Warrior Moon

by Sara Orwig

  “Be still, Vanessa. It will do you no good to fight me. I’m taking you back with me to my people.”

  She stared at him in shocked disbelief. “No! You can’t.”

  “Yes, I can,” he said quietly, his dark eyes holding an implacable glint, his voice unyielding. He towered over her, his broad shoulders intimidating, and she knew his strength would be impossible to counter.

  “I can take you as you are now or I can throw you over the horse and tie you down so you’ll travel on your stomach. You won’t like it. And Muaahap won’t help you. She’ll know I’m right, and I imagine she’ll agree with me. If she doesn’t, I’ll leave her behind. If you cause trouble with Muaahap and White Bird, it will only go harder for them because I am taking you with me.”

  “I will never let you—”

  He caught her up against him so swiftly it took away her breath. His face was only inches from hers. “Don’t threaten me with what you’ll never let me do because I can easily overcome your anger. If we were alone, I would show you what you want and what you would ask me to do to you,” he said in a husky voice.

  Furious with him, she jerked her knee up. He took the blow high on his thigh.

  He caught her up and strode to her horse, tossing her across the saddle on her stomach. He stood close to her face, holding her wrists with one of his hands as she struggled futilely.

  “Do you want to travel this way?”

  She turned her head away from him, but he wound his fingers in her hair and jerked her face back toward his. “Answer me now or this is the way you’ll ride!”

  “No!” she snapped, her green eyes fiery. Lone Wolf knew she would fight, but he wasn’t going to let her ride away alone. She would never reach McKavett, but she was too stubborn to admit it and too inexperienced to know the dangers she faced. He lifted her off the horse to set her on her feet.

  “I’ll water the horses,” he said.

  “I hate you for this,” she stated, her voice low and quaking with anger, spots of color turning her cheeks red. “I’ll never forgive you if Phoebe’s marriage ruins her life.”

  “Your sister should run away as you did. She’s almost sixteen, that’s old enough to escape if escape is possible at all. I’ll not let you go back alone for her. You would never get to McKavett, Vanessa. Never.”

  “I have to try. I won’t cooperate with you. The first chance I have, I’ll run away.”

  His dark eyes gazed at her, and then he walked away with the horses.

  Angry, frustrated, and frightened for Phoebe, Vanessa stared helplessly at his broad back. She ran to the horse and yanked the rifle from the scabbard, grasping the bolt. When she yanked up the rifle, he turned. Trying to hold the heavy weapon, she braced the stock against her shoulder.

  He ran toward her, his head down, coursing like a snake. She swung the rifle lower, and he leapt at her, tackling her. The shot reverberated in the air, an echoing bang that sent birds flying.

  Lone Wolf’s weight came down on her, knocking the breath from her lungs and stunning her as she hit the ground hard. He yanked the rifle from her hands and tossed it away, pausing with his face only inches above her, his brown eyes blazing with fury.

  “You wanted to kill me!”

  “I just want to be free! Let me go! You’ll wish you had!”

  He stared at her, rage churning in him. He had known she would fight him, but he had misjudged how hard she would fight. And he hadn’t guessed that she would try to shoot him, not after having spent days and nights at great risk to nurse him back to health from gunshot wounds.

  Trying to control his anger, he stood up, turning in the direction Muaahap and White Bird had gone. In seconds, Muaahap came trotting through the trees. He waved to her and held up the rifle, shrugging his shoulders.

  She waved and turned to hurry back to White Bird, disappearing into the trees again.

  Lone Wolf looked down at Vanessa and knew he had to make her understand that she was not going to go free. And he was going to give vent to some of his fury.

  Vanessa met his dark gaze and saw the rage that blazed in his eyes. He walked away, placing the rifle in the scabbard, and then he came back to her. “Get up, Vanessa.”

  She stared at him, suddenly afraid of what he intended. It wouldn’t do any good to tell him she hadn’t intended to shoot to kill, only to stop him and get away from him. Feeling a stubborn contrariness, she gazed up at him without moving, determined to cooperate as little as possible.

  He reached down and picked her up roughly, swinging her over his shoulder on her stomach and striding downstream with her. Angry, embarrassed, and hating hanging over his shoulder and bouncing like a sack of flour, she kicked and wiggled.

  “Put me down! I’ll walk!”

  Ignoring her, he strode away from the horses and Muaahap. He stopped and swung her down, setting her on her feet. “We’re going to settle this. You tried to kill me just then. I think you need to understand that you’re my captive, Vanessa, and that I’m not letting you ride away alone. By nightfall, someone else would have you.”

  “I want to take that chance, and you shouldn’t stop me! I have to try to get my sister!”

  “No, Vanessa. You’re foolish and young, and you know nothing about the harshness of this land or the men that roam it. You’ve seen a little, enough that you should know in your heart that I’m right. You heard what Hollings said he would do if he caught you. You know what Hankins wanted from you. You’re going with me, and you’re not going to fight me every step of the way,” he said, moving closer to her.

  She backed up. “I will fight you,” she snapped. “I’ve helped you and cared for you, and now you can repay that by letting me go.”

  “Did you hear what I just said to you? Someone else would have you by nightfall.”

  “I want to take that chance,” she said, backing into the trunk of a cottonwood. He reached out and caught her, pulling her to him.

  She fought him as Lone Wolf had known she would, her green eyes blazing with anger. “Let me go! I don’t want your kisses, and I don’t want you to touch me!”

  “You’re talking in anger and I don’t believe you,” he said quietly, pulling her into his arms, holding her tightly against him while he ignored her struggles. He bent to kiss her and she twisted away. He lowered his head, kissing her throat, his hand moving to her breast to stroke her.

  Vanessa felt bombarded by the sensations that he stirred. As angry as she was with him, she also loved him and his touch was not unwelcome or repugnant. He kissed her throat, unfastening the thongs that held the top of the buckskin to the skirt and pushing up the top to take her breast in his mouth.

  With a gasp, her struggles ceased. She gave a cry, her hands becoming still on his shoulders. “Let me go,” she whispered, but all force was gone from her voice and her eyes were closed. “You’re fighting unfairly,” she whimpered as his large hands cupped her breasts and his thumbs played over her taut nipples. She clung to his arms, her eyes squeezed shut as her anger dissipated like fog beneath the onslaught of a hot sun.

  “You won’t fight me, Vanessa, because you belong with me. You do not give your heart lightly to men and you have never given your body to a man before. When you fight me, I will remind you that the fight is easy to end,” he said in a husky voice.

  “I want to—” He silenced her words, his mouth coming down over hers, his tongue thrusting into her mouth. She yielded, forgetting the battle and everything else as she wound her arms around his neck.

  Lone Wolf knew he had taken advantage of her passionate nature, but he was determined to settle the battle quickly. She was going back with him. Any other course would be a disaster for her.

  He unfastened the skirt and pushed it away, tugging at the cotton underdrawers that she wore. His hands trailed over her, stroking her inner thighs until her legs parted. He touched her moist warmth; his fingers, feeling her readiness for him, stroked her velvety folds.

  He shed his clothes swiftly,
seeing her change as her thoughts returned. He caught her around the waist and kissed her, stopping her words as she opened her mouth to speak. He turned her, nudging her legs apart, pushing his bare thigh up against her softness, against the bud that he had already stroked.

  She gasped, undulating, and he jammed his thigh against her more tightly, holding her hips as she moved and clung to him.

  “Guipago,” she whispered, reverting to his Kiowa name in her passion. Her eyes were closed, her white teeth biting into her lower lip. He stroked her breasts and leaned forward, to kiss her, winding his hands in her hair as her hips moved wildly.

  Vanessa felt the tightening in her body, the urgency as his warm, muscled thigh pressed against her, and she couldn’t hold back or stop now. Pleasure bathed her in waves; and then, with her release, she cried out and reached for him, wanting him, her fingers stroking his thick shaft.

  He lifted her up easily and settled her on him, sliding into her as she wrapped her legs around him. She cried out again as another climax burst within her, and she moved with him, her fingers wound in his thick hair.

  “I hate you for this,” she whispered, knowing it wasn’t so, but still feeling the smoldering anger that had given way to passion.

  “No, you don’t. I’ve seen you with the men you hate,” he murmured, kissing her throat and her ear, trailing kisses to her mouth and then kissing her hard as he thrust into her and pulled her down tightly on his hot shaft.

  She cried out with this new climax, rapture bursting over her, everything gone from existence except his big, hard body, his mouth on hers, his arms holding her tightly.

  Lone Wolf held her against him and thrust swiftly in release, hearing her cries and knowing she had found satisfaction, knowing she had yielded completely and for the moment forgotten her anger. He lay down on the grass and pulled her over him.

  “You can’t go across the country alone,” he told her fiercely. “I won’t let you. You can’t get your sister. It is foolishness, Vanessa. I’ve seen bloody battles where men were killed because of their foolishness. You’re my woman, and I’m taking you with me.”

  She stared at him, part of her knowing he was right, part of her refusing to accept what he was saying. Even if she lost her life trying to get Phoebe, she firmly believed she had to try.

  “I want to go back,” she said, turning her head to stare beyond him. “Nothing you can do or say will change how I feel about my promise to my sister.”

  He picked her up and waded into the cold stream, sinking down with her in his arms. Icy water splashed against her, but his warm body was pressed close and she had one arm wrapped around his neck.

  “Look at me, Vanessa,” he commanded.

  She turned her head, anger still smoldering, knowing she wouldn’t stop fighting him. “You won’t be able to hold me.”

  “Yes, I will. And every time we get into a heated battle, I’ll remind you that part of you wants what I do. You’ll stop fighting me then, but you could save yourself trouble if you stop now. And if you ever take a gun to me again—” he threatened, turning her chin and tilting her face up.

  Lone Wolf had intended to tell her he would beat her; but as he looked into her wide, fearless green eyes that sparked with anger, he knew he never would hurt her. He admired her and respected her, and he wasn’t going to let her go to her death or to rape or captivity.

  He leaned forward to kiss her, feeling her body stiffen and her lips clamp shut in resistance. He held her face, his tongue playing over her lips, and then her mouth parted and he kissed her long and passionately.

  He raised his head and looked at her. Her eyes were closed, her head tilted back, her red lips parted, wet from his kisses. Then her eyes opened and he could see the arguments coming. He stood up, with a splash of water and set her on her feet, leaving her as he strode out of the river.

  He glanced back at her and drew his breath. Her red hair spilled over her shoulders; her body was white and pink with the thick triangle of red curls at the base of her belly. Her long silky legs were wet with sparkling drops of water. He could stride back and pick her up and take her again. Instead, he turned away, yanking on his buckskins, ignoring her as she passed him and dressed.

  As soon as she had her clothing on, he stepped to her and caught her wrists. Her head came up, her nostrils flaring, fire sparking in her eyes.

  “Don’t bind my wrists.”

  “You won’t cooperate. You’ve already told me that,” he replied calmly. “You tried to kill me, Vanessa. You’ll stay tied when we travel.”

  She glared at him. “I hate what you’re doing! I won’t cooperate. You know you can—” She bit off the words and looked away, spots of color in her cheeks.

  He caught her chin with his fingers and turned her head. “I know I can what?

  “You can kiss me and make me forget everything,” she said swiftly in a low voice, her face flushing. “I can’t change or stop that, but the rest of the time I can think and remember and hate you for what you’re doing.”

  He picked her up, wanting her in his arms, wanting her anger to go and knowing in time it would. He strode back to the horses with her and set her on a log while he changed the saddle from the paint to the sorrel.

  “This horse is the slowest. I’m sorry if that reflects on your horse-buying, Vanessa, but I imagine you have little experience in purchasing horses.”

  “Or stealing them,” she said sharply to him, certain that he had stolen horses often as part of his way of life.

  He glanced at her and she thought she saw amusement in his dark eyes, which only fueled her anger further. She raised her chin and looked away from him.

  “You’ll ride the sorrel. That way, if you see a chance to run away, I’ll be able to catch you easily because the bay and the paint are both fine and fast horses.”

  “Muaahap will help me,” she said.

  “No, she won’t because she will understand completely what kind of danger you would place yourself in by riding off alone. You’ll see that she will agree with me in this. I won’t have to threaten her or argue with her.”

  “I think you will threaten her,” Vanessa replied darkly, furious with him and wanting to argue with anything he said.

  He wheeled abruptly and strode to her. This time, there was no mistaking the amusement in his eyes. He tilted her chin and gazed at her, the look causing a rush of warmth in spite of her anger.

  “So!” he exclaimed. “No matter how desperate you are—desperate enough to shoot at me!—you do not beg as so many women would. You shed no tears of despair. You do not plead.”

  “I can cry,” she threatened. He ran his thumb along her chin.

  “I doubt it,” he mused. “How much more like you that you took my rifle and tried to shoot me. I should have guessed.”

  “And I’ll do it again if I get the chance!” she retorted. He grinned, his white teeth flashing—unbearably handsome at a time when she did not want to find him so, when she preferred not to see him as charming. She jerked away from him.

  He knelt in front of her. “Vanessa,” he said softly, “there is a wind that roars over this land occasionally during summer storms. It tears up everything in its path and it does the impossible. I find you are this wind in my life.”

  Startled by his words, she swung around to look at him. His dark eyes studied her, the faint smile still on his face. At another time she would have slipped her arms around his neck and leaned forward to kiss him, but not now. She put her chin down so she could look into his eyes. “I wish I were that wind and could tear you out of my way and go where I want!”

  He grinned again as he stood up to move away from her.

  She wanted to cry out and beg for freedom, but she knew it was useless. The only way was either help from Muaahap or escaping on her own.

  He continued to prepare the horses for travel. He placed her pistol in his saddlebag. Soon, she heard White Bird’s happy voice. Muaahap strode up, looking at her, glancing at her wris
ts, and then turning to frown at Lone Wolf as he walked toward her. White Bird toddled past them, enticed by a rock pile, and her uncle remained with Muaahap.

  Lone Wolf spoke in Comanche, most of the words lost on Vanessa, but she knew he was explaining what had happened. Listening quietly, Muaahap glanced at Vanessa and back at him. Finally, Muaahap nodded and Vanessa’s hopes sank. Muaahap walked to Vanessa and motioned to her. She passed her right hand downward over her heart, then made a fist and shoved it downward, opening her hand. The signs indicated danger.

  Frustrated that Muaahap would agree with him, Vanessa tried to indicate how desperately she needed to get free. Muaahap merely shook her head and patted Vanessa’s hand.

  She walked away while Lone Wolf talked to White Bird, who turned to stare at Vanessa with wide eyes, her gaze going to Vanessa’s bound wrists. She toddled to Vanessa and leaned her head against her, patting her and holding her. Vanessa stroked her head and, when White Bird looked up, kissed her forehead.

  “I love you,” she said softly.

  “I love you,” White Bird repeated. Muaahap called to her, and she scampered away as Lone Wolf approached.

  “What did you tell Muaahap?” he asked.

  “I told her the truth. I told her you want to go to Fort McKavett to rescue your sister from marriage, but your father would catch you and place you in a convent. She likes the idea of your being my wife better, so she has agreed to give me her cooperation. Also, I told her that you want to go away alone and you don’t know how dangerous it is so I’ve done this to protect you. White Bird doesn’t understand what’s happening, but I told her it would save your life.”

  “Damn you,” Vanessa said again in a low, angry voice.

  He hunkered down in front of her, his eyes on a level with hers. “Vanessa, you saved my life and cared for White Bird. I don’t want to go to Fort McKavett and get myself killed. And I care too much for you to let you go by yourself.”

  “You just want me,” she snapped, knowing she was being unfair, but still angry with him.

  “Yes, I do want you,” he replied, and her head swung around. She gazed into his dark eyes. “I want you and I don’t want you to be hurt. If you part from us and ride away alone, you’ll be hurt badly. Now we go,” he said, as if the subject were closed.