He pulled back from the kiss and she whimpered in protest until his lips found the pulse at her neck and gently pressed his lips to it and nibbled lightly on her skin.
“Trevor.” She gasped, and her muscles, low in her stomach, clenched in excitement. “Trevor!” She gasped again as he began to kiss her collarbone.
Her hands went from tugging on his hair to bring him closer, to running up and down his back, trying to pull him more tightly against her aching breasts.
Her responses to his actions only seemed to fuel his fire, and he hiked one of her legs up and wrapped it around his waist. It brought him closer to her and she could feel his need pressed against the apex of her thighs and her breath caught in her throat.
Her hands slid his duster off of his shoulders and her fingers slid under the fabric of his shirt, and she thrilled at touching his warm, bare skin. Her fingers moved across his chest and quickly began to undo the buttons. Soon his chest was bared to her with whorls of black hair covering his muscular body. She ran her fingers through the hair, luxuriating in the feel of his body, the feel of his muscles tightening beneath her touch.
He moaned softly and with his one free hand went to the laces of her bodice, tugging on the strings until it was loose enough that he could slide it off of her shoulders, revealing just her thin chemise. Balancing her body by pressing her against the wall of the building with the full length of his own form, he slowly pulled back her dress further and stared with a look of pure desire as he saw the glow of the tops of her breasts in the moonlight.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, then leaned down a kissed the top of each quivering globe.
“My-my heart is racing and I can’t catch my breath. Is this-is this what it is supposed to be like? Is this how it is supposed to feel?”
“No,” he whispered against her neck, and flexed his hips, drawing attention to his need for her. “It is never like this.” His fingers slid under her chemise and his had slowly curved around a breast and lifted it, weighing it.
She gasped and arched into his touch. He flicked his thumb over her taut nipple and she moaned. She tried to hold back her cry of pleasure and rubbed her body against his, her breathing ragged and her muscles quivering. “What else do I need to do? What am I doing wrong?”
He paused and pulled back, looking at her quizzically. “You’re doing everything perfect, pixie.”
“Then why did you say that this is not like it is supposed to be?”
Trevor smiled at her, a slow, very male smile. “It’s better than it is supposed to be. The way you make me feel... pixie, it is as if I’ve never held a woman before in my life.”
Serena smiled back at him in return. Reaching up, she smoothed back a lock of his hair. “I hate to point out the obvious,” she said softly, “but I would be mortified for the two of us to be discovered here on the side of the house.” She slowly and reluctantly lowered her leg. “And I truly should be back with my family.”
Trevor sighed heavily and lowered his forehead to hers. “You have given me so much tonight, Serena. Far more than I should have asked. But I can finally say I had a woman tell me goodbye before I went off into battle.”
“I’m saying goodbye—for now. I fully expect to see you again.”
He gave her another long, deep kiss, then let her slide down his body, a slight shudder rippling through both of them. “I’ll never forget you, pixie,” he said, his tone serious.
“Nor I you,” she said. “This isn’t goodbye. This is just until I see you again.”
He smiled down at her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You are one hell of a woman,” he said softly. Then he turned and disappeared into the night.
Chapter Ten
Morning came all too soon. Many of the men looked like they either hadn’t slept or had spent the night with a large bottle of alcohol. The rest of the men looked anxious and a little forlorn, as the gravity of the situation was sinking in.
Trevor’s face looked like stone. Serena could only imagine the weight on his shoulders as he would be tasked with making decisions that could lead to either life or death for the men that he led. But he didn’t appear nervous at all. Either he had an incredible poker face, or he truly was calm and methodical as they loaded the pack mules and made sure each soldier had their supplies as had been ordered the night before.
Serena had been even more cautious in her disguise this time. Instead of wearing a loose cap, she wore a typical cowboy hat with her hair stuffed up inside the top of it. She had also wrapped cloth tightly around her chest to conceal her curves, and had fortunately lost weight since being shot, and her buckskin pants didn’t fit her like a glove anymore, revealing even less of her anatomy.
She had brought her favorite dun horse, a beautiful chestnut color with a dark line running down its back and a black mane and tail. She took a lot of pride in making sure her animals were always healthy, and it showed with the shine to the fur of her horse, its strong confirmation, and the well-trimmed horse shoes. She didn’t know how long they would be at war, so she had come as prepared as possible.
She had never doubted that she was going with the soldiers as they journeyed out that morning. She had simply chosen not to tell Trevor. As she had packed her saddlebags, she had pulled a special necklace made out of the rattles of a rattle snake. It had belonged to Talking Wolf, and her eyes glazed over in tears as she remembered the man who had taught her so much.
He had wanted peace between the white men and the Indians. He would have been horrified to have seen the carnage that was occurring on both sides. She had sat on her bed and hugged his necklace to her heart, allowing herself to cry as she hadn’t before. Then she had dried her eyes and continued packing. She only prayed that Stalking Wolf was safe and was not participating in the war.
A ranger suddenly showed up at her side. “Where are your provisions, soldier?” he asked curtly.
Serena fumbled slightly, but kept quiet as she showed him the contents of her saddlebag, the rifle they had issued her, her own rifle that used to belong to her father, and a revolver. The ranger’s eyebrows lifted when he saw the Colt revolver. Not many people carried them yet, though they were growing in popularity. His eyes darted over to Serena, but she kept her head down, avoiding eye contact. Finally, the ranger said she was cleared for duty, and she hastily restocked her items and mounted Whistle, a name she had given the horse since he always came running whenever she, and only she, whistled for him, and joined the growing crowd of soldiers ready to start the journey to put an end to the terror the Comanche were raining down on them.
If they knew her plans, though, they would probably tear her from her horse and send her to the jail and conveniently lose the key. But someone had to have a level head as they went into this war and remember that the Comanche were just as much of a victim as they were. They had to be willing to take prisoners and not slaughter the entire Comanche Nation. No, her message would not be well-received.
The sun was just beginning to rise when the last few stragglers had made it in and their provisions had been checked. Trevor rode a large bay stallion, beautiful and majestic, and it pranced in front of the line. There were at least one hundred of them gathered, hardly a force large enough to combat the Indians, but they were supposed to get reinforcements along the way towards East Texas.
“As I explained last night,” Trevor spoke in a loud, clear, voice, “we travel east to intercept the Comanche. I am your leader, Captain Daniels. I will not tolerate drunkenness, fighting, or otherwise insolent behavior in my company. Should I find you at fault for any activity during this mission, you will be sent on your way with minimal provisions to get you back to San Antonio alone. You will not have the security of the company with you to offer you that additional protection. I encourage you to think long and hard before you do anything even remotely foolish.”
He rode in front of the line of men for a minute, letting them absorb what he had just said. Finally, he spoke again, “We will ride hard and ha
ve few stops in between. Our mission is to save the towns that are in the path of the Comanche and to disband the Comanche army.”
“Kill them all!” a voice shouted from the back of the pack.
The roaring cheer of support was nearly deafening, and Serena watched carefully to see how Trevor would handle the situation. He was silent until the noise had died down, and even when the men had fallen silent he didn’t say anything, and the men began to shift anxiously in their seats, waiting for what he was going to say.
“If you think the only job you have is to kill the Comanche, you can leave now and I don’t ever want to see you again. These men are soldiers, same as us, and deserve the chance to a fair trial to their crimes should we capture them. But there will be no ruthless killing of the Indians. If you do that, you are no better than they.”
Serena’s lips twitched with a smile. So he wasn’t going to go on a bloodthirsty hunt for the Indians, nor would he let his men.
He continued, “If I see a man shoot an Indian in the back, that man is as good as dead to me, as well. Keep focused. We are going forward to stop death, not create more. We are going to rescue those who have been kidnapped, not put their lives at risk as well.”
His large bay horse continued to prance with excitement at the front of the line. “We represent the Republic of Texas, and we will do her proud! Let’s ride!”
Serena’s body ached all over. She had known the journey was going to be grueling, and Trevor had warned that they would have very few stops. He hadn’t been kidding. Her thighs burned from where they had gripped her place in the saddle, and her calves ached from constantly nudging her horse to a faster pace. It had been easy the first few hours as all the horses were feeding off each other’s energy. But by midmorning, they were beginning to tire out and were ready to cut back on the pace. Trevor wouldn’t allow it, though.
They rode hard all the way till the sun was directly above them. Serena was grateful that she had strapped her breasts down, as it allowed her to take her large jacket off and ride in her more comfortable loose plaid shirt. It was faded and worn thin, which made it perfect to wear under the hot Texas sun.
They came upon an open area, surrounded by large oak trees with a small stream trickling nearby, where Trevor announced they would break for a half hour and then continue on. At first the sound of a half hour seemed to be luxury to Serena. She took her time and watered her horse and pulled out some of the dried beef Angie, the only one in the family who knew what she was doing, had packed for her.
But, what seemed like only a few minutes later, Trevor announced the half hour had passed and it was time to press on. She couldn’t believe so much time had vanished so quickly and with dread she tightened the cinch on the saddle and mounted again. From the slow movements of several other soldiers around her, she could tell they felt the same way. But they weren’t going to disappoint Trevor. If he could do all of this, then they all could. Or they were all going to die from the heat and exhaustion.
They didn’t break again until the sun was dipping below the skyline. Surrounded by sage and cactus, somehow Trevor was able to find a spot that was relatively clear and they could make camp. In a short amount of time, the horses were tethered, their saddles were off, and small campfires were popping up everywhere. It was prime season for rattlesnakes, and not only would the fire allow them to cook something, but it would keep the slithering, deadly creatures away from them.
Two of the younger men gravitated towards Serena and introduced themselves—Josh and Hector—and suggested they share a campfire. Serena agreed, though she did her best not to talk much. She feared her voice would give her away for who she really was.
Soon they had a small fire going, and each one shared the food they had. Serena had brought some beans, Josh had some dried beef, and Hector had some cheese. After the long, brutal ride, the food was a welcome reprieve, and Serena could feel the exhaustion settling in as soon as she was done eating.
“He’s pushing too hard,” Hector finally said, breaking the silence. “Our horses can’t hold up to this grueling pace.”
“Maybe yours can’t.” Josh laughed and nudged Serena as if it were a joke the two of the shared. Serena forced a big smile to her face and nodded at Hector.
Hector scoffed at them. “You can’t tell me you think he’s taking us at a rational pace.”
Josh shrugged. “This is my first time to do anything like this. I have no idea. Sergio?”
It took a second for Serena to realize he was talking to her, using the fake name she had created for herself.
She played off her hesitation as if she’d been thinking. “It seems to me,” she said, keeping her voice deep and rough, “that none of us have done anything like this. But I know that if one of my family members was being held by the Comanche I would want the people meant to rescue them to ride as hard as absolutely possible.”
Hector looked down at his food and seemed properly chastised for talking about his leader the way that he had. Josh stared into the fire, as if it could provide him answers to the questions that he had.
Finally, he spoke, “The Indians are bound to know we’re after them. Just exactly what do they want to accomplish?”
“This”—Hector spread his arms wide, gesturing to the entire camp—“this is what they want. They want war. They want to enrage us to the point that we fight back.”
“Then why are they running from us? Why don’t they pick a spot and take a stand?”
“They don’t want war,” Serena spoke up. “They want revenge. Once they feel vindicated, they’ll slow down the killing. At least I hope they will.”
“Hell, they’re the ones that started everything! If anyone should get revenge it should be us!” Josh was getting heated.
Serena held up her hands defensively. “We’re going after them. We’ll remind them where they belong.” She nearly choked on the words as she said them.
She was going to have to watch her mouth or she was going to get into trouble and not have a way to get out.
“You bet we will. We’ll strip them of their feathers and arrows and make them give us the respect we deserve. We’ve come here to conquer the land, and if that requires conquering them, then by God, so be it!”
Serena raised her small cup full of water to him in a salute and nodded her head while she bit her tongue so hard it nearly bled. She drank down her water then stood and packed away everything she wouldn’t need for the night. She grabbed her bedroll and her horse blanket and had barely laid down before the sun was creeping up on the horizon and the smell of bacon and hot coffee greeted her nose.
Unfortunately, it was coming from other campsites. Her two comrades were still asleep. She gazed around and suddenly saw Trevor, standing with a few of his rangers, pointing at different spots on a map. For a moment, her heart clamored and she remembered their last embrace. Little did he know it wasn’t a goodbye kiss. She couldn’t tell him, and he couldn’t find out, or he would send her home. That was as long as Cade or Lorenzo didn’t notice her first. Drawing a deep breath, she pulled her gaze away from him and gathered up her items. As soon as her horse was saddled she went over and nudged her two companions in the back. “Looks like we’ll be leavin’ soon,” she said, using the soft drawl that fit with her lowered, rough voice.
They cursed and scrambled up, stumbling in the semi-light of morning, still stuck in the haze of their slumber. Serena couldn’t do anything but laugh at them, though she did so quietly. But she sobered up quickly as the rangers came riding through, shouting for everyone to mount up. She sighed heavily and groaned softy as she pulled herself into the saddle. Every muscle in her body screamed in protest, but she gritted her teeth and swung her leg over, settling in for another long ride ahead.
Her two new companions rode alongside with her, and they chatted lightly about their lives. Serena had come up with a brief description of her life as a small farmer who had just recently taken over the family farm from his father. The desc
ription seemed to fit for the two others, as they didn’t ask her any more questions about her life.
Serena sighed with relief. She’d been able to fool a few into believing she was just a young man. Perhaps her ruse would work as long as she needed it to. Her eyes drifted ahead to where Trevor rode tall on his bay stallion, keeping it at a steady jog or slow canter. His eyes probed everything around them, especially as they began to get into the slightly more wooded area of the countryside. He would be the biggest test of them all. Could she fool him?
Based on his goodbye kiss, he didn’t expect to ever see her again. Her cheeks burned with a blush as she remembered what it had been like to be that close to a man, especially that intimate with one. And the way her body had responded had not only surprised her, but had been the most incredible thing she had ever felt. Now she understood some of the glances her sisters would exchange with their husbands from time to time.
Dark clouds loomed on the horizon as it approached midday. Trevor called for a halt just long enough for their horses to get water and for them to eat a small lunch before they were back on the trail. The dark clouds only became more ominous and, even from the distance, Serena could tell Trevor was unhappy.
It had been fascinating watching Trevor track the area they had been through, searching for signs of Indians. But so far they weren’t even close to their trail. But if there was anything to be found, a storm would wash it all away.
Suddenly the sky lit up with lightning and the boom of thunder that followed seemed to shake the earth. Serena kept firm and steady in her saddle, but Josh was caught off guard when his horse jumped and pranced sideways. He tumbled from his saddle, landing directly on his rump. Hector and Serena couldn’t hold back their laughter. But he wasn’t fazed and climbed back onto his horse with only a slight blush covering his pale features.
The rode through the lightning storm a little longer until the sky opened up and a cool rain began to pour down on them. After all of the heat during the day, they were relieved by the cool drops that ran down through their shirts and soaked everything.
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