Matt leaned an elbow on his saddle horn and shifted his weight, the creak of leather so loud it nearly echoed off the surrounding rocks. Nothing moved. Not the wind, not a bird, not even a lizard. A moment later Chee appeared, soundlessly, as if by magic, from behind a boulder several yards down the trail. He nudged his horse into a walk until he was beside Matt.
“Howdy, pardner,” Chee drawled.
Pace and Serena giggled. They’d known Chee all their lives, but no matter how often the fierce-looking warrior let loose with one of his white-man phrases, it always took them by surprise.
Shanta, who now scouted for the Army, and Chee, who rode with Cochise, had worked at the Triple C on and off for years right after the twins were born. Cochise had sent them to his adopted daughter, Daniella, whom the Apaches called Woman of Magic because of the white streak in her black hair. The Chiricahua chief wanted the two young apprentice warriors to learn as much about the white man as they could, and share that knowledge with their people.
Cochise did not consider the whites and Mexicans at the Triple C his enemies, but they were the exception. All the other non-Apaches in the territory were trying to kill him and his people. Cochise did his best to return the favor.
He’d believed by learning more about his enemies, his victory over them would come swift and sure. For ten years he’d waged a war in southeast Arizona that had brought white man’s growth and development in the area to a virtual standstill.
But one of the things he’d learned from the whites, through Shanta and Chee, was that his cause and his people were doomed. His enemies were too many. No matter how many he killed, there were always more. Too many more.
Because of the things Shanta and Chee told him, Cochise had been thinking a great deal about peace lately. So much so that for the past year he’d persuaded his warriors to stop all raiding.
Chee had stayed with Cochise, and Shanta had joined the Army scouts in an attempt to determine, by keeping his eyes and ears open, if Cochise’s dream of peace had any sort of chance.
Matt prayed for the dream to come true. If Cochise could maintain control of his warriors and keep the ban on raiding in effect, it just might.
Deep in thoughts of peace for the Chúkánéné, Matt didn’t realize how close they’d come to Cochise’s winter rancheria until Chee reined his horse to a halt. Coming back to the present, Matt eyed his friend carefully, wondering why Chee had stopped. At the look on Chee’s face, Matt told the twins to ride in alone.
When Pace and Serena left the two men there among the sage and rocks, Matt turned to Chee and said, “All right. What’s up?”
“Why must something be up? Can one friend simply not wish to speak to another?”
Matt nodded in acknowledgement. “Of course. But that isn’t what you want. What’s happened?”
When Matt heard what Tahnito and the others had done and what he, himself, was expected to do, he swore viciously. “What in the hell were those fools thinking of?”
Matt absently fingered the scar on his cheek and felt the scars on the rest of his body tingle. He’d have to kill Tahnito some day, he knew that. He’d known it since The Day of the Bear, as he referred to it privately. Matt had never told anyone about the trap Tahnito had led him into that day. Only Tahnito knew. And Matt somehow sensed that because the plan had failed and Matt had lived, and because Matt hadn’t told anyone what had happened, Tahnito hated him even more.
“Because they’re all hotheads. You know that,” Chee answered. “And you know what they’ll do to the girl if you don’t go along with them.”
“Yeah, I know. What I’m wondering is, why me? Who brought my name into it?” Matt eyed his best friend, watching him shift uncomfortably on his handmade Apache saddle. “You? Goddamn, Chee, why me?”
“Why not you?” Chee asked defensively. “You need a wife anyway. Those three, and others, would love to see you married, especially to a white girl. That way all our unmarried girls, and some of the married ones, I’m sure, would stop following you around all the time.”
“You exaggerate.”
“Ha!”
Matt finally agreed to go with Chee, hoping he’d be able to talk Tahnito and his friends into just letting the girl go. But it was only a small hope. He knew Tahnito too well.
Angela huddled at the base of the oak and tried to make herself as small and inconspicuous as possible, without much success. As the day wore on, her three captors began to stare at her more and more often, sending rivers of fear coursing through her.
She fought to hold her tears at bay. Chee hadn’t even been gone a full day. How was she to survive until he returned? He said she’d be safe, but he must have known that as soon as he left there would be nothing to keep these three from taking advantage of his absence.
Why did you leave me here with them?
What if something happened to him? What if he didn’t come back? What would happen to her?
Dear God, she knew what would happen, and she wanted to die. She wouldn’t be able to defend herself if they came at her. They had tied her hands as soon as Chee left this morning.
And it was only a matter of time before they did come at her. She could see it in their eyes, feel it in her bones. A scream of pure terror threatened to rip loose from her throat.
Except for her captors and Chee, there wasn’t a soul on earth who knew—or even cared—where she was. She was alone. Totally, completely, terrifyingly alone. There was no one to help her, no one to know or care what happened to her in this arid, blistering hole in the rocks.
From where she sat it looked as if there was no way out of the tiny piece of ground surrounded by towering rock walls. Entrance to the hidden place was a narrow passage around the side of a boulder. From time to time one of the Apaches would crawl to the top of the rocks and scout the area to make sure no one was near.
The young one with the crooked teeth—Caje, Chee called him—had just climbed back down from the rocks. Now he approached her. Angela stiffened. It was too soon! The sun was just going down! She was supposed to be safe until Chee got back!
Her braided coronet had long since fallen, to hang like a thick rope down the middle of her back. Caje took hold of the braid and said something to his two friends. Her heart began to pound in her ears. Her mouth went dry. Her muscles quivered with terror.
Tahnito and Mahco came forward. The three savages stared at her hair as if just now noticing she had any.
“No!” Angela screamed. She jerked free of Caje’s hold and sprang to her feet, only to be caught and held by Mahco, the one with the broad, flat nose. Tahnito found the rag and stuffed it into her mouth. She struggled to get loose but was no match for their strength.
Their laughter terrified her as much as their obsession with her hair. Her heart threatened to pound its way right out of her chest, if it didn’t stop beating altogether. She’d feared being raped and killed, but it only now occurred to her…Indians take scalps.
She screamed behind her gag just as Caje finished unbraiding her hair. She screamed again as all three men ran their hands through it, fanning it out, tugging on it, and laughing…always laughing. Angela went crazy. She kicked out at them and butted one in the stomach with her head. Her sudden actions won her an instant of freedom, but only an instant. When she whirled to run, her hair fanned out behind her. Tahnito caught his hand in it, yanking her back against his chest and nearly knocking the wind from her.
Suddenly a deep voice shouted, “Bíni!” An arrow twanged into the tree just inches from Tahnito’s head. He leaped back beside the tree and pulled Angela in front of him as a shield.
Angela looked up and saw it was Chee who’d shot the arrow. He was back! She sagged in Tahnito’s arms and choked down a sob of relief while her vision blurred.
Chee shouted something that sounded like a demand. An angry demand.
Tahnito released her with a shove. She stumbled away, tripped on the hem of her dress, and fell. Gasping for breath, she watched her t
hree captors confront Chee and another man. Her eyes widened. A white man!
Matt.
She blinked rapidly and tried to peer through the hair streaming across her flushed face. Surely she was imagining him, simply because she’d thought about him so much since that day at the fort. A white man wouldn’t just ride into an Apache camp. And he wasn’t trussed up like a captive.
Even as she denied his presence, he swung down from the back of his big pinto and stepped toward her captors. He was without a doubt the same man from the fort. The one who’d stood behind the half–breed twins and gazed at her with such soft brown eyes.
Those brown eyes had yet to look at her closely.
A heated argument broke out among the men. Angela was stunned to see the white man back the other three down, in their own language! Who was he? What was he doing here? Surely he could get her away from here; he seemed so…self–assured.
With a confidence bordering on arrogance, the man called Matt turned his back on the Apaches and walked over to her. He knelt beside her and scowled while he untied her hands and removed the rag from her mouth. His touch was almost gentle when he held her face up and looked at her closely. His eyes widened with surprised recognition. He swore softly, then went and got his canteen.
Angela tried to gulp down the cool water.
“Easy, there. Not too much at once,” he cautioned. “Just sip it.”
When arguing with the Apaches, his voice had been cold and hard, but now, when he spoke to her, it was soft and gentle, the way he’d spoken to the twins. It created a tiny spark of warmth where only coldness and fear had been before. Could he save her?
“Who are you?” She handed the canteen back with shaking hands. “Can you help me? I need to escape. They’re going to kill me, I know they are, and I’m so frightened! Help me, please!”
“Just take it easy,” he said. “No one’s going to hurt you now. I’m Matt Colton. What’s your name?”
“A–Angela,” she stammered. “Oh, please, you’ve got to help me! If these men don’t kill me, then they’re going to make me marry some horrible savage named Bear Killer. Please! Please help me!” she begged. She glanced up and realized Chee could hear every word she said. She blushed with shame at her choice of words to describe his friend.
Oddly enough, Chee didn’t seem offended. He was laughing!
“Horrible savage?” Matt asked.
“I didn’t mean—I–I mean…”
Matt turned to Chee. “You didn’t tell her?”
Chee shrugged. “I thought I’d let you do that.”
Matt shook his head and turned back to Angela, a slight smile curving his lips. “Well, I guess I’ve been called horrible a time or two, but I’ve never really thought of myself as savage.”
Angela’s battered mind made no sense of his words. She simply stared at him, confused.
“I’m Bear Killer,” Matt explained.
Her confusion gave way to stunned surprise. “You? You’re Bear Killer? But I thought…I mean, you’re not…those children called you…you said your name was…Matt.” She stammered to a halt, confused again. Then she noticed the necklace around his throat. Bear claws! The import of his words dawned on her. He’s Bear Killer! “Does that mean you can get me away from here?”
“In a way, yes.” The smile in his eyes and on his lips faded. “But we have to do it their way.”
“Their way? What do you mean? You wouldn’t let them—”
“No!” Matt said. “They won’t hurt you now, as long as we stick to their agreement.”
“Their agreement?” Angela swallowed. “I–I don’t understand.”
“You said it yourself a minute ago. It’s either them or me. I’m afraid those are your only choices.”
She met his eyes squarely, remembering what Chee told her. “You mean…we…you and I have to…get married?”
“It looks that way.”
She turned her head until she was looking at him out the corner of her eye. “You’d do that, marry me? Why?”
Matt shrugged. “I need a wife.” His eyes softened as he gazed at her. “Besides, I owe you something for the way you took up for the twins, and right now it looks like I’m your only way out of this mess. If you agree, we’ll ride into camp tomorrow and the diyini will marry us.”
“The what?”
“The diyini. The shaman. He’s like a preacher, a doctor, and a soothsayer, all rolled into one. Some call him a medicine man.”
Angela shifted uncomfortably on the hard ground. Her eyes flashed to the bear claws around his neck. She shivered. “Are you trying to tell me you…live with the Apaches?”
“No. At least not all the time. I come here two or three times a year. But I am a member of this tribe; they adopted me when I was a kid. And I have a half–breed brother and sister, the twins, who come to visit their grandfather. They’re here now, so we’ll have to stay. We’ll be here for a month or more.”
“A–A month? With them?” Her gaze darted toward Tahnito and his friends. I can’t do this! I don’t want this! I want my mother! Mother! Papa! Where are you? We should be in Tucson by now, at our new store. You shouldn’t be buried in the ground and I shouldn’t be here!
“It’ll be all right,” Matt assured her. “They won’t bother you.”
It was amazing how just his voice could soothe her raw nerves. “What happens when we leave here?”
Matt glanced around. Angela followed his gaze and noticed Chee had moved away and was building a fire.
“Look Angela, I know you’re in a tight spot here. I’m your only way out.” He lowered his voice. “We’ll pretend to go along with them and get married. We’ll have to act like it’s real. As soon as we leave here, we can have the marriage annulled, and you can be on your way to wherever it is you were going. If you need help with money or anything, I’ll take care of it.”
“You’d do all this…just to help me? Why?”
“It’s only partly for you,” he said. “I’ve seen girls in your situation before, but I’ve only known of one who lived through what those three had planned for you. I’d do just about anything to spare someone from that. But there’s more to it. Have you ever heard of an Apache named Cochise?”
“Of course,” she said, her body tensing with new apprehension. “They say he’s terrorized the Southwest for years now, and killed hundreds of people. What does he have to do with this?”
“What you’ve heard about him is mostly true. But now he wants peace. He’s the chief of this tribe, and none of his people have raided or caused any trouble in over a year. If he finds out what these three fools have done to you, there’ll be trouble. It could split the tribe and start the war all over again.” His fists clenched at his sides. His voice hardened. “It’s up to the two of us to see that doesn’t happen.”
The change in his voice frightened her. “What do you mean?” She licked her lips nervously and watched, fascinated, as his eyes followed her tongue, then darted back to her face.
“I mean you have to promise me you’ll never tell anyone how you got here,” he said fiercely. “We’ll say we’ve been secretly engaged and you were coming to meet me. Chee found you and brought you here so we could be married. Like I said, I’ll get you out of this mess, but you have to swear to anyone who asks that you came here on your own. Do you agree?”
“But what about them?” Angela asked, nodding to the three who had captured her.
“Don’t worry about them,” Matt said. “My guess is, by now they wished they’d never thought of taking you in the first place. They know what Cochise would say about it. They won’t talk, and if by some chance they do, you can leave them to me. What do you say? Will you marry me, and can you make it look real to everyone?”
She stared at him a long moment thinking, This isn’t happening. I’ll wake up soon and be back in the wagon with Mother and Papa. But as she clasped her hands together over her dusty, blue gingham skirt, a dozen raw blisters made their presence know
n. Blisters formed while digging—. She swallowed and forced the thought away. “I…guess I really don’t have much choice, do I?”
“No, you don’t,” Matt said coldly.
Good heavens! She’d just insulted the only man who could possibly help her. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded, honestly!” she cried. “I’m very grateful for what you’re doing for me.”
With a short nod, Matt rose and joined the other men. Angela watched the sure, confident way he walked, with his shoulders back, his head high. A thousand questions buzzed through her mind. Who was he? Where did he come from? If she understood him correctly, all she had to do was pretend to be his wife for a month. It was too easy.
She had tried to prepare herself mentally to accept an Apache named Bear Killer. The reality of Matt Colton was a little hard to comprehend. He was every girl’s dream of a young handsome suitor, and he was going to be her husband. Was he real?
Angela was too exhausted to think any more. She leaned her head back against the rock wall and fell asleep. Sometime later she roused briefly to find herself in Matt’s arms. He carried her near the fire and laid her down on what must have been his bedroll, covering her with a blanket. She dozed again. In her sleep, she imagined she was a child once more, and her father had come to say good night and tuck her in. She smiled.
Chapter Seven
Although they were already in the Dragoon Mountains and Cochise’s rancheria was only a mile away, as the crow flies, from where they’d camped, it still took Matt, Angela and Chee over two hours the next morning to get there because of the winding, backtracking trail through rocks and canyons. Tahnito and the others took a different route and wouldn’t arrive until later in the day.
Angela spent the entire trip torn in a dozen different directions. She was somehow confident that once they arrived, Matt would keep her safe, yet she couldn’t shake her fear. She tried to concentrate as he told her about the stronghold and what she would see there, what would be expected of her.
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