“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but–”
His lips cut off her words and he forced his tongue into her mouth, ravaging it, caressing the silken interior with thrusting strokes.
She hung helpless in his embrace while he held her tightly against him, kissing her hotly, deeply. His hard maleness throbbed and strained against her belly and she felt his big hand fumbling with the torn front of her dress.
Luci could only gasp and shudder at the sensation of his wide, hard hand closing over her breast. She couldn’t hold back the moan that built low in her throat, the way her body arched against him. She pressed against his palm, unable to control wanting his hand cupping, possessing her breast, his finger stroking the turgid nub of her nipple.
His tongue was deep in her throat, pillaging, sucking, caressing. All she could do was hang there helplessly, letting him do what he wanted to her. And she wasn’t sure she wanted him to stop although, as a bound prisoner, she could do nothing except submit to his passion.
“Luci, I’ve dreamed of this,” he whispered feverishly against her lips, “dreamed of holding you, having you so that you couldn’t fight me while I make love to you.”
He dropped to his knees before her and clasped her around the hips. Burying his face against the vee of her thighs, he kissed her there through the thin fabric.
His breath was hot on her velvet place, pressing his lips against her. His hands fumbled with the dress, pushing it up her hips, and then his mouth was on her flesh, his tongue caressing, probing.
“No!” she gasped, twisting and trying to pull away, but she was tied in place. There was nothing she could do to keep him from kissing her most intimate spot and his mouth was warm and wet and wonderful. She found herself pushing against his lips, wanting his mouth to taste there, shuddering as wave after wave of sensation swept over her. The feelings he brought out were unfamiliar. She had never felt anything like them before, and it frightened her that this enemy stallion had such power over her body.
“Stop it, you worthless dog!” She managed to get her emotions under control. “No!”
He looked up at her, still on his knees before her. “You are a captive and have no right to deny me this one last homage to the virginity I never took from you. And now I guess I never will!”
He stood up suddenly and took her in his arms. As he kissed her gently, she tasted her own essence on his lips.
He had ravaged her with his mouth and she had liked it, no, ached for it! She felt furious with herself and him as he kissed her. In her helpless rage, she struck out in the only way she could–she bit his mouth.
With an oath, he stumbled backward. His fist came up and she winced, realizing how strong and powerful the man was. He could kill her with one blow. But instead, his hand slowly cupped her chin and she had never seen such sadness in a face. He looked down at her a long moment, scarlet blood running from his lip.
“Star Eyes, if you only knew to what lengths I was willing to go to save you . . .” He broke off uncertainly. “I won’t forget you. I don’t want you to ever forget me.”
Before she could react, he reached out, tore the front of her dress savagely, and bent his mouth to her bare breasts, kissing and smearing them with his warm, red blood.
She looked down at his mouth on her nipple, trembled at the feel of his sucking her body, saw the red smears shining there, reflected in the firelight. She could not hold back her sob of betrayal and rage. “Your bride would hate you if she knew!”
“My bride owes me at least this,” he murmured, and then he kissed Luci very gently, leaving the coppery taste of his blood on her mouth. “Blood is symbolic, Star Eyes. When you think of me, remember forever that I never got to take your virginity, but I smeared you with the blood pulsing from the beat of my heart. And damn you for it, that’s where I’ll always keep your memory!”
With a shuddering sigh, he turned and strode from the lodge.
She stared after him as he left. After a long moment, her legs collapsed under her so that she hung from her wrists, her head drooping to her chest so that she saw his blood on her breasts.
Without thinking, she ran the tip of her tongue along her lip, tasting the saltiness of his blood smeared there. “I’ll never forget you either,” she whispered, and then hated him and herself for it.
There was a burning in her eyes, a misery in her heart. She told herself it was hate, but it felt like jealousy.
Damn the big, stupid Pawnee to hell! She concentrated on her own fate, on her anger, not wanting to think that he would marry that smug, pretty girl. In spite of everything, images came to her mind of the two of them locked in mating, straining and wrapped about each other. His mouth on that girl’s breasts as he pumped his seed deep within her so that she might give him a Pawnee son. He had no need of and would not want a son with Cheyenne blood. Damn him for making Luci want him, then marrying Deer!
She fought against her ropes, weeping at the thought.
Johnny sat cross-legged before Crow Feather’s fire and tried to follow the conversation between Crow and his daughter. His face furrowed into a frown. He was in love with an enemy girl and marrying another to save her from Deer’s vengeance. There was no future with the Cheyenne anyway. She hated him too much and the trouble between the tribes went back too far. He thought about Major North and Romeo and Juliet. How did that story end? Unhappily, Pani Le-shar had said.
Crow Feather cleared his throat, bringing Johnny back to the present. “I will not pretend you were my first choice, Asataka, but I can deny my daughter nothing; I spoil her because she is an only child.”
Deer smiled as she went over, got the ceremonial pipe, and handed it to her father. He raised it to the spirits for a blessing, then solemnly filled it with tobacco, lit it, and took a puff.
Deer said; “Asataka will prove to you, Father, that he can live like a Pawnee. He will leave the scouts and return to live in our village, isn’t that right, Asataka?”
Johnny sighed. He had truly thought of leaving the scouts because he wearied of the killing. But living as a traditional Pawnee depressed him. He thought of the small ranch he had yearned to build somewhere on the frontier. “If it pleases Deer, I suppose that is what I will do. Now about the captive–”
“We are here to talk of wedding plans,” Deer interrupted with a slight warning shake of her head. Her eyes told him she remembered what she had promised. She was right, Johnny thought. Crow would be offended if he heard of the bargain the two had made. But of course Deer would keep her end of the bargain. She had given her word.
Crow Feather took several puffs then passed the pipe to Johnny He inhaled the pungent smoke, wishing he had a cigarette. It might offend the traditional Pawnee to pull out his makin’s and begin to roll a smoke.
Johnny looked at Deer, but thought of Luci. “It is right that a man finally take a wife to look after his needs and give him sons.”
Crow nodded with a smile. “Perhaps you are more traditional than I thought. Yes, I want my daughter to be happy and I long for grandsons playing about me. It will be good to have a strong hunter to bring meat to my lodge.”
He paused and looked troubled. “Perhaps my medicine has gone bad. We have just returned from a hunt and brought in very little meat. The tribe will have to depend greatly on our harvest of corn and squash, so the planting will be most important.”
“I am a good hunter.” Johnny handed back the pipe. “This lodge will not lack for food when I am your son-in-law. And I am as virile as my stallion. I will give you a new grandson every year.”
He thought about lying between Deer’s brown thighs, doing stud service so that Crow Feather would have grandsons. But when he pictured himself pumping his seed deep into a woman’s velvet place and kissing her breasts, he saw Luci’s face in his mind. If his sons had been Luci’s, would any of them have her blue eyes?
“See, Father?” Deer’s eyes shone. “He will be a better choice than Charish, I know it!”
&n
bsp; Well, why not? Johnny thought with a shrug. He needed a wife sooner or later. Deer was pretty, wide enough through the hips for childbearing, and her father was an important man. Maybe Johnny could learn to be a traditional Pawnee. But returning to the past did not appeal to him.
Crow Feather said, “The marriage will have to be postponed until there is enough food for a feast.” He looked shame-faced. “As I said, the hunt was poor.”
“But Father, Asataka is a great hunter.” Deer put her hand on Johnny’s shoulder. “I’m sure he will be happy to lead a hunting party to bring in proper food for this celebration. Wouldn’t you?”
Johnny nodded. “Of course! I will lead the hunt. We can have the marriage when I return. You need not be ashamed of no meat for the feast. There will be plenty!”
Deer beamed at him and Crow stood up slowly. “Perhaps my daughter is right, perhaps I have misjudged you. I will go tell the others and ask some of the young men to join you on this hunt.”
Johnny started to ask about Luci again, then decided against it. He dared not anger Crow, who had captured her and therefore could decide her fate, although he might turn that over to the chiefs and priests. It was better for Johnny to be gone from the camp when Luci was freed and sent away. He didn’t want to have to see her again, see her riding out of his life forever.
But when Crow had left, he turned to Deer. “Remember you promised that you would see he freed the captive.”
“Can you think of nothing else but that small wench?” Deer’s dark eyes blazed. “She’s too slight and too small-breasted to give a man much pleasure!”
Johnny closed his eyes, remembering the feel of that tiny waist between his two big hands, the taste of those small, firm breasts.
He looked at Deer and saw the jealousy there. He must not anger her because she could influence Crow to set Luci free. “You are right,” he answered carelessly. “The star-eyed one is too small to take all of a man’s maleness, and her breasts would not give the rich milk to sons as yours would.”
He reached for her, pulling her to him. Closing his eyes, he kissed her, stroked her big breasts.-When they were swollen with milk, they would sag like a cow’s and she would grow fat as she produced children.
Her hand reached to stroke his maleness. “In the long run, you will be glad you chose one of your own kind, and returned to your people. Like my father, I cling to the old ways.”
“All things change, Deer. The Indians will either adapt to the white man’s way or finally be destroyed. Perhaps I was too long among them to ever really live like the Pawnee, but I can give up my dreams and try.”
“But our people are friends of the whites. I see no reason we cannot always live as we do now here in our beloved land.”
Johnny shook his head. “Do not count on that, Deer. All that keeps the mighty Sioux and Cheyenne from sweeping down and wiping our small group out is the soldiers. Someday that may make a good excuse to send us where they have sent the other tribes, to the Indian Territory. White farmers already speak with resentment about how much wheat and corn they could grow here. I have heard them in the stores and streets of North Platte.”
He paused. “I will keep my word if you keep yours. Talk to your father while I am gone. I do not want to ever lay eyes on the half-breed girl again. Give her a horse and send her back to the fort or to her people.”
Deer nodded. “I promise. While you are gone, Father will turn the captive loose.”
“As long as you keep your word, Deer, I am bound by mine.” He sighed heavily and stood up. “Now I make ready to leave on the hunt. In a week’s time, I will be back with enough meat for the biggest feast any bride ever had. You father will be pleased and proud.”
Johnny went outside, glancing over at the lodge where Luci was tied. He had a terrible urge to run in there, cut Luci free, throw her up on his horse, and gallop away with her. He reconsidered. To do so would cut his last ties with the Pawnee. He would no longer be welcome in their village, and he was so alone already. If he could have Star Eyes, that wouldn’t matter to him, but the girl hated him. The minute she made it to safety, she’d slap his face and walk away.
No, he’d leave it to Deer to set her free. Perhaps he should stay and make sure Deer kept her word. He decided against it. For one thing, he didn’t want to gaze into those pale, star-colored eyes again, knowing he was seeing her for the very last time. Indians did not break their word. To do that was unthinkable.
He gathered up a small hunting party, looked wistfully one last time toward the lodge where Luci was tied, and rode out of the village.
Deer stood watching the hunting party ride out. She knew she should be happy that she would finally be Asataka’s wife, but joy eluded her. What boiled up in her throat was bitter anger and jealousy. He might marry her, but his heart belonged to that half-breed Cheyenne. It was unthinkable that such a thing would happen. It could never work. Such a union would make each of them outcasts among their own people.
Deer scuffed, her moccasin in the dust, thinking. She had loved the Pawnee scout for a long time, although she saw him seldom. He was different from the other Pawnee braves, probably from the years in the white man’s school and whatever he had endured there. The difference made a gulf between him and the others of the tribe. Well, she would start at once to change him, make him more like the traditional Pawnee sitting by the lodge fires. Deer liked an orderly, traditional world. She liked life as it was, as it had always been. All she needed to make her world complete was to be Asataka’s wife, and to bear his children.
What should she do about the Cheyenne girl? She had given the scout her word that the girl would be given a horse and set free. But he loved the Cheyenne bitch. As long as that pale-eyed one lived, Deer would always worry that someday he would return to his old life at the fort, return to that girl. Deer would never feel secure as long as the girl lived.
She had given her word. Deer shrugged and turned back to her lodge. What did that matter? If she could figure out a way to get rid of the half-breed, she could be assured that Asataka would never leave her.
When she went outside, she saw Charish. “You didn’t go on the hunt?”
“For a feast to celebrate your marrying another man-one I hate?” His lip curled jealously.
Because he cared for her, Charish would consent-she knew that. “I want your help.”
He frowned at her. “Why should I help you when I wanted you myself?”
Deer considered a long moment. She had no qualms about doing whatever it took to get what she wanted. Behind her pleasant, pliant face lived a very determined woman. “What would it take to get your help?”
He put his hands on her shoulders, breathing heavily. “You know what it is I want.”
She loved Asataka, but she needed Charish’s help. “Is my virginity a fine enough gift for you?”
He looked shocked. “You must want something very bad to give me that which should be given to your husband.”
She smiled. “You will like my idea. It is traditional, something from the old way. If you will help me, I will meet you tonight and let you enjoy me, if it means that much to you. Perhaps I can fake enough on my wedding night that Asataka need never know his wife is not a virgin.”
She told him what she wanted, and as she knew, he was enthused and delighted. Charish was as ambitious as she was herself and as unscrupulous. She had no intentions of giving him her virginity, but after he became part of her plot, what could he do about it? It was a dangerous game, and she knew it.
But to her father, she said, “I don’t want blood spilled before my marriage, that’s a bad omen. Why don’t we give the chit a horse and send her back to the fort?”
Crow smiled at her fondly. “You are a fine daughter, kind and soft-hearted as a woman should be. I regretted killing the girl, but didn’t know what to do about her.”
“Trust me.” She patted his shoulders “Tomorrow Charish will take the chit part of the‘ way and turn her loose before Asata
ka gets back with the hunting party. Then we will have the wedding.”
Late that night, after her father was asleep, Deer slipped from the lodge to meet Charish out in a grove of trees by the river.
He stepped out of the shadows, a little unsteady on his feet. She could smell the white man’s whiskey on him. “I did not think you would come,” he said. “I thought you would change your mind. Here, try this magic drink.”
She smiled and took a big gulp to humor him. Deer had never tasted whiskey before. She liked the warm feeling as it went down. She took another drink. “Maybe it is magic, the way it makes me feel.”
“I’d never have believed you would meet me, Deer.” He took a big drink of the liquor and she watched it drip down the sides of his mouth.
“Didn’t I tell you I’d come?” She reached for the bottle. Once he did what she asked, she’d stall him, then tell Asataka the man lied about everything, and had approached her. No doubt the scout would kill him for the insult. Even if Charish told anyone it was her idea, all she had to do was deny it. Who would believe him? Her own daring scared her a little and she took another drink.
Charish stood looking at her beauty. To think that she would become Asataka’s wife upset him. But what a joke it would be on that scout if Charish had taken his bride’s virginity. “Drink some more,” he urged her. “We celebrate returning to the old ways!”
He wondered suddenly if he couldn’t blackmail Deer with his silence. Yes, that was what he would do. He would threaten to tell Asataka about this meeting unless Deer met him regularly in the darkness. He smiled, thinking. What a joke it would be on the scout if Deer gave him a child by Charish.
He knew her well enough to suspect a trick. Everyone thought her a simple girl, but underneath, he had long ago recognized her cunning and ambition. He would be chief someday; she should be marrying him.
Charish reached out and took her in his arms. Her breasts were full and warm, her skin soft to the touch of his fingers. He brought her close and kissed her face. His manhood went hard as stone, so hard his groin ached with the wanting of her. “I love you, Deer.”
Cheyenne Caress Page 11
