Comanche Sunset

by Rosanne Bittner

  “Of course he wouldn’t. It’s hard enough on a young woman when she loves the man, and you sure don’t love Tony Enders. I wouldn’t wait more than another week to give him a flat no. Frankly, I don’t understand why you don’t do it right now and get it over with.”

  Jennifer sighed. “I suppose I should. I’m so confused. I feel a little guilty for building up Tony’s hopes.”

  “Don’t ever feel guilty where that one is concerned. My husband never liked that man, and he was always a good judge of character. If you don’t marry the man, he’ll live. He’ll just place another ad. I hate to put it so bluntly, but personally I think he just wants a woman in his bed at night—one who is clean and won’t give him a disease, if he doesn’t already have one.”

  Jennifer shivered, rubbing the backs of her arms. “I guess that’s about as blunt as you can get,” she said with an embarrassed smile.

  “Well, I’m a lot older than you, child. I know a little bit more about men.”

  Jennifer wondered what the woman would think if she knew just how much Jennifer did know—and who had taught her. Outside one guard called out to another. Jennifer had met few of the men. Tony didn’t want them gawking at her; but she had felt their eyes on her when she was outside helping Alice with laundry, or when she walked with Tony.

  She had also met a Corporal James Deaver, who Tony described as a good friend, but who Jennifer disliked even more than Tony. The man was about Tony’s age, but shorter and heavyset. His uniform never seemed to fit quite right or look neat, and Jennifer didn’t like the way the man looked at her.

  She could already understand to some extent why it was hard for a woman to stay here. Fort life was boring enough for the men, but for the women, who had to stay behind when the men went out on patrol, it surely became almost unbearable. How Alice stood it once the other women had left, she could not imagine. Perhaps that was why the woman didn’t seem to mind being kept busy from morning till night doing laundry and mending; and Jennifer could understand the woman’s wanting to stay near her husband’s grave. If something happened to Wade…

  The pain moved through her again. Wade. Where was he now? Would that night in the cave, when he had so gently made a woman of her, be their only time together? “I think I’ll turn in,” she told Alice then. “And I insist on taking the cot. I changed the bedclothes today while you were scrubbing clothes outside. I want you to take back your bed, Alice.”

  “Nonsense. You aren’t healed enough yet. The bed is much more comfortable.”

  “That’s why I want you to have it. I know your back has been bothering you, and you work so hard. You deserve the bed. I’m healed enough to sleep on the cot, and I intend to start helping you with more of the laundry tomorrow. I insist.”

  “I’m not sure you’re ready.”

  “If I get tired, I’ll let you know. I want to do more, Alice. And I promise to make up my mind soon and be out of your hair.”

  Alice rose, putting a hand on her arm. “I don’t think of it that way at all, and you know it. Jenny, is there something else wrong, something you aren’t telling me? So many times I’ve seen you staring off into the horizon, looking so lost and lonely. Is it the loss of your aunt, or did something more happen when you were attacked than you’re telling me? You can confide in me, Jenny.”

  Jennifer studied the woman’s kind eyes, the lines of age and wisdom around them. How she wished she could tell her the truth, tell her she was in love with Wade Morrow. “I guess it’s just a combination of all of it,” she answered. “Losing my aunt, running away from Uncle John, the rude awakening I got when I came out here.” She sighed and turned away. “Now I’ve got Tony Enders to contend with.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t worry about that last problem. You’re free to make your own decision there. It’s just too bad your uncle was the kind of man he was. I’d like to give him a good tongue lashing and let everybody in St. Louis know what kind of man he really is.”

  “I never told Tony the whole truth about it. I just couldn’t bring myself to share something so personal and embarrassing. He would have made it more dirty in his mind.”

  “He probably would. You go on to bed now. I’ll be retiring myself in a few minutes.” Alice put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “I’ve learned, child, that things always have a way of working out. You’re a brave and resourceful young lady. In a week or two you’ll leave here and go back to Houston or San Antonio and teach or find some other honorable way to fend for yourself, and somebody pretty as you will find a man you can love and be married in no time. Then life will be good for you and you’ll forget these terrible things that have happened to you.”

  Jennifer gave her a smile, touching the woman’s wrinkled hand. “I suppose you’re right. I can hardly believe it has only been six weeks since I first left St. Louis. Sometimes it seems like years ago. I feel like a completely different person.”

  “I know how that can be. And sometimes something that happened years ago seems like yesterday. I still half expect my Ben to come walking through the door at the end of the day, or to hear my daughter calling for me.” Alice’s eyes teared. “I’ll miss you terribly when you go, Jenny. But I want you to do what’s best for yourself. Don’t let anyone steer your course for you, child.”

  Jennifer nodded, giving the woman a half-hearted smile before leaving the room. She went to the main room and closed the curtains, then undressed for bed. She lay down on the cot and immediately wondered how Alice had managed to sleep on it. Minutes later Alice retired to her own bed, giving Jennifer a last good night.

  Alice blew out the lamp near her bed, leaving one lantern dimly lit on the kitchen table so that the house was lit up just enough for each of them to see her way around if she woke up in the middle of the night. Jennifer knew her problem would not be waking up, but getting to sleep.

  It seemed only minutes until Alice was snoring as loudly as a man. Jennifer grinned at the sound, glad the woman was finally sleeping comfortably, but wondering how she was going to get to sleep herself with the steady, irritating sound. She wished she could stop thinking and worrying about Wade, but that was impossible.

  The night was too warm, which only added to her wakefulness. Finally she rose, pulling on a robe and going into the kitchen. She longed for a cup of tea, but it was too hot to light the kitchen stove. She moved to the back door and quietly opened it. She could still see the soft red glow of embers from the fire outside that Alice had made to cook supper. Jennifer picked up a kettle of water, deciding that since the fire was behind the cabin, no one would spot her outside in her robe. She could set the kettle on the coals long enough to heat it for tea.

  She carried the kettle out, using only one crutch to give her a little support while she carried the kettle in her other hand. She set it directly on the coals to heat faster. She grasped the crutch and rose, standing and watching the kettle for a moment.

  It was then she sensed another presence, although she could see nothing. Her blood ran cold. Was it Tony, or worse, some Comanche renegade set to pounce on her and drag her off? Either way, it was someone the guards had not noticed, so it was most likely Tony. He could go where he pleased with no questions asked.

  She turned to walk back to the cabin, wondering if she could make it in time, since she couldn’t run. She thought about screaming out for Alice as she came closer to the door, but then she heard the voice.

  “Jenny,” it said softly. “It’s me—Wade.”

  She recognized the voice, especially the gentle way he spoke her name. It came from the darkness to her right. She walked in that direction, and suddenly he loomed in front of her, a commanding figure that would have frightened the wits out of her if she didn’t already know him.

  “Wade,” she whispered. She let go of the crutch and in the next moment she was in his arms, relishing a welcome, reassuring, warm embrace that both of them needed. Oh, how wonderful those arms felt, how overjoyed she was that he was all right!

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nbsp; “Jenny,” he whispered, his lips at her neck, moving over her cheek to cover her mouth in a sweet, warm, wonderful kiss, so different from Tony Enders. He pressed her close, but gently, fearing he would hurt her ribs. She reached around his neck, her feet coming off the ground.

  He left her mouth then and just held her for a moment. “Oh, Wade, thank God,” she whispered. “I’ve been so worried, so confused.”

  He pulled back just slightly, keeping hold of her. “Is Alice asleep?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t want any of them to know I’m here,” he whispered.

  “But how did you get this far without being spotted?”

  Her eyes were adjusted to the darkness now, and she could see his smile. “I’m an Indian, remember?”

  She smiled in return. “Oh, yes,” she answered, touching his face. “I remember everything about you. Is it over, Wade? Should I leave now?”

  His smile faded. “Not yet. I have to go back to Wild Horse.”

  “Back? Why? Didn’t you already see him? And did you find your mother? Are you really Wild Horse’s twin?”

  He sighed deeply, embracing her closer again so that her head rested against his chest. “Yes,” he answered. “Wild Horse is my brother. I found my mother on a reservation up by the Red River. She died just a couple of days after I got there. She had already been sick with pneumonia.”

  “Oh, Wade.” She hugged him and looked up at him. “I’m so sorry.”

  He put a hand to her hair. “I have to go and tell Wild Horse, Jenny. I have to see him once more. I promised him I’d come back and tell him what Slow Woman said about our birth.”

  She wished she could see his eyes better, for she knew that they would tell her if there was danger. “What will happen? You said Comanches never allow twin babies to live. What about the ones who do survive?”

  He leaned down and kissed her eyes. “Let’s just say Wild Horse isn’t too enthusiastic about this. But he’s my brother, Jenny. I think I can work it out. In the meantime you just remember what I told you about contacting my family.”

  “Wade, he wants to kill you, doesn’t he,” she whimpered.

  “It’s not as bad as you think. I have to want to fight him in return, or it would bring him no honor. I don’t intend to fight him. Besides, I saw a flicker of affection in those wild eyes of his. I think I can convince him it’s wrong. It’s going to work out, Jenny.”

  She hugged him closer again. “Oh, Wade, I feel only danger and death. Please don’t go. I don’t want to live without you. These last two weeks have been unbearable, waiting and wondering.”

  “I’m sorry, but I have to do it, Jenny.” He tangled his fingers into her long, loose hair. “How are they treating you here? What has happened with Enders?”

  “I’ve managed to keep him at a distance,” she answered, relishing the feel of his powerful chest against her. She decided not to tell him about the kiss. She didn’t want him to worry about anything right now but getting things settled with his brother. If she told him the truth about Enders, he might do something foolish, like make his presence known.

  “He’s getting anxious for an answer from me, though,” she continued. “So far I have managed to convince him that I need more time to recover from my experience and from my wounds. I don’t need my crutches so much any more, but I don’t want him to know that. I keep using them.”

  The moon appeared from behind a cloud, and she studied his eyes in its light. “I can’t put him off more than a couple more weeks, Wade. Then I’ll have to leave, whether you show up or not. I hope someone from your family or at least some men who work for them will be in the area by then. I don’t want to go off on another stagecoach. If we would be attacked again, there would be no Wade Morrow along to save me.”

  He put his hands to her face. “I’ll find a way to get back here,” he told her softly. “That’s a promise. And within a week or so, my brothers or someone from my father’s company will have to be coming through here. You can feel free to tell them the truth, and they’ll help you. Once you have them behind you, Enders nor anyone else can hurt you.”

  “All I care about is that you make it back,” she whispered.

  He leaned down and kissed her again, gently, suggestively. Each knew the other longed to do more, but they would not get the opportunity now, and it was torture for them both. He ran one hand gently over her throat and down to a soft breast, cupping it lightly in his big hand, feeling the firm nipple through the soft, flannel gown.

  The touch brought a whimper from her lips, and his kiss became more heated. He moved both arms back around her, pressing his hardness against her belly.

  They were lost in each other for a moment, each feeling desperate to mate again, to share their love in the most fulfilling way, for she was healed now, and she knew instinctively that the next time Wade Morrow surged inside of her, it would be the most glorious experience of her life. The next time there would be no pain, only ecstasy. To have him this close, to feel his arms around her, his mouth smothering her own, yet being unable to do more, was torture for them both.

  “God, Jenny,” he groaned, trembling. “I need you so.”

  “And I need you,” she whispered in return.

  “I’m so sorry. It’s a matter of honor. All of this means too much to me, and I gave Wild Horse my word I would come in person.” He pulled away again. “It’s something I have to do, Jenny.”

  She reached up and touched his hair. “I know.”

  He embraced her again, grasping her hair and pressing her head against his chest. “I need to know, Jenny,” he whispered. “You aren’t…I need to know when your last time of month was. I’m worried I might have got you pregnant.”

  She was glad for the darkness, for the remark brought a flush to her cheeks. She didn’t know a lot about such things herself, except she remembered that when she had her first frightening experience with a period, Aunt Esther had explained to her that it meant she could have babies, but that a period meant a woman was not pregnant.

  “The week after you left,” she answered shyly. She felt him sigh as though greatly relieved.

  “Good,” he answered. “It would be bad enough if something happened, without me leaving you pregnant by a half-breed.”

  “Oh, Wade, don’t say it that way. I would have gladly had the baby, and I would have loved it more than my own life. In a way I wish it had happened, so I would know I will always have something of you if you don’t make it back.”

  He kissed her hair. “I will come back, Jenny. You’re all I thought about while I was gone. The next time I come back, it will be for good.” He stroked her hair, loving the feel of it. “If you have to leave, then do what’s best for your own safety. Don’t let Enders push you. If you can leave with my brothers, all the better. If I haven’t come back by the time they show up, go with them anyway. You know I’ll find you. Promise me.”

  “I promise.”

  He kissed her hair. “You sure Enders hasn’t been a problem? Are they treating you all right?”

  “Everything is fine,” she lied. “And I have Alice. She has become a good friend. She’s very kind, and she treats me like a daughter.” She looked up at him. “I’ll be all right, Wade. It’s you I’m worried about.”

  He leaned down and kissed her once more. “I have to go,” he said then. “I was lucky the clouds have been hiding the moon tonight, or I never would have made it this far without being spotted. I’m camped about two miles from here with a Comanche man named Aguila. He’s my uncle, my mother’s brother. He decided to come back with me. He wants a hand in whatever happens. Uncles have very close relationships with their nephews in the Indian culture. Aguila raised Wild Horse.”

  “Will he help you?”

  Wade sighed. “I don’t know. He has taught me a lot about the Comanche on the way here, but he doesn’t seem to hold the fondness for me that he does for Wild Horse. To him I am a stranger, almost an enemy, because I have disrupted Wil
d Horse’s leadership and credibility. Being a twin has caused him to lose face with those who follow him.”

  “But how can it be settled?”

  “I don’t know yet.” How could he tell her it was Comanche law that he and Wild Horse must fight to the death? It would only give her nightmares. She was well enough aware of the danger. To spell it out would be torture for her. “But I’ll find a way,” he added, hoping against hope he was right. He couldn’t help wondering if he was making the biggest mistake of his life, for he loved Jennifer Andrews more than he had loved any other woman since Rebecca. But the need to settle things with Wild Horse was a matter of honor now, something he knew would haunt him forever if he turned his back on all of it now. Besides, he suspected Wild Horse would hunt him down before he would let him out of Texas, and he didn’t want Jennifer to be with him when that happened. Better to settle it while Jenny was safe.

  “I have to go,” he said then. “I’m damn sorry, Jenny. I love you even more for understanding.”

  “Just come back, Wade,” she pleaded, reaching up to meet his mouth again. The sweet, hot kiss lingered as tears stung Jennifer’s eyes. How painful it was to see him so briefly and have to let him go again. “I love you. I love you,” she whispered frantically when his lips left her own.

  He gently and reluctantly pushed her away. “You’d better get back inside.” He touched her hair, her face. “I love you, too, Jenny. God be with you.”

  “And with you.” She took his hand and kissed his palm, and he could feel her wet tears against his skin.

  “I’m sorry, Jenny.”

  “You mustn’t be,” she whispered. “A man has to do what he knows is right.”