Trail of Dreams (Hot on the Trail Book 4)

by Merry Farmer

  Katie did her best to think like Aiden was thinking. He was far craftier than her, but she could still take up this problem herself. “Maybe there’s a way you won’t have to.”

  “I won’t?” Two Spots glanced at her with equal parts suspicion and disappointment in her eyes.

  “Come on.” Katie took her hand and started up the course of the stream with her. “I have an idea to beard the lion in his den.”

  “To…. I do not understand this thing you say.”

  Katie did not explain. Her chest tightened and her hands and feet tingled at the audacity of what she was about to do. If ever she wanted an adventure, this was it. From Ireland to the coast of America to the Oregon Trail to the Cheyenne village, she’d discovered that the biggest adventure possible was that of the human heart.

  They found Sky Bear sitting alone in a shady spot of trees around a bend in the stream. He had hacked a branch off of one of the saplings growing out over the water and was busy stripping its bark with his axe, though he didn’t seem to be doing it for any purpose. His face was pinched in a sullen mask of frustration.

  As soon as he saw Katie and Two Spots, he leapt to his feet and greeted them with fast, hard words that sounded more like an admonition to Katie than a welcome.

  “Sky Bear asks what we are doing here and tells us to go away and leave him,” Two Spots whispered to Katie.

  “Tell him no,” she said. “Tell him I’m not going away until I clear the air.”

  Two Spots looked at her strangely and translated. Judging by the way Sky Bear glanced at the air all around him, Katie figured her turn of phrase had been translated literally. She would have to be more careful about how she said things.

  She took a deep breath. “Tell him that I am flattered by his attentions, but I will not be his wife. Not now, not ever. Not if he had all the horses in the world.”

  “But….” Two Spots hesitated, but she swallowed and went on to translate anyhow.

  As expected, Sky Bear didn’t like her declaration. His face hardened to a stubborn scowl and he launched into a flurry of arguments. Katie raised a hand to stop him before Two Spots could begin to translate.

  “Tell him I will not marry him because I will not take a man who my friend is in love with.”

  Sky Bear stopped his protest and stared at Katie with narrowed eyes, more so when Two Spots blanched by her side.

  “This is a difficult thing for me to say,” she whispered to Katie. Sky Bear’s gaze turned to her and his narrowed eyes softened to curiosity.

  “It must be said, though.” Katie squeezed her friend’s hand more tightly. “If you won’t say it yourself, then I will say it for you.” A sudden smirk twitched at her lips. “Aiden may be a rogue and a fool, but he’s never been shy about telling me he loves me even when….”

  “Even when you do not love him in return?” Two Spots suggested.

  Katie shook her head. The truth had been sneaking up on her—like a fox sliding through the undergrowth—for far longer than the time they had been in the Cheyenne village or the months they had traveled across America. “Even when I am too stubborn to admit how much he means to me,” she finished with a sigh. If only she could find a way to tell him, to show him, and still hold on to herself.

  Sky Bear interrupted her tricky thoughts. She didn’t understand his words, but she knew when a man was prodding her to let him back into the conversation.

  “Tell him what I said.” She nodded to Two Spots.

  Two Spots squirmed where she stood. She bit her lip, eyes turned down, then finally took a deep breath and swallowed and repeated what Katie had said.

  The effect on Sky Bear was instant. His confused frown dropped to warm surprise. The faint hint of a smile touched his lips, but he pushed it away and set his jaw. He replied.

  Two Spots’ expression dropped to sadness. “He says this is not a matter of love, it is a matter of pride.”

  Katie let out an exasperated breath. “Men. What a lot of pillocks.” To Sky Bear, she said, “You would turn down a woman who loves you, who has loved you for a long time, and who I think you love at least a little in return over some silly matter of pride?”

  Two Spots translated, and Sky Bear’s expression flickered through half a dozen emotions before he squared his shoulders and replied. His reply was a long one, and Katie shifted impatiently as she waited for Two Spots to translate.

  “He says that he loved his wife. She was beautiful and strong. She made him a wedding shirt that was the envy of others. But the soldiers came to their village. They attacked when the braves were away. The village held only women and children and old men. His wife fought bravely to defend herself, but this only made the soldiers angry. They beat and raped her and made sport of her before they killed her.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Katie muttered, pressing a hand to her heart as Sky Bear told his story through Two Spots. “I didn’t know.”

  Two Spots quickly translated her comments before Sky Bear went on. “When he discovered this evil thing that had happened, he wanted to kill every white man he saw. The soldiers had no honor to do such things to the defenseless. If they were real men, they would face the braves on the field of battle. Even though many, many moons have passed since this evil time, the anger has not left his heart. He seeks to put aside the anger and begin life anew by taking what was taken from him. He seeks to take a new wife and to take the pride of the white men too.”

  Katie understood. It was madness, it would be horrible for her, and in the end it would only make Sky Bear more miserable than ever, but she understood. She was a symbol to him, nothing more. She was the way he thought he could have his recompense for all of the unfair and despicable things that were done to him.

  “Anger only breeds more anger,” she told him, genuine respect in her words, and with it grief on his behalf. “Wouldn’t you rather take a wife who loves you, who you love, with whom you could build a long and happy life?”

  Two Spots translated his words. Sky Bear looked long and hard at her, his feelings for her plain on his face. For a moment, Katie thought he would be swayed. The passion in his eyes was as clear and loud a sign as if he’d shouted his war cry. But when he spoke, his words were laced with defeat.

  They also brought tears to Two Spots’ eyes. “What is to say that the soldiers would not come back and kill this beloved too?” she asked, repeating his question and asking it herself. “How could a heart survive the loss of a second beloved when it almost died along with the first?”

  Sky Bear stood where he was, breathing as if he’d run a mile, grief and love in his eyes as he watched Two Spots translate. When she finished and lowered her head, tears dripping onto her cheeks, Sky Bear fixed Katie with a stare that asked her to understand. The problem was, she did. Too well. She nodded.

  Sky Bear returned her nod, then turned on his heel and marched off. Katie was left standing with a weeping Two Spots. She moved to hug her friend, feeling her pain deep within her own chest. Sky Bear may have intended his words to convince Katie to do his bidding, but more than ever, Katie was determined to leave the village, and to leave Two Spots in Sky Bear’s arms when she did.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Aiden’s plan came slowly into focus as he whiled away his afternoon. He went with Grandfather to consult the other elders about finding a way to repair his fiddle, but as much as he loved the instrument, his mind was stuck on the bigger problem, escape. The fiddle was beyond repair as long as he was with the Cheyenne anyhow. He tucked it away in its case, hoping someone in the West would have the skill to repair it. The elders were apologetic, and Follows The River was downright indignant on his behalf. Their consideration warmed Aiden’s heart, and ultimately inspired him.

  As the summer sun was setting and families were returning to their tipis for the evening, Aiden borrowed a blanket from Grandfather and set off for Magpie Woman’s tipi. As he came near the entrance, he slipped the blanket over his head, holding it so that his body was shrouded
and his face and hands hidden. Anyone looking at him wouldn’t know him from the other braves in the village. He waited by Magpie Woman’s door for Katie to come out.

  When she finally pushed aside the tipi’s flap and stepped out into the evening, Aiden moved toward her. In a flash, Katie yelped and raised her fist.

  “Don’t come any closer,” she warned him, backing up.

  Aiden laughed. “Believe me, I won’t. I’ve seen what those fists can do.”

  “Aiden.” Katie pressed her hand to her chest, panting with relief. That relief quickly bubbled into a scowl. “What in blazes are you doing under that blanket, you daft ninny?”

  “This.” Aiden stepped forward and opened his arms to spread the blanket wide. He enveloped her in his embrace, closing them both in the cocoon of the blanket. “This is a cozy custom, wouldn’t you say?”

  Enclosed as she was with him, there was little she could do but snake her arms around his waist and move with him when he began to walk slowly for the line of trees beyond the edge of the tipis.

  “Custom?” she asked.

  “Grandfather told me about it,” Aiden explained. “It is the custom amongst the Cheyenne when a young couple is courting for the man to talk to the woman under his blanket. He waits patiently for the woman by her door, and when she comes out, he wraps her up so that the two of them can whisper sweet words to each other in private.”

  “Is that so?” Katie’s tone was sassy, but she leaned into him as they came to stop at the edge of a patch of trees.

  Aiden could feel the heat spilling off of her. It fueled his inner fire, probably more than was wise. They had important things to discuss. Still, when he turned to face her, hugging the blanket around her and bringing his lips closer to hers, he couldn’t resist stealing a kiss. Somehow he found her waiting mouth in the near pitch darkness. She was soft and pliable, and when she opened to drink him in, his heart and his groin tightened. The taste of her sweetness was better than honey and hotter than pepper. He could have closed his eyes and drowned in her.

  If only there was time.

  “I’ve missed holding you in my arms, a ghrá,” he confessed, his voice hoarse.

  “Silly man, it’s not as if you held me in your arms often,” she teased him in return.

  “But I wanted to,” he countered. His chest expanded and vibrated with that want. He would have dropped one hand to cup her backside if he hadn’t needed both to hold the blanket closed. “I’ve wanted to hold you every day of our lives. I’ve wanted to wake you with kisses and rock you to sleep at night with the sway of lovers.”

  Katie caught her breath. “The Cheyenne have made you bold,” she whispered. There was a hitch to her voice that drove Aiden wile.

  “No, a ghrá, I’ve always been this bold. The Cheyenne have opened your eyes to it is all.”

  She tensed just enough for him to hold his breath in expectation. Her fingertips dug into the muscles of his back. He could feel the pounding of her heart against his chest as she struggled. He would give her as much time as she needed to wage whatever war within herself that she needed to.

  “They’re not so bad,” she said at last. “The Cheyenne. In some ways it’s like I’ve known them and their ways my whole life, but in others, they’re as foreign as could be.”

  She tilted her face up to his. They were inches apart in the intimate darkness. Aiden wanted to kiss her or tell her how much he loved her or even that he had told her she’d see things his way. It was a colossal effort to keep his mouth shut.

  “I trust them, you know,” she went on. “The Cheyenne,” she added quickly. Her breath was warm against his cheek. “I know that you’re—I mean, they’re trying to do what they think is right. They always have been.”

  “Katie,” he whispered her name like a prayer. “You’ve no need to speak in riddles to me. I love you enough to hear the things you have to say, no matter how hard they are to put into words. And I will never think less of you for changing your mind or seeing something in a new light.”

  “What makes you think that’s what I’m doing?” she said. The words hummed up from her throat, low and heady and, if he wasn’t mistaken, seductive. At last, after all this time, she was the one trying to seduce him.

  “Just a hunch,” he said. He couldn’t resist capturing her lips once more. This time he kissed her more deeply, squeezing her closer so that he could feel the length of her body along his. She was everything he had ever dreamed of and more. To have her unfolding to him at last was as exciting as the sun rising over a new day.

  What that day held, though, was far from decided. He broke their kiss and forced himself to take a steadying breath.

  “We need to discuss the plan to switch Two Spots into Sky Bear’s bed instead of you,” he said.

  “We do,” she agreed with more vehemence than he expected. “They love each other, Aiden. Mad as it may seem, Two Spots has loved Sky Bear for years. She sees the goodness in him that was ripped away when his wife was killed. I think that she could bring that back to him, bring him back to himself.”

  Aiden blinked. “Well, if that isn’t a fine turnaround.”

  She shook her head, lowering her chin. “You didn’t see them together after the fight. You didn’t hear the things they said to each other and to me.”

  “What things?”

  “The story of how Sky Bear’s wife died. The fear he has of loving anyone that deeply again, in case they too are taken from him. You didn’t see how they looked at each other when they thought their love could never be.”

  “Love should never be stifled just because it might be lost,” he said, feeling the truth of those words to the bottom of his soul. He took a breath, feeling surer than ever about the plans that had been forming in his mind all day. “This is what we have to do.”

  “I’m listening.” She nodded, as encouraging a sign as if she had applauded and cheered for him.

  “You need to tell Sky Bear that you’re willing to become his wife,” Aiden said.

  “I… what?” Katie balked.

  “You need to tell him that you want to become his wife right away, tomorrow night.”

  “I said that I trust you, Aiden, but I’m beginning to think that wasn’t such a good idea.”

  “No, no listen to me.” He hugged her tighter. “You will tell Sky Bear that you want to marry him right away and go to his tipi. But you will go alone. If you tell him that you need to say a prayer or ready yourself without him, perform some sort of ritual, then I believe the elders will make him respect that.”

  “What ritual?” Katie asked. “We don’t have any rituals like that.”

  “The Cheyenne don’t know that,” Aiden insisted. “We could tell them you need three days to make yourself ready and they’d probably believe it. But I don’t want to lie to them that badly.”

  “And neither do I,” Katie said.

  “So it’ll only be a tiny white lie,” Aiden went on. “Once you go into the tipi, all you need to do is slip out under the side of the wall. Two Spots will be waiting. She will go in and take your place in Sky Bear’s bed.”

  “All right,” Katie whispered. Aiden could feel the excitement coursing through her as she began to understand the plan too.

  Aiden nodded. “As soon as she slips in, we run. If we’ve told the elders you need a long time to prepare, all the better. We could buy as much as a few hours to slip away in the dark.”

  “But what about Sky Bear? Won’t he be furious when he finds out we’ve fooled him?” As soon as she asked the question, she answered it for herself. “Of course not. He won’t discover the switch until he has Two Spots in bed with him.”

  “And a man would be hard-pressed to fly into a rage when he’s wrapped in the arms of the woman he’s loved but kept away from for years,” Aiden finished.

  There was a moment of awed silence as Katie absorbed the full scope of what he was saying and of the plan. At long last she asked, “Will it actually work?”

 
; Aiden shrugged. “It’s not perfect. The whole thing depends on the cooperation of the elders and on the love between Two Spots and Sky Bear.”

  “And on how fast we can get away,” Katie said. She glanced up at him. “We should have horses.”

  Aiden rolled his shoulders and winced. “I’ll get some if I can, but I don’t want to steal them.”

  Her shoulders relaxed and she let out a breath. “Aiden Murphy.” She said his name as though it were an exclamation and an endearment. “Still thinking of other people, even when you’re in danger and trying to escape. I have a few things I could say about that.”

  “Oh?” His brow rose.

  “Mmm hmm,” she hummed, then pressed up into him. Her mouth found his and her lips said more than words ever could. She swept her hands along the firm muscles of his back as if studying the lines she should have known by heart already. As her mouth teased and tempted him beyond reason, tugging desire up from his soul, her hands caressed the hard curve of his backside.

  A moan of pleasure escaped from him before he could stop himself. He was daft to find her touch so pleasing when it was so demanding. Or was he? Any man who tried to win Katie over with power was a fool. He’d have more joy out of letting her tease and explore to her fill. The more he relaxed and followed her lead as she nipped at his lip and stroked his tongue with her own, the more she explored. Heat poured off her body. He couldn’t resist the temptation to lower his hands to her sides in an attempt to hold her breast.

  The motion uncovered their heads, making them visible to anyone who happened to be walking by. The night was dark, but not so dark that their white skin wouldn’t stand out, making it clear who the kissing couple was. As soon as the cool night air touched Katie’s heated face, she gasped and pulled back.

  “It’s all right, a ghrá,” Aiden told her, his voice rough with desire. “There’s no one close.”

  “But there could be at any moment,” she finished off his words. She stepped fully away from him.

  Aiden’s body ached in protest. It wanted so much more from her than a passionate kiss in the darkness of a Cheyenne blanket. His heart and his mind wanted more from her too.