Teton Romance Trilogy Bundle: Includes Yellowstone Proposal (Short Story)

by Peggy L Henderson

  “I didn’t ask for your help, Walker. And there’s nothing to tell.” She jerked her arm from his grasp, and pushed past him. For a moment, it appeared as if she was going to be foolish and make a run for the trees, but she veered toward the fire where he set up camp, and pulled one of the blankets from his pile of supplies. She lowered herself to the ground, her back turned to him.

  “Who’s Timothy?” Lucas called. He clenched his jaw. The tender way in which she spoke that name this morning by her father’s grave had sent a surge of inexplicable anger through him. The same sensation doused him again now. Tori’s back visibly straightened.

  “That’s none of your business, either,” she snarled, without turning to face him.

  Lucas cursed under his breath, and knelt in front of the fire across from her. He skewered several strips of meat, and stuck the sticks into the ground near the flames. He poked at the coals with a long stick, staring into the orange glow of the fire. Slowly, he raised his chin to look at her. She didn’t meet his gaze, but seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.

  “Did you know the Bannock call you Ghost Woman?” He gauged her for a reaction. At first, she didn’t move. Then her head turned slowly toward him, a slight frown on her face.

  Lucas tossed the stick in the fire, and rested his forearms on his thighs. He studied her face. She didn’t know a thing about the Indian’s name for her.

  “I suspect it’s because you hide away from everyone. If you think that no one knows about you, you’re mistaken.”

  Tori’s lips tightened. “How could they know about me? I haven’t seen anyone except Black Sparrow in over a year.” Her voice was strained.

  Lucas shrugged. “Your noble Blackfoot ain’t so noble. He probably talked like a rushing waterfall after he parted ways with you. And the Bannock who told me about the Ghost Woman said that a relative of his had seen you. Word travels fast in the mountains, Tori. Even between warring Indian tribes. Their stories usually have some basis for truth.”

  She broke eye contact with him, and stared into the fire. “What does it matter if a bunch of Indians know about me? At least they don’t haul me off the mountain against my will.” She shot him a cold glare.

  He leaned forward, his lips curved upward. “My friend, Buffalo Horn said the Ghost Woman haunts these mountains because she mourns the death of her beloved.” He paused, then lowered his voice. “Is Timothy your beloved, Tori?”

  For days, Lucas had assumed that Buffalo Horn’s words had meant that she was mourning the death of her father. Hearing her speak another man’s name earlier today had given him cause to change his mind. An indescribable stabbing sensation nagged at him. Why did the thought of her with another man bother him so much?

  If eyes could commit murder, he’d be a dead man at this moment. The icy glare she shot at him pierced straight through his heart.

  “Don’t speak his name.” Her slow, quietly spoken words were as frigid as a frozen pond.

  Lucas’ fists involuntarily clenched, and he abruptly stood. What difference should it make to him whether she had left a man behind in St. Louis? He turned his attention to his saddle lying on the ground. He spread his buffalo robe out at his feet, and threw a blanket on top of it. Rummaging through his saddlebags, he found the coil of leather strips he carried for ties, then turned his attention back to the fire.

  Wordlessly, Lucas pulled one of the meat skewers from the ground, and handed it to Tori. She accepted the food without looking at him. After eating his fill, Lucas snatched his rifle from his saddle scabbard, and marched away from camp.

  The sun had fully descended behind the mountains, and countless stars twinkled in the ever-darkening evening sky. He walked the perimeter of camp, checking and listening for any unusual sounds beyond the loud chirping of crickets and evening bugs. His horse swished its tail some twenty yards away, cropping vigorously at the sparse grasses.

  Satisfied that there was no danger at the moment, Lucas turned back to the fire. Tori hadn’t moved. She’d eaten the meat, and listlessly rotated the skewer between her fingers. Lucas nudged her arm.

  “Bring your blanket,” he said, and motioned to the other side of the fire. Tori stared up at him with wide eyes.

  “What for?” she challenged. She didn’t budge.

  Drawing in a deep breath, Lucas reached for her arm, and easily hauled her to her feet. “Because I’d like to get some sleep.”

  “Don’t let me keep you, Walker,” she retorted, and yanked her arm back. He tightened his grip, and his lips widened in a smile.

  “It might get a tad cold tonight,” he drawled, and glanced up at the cloudless night sky. “I think it’s best that you and I stay close.”

  Tori’s eyes widened. Her tightly drawn lips quivered as if she was about to erupt like some of those hot water pools he’d seen up along the Yellowstone. No question she would scald him with her words just as those hot pools would scald a man to death.

  “Over my dead body. I’m not sleeping under the same blanket as you.” She tried to pull away from him. Lucas easily hauled her up against his chest. A fierce determination settled in her gaze, but there was also a hint of fear. He cursed himself for putting that look in her eyes. Why did she have to be so disagreeable?

  Before he did something foolish, like wrap his arms around her and kiss her, Lucas wrapped the strip of leather around her wrists instead, then tied the other end to his own arm.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded heatedly, and yanked to pull her hands free.

  “Making sure you don’t run off in the middle of the night.” Lucas pulled her along behind him. He settled himself on top of his robe, and gave the leather tie a slight tug. When Tori braced against it, he pulled harder until she had no choice but to sink to her knees.

  “Wrap that blanket around you and stay warm,” Lucas said casually. He rolled to his side, and pulled his own blanket over his shoulders. He drew his rifle up along his chest. He’d much rather be holding something . . . someone else in his arms. Lucas cursed silently, while behind him, Tori called him every foul name in her vocabulary.

  “Settle down, woman, before I have to resort to gagging you, too,” he grumbled over his shoulder. Or pull you underneath me and silence you another way. Turning his back to her was not the brightest idea he’d ever had, but he didn’t want her to think he wanted to have his way with her. Hell, she hated him enough already.

  After another long string of expletives, and promises to kill him the first chance she got, Tori finally did settle down beside him. She moved as far away as the leather tie allowed, and rolled up in her blanket. Lucas smiled into the darkness, and closed his eyes.

  Chapter 8

  Damn him. Damn Lucas Walker for making her feel safe, despite being such an arrogant, overbearing brute of a man. Tori shifted her legs that had gone numb from remaining in one position for hours, satisfied to hear her captor’s rhythmic breathing next to her. How long had she lain awake already? She’d remained as quiet as possible under her blanket, waiting for Walker to fall asleep. He hadn’t stirred in quite a while.

  Slowly, she inched her bound hands up to her mouth. If the leather that tied her to Lucas’ wrist moved too much, it might wake him. She’d already tried to loosen the leather ties by bracing her hands as hard as she could against the binding. The effort had only made her wrists raw. Hopefully she could bite through the knot he’d tied. Sinking her teeth into the leather strips, she went to work.

  Lucas groaned and shifted next to her, and Tori froze. She held her breath for a moment, and prayed he’d remain facing away from her. After several minutes, his deep breathing encouraged her to resume gnawing at her bindings. How had he managed to tie such a complicated knot so quickly? Tori soon realized there were several layers of knots she had to get through.

  Silently, she cursed his name again. Why was Walker so intent on taking her off the mountain? She’d completely misjudged his character. Even with his overbearing attitude, he hadn’t seemed all
that threatening before. Until today. She’d simply assumed that, once the weather cleared, he’d be on his way.

  Lying awake all these hours had given her plenty of time to think. Was Walker a bounty hunter? Why was he so adamant to take her away from her cabin? Had he somehow found out about her past, and come to take her back to St. Louis? Back to be hanged for something she didn’t do? Tori chewed harder on the knot, wishing she had some water to wash the unpleasant taste of rawhide from her mouth.

  At times she’d even had the crazy notion that Lucas was quite likable, if the circumstances had been different. He certainly was pleasing to look at. Heat crept up her neck. The unexpected jolt of some dormant sensations had consumed her when she attempted to distract him with her kiss that morning. The feelings disturbed her. Had Timothy ever elicited such a strong reaction in her? Even during their one time of intimacy, she couldn’t remember such strong feelings of want, or need. Try as she might, she only remembered the pain during the encounter, not ripples of heat and pleasure like those Lucas evoked in her simply by touching her and whispering in her ear.

  Walker hadn’t even kissed her back, yet her insides had churned with a sudden warmth and need that surprised her. All day long, she’d endured being pressed up against him on their ride down the mountain. An involuntary shiver raced down her spine, which ended in tingling sensations radiating to her arms, and around her waist where Lucas had held her firmly to him. What had he meant when he said he hadn’t expected to fight Black Sparrow a second time over something sweet?

  Timothy had never touched her with such masculine strength and confidence, as if he would keep her safe from any harm. Walker had already proven he would protect her. He had thrown himself on top of her and used his own body to shield her from Black Sparrow’s arrows. Not that the Blackfoot was aiming for her, but Lucas nevertheless put his own life in danger for her.

  She couldn’t picture Timothy acting so selflessly.

  He wanted to stand his ground against Paul, when Paul tried to . . .

  Tori slammed the door shut on the memory. Instead, she renewed her efforts of loosening her leather bindings.

  You wouldn’t have had to face the hangman’s noose if you had accepted Paul’s offer.

  No. She could never have agreed to such a thing. Nearly four years ago she’d chosen to hang rather than do what he proposed. Not even her father had known. Would his offer even stand today if she returned? Chances were good that, after all this time, he’d simply call for her execution if she returned to St. Louis.

  Try as she might, conjuring images of Timothy had become harder to do. Each time she’d tried to bring his face into focus over the last few days, mental pictures of Lucas Walker seeped into her mind, and Timothy’s likeness faded into oblivion. Walker’s continued insistence to call her Tori made it even more difficult to see her former beau’s face, or hear the memory of his voice. Had his voice ever had such a strong timbre, or sounded as confident?

  Stop comparing the two men.

  Tori cursed silently. There was no comparison. Lucas was bold and brazen, strong and confident. Timothy had been reserved and quiet. He’d only ever raised his voice once, when they had that argument.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. The last time she’d spoken to him, and seen him alive, they had parted ways in anger. Soft-spoken Timothy could never lift a rifle against another person, even to defend his own life, or hers. What would life have been like if things had turned out differently? If Timothy were alive? He’d wanted to marry her. He’d even asked. Would she have been content as the wife of a town merchant? Even though she was in hiding, living in the wilderness with her pa had been the most exhilarating and liberating time of her life. Her mother had often scolded her for her adventurous spirit, saying that a young woman needed to tend to the house, not run amuck in the woods.

  If only she could return home and prove her innocence, she wouldn’t have to hide anymore, and could truly enjoy the freedom of the mountains. It was impossible. She couldn’t be completely sure that she hadn’t been partly responsible for what she was accused of. Explaining to her ma and pa why she was charged with murder had been the most shameful thing she’d ever endured. She couldn’t prove that the accusation was a lie any more than she could bring the guilty person to justice.

  Tori gnashed her teeth. That bastard would never have the satisfaction of getting the better of her. She turned her head slightly to glance over her shoulder. And neither would Lucas Walker.

  Tori suppressed a frustrated groan. How long had she chewed on her leather bindings already? Despite the cold night air, perspiration beaded her forehead. Her mouth and teeth hurt. She tested the strength of the leather again. A slow smile spread across her face. There was a definite give when she pried her wrists apart.

  She gritted her teeth when the ropes sliced into her flesh, but she closed her mind to the pain and slowly worked her right wrist through the binding. She almost gasped out loud in relief when her hand slipped free of the leather. Quickly, she freed her other hand, then froze. Lucas stirred again next to her, and rolled over to his other side, facing her.

  Damn! She bit her lower lip. She hadn’t worked this hard all through the night to have to abandon her plans of escape now. Tori inhaled slowly, and forced her body to remain still. She waited, straining her eyes to see if Walker’s eyes were closed. After countless minutes, she dared to move.

  Tentatively, she pushed her blanket away. Her ears honed in on any sounds from the man behind her. He didn’t stir. Encouraged, Tori inched out from under her cover. She ignored the cold blast of air that hit her. She rose slowly to her feet, and glanced over her shoulder. A slow smile spread across her lips. Lucas Walker had underestimated her. He slept as sound as a newborn babe, probably feeling confident that his ploy to keep her tied to him had worked.

  Tori scanned into the darkness. Walker’s horse grazed near the tree line. If she could get a good head start before he woke, she could make it back to her cabin to collect her knife and a few other supplies, and ride further into the mountains.

  She whispered softly to the horse, which raised its head in her direction when she approached. The last thing she needed now was for the animal to snort or spook and wake Walker. Tori patted the horse’s neck, then quickly untied the animal’s hobbles. She fumbled in the dark for the bridle that she’d seen Lucas hang on one of the trees. The gelding raised its head higher, making it difficult for her to slip the bit in its mouth.

  “Cooperate,” she grumbled quietly, and grabbed the animal’s ear until the horse finally lowered its head enough for Tori to slip the bridle over its ears. With a final glance over her shoulder toward the man sleeping by the dead campfire, Tori swung up onto the gelding’s bare back. His muscles tensed beneath her, and his tail swished in agitation. Tori wrapped her legs firmly around his girth, and nudged him into a walk, heading in the opposite direction from where they had come earlier.

  It would be impossible to conceal her tracks here, and if Lucas followed her, he would know she was heading back to her cabin. What choice did she have? She had to head home in order to collect her weapons. Without her knife and rifle, and the few bullets she had left, she had no hope of surviving. Stealing anything from Lucas would have been too risky.

  As soon as she was out of earshot, she urged the gelding into a trot. The faint glow of the moon gave her some light to see, but it was too dark to risk a faster pace. The animal tried to buck underneath her, but Tori kept a firm hand on the reins and kicked him forward.

  The sky beyond the mountains turned from a near black to a bluish gray, and the first rays of the morning sun shimmered over the tallest peaks much too quickly. Tori had hoped to be far away from this valley before dawn. She followed along the creek’s banks, the ground beneath the horse’s hooves growing soggier with each step the animal took. She’d glimpsed the lake a short distance away earlier the previous day. Perhaps she was closer to it than she had first realized, or it had overflowed its banks and
created a marsh in this area. This might be the perfect place to conceal her tracks. The murky water would swallow up the horse’s prints.

  Tori nudged the gelding forward, patting his neck for encouragement. The animal stepped reluctantly through the saturated ground, the dark soil and water reaching well past his knees. If the muck got any deeper, she might have to turn away from the lake, but for now, coming this way wouldn’t leave any tracks. The stench of stale water fouled the air, and Tori wrinkled her nose. In a few months when the weather warmed, this area would be infested with mosquitos.

  A short distance up ahead, the landscape appeared to change. Steam rose near the lake’s edge, and the ground sloped slightly upward. Willow grew in abundance. If she could reach that area, they’d be out of the muck. No sooner had the thought entered her mind, when the figure of a man emerged from behind the dense willows ahead.

  Tori’s heart leapt into her throat, and the gelding stopped abruptly. His head shot up, ears pricked forward, and without warning, he shied to the side. Unprepared for the horse’s sudden movement, Tori lost her balance, and hung from the animal’s side. She had no time to recover her seat. The gelding decided at that moment to buck, and tossed her unceremoniously into the marsh.

  Tori’s hands met soft muck when she braced for the impact with the ground, but she only sank deeper into saturated earth. Cold, rank mud and water enveloped her. She raised her head out of the quagmire, gasping for a breath of air. She quickly closed her mouth again when the smelly slush oozed down her face.

  Tori struggled to raise herself out of the slimy filth, and wiped a futile hand over her face. Coughing and sputtering, she cursed the horse for tossing her off its back. She could scarcely breathe. The foul stench of decaying vegetation infused the air. Loud laughter reached her ears, followed quickly by strong hands hauling her to her feet. Tori’s arms flailed blindly through the air, and she drew a small measure of satisfaction when the laughter turned to curses.