’t hear.

  “Elizabeth, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You don’t sound fine. You sound sick.”

  “No. This will all blow over.” But she knew it wouldn’t. It would never be over. Not now.

  “I doubt that. He’s done some pretty thorough homework. Does the name Mark Laton ring a bell for you?”

  “No. Not that too.”

  “‘Elizabeth McCade has a habit of secret liaisons. Sources say she left Yale because of an illicit affair with Mark Laton, a professor who was married.’“

  “What else?”

  “There’s a great picture of you and Black Hawk on that stallion of his, leaping over the barricade the day fighting broke out.”

  “Anything else about Mark?”

  “No.”

  At least she could be glad for that much. Elizabeth took several deep breaths in order to get herself back under control.

  “Elizabeth... is there anything I can do? Are you
sure you’re all right?”

  “No... yes. I’ll be fine, Gladys. Don’t worry about me.”

  “I do, you know.” Gladys’s voice softened. “That was a dirty rotten thing to spread your private life all over the newspaper, but I’m not sorry you have Black Hawk. I’ve suspected all along that you had somebody wonderful in your life. I’m glad, Elizabeth.”

  “It’s over. Hawk is no longer in my life.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you, Gladys. You’re a good friend.”

  “See you at work in a little while. I’ll treat you to lunch, take the bad taste out of your mouth.”

  “Sure.” Elizabeth forced some enthusiasm into her voice. Gladys was, after all, a good friend. She had no connection with the series of misfortunes that were befalling Elizabeth. “Great. See you later.”

  She hung up the phone then went into the bathroom and vomited. When she came out, Hawk was sitting on the edge of her bed.

  “Good morning, Elizabeth.”

  She pulled her robe high around her neck and shivered.

  “Are you sick?” He stood up, facing her.

  “No. Just a little chilly. There’s a nip to the air this morning.” Turning her back to him, she sat at her dressing table and picked up her hairbrush. Then she began to brush her hair. She looked calm, even to herself. She hoped she was fooling Hawk.

  “Have you seen this morning’s paper?” he asked.

  “Is that why you came?”

  They stared at each other in the mirror. She heard the subtle change in his breathing, saw the light spring to life in the center of his dark eyes. She knew all the signs: Hawk still wanted her. At least she had that.

  “Is Mark Laton the one?” Hawk had his hands on the hilt of his knife.

  Suddenly Elizabeth broke. She was not noble and long-suffering and magnificent; she was merely human. She stood up and faced him with her fists clenched.

  “How dare you come into my house and question me about Mark Laton. How dare you enter my bedroom without my permission. You have no rights, Hawk. None. You gave those up in my cellar a long time ago.”

  “You’re right, Elizabeth.”

  His ready agreement made her even more furious. Why couldn’t he want her enough to fight for her?

  Her shoulders sagged, and all the anger went out of her. Hawk wouldn’t fight for her because he was already fighting too many battles... and because he didn’t love her. She might as well face facts.

  “Will you please leave?” She put her hand on her forehead.

  “I didn’t come to fight with you, Elizabeth. I came to tell you that I’m sending my brothers to be your bodyguards.”

  “You’re sending your brothers to be my bodyguards!” She felt as if she were in the middle of a crazy movie.

  “Because of the newspaper story.”

  “There has been no violence since that man was arrested.”

  “I’m taking no chances. My youngest brother is with me now, waiting downstairs.”

  “You can’t do this. You can’t march into my house and take charge of my life.”

  “I’m not in charge of your life, but I will be in charge of your safety.”

  “Tell him to go home.” Hawk was as silent as the cutting edge of a sword just before it draws blood. “I won’t have him here. Nor any of your other brothers. I can take care of myself. “

  “You’re willful, Elizabeth.”

  “You’re arrogant.”

  They faced off across her bedroom, two stubborn people, both determined to win.

  “We’re just alike, Elizabeth. We’ve always been alike.”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “I’m a woman and you’re a man.”

  Hawk smiled. “There was never any doubt.”

  His smile seduced her. She clench her fists to keep from reaching out to him.

  “Please leave,” she whispered.

  “How can I go when I feel the danger to you? How can I leave knowing that I’m the one who set it in your path?”

  “I made my own choices, Hawk.”

  They faced off again, both as implacable as the red bluffs that bordered the city. Then Hawk came to her and tenderly cupped her face.

  “Be safe.”

  “I will. I promise.”

  Black Hawk left her standing in the middle of her bedroom and went back down the stairs just as quietly as he had gone up them. Steel, his youngest brother, was waiting for him outside.

  “You told her?”

  “Yes.”

  “And she agreed to the bodyguard?”

  “No.”

  Steel laughed. “I didn’t think she would. From what Susan tells me, she’s a very independent lady.”

  “You’ll guard her anyway.”

  “Look. I’m a young, handsome charmer with my whole life ahead of me. I have no desire to meet my fate at the end of a nickel-plated .44 Magnum. Especially if it’s carried by a lady.”

  Hawk threw back his head and laughed. “She’s tough, all right, but you will guard her, and you’ll be wise and discreet enough to stay out of her way so she doesn’t suspect.”

  “Do you love this woman?”

  Black Hawk had never lied to his brother. He considered it briefly, then rejected the idea as cowardly.

  “Yes, I love her.”

  “Then why aren’t you the one guarding her?”

  “She must never know that I love her.” He turned a fierce face toward his brother. “I won’t come to her again; I won’t see her again. But you, my little brother, will keep her safe.”

  Steel started to say something else, but he knew his brother too well. It was useless to argue with the Hawk. When he made up his mind, nothing would stop him.

  o0o

  Elizabeth made it to work on time by skipping breakfast and by exceeding the speed limit. With her private life splashed all over the front page of the newspaper, what would one speeding ticket matter? Her only consolation was that Aunt Kathleen had decided to turn her Parisian trip into a tour of Europe. Her last card had come from Italy.

  Tailing far behind in his beat-up little Chevy Nova, Steel Hawk was cussing.

  “What does she think this is? The Indianapolis 500?” He said a few more words that his mother would have frowned upon, then pressed down on the accelerator in order to keep his quarry in sight. The Hawk would kill him if he didn’t do this job right. And he was too young to die.

  He saw the flashing blue lights behind him at the same time Elizabeth’s car disappeared around a bend.

  “Well, shoot. Where’s the justice?”

  As the policeman walked toward his parked car. Steel brightened. He thought he would plead for a very large fine and then present it to his brother for payment. It would serve the Hawk right. Any man who refused to acknowledge his love for a woman like Elizabeth McCade deserved to be taught a lesson.

  He rolled down the window and smiled at the officer.

  “I’m just as guilty as sin...” He read the name tag. “...Officer Bradley. I’ll bet I was doing seventy-five in that fifty-mile zone.”

  “Only seventy-two.” The officer was young and friendly. He pushed his cap back from his forehead. “Going somewhere in a hurry?”

  “No. Just chasing a pretty woman. If I were you, I’d throw the book at me.”

  “You would?”

  “Shoot, yes. I drive like this all the time. I need to be taught a lesson.”

  “Well...” The officer surveyed Steel’s beat-up little car. “It appears to me that a feller like you has all the problems he can handle trying to keep an old car like that running. I’m going to let you off with a warning this time.”

  “Heck,” Steel muttered.

  “What did you say?”

  “I said, ‘Help’ at a time like this is most welcome. My sincerest thanks, Officer Bradley.”

  “You’re welcome. Just watch it. There’s been enough excitement in this town lately. We don’t want any traffic fatal
ities.”

  “You bet.” Steel shook Officer Bradley’s hand, then set off down the road. Elizabeth McCade was long gone.

  He hoped that she’d been heading to work, and not to some out-of-the-way place where he’d never find her. He didn’t relish the idea of telling the Hawk that he had lost his woman on the first day.

  Steel breathed a sigh of relief when he cruised by the bank and saw Elizabeth’s car. She was safe, at least for the next few hours.

  He found a parking spot that allowed a good view of her car, then left his jalopy and went to a music store to stock up on a fresh supply of CDs. If he had to spend the best days of his life watching after a woman who wasn’t even his, the least he could do was keep himself well entertained.

  o0o

  Over the next few days, he learned Elizabeth McCade’s habits. She had a strict morning routine that included stepping outside briefly for her paper. Steel, hiding in the woods that surrounded her house, enjoyed these early morning views of Hawk’s woman. With her hair down and a loose robe wrapped around her, she was sensational. It was no wonder his brother loved her. The wonder was that the Hawk was not fighting for her. Surely no cause could be worth the price of this woman.

  Watching from the woods, Steel saw Elizabeth McCade turn and look his way. There was a tenseness about her that alerted him. He ducked behind a tree, his heart hammering. He didn’t want to face the Hawk’s wrath if he was discovered. He waited, scarcely breathing, listening for sounds, for smells, for anything that would announce Elizabeth McCade’s approach. Finally he heard her front door slam.

  He slumped at the base of the tree and gave his brother a very sound cussing. Then he got up and continued his vigil.

  By nine o’clock Steel realized that something was wrong. Elizabeth should have been out of her house twenty minutes before and on her way to work. It was not like her to be late.

  By ten o’clock Steel was really worried. What could be the matter? Had someone sneaked into her house while he wasn’t watching? Was she lying in a pool of blood even as he paced? He didn’t even want to think about such a thing.

  Forcing himself to remain calm, he began to rationalize. Perhaps she had called in sick. Or maybe this was her day off. He’d give her thirty minutes more, and then he’d go inside to see about her... and hope he didn’t get caught.