She laughed softly. Until recently, her entire world had revolved around academic research, books, and scientific journals, not getting her hands bloody while butchering freshly killed game, or scraping hair from a smelly animal hide. Riley smiled. She was so out of her comfort zone, and she loved every minute of it.
With a deep sigh, she stared off at the mountains again. She was falling in love with this land, a place so far removed from her world of academia, as much as she was falling in love with a guy who couldn’t be more different from all she’d ever known.
A twig snapped loudly behind her, and Riley spun around. Her eyes widened, and the familiar butterflies came to life in her belly.
“Cameron,” she stammered, as the man who’d taken over every crevice of her mind strode toward her. With each step he took, her heart rate increased.
“I didn’t see you with the women back at camp.” He stopped just in front of her.
“I just needed some alone time to think about things.”
Riley’s eyes fell to the buckskin shirt he wore . . . the shirt she’d just finished making for him before he returned to camp.
Cameron must have noticed her stare. He grinned. “Day Star handed this to me and told me to find you and thank you.”
Riley raised her chin. “Day Star helped me. It’s the least I could do since you sacrificed your other shirt for me, but you owe her a new hide.”
The sounds of crickets grew louder in the silence that followed. Cameron simply nodded.
“I might owe her more than a new hide,” he mumbled, then cleared his throat. “You should come back to camp and eat something. Tomorrow will be a long walk into the high mountains.”
“How long?”
“According to the shaman, the camp of the Sky People isn’t far. We will get half-way by tomorrow night, but we have to leave before dawn.” He paused, and added, “Are you ready to go home to your time?”
Riley stared at him. Was she ready? How would Cameron react if she asked him to postpone the trip?
“Why am I here, Cameron?” she whispered.
He stepped closer, and reached for her hand.
“I don’t know.” He looked down into her eyes with his quiet intensity. His face hardened. “But I will do everything I can to get you sent home.”
“Even give up your reason for leaving the Tukudeka many years ago?” she blurted. “I thought you were done letting others control you. You’ll go back to feeling that way for me? To get me sent home?”
The muscles along his jaw clenched, and he gripped her hand tighter.
“Yes, I’d do it for you.”
Riley smiled tentatively. Her limbs had gone numb from the warm sensations that flowed through her. He wasn’t just saying things to her because he thought it was something she might want to hear. His sincerity was as intense and genuine as the rest of him. She reached her hand up to his face, and her fingers grazed the hard lines of his jaw.
"I don't know why you'd want to make such a sacrifice for me, but I think Wo'itsa and everyone are right."
Cameron’s forehead scrunched. “Right about what?”
“That I was sent here by the Sky People.” Her gaze didn’t waver. “I was sent here to help you see exactly where you belong, and I think it’s working.”
“How is it working?” he grumbled.
"Well, because of me, you're back among the Sheepeaters, and you're going to talk to the Sky People. Two things you've turned your back on."
Riley studied the uncertainty in his eyes. She offered a smile. “Right here, in this environment, is where you belong, Cameron, and it’s time you let go of your resentment, and embrace your life in this time.”
Before he had a chance to say anything else, she leaned up and touched her lips to his for the briefest of seconds. It was an impulsive move, and the contact was over in the blink of an eye. She pulled her hand from his and took a step back. Cameron seemed to have forgotten how to move. He stood rooted to the spot, but his eyes had grown dark, and his stare was almost like a predator, hungry, and locked on its prey.
No one had ever looked at her like that before. Her stomach churned with nerves. Riley’s lips trembled when she smiled softly.
"I'll see you back at camp," she stammered and headed for the village. She walked faster than normal through the brush to get back to her hut, holding back the tears in her eyes.
Cameron planned to leave in the morning to find the man who might send her home. It was probably for the best. Her feelings for him, and what she thought she’d seen in his eyes were too much to contemplate at the moment. Falling for him was a big mistake, and her voice of reason had been right when it warned her that she’d only get hurt for letting it happen. Cameron’s life was here, and hers was in the future. Why did she have to kiss him, and complicate matters?
She wiped the tears from her face and laughed bitterly. It was time to go home to Missoula, and back to her life in the lab. Maybe she'd look up Dan Osborne, and tell him how right he'd been, that experiencing the past was nothing like reading about it. It was so much better.
She smiled. She could tell him she’d gone hiking, and under extreme conditions, and lived to tell about it – because Cameron had protected her and kept her safe. One of the first things she’d do would be trade in her collection of high heels for more suitable walking and hiking shoes, and get out of the lab more often.
She laughed softly. Who was she kidding? She may have lived through a great adventure while she was here in the past, but once it came to an end, her life at home would be the same as before, because Cameron would’nt be in it.
Chapter Fourteen
Cameron held his knife up in front of his face and rotated it to inspect the edges. It was good and sharp. The weight of the ax hanging from his belt at his hip gave him some additional comfort. These weapons would have to do until he found the time to make a new horn bow. The process would take weeks, time he didn't have right now.
He turned his head at the sound of Riley’s laughter several paces away. She nodded and smiled at Day Star, who handed her a leather pouch. Cameron's lips twitched in a slight smile. Day Star had approached him the night before and asked if there were things Riley might need other than what she'd already packed for her in a traveling pouch.
It had contained a knife, a hide scraper, a brush made from porcupine quills, a cooking bowl, and various roots, nuts, and dried berries. The one other item that would have made Riley happy was a book, but he couldn’t make that suggestion, so he’d simply told Day Star that what she’d packed was enough.
He pulled his eyes away, or he might stand and stare at Riley’s smiling face all morning. Wo’itsa and the other hunters had already called him a lovesick beaver after their return from the hunt the day before. He hadn’t been able to keep his eyes from wandering to the women - to one yellow-haired woman - who wouldn’t leave his thoughts. Apparently, the men had noticed it, too, and had seized on the chance to make jokes. He’d gritted his teeth and kept his mouth shut when everyone suggested that he should leave the celebration and take his wife to his hut.
Cam stared off into the foliage surrounding the village. The sun was just starting to poke through the tallest trees and over the mountains in the east. Most of the village was still quiet, and only a few cooking fires had been lit. A thin veil of mist hovered low to the ground around the outskirts of the village, giving an almost surreal feeling to the morning.
His head was as foggy as the forest floor. His mind had been too pre-occupied with thoughts of Riley all night to get any sleep. He’d wandered along the creek for hours, searching for answers that didn’t come. If he had gone after her when she’d rushed off after kissing him, nothing would have stopped him from taking her to his sleeping blankets.
Within a few days, she would be returned to her own time. Why had she kissed him? The very brief contact of her lips on his had made him come alive in ways he’d never thought possible.
The muscles along his spi
ne tensed. His attraction to Riley Bernard was a mystery to him, but he couldn’t shake it, no matter how hard he tried. It had been almost instant, from the moment he’d first laid eyes on her in the daylight. Matunaaga had seen it right away when he’d brought her to their camp, and so had Wo’itsa.
She was as different from him as night and day, yet some invisible force drew him to her. Riley was smart and very knowledgeable in things she’d learned from books, something he’d never had much interest in as a boy, yet she also possessed a strength of character that made her a survivor in this environment.
The pull she had on his heart had only grown stronger as time passed, and especially with that kiss if that was even possible. She'd told him to embrace his life here, and understood his anger and resentment with the Sky People. His thoughts of returning to the future, if he ever found the vessel Pikowan had been searching for all these years, had started to fade from his mind.
Riley had obviously enjoyed her time with Day Star, and learning firsthand about the Tukudeka way of life, but she hadn't said anything about wanting to stay. No doubt she was putting on a brave face but had to be terrified for being thrown into this time. How well he could remember that feeling. At first it had been a great adventure for him, too, but once he'd come to realize that he wasn't going home, the resentment had started to grow.
At least Riley wasn’t completely alone. She had him to keep her safe, and find a way to get her home. Cam frowned. According to the customs of the Sheepeaters, as well as the Bakianee, with whom he’d traded for her, Riley was his wife. He had every right to go to her, but if he did, he might not be able to let her leave. It was best to keep his distance, or regret his actions later, because she wasn’t staying in this time.
He’d come to one firm conclusion during his long and sleepless night. He couldn’t let his feelings cloud his judgment. Riley would not be another pawn in the games Mukua played, and that meant she had to return to 2011.
Her soft voice brought his head back to where she stood with Day Star.
"Thank you . . . aishun." Riley embraced his foster mother. The older woman's eyes widened with surprise at the gesture, but she smiled brightly and clasped Riley's hands between hers.
Riley's eyes fell to Cameron, just as he looked at her. He indicated with a nod of his chin that it was time to go. The only words he'd spoken to her since last evening were to wake her and tell her it was time to leave.
She adjusted her pouch around her neck and shoulder. Slung over her other shoulder, she carried a water skin and a rolled-up sheep hide tied together with rawhide. She was burdened with more items this time than when they arrived at the village, but she’d managed to carry the heavy bison robe without much complaint.
The climb into the mountains would be difficult, but she wouldn’t back away from the challenge. She’d already refused to stay behind. Riley might not have experience in the wild, but her determination and eagerness to learn set her apart. Life was different in the future. Another woman might have given in to fear and weakness, and crumbled. With each day she was here, Riley became stronger.
The shaman stood nearby, watching her with a pleased look on his face. Riley thanked Day Star a final time, waved to the rest of the people who’d gathered to watch them leave, then walked up beside him. She offered a quick, uneasy smile.
Wo’itsa walked with them in silence through the trees until the village disappeared, then stopped. Cameron faced him, his brows raised in a silent question. Wo’itsa held out his horn bow and a quiver filled with arrows.
“I expect you to return this to me, Cameahwait.”
Cameron stared at his friend, then at what he offered. He frowned. “Why are you giving me this?”
Wo’itsa’s face erupted in a wide grin. He darted a glance at Riley, and switched to speaking English. “The spirits tell me it is the right thing to do. You need a weapon to protect your woman on your journey.”
Cameron’s gaze moved to Riley. Her eyes volleyed between him and Wo’itsa, her mind clearly working out the meaning of Wo’itsa’s words. His friend liked to chalk everything up to the spirits.
“During my vision journey, the bear and the wolf were enemies,” Wo’itsa added slowly, holding Cameron’s gaze. Cam’s eyes narrowed. Wo’itsa shouldn’t be telling him about his vision. “Let this be a token that it never comes to pass.”
After he stood unmoving in front of his friend for several seconds, Cameron nodded, then accepted the weapon. To refuse his offer would be insulting. He reached out, and clasped Wo’itsa by the arm.
“I don’t think you and I could ever be enemies.” Cameron laughed, and his mouth widened in a grin. He nudged his chin at his friend in a mock challenge. “Besides, the bear is stronger than the wolf. I could beat you in a fight any day.”
“The bear might be stronger, but the wolf is more cunning and runs faster, Cameahwait.” Wo’itsa’s eyes sparkled with amusement.
Next to him, Riley scoffed. Cam glanced at her, just as she rolled her eyes. His brows rose.
“Men,” she said, looking from him to Wo’itsa. The exasperation in her eyes brought a renewed smile to Cam’s face. “Don’t you ever miss an opportunity to beat on your chests and compete with each other? Even if your words and your little metaphors are different, the meaning is timeless.”
Wo’itsa turned his attention to her with a puzzled frown. The meaning of her question was clearly lost to him. When no one elaborated, he, said, “Walk with the spirits, Riley, and guide your man on the right path.” He nodded to her, then turned abruptly and headed back toward the village.
Cam’s eyes connected with hers. He tensed. Wo’itsa was apparently still not convinced that she was leaving. Part of him was beginning to wish the same thing, but Riley didn’t consider him her man.
“We need to go.”
He continued to look at her. She was definitely thinking about what she’d done last night. It was obvious in her searching, yet uneasy, stare. Since she hadn’t brought it up, she probably regretted that kiss and wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened. Riley was not the kind of woman who would remain silent on the matter otherwise.
“I’m ready,” Riley said with a quick, bright smile that made his knees go weak. She adjusted the strap on her shoulder that held the sheep hide, and headed in the wrong direction.
Cam perused her for another second or two as she walked away from him. Her deerskin dress disguised her figure better than the clothes she’d had on before, but couldn’t hide the seductive sway of her hips. He gritted his teeth, and focused his eyes elsewhere. He had to let her go back to her time, as much as he wanted to pull her into his arms at this moment and claim her as his.
He shook his head. He couldn’t do it. For most of his life, someone else had made decisions for him. He would not do the same to Riley, and keep her here if there was a way to send her home.
His life was in this time, just as she’d told him, and hers was in the future. He tore his eyes from her, and headed into the forest, away from the village.
“I’m going this way,” he called over his shoulder. “It’s a shorter walk to reach the Sky People than where you’re going.”
Behind him, Riley inhaled a loud breath. Cameron’s lips twitched. He didn’t have to turn and look to see that she’d lengthened her strides to catch up to him.
Cam forced his attention on the hills and mountains in the distance, rather than look at her. It had been much easier with Wo’itsa along for part of their journey to the village. Before that, he’d kept his distance by scouting for Blackfoot and other dangers.
The threat from Blackfoot had passed by now. They were well outside Bakianee territory. The forest had opened up again to more meadow, and the terrain was slowly getting steeper. Mountains rose, one after the other, into the sky.
Cam kept a vigilant eye and ear out for other dangers. There was always the possibility of surprising a bear sow with cubs, as Riley had found out already, or a lone bison that might have bedded d
own in the tall grasses, so he opted to remain at Riley’s side. The outcome of another animal encounter might not end as well as Riley’s prior run-in with the black bear and her cub. There was no harm in simply enjoying her company, especially if they walked in companionable silence.
“Wo’itsa is such a nice and friendly guy, but he looked sad at times.” Riley’s voice broke through the quiet of the forest, beckoning to him like a hummingbird to a decadent flower. She’d been uncharacteristically quiet for much of the morning.
Cam glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. It wasn’t for him to talk about his friend when Wo’itsa wasn’t here to speak for himself, but Riley was expecting an answer.
“He lost the woman who would have been his wife to another man.”
Riley lifted her head to the side to stare up at him. Her brows rose, then furrowed.
“Oh,” she stammered, then dropped her gaze to look at the ground. “I suppose rejection is never easy, but maybe sometimes it’s for the best.”
Cam glanced at her, pondering her words and the expression on her face. Had someone rejected her?
“When you first met him, he was on the way back from a spirit journey to ask for guidance on how to deal with his disappointment and anger.” He scoffed. “The spirits couldn’t help him.”
“He just needs time,” Riley offered. She lifted her chin, and her eyes widened with hope. “I’m sure someone else will come along someday who’s more compatible with him. It probably wasn’t meant to be.”
Cam grunted, but didn’t say anything else. It wasn’t meant to be between him and Riley, either. Competing for her favor with another man would be easy. He wasn’t giving her up to another man, though. He would lose her to the expanse of time. Asking her to leave her life in the future in favor of staying in this time with him was impossible.
Yellowstone Origins: Yellowstone Romance Series, Book 6 Page 14
