As he continued, his left forefinger absently pushed silky strands of golden-red hair from her face, and his eyes gazed more and more deeply into hers. Her magnetism was a tangible force and caused his voice to become husky. “When Grandfather changes our paths in life, we must not refuse to travel them or many will suffer for our selfishness and blindness. When I return to my wooden tepee in the white man’s territory, I will never return to the land of the Dakotas, but I will pray to Grandfather to save His children and sacred lands from total destruction, and I will do the only thing I can to help them.”
“White Eagle, tell me why you came to our camp,” she urged and found herself wishing he would repy, “For you.” She wanted to snuggle into his arms, to feel his touch and to touch him, to share kisses.
“Lone Wolf has my word of honor to hold silent. Go to sleep, Wild Wind. The new sun could bring many dangers for all in this camp. I will allow no harm to come to you and I will awaken you if the bad dreams return. I must leave when the sun rises in the heaven.” Travis knew his last statement was not a lie. He would depart to buy the weapons or he would leave with her; and if not with her, then to return later to abduct her. He had promised Nathan he could get her back, and, after meeting her, he was more determined than ever.
Lone Wolf moved away from his tepee as silently as a shadow. He had been listening to and watching Travis and his sister since their walk. Lone Wolf turned and walked toward his tepee, intentionally making enough sound to be heard by the sharp ears of the half-white warrior lying inside his dwelling. He quietly lifted the flap and tossed a small rock on Travis’s chest to obtain his attention. When Travis glanced in Lone Wolf’s direction, the chief used sign language to command him to silence and to follow him outside for a private talk.
Travis obeyed without alerting Wild Wind to his departure and absence. The two men walked to the nearby river and sat on blankets. Travis tried to conceal his impatience, but he knew he must let the chief speak first.
“The council voted to give White Eagle a chance to prove his words and honor, if we agree to make trade. White Eagle and his friend Nathan will ride to the white man’s trading post to buy weapons and supplies. My warriors will ride behind you to protect you and the trade goods. When the weapons and supplies rest in Oglala hands, Lone Wolf will tell his sister that White Eagle has made trade for her. Lone Wolf will command his sister to go with White Eagle. You must leave quickly after I speak words of farewell to her. If she battles my words, White Eagle must tie her hands and take her by force. She is a wild creature, and Lone Wolf has not tamed her with words or punishments.”
When Travis grinned in amusement, Lone Wolf warned, “Do not smile quickly, White Eagle. Soon you will feel the sting of her words and endure the troubles of her defiance. She is clever and daring; do not take your eyes or ears from her. If you earn her hatred and anger, do not turn your back to her; she is as skilled as my warriors. I pray Wild Wind will allow White Eagle to be gentle with her. When you return from the trading post, her grandfather must camp where he sleeps this moon. The council refuses to let him enter our camp and interfere with Wild Wind’s farewell ceremony. He is old, and blind to our ways. He will not understand how White Eagle will be forced to treat his granddaughter. If he weakens and interferes, the matter will be hard for all concerned.”
“It is agreed, Lone Wolf,” Travis declared, accepting the exchange terms.
“There is more to hear before you answer, White Eagle.”
His smile faded as he eyed Lone Wolf’s expression. “Speak it.”
“The council says that when you return to our camp White Eagle must join to Wild Wind before you leave with her. She will not be told of her grandfather and our exchange until you are many suns’ ride from our camp and lands. She will follow her mate, but she might refuse to return to the land of the whites with strangers. Her mind and heart are troubled and she will think we trick her with claims of family. She thinks I wish to be rid of her and she will doubt our words.” When Travis started to argue this astounding term, Lone Wolf held up his hand and cautioned, “Do not speak until I finish. You will join Wild Wind under Oglala law. Oglala laws do not matter to the white man. Rana Michaels and Travis Kincade are white; they will live in white lands, under white laws. Once you leave our lands, the marriage will not be binding. It is a trick for my sister’s obedience and to prevent trouble with the other warriors who have asked to make trade for her. No warrior can offer more than White Eagle’s supplies and weapons. The exchange will not be questioned or criticized. The council demands that she leave joined to you. If you refuse to make trade and to join to her, she will be guarded until she is bound to Rides-Like-Thunder and sleeps on his Cheyenne marriage mat. Once her body is mated to his, she will never leave him. Join her and leave in honor, or she is lost to you.”
A false marriage… Travis raged silently, cursing his bad luck. He knew as well as Lone Wolf that he was trapped, and traps and deceptions riled him. “What if she refuses when I ask her to join to me?”
Lone Wolf chuckled. “Do not play word games with me, White Eagle,” he teased mirthfully. “There is no asking in Indian lands, only trading and telling. If she is defiant, she will be bound during the joining ceremony. When you are far away, you can say you pretended to join to her to get her away peacefully to return her to her grandfather. You must tell her the Oglala joining ceremony is not binding in the white man’s world. Such words should make her happy, for she has refused to join to any man. But I warn you now, if you sleep upon the marriage mat with my sister, you must promise to join to her under the white man’s laws. You must not dishonor Wild Wind or bring pain to her heart. How can she be sad or angry? She will have freedom and her people will be saved by her trade goods. Is it agreed?”
“What if Nathan doesn’t agree to these terms? It seems cruel and dishonorable to trick her this way.”
“I know Wild Wind, my Hunkpapa brother. If you buy her with trade goods and try to take her away with the truth, my sister will battle you fiercely. She has been raised as Oglala, to hate and mistrust whites. She will fear your claims and she will try to flee them. It is dangerous and foolish to chase an escaped rabbit when the white wolves are running free and hungry. Take her away quickly and safely. Let her ride with White Eagle and her grandfather for many suns so that she might learn to trust and share friendship. When you speak words of truth many moons away, they will touch her ears softly and gently. Do not challenge her to accept strangers and hard words at the same time. Such words will come more easily from trusted friends. Do you know a better way to win my sister’s freedom? Does my Hunkpapa brother lack the skills to entice my sister into leaving peacefully with him?”
Travis frowned at the grinning warrior. Lordy, he had never suspected he would be forced to marry the rebellious vixen to buy her freedom! He remembered what had happened when a white woman and her father had tried to force him to marry her. And he recalled the time when an Indian maiden’s dreams of having him had provoked the Hunkpapas’ rejection and had nearly gotten him killed… He forced thoughts of those treacherous days from his mind, for this situation was different; this marriage would not be real or a matter of his survival. Lone Wolf was right about his needing to get out of this territory as quickly and as safely as possible, but not for the reasons he had mentioned.
Travis considered the matter carefully and gave Lone Wolf the only decision he could make. The men talked for awhile, then headed for Lone Wolf’s tepee. Travis realized that when dawn appeared and he rode out of camp, it would be too late to change his mind about this matter. He would explain the council’s terms to Nathan, and his friend would have to understand the situation.
Lone Wolf strode along the path in front of Travis Kincade and, as the Oglala chief reflected on what had passed between his sister and the half-white warrior earlier, a mischievous smile slowly crossed his lips.
In his office on the Circle C Ranch near Fort Worth, lawyer and landowner Harrison Caldwell wa
s speaking with his burly foreman, Silas Stern. “I don’t know how you found those new men, Silas, but I like them,” he remarked, then laughed wickedly, for Harrison recognized men with cold, evil hearts like his own. “You said they’re real handy with those guns and rifles and aren’t afraid to follow orders? Any orders?”
Silas’s brown eyes sparkled with pleasure and arrogance as he grinned at his employer, a man whom Silas was careful never to cross. He knew how greedy and cruel Harrison Caldwell could be, for he had witnessed the man’s evil and had obeyed orders that had sometimes curdled his blood. He had seen how Harrison had shrewdly used his power and reach to punish men who opposed or challenged him and how he had widely opened his cash box to or had bestowed favors on those who obeyed him or aided his cause. “I found ‘em drinking in the saloon and I knew they weren’t lying or spinning tales of past days. I watched and listened close for hours afore I hired ‘em. I thought we could use two quick guns and stone nerves since McFarland ain’t moving out fast enough; then we got Crandall to deal with soon. They rode with Quantrill during the war; they were in on them bloody raids in Missouri and Kansas. Wes said Jesse James helped ‘em half the time. It bother you that Wes and Jack were in on that Lawrence massacre or that fight over in Baxter Springs?”
The ranch owner and lawyer recalled the bloodbath in Kansas that had claimed the lives of one hundred and fifty men, women, and children in August of 1863 as well as the slaying of over one hundred Union soldiers near Baxter Springs. He had been a Southerner to the bone, so what did he care if Union soldiers and sympathizers had been slain during that recent war. Served them right, he decided coldly. “Nope, Silas. Fact is, Wes Monroe and Jackson Hayes did us all a big favor years ago. Those Yankees shouldn’t have been so far from their beloved Union. I need men who obey orders for a price and without questions, men who aren’t afraid to shed blood or go against the law, or die for their boss if it comes to that. Quantrill trained his men well, and I can use them. Still it wouldn’t hurt to keep a sharp eye on them. I’m too close to success to have anyone muddy my waters. Crandall and McFarland are the only holdouts against my controlling this entire area. Once McFarland is sent on his way, I’ll own every inch of land surrounding Crandall’s ranch, and I plan to squeeze him until it hurts too bad to stay around for winter. Did you learn anything about where he and that Kincade went? It’s been weeks, and Cody Slade is still running things over there. He refuses to tell Clarissa anything. Strange they would sneak off during the spring cattle drive…”
“All I could get out of his hands is what we already know. Cody’s in charge and Mace Hunter took the cattle to market. If’n they knows, ain’t nobody saying where they rode off to. You want me to sic Wes and Jack on some of ‘em and see what they can learn?”
“No. Right now I have other plans for Monroe and Hayes. Just make sure our boys keep stealing and rebranding as many of the Rocking C calves and horses as possible before Nate returns. That was real obliging of him to get a brand that I can alter so easily. Tell them to make certain they aren’t caught, or they’re dead men. What I want Monroe and Hayes to do for me is to make sure McFarland gets on his way as soon as possible, any way necessary. In a few weeks, I’ll let them make sure the money from Nate’s cattle sale comes to me, not him. When he can’t repay the bank, I’ll force good ole Wilber Mason to take over his ranch, real legal like. When she goes up for public auction, Monroe and Hayes can make sure nobody bids against me. If anything goes wrong, I have other plans in motion. Of course, they’ll have to take care of Kincade before we can run off Nate.”
Silas scratched his head of unruly black hair. “Miss Clarissa ain’t gonna like that, sir. She’s had her eye set on Travis for years.”
Harrison chuckled. “Then she had best have his ring on her finger and have him working for me real soon, hadn’t she?” he jested calmly, even though he knew he could never trust a man like Travis Kincade, who had been under the influence of Nathan Crandall too long. “She’s only got herself to blame. It’s her fault she didn’t get any information out of that traveling painter when he did her portrait. She said he didn’t know anything about Nate’s sudden trip. If you ask me, I think the timing of Mallory’s visit and Nate’s rush is a little tight to be coincidental. I should have set the boys on him before he left.”
As Harrison poured himself a whiskey, Silas frowned. He did not like the idea of tangling with Travis Kincade, or of killing him. Still, he would never interfere with his employer’s desires. As for that dark-eyed, dark-haired daughter of his, Clarissa had been trying to snare the handsome foreman since his arrival, and she had not taken kindly to his resistance. That woman could be a real bitch, in actions and in character, he mused wryly. Every time Travis spurned or denied her, she came home and took it out on everyone present, including the lucky cowhand she chose to release her fiery frustrations on. Of course, none of the boys who rolled in the hay with her would boast on it. If one did, he was dead. Strange, her papa didn’t care what she did, as long as she obeyed him and kept her doings secret from the town and their neighbors. Silas admitted he might feel differently about her if she would rub that soft body against him a few times, or just once, in fact. He had seen how she had eyed Wes and Jackson up and down yesterday, and he had refused to warn her to steer clear of those dangerous men, men who were used to taking a woman, whether she said yes or no. Yep, those men were dangerous, but they seemed to have a curious sense of loyalty to whoever hired them. Even bold gunslingers like Wes and Jackson were not fool enough to go against a powerful man like Harrison Caldwell.
“That’s all for tonight, Silas,” Harrison said and watched the man leave. He wished his daughter could find a man like himself to marry, for he was weary of dealing with the crude Silas Stern. Yet he knew he could trust Silas completely, and he needed him a while longer. But as soon as he had the Rocking C Ranch under his control, Silas would not trouble him further. In fact, he was planning a lethal surprise for all of the men who knew his secret dealings…
Harrison sat at his desk and gazed into his whiskey. He was on the verge of possessing a vast and powerful Texas empire, and he would allow no one to stand in his way, including his daughter! When he had everything he wanted, he would govern his only child more rigidly. She would marry and settle down respectably with the man of his choosing or, as with Marissa Crandall, she would be sent into the world on her own. And he never doubted that the she cat would land on her clawed feet. He was angry with her for failing him with Thomas Mallory. He did not like situations and people whom he could not control. Actually he did not like Clarissa and despised the thought of her inheriting his massive and lucrative spread, but she was the only seed of his loins. A devilish smile curled one corner of his broad lips. Maybe it was not too late to find himself another wife who could bear him a son. After all, he was only fifty-six and still virile. If he worked hard and fast, he could have him a son in a year or so and could rid himself of his spoiled, loosethighed daughter! Too bad Nathan only had one daughter and she was dead. Marriage to Nathan’s heir could have solved all of his problems quickly and simply, after Nathan’s death.
“Little Marissa Crandall, what a fiery body and greedy appetite you had,” he murmured dreamily, then rubbed the rapidly stiffening effect her memory created. “I wonder what your pa would say if he knew how many times you had climbed into bed with me.”
Laughter filled the room as he recalled the things he had taught Marissa before she had suddenly run off with that fancy gambler. It did not matter to Harrison that he had gotten her drunk one afternoon and had taken advantage of her. For six months he had enchanted the vixen into sneaking into his bed at every available instance. He smiled wickedly as he trailed his fingertips up and down his hard member and slowly sipped on his whiskey, reflecting on those stimulating days.
He remembered how Marissa had been enamored of him, secretly eyeing him and flirting with him. He had done the same with her, for the seventeen-and-a-halfyear-old innocent had
been thrilled by the attentions of a handsome, rich, thirty-five-year-old lawyer and rancher. Their first encounter had taken place unexpectedly, when Marissa had ridden to his ranch to deliver a message while her father was away. He had enticed her to linger and to sample forbidden champagne. The daring, impulsive girl had agreed eagerly. Once her wits had been dulled, he had worked skillfully at seducing her, making sure she enjoyed their afternoon together. At first he had pretended to blackmail her with exposure to entice more visits, until the hot-blooded vixen had admitted how much she enjoyed their wanton bouts; he had always been careful to please her in order to keep her coming back for more, and gradually she had lost all inhibitions.
Marissa had sneaked over while his daughter was at school. He had sent his housekeeper away on errands or had given her time off for her own family. Sometimes, before he and Nathan had become enemies, Marissa had come over under the pretense of tutoring Clarissa or staying with her when his housekeeper supposedly could not. During those times, Clarissa had been locked in her room to keep her ignorant of their liaison. Some nights, Marissa would work him into a heavy sweat and would not let him sleep until the cock crowed. She had wanted to learn everything about men and sexual pleasures. Naturally he had been delighted to be her teacher and her pupil. He had waited for her eighteenth birthday to marry her, but Marissa had refused his proposal, claiming she wanted to enjoy her freedom a while longer. She began seeing other men, younger men, but swore she never slept with any of them. She loved to flirt and tease and bewitch them all. Finally, when she was nineteen, he had demanded they marry and halt this secret affair of oneand-a-half years. She had humiliated and pained him deeply by telling him that his size and stamina and appetite were too small for her, and she had ceased her visits, vowing to claim rape if he came near her again or tried to expose their lengthy, wanton affair. When he had traveled back East on business for several months, she had eloped.
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