He stopped. “I’m sorry.” He gently pressed his lips against her eyelids. “Relax, baby. Move with me.”
Now she understood why he wouldn’t go deeper and wished she’d done things his way. He retook her mouth and started his slow steady rhythm again. Soon the pain dissipated and the pleasure returned. He increased his speed and deepened each stroke, pushing her to an edge she didn’t recognize but wanted to reach.
Pain a distant memory, she could feel her body tightening around him. They were made for each other. She gripped onto the quilt to keep from ripping Jared’s skin from his back.
He tilted her hips upward and plunged in deeper, harder until he knocked them both over that edge. She’d never wanted to fall over an edge before, but this was one fall she’d love to do over and over again.
“I love you with everything I am, Joy.”
“I love you, too.”
They lay together a few minutes with him buried deep inside of her. She wished they could stay there forever, but she knew Lucas would return soon. “I think we should dress.”
“I want to make love again, but you’re right. We don’t know when Lucas will return.”
She sighed. Lucas would kill Jared if he found out what they’d done. They cleaned themselves and dressed. Jared moved the chair back, opened the door, and picked up the book to read.
“I’ll be glad when he leaves.”
Jared grinned. “That makes two of us.”
“Can I have a little kiss before he returns.”
“I’ve created a monster,” he whispered, then sent thunderbolts of ecstasy through her body with a kiss.
“Get your hands off her now!” Lucas barked.
Jared and Joy both sat up. “Would you please stop it?”
“Be quiet, Joy. You get out.”
Jared glared at Lucas. “Do you want me to leave, Joy?”
“Yes, please.”
Jared limped by.
Lucas shut the door behind Jared. “Did he touch you?”
She never lied to Lucas before, but the hate in his eyes scared her. Her eyes welled up with tears. “No. I swear, please don’t be mad. I asked him to kiss me.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Anger mustered her strength to stand against him. She stood tall, yelling, “If you know all of the answers, why did you ask?” She threw a book at him. “Get out of my room.”
Lucas was mixing medication for Joy when Jared returned to the table from his room. He’d had to clean himself properly after making love with Joy. He could hardly wait for Lucas to leave so he would have Joy to himself.
“Stay away from her,” Lucas warned.
“She’s old enough to make her own decisions. You can’t bully me like you bully her.” He wanted to tell Lucas he’d given up any claim he had on her when he’d abandoned her, but held his tongue. Joy needed to fight that battle when she felt strong enough. All he could do was support her.
“I’m not bullying her. I’m protecting her from you.” He handed Jared the mixture. “Give this to her. I don’t want the cough returning.”
The medication didn’t have a bad odor at all. Jared took it in to her, then returned.
“Is she still crying?”
“Why can’t you put the hate aside and see I love her.”
“And what happens when people find out who your wife is? Will you leave her for your world?”
“She is my world.”
Lucas’s mouth quirked up in disbelief. “That’s easy to say. You may even mean it. But you won’t stay. People won’t accept you as a couple. And what about your children?”
“You married an Indian woman.”
“That’s different. Our peoples have suffered together. We have a bond. The only thing bonding you two is slavery. You owned people just like Joy.”
Jared headed for the couch to sleep.
“No, you take the bedroom tonight. I want to make sure you don’t go into her room.”
Jared rolled his eyes and went to bed. The man was impossible.
Chapter Twelve
Furious, Joy threw everything in her sight at Lucas. “How could you have done this?”
Lucas dodged her barrage. “I had to get you away from him.” He ducked under a low-lying table.
She strained to lift the cedar table, but hadn’t recovered enough strength yet. “You drugged me!” She gave up on lifting the table and snatched up the poker.
Lucas dodged the jabs lunged at him.
“When I catch you, I’m going to kill you,” she hissed.
He grabbed the poker and jerked her under the table with him. “You have me. Now what are you going to do?”
She did a twist of her body and kicked him with both feet as hard as she could. He fell, banging his head against the wall.
“Take me back!”
A very large Indian man burst into the office.
Joy reared back to throw the poker at Lucas, but the man grabbed her arm. “I’ll take that.” He scanned the destroyed office.
Joy whirled around on him. “He has kidnapped me. I want him arrested. Would you please get the sheriff for me?”
He grinned. “You must be Joy?” He held his hand out to her. “I’m Soaring Eagle, Luke’s business partner.”
She glared over her shoulder at Lucas as she took Soaring Eagle’s hand. “Pleased to meet you.” She faced her body to Lucas. “Don’t you dare come this way you, you…”
He rushed toward her. “Don’t say it. Come here.”
She hid behind Soaring Eagle. “No!” She wrapped her arms around Soaring Eagle’s waist and held on for dear life.
Soaring Eagle held his hand up to Lucas. “Wait a second, Luke.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Come around here and let’s talk.” He took her by the hand and pulled her around. “Now what happened?”
She plopped her hands on her hips. “He kidnapped me. He took me against my will. He drugged me. He’s a terrible, awful excuse for a man.”
Soaring Eagle smiled at Lucas. “What have you gotten yourself into now?”
“I didn’t kidnap you. You’re my responsibility. If I say you live with me, you live with me.”
“I haven’t lived with you since I was ten, and I have no intentions on starting now.”
He smirked. “You don’t have a choice. You don’t know your way back.”
She ran to the window and looked out. This wasn’t the place he’d taken her to when she was a child. She had no idea how to find her way home.
“I’ve been here for six years now.” He picked up a chair and set it upright. “Take a seat. You’ll be here for a while.” He laughed as he began the sizable job of cleaning the office.
She grabbed a fallen chair and hurled it at him, barely missing his head.
“I’ve had about enough from you.”
“Well, I’ve had more than enough from you.” She took after him again, but Soaring Eagle held her.
“I see you’re feeling better.”
Joy turned around in his arms. “If you grab me one more time, I’ll pluck your feathers.” He released her. “You take me home now, Lucas.” She stomped her foot.
“You can throw as many temper tantrums as you want and nothing will change. This is your home now.”
“Never!” She turned on her heels, grabbed her coat and stormed outside.
Joy entered the post office with thoughts of Jared on her mind. How could he survive a California Mountain winter alone? He wasn’t used to snow, and he was injured. “Excuse me, sir. Do you have a map of the area?”
The clerk grinned. “Well, hello, little lady. A map?”
“Yes, please.”
He shuffled through the drawers behind the counter. “I’m sure I have one somewhere.” He spread it out on the counter. “Here you go.”
“Thank you. Can you show me where we are?” He pointed. “How far could I get in two maybe three days?” She wasn’t sure how long she’d been gone because Lucas had kept her drugged.
/> He gave her a questioning look over his glasses. “Which way do you want to go?”
“To the mountains.”
“We’re at the base of a valley. Do you know what city you want?”
Her fire died quickly. How would she find Jared? “No, sir. I live in a Miwok village.” She turned around to Soaring Eagle coming into the office.
There was plenty of room, but Soaring Eagle chose to look over her shoulder at the map. “What are you up to?”
She ignored his closeness. “I’m trying to find my way back home.”
He gently pulled her by the waist. “I think you should come with me. Luke won’t like your being here.”
She returned to the map. “I don’t give a chicken’s tail end what he likes.”
“Sorry, ma’am. Luke has helped me out of many a tough situations. If he doesn’t want you to have a map, I can’t let you look at the map.” He removed the map.
“Hey, I wasn’t done yet.” She spun on Soaring Eagle. “If you don’t stop interfering, I’ll put you on my list right under Lucas.” She slammed the door on her way out.
“It’s been two days. You have to eat.” Lucas lived in a cabin at the edge of the reservation. Joy wouldn’t talk to him or eat. She only stared at the living room fireplace. “I will force it down your throat if you don’t eat something.” She’d just gotten over a major illness, and he was afraid she’d have a setback. He had to do something soon.
She turned her back to him. “I will not eat your food and pretend like nothing has happened. I want to go home.”
He walked around to her and stooped to her level. “Please try to understand. I couldn’t let you stay there alone. People are starting to move west. It isn’t safe anymore.” He wiped the tears away as they fell down her face. “I had to do this. Please eat.”
She sniffed. “I wasn’t alone.”
He could see the pain in her eyes. She’d never get over Jared at this rate. “He left, Joy.” She let her eyes do the talking for her. They narrowed on him, shouting you’re lying. “I drugged you. He caught me when I was leaving. I paid him a handful of gold to go away and never come back. He said he loved you.” She smiled. “Then I gave him another handful of gold. I gave him a ride into town and brought you here. He’s gone, Joy.”
He could see she didn’t want to believe him. “I didn’t want to tell you. I’d rather you blame me, but I don’t want you to starve for someone like him.” She ran to her room; he followed. “It’s true, Joy. He’s used to buying and selling people. He sold you to me.”
She turned her back to him and cried into her pillow. He knew he’d poured it on too strong so he softened. “I think he did love you in his own way, but white men are motivated by money, not love. Everything he said to you was true at the time, but money changes all. You remember the stories about the gold rush, don’t you? They go crazy over gold.”
She rolled over and sat up. “If you don’t tell me the truth, I’ll never forgive you.” She looked into his eyes. “Is what you’re saying true?”
He wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry, but it’s true.”
“You’re telling the truth, aren’t you?” Soaring Eagle asked.
Lucas leaned back in his tapestry armchair. He could kill Jared for breaking Joy’s heart. “In a way I wish it weren’t. I had newfound respect for him when he turned down one handful. I thought maybe I was wrong. Then when I offered the second and he took it, I knew he was just upping the price. He’s a slick one.”
“How do you think he knew your family has money?”
“If you ever saw the cabin, you wouldn’t ask.”
Soaring Eagle motioned around. “If it’s halfway as nice as this, I see your point. Does she believe you?”
“No. She’s too mad and hurt to see the truth. She’ll come around eventually.”
Joy had heard enough. She returned to her bed to finish her cry. Everything Lucas had said to her made sense. Why hadn’t Jared tried to stop him from taking her away? She thought back to how those robbers tried to kill her for one handful of gold.
She knew he told the truth. She could hear it in his voice. Everything he’d said about white men was true. She was wrong. Roaring Thunder was wrong.
A few minutes later, Soaring Eagle entered the room. “You heard, didn’t you?”
She rolled away. “I hate men.”
He rubbed her back. “Your first love is always the hardest to get over. You’re young, you’ll have plenty more.” He pulled her thick, luscious hair away from her face.
“No, I won’t. I’m never falling in love again.” She rolled over and was trapped in his gaze. They were intense with wanting and need. He was every bit as handsome as Jared, and the bonus was he wasn’t white. Her body languished in the memories of making love with Jared, and she moved away. “I think you should leave.”
He raised a brow, whispering, “Have you been with Jared? I won’t tell Luke.”
Eyes wide with shock, she wondered how he could tell and how long it would take for Lucas to notice.
“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. Something isn’t adding up. The story Lucas told me…” He hunched his shoulders. “I don’t know. Something isn’t right. Tell me the whole story about you and Jared.”
Lucas wouldn’t listen when she tried to tell him. Then again, Lucas had never been interested in what happened to her when he wasn’t around. Sometimes his mentality reminded her of a child. When he left the room, the room didn’t exist anymore. He didn’t even know about her Indian family. He never asked how she survived when he was gone. “Are you sure you want to know?”
“Definitely.”
She told him everything, including their making love.
“Lucas thought you only knew him a few weeks. He didn’t know.”
“He wouldn’t care anyway.”
She could barely keep her eyes open. “I just want to be left alone.”
He kissed her hand. “Go to sleep.” He paused in the doorway and smiled. “And stop listening to other’s conversations. You might hear something you don’t want to.”
“How is she?”
Soaring Eagle gathered his coat. He was furious with Lucas and didn’t want to deal with him yet. “You are a fool, a total and complete fool. I’ll take your run this time. You have eight days. If she hasn’t begun accepting this place by then, I’m taking her back to her mountain myself.” He turned to leave.
“What’s gotten into you?” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Joy is my responsibility. She stays here until I say she leaves.”
Soaring Eagle turned on Lucas so quickly Lucas lost his footing. “You were wrong, Luke. How many men around here do you know who wouldn’t take two hands of gold for a woman? You should have allowed nature to run its course. Things might have worked out for them.”
“How could you take a white man’s side over mine?”
“I’m taking Joy’s side. You know,” he pointed at Lucas, “what you should be doing.”
“This is going from bad to worse.” Lucas ran his hands over his hair. “You’re falling for her, aren’t you? She’s only a child. What’s wrong with you?”
“So it’s not because he’s a white man. It’s because he’s a man, period. So tell me, what’s the plan? Pay off all of the men who approach her. I think she’ll figure out your game.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Watching his defeated friend, he softened. Joy was all Lucas had left, and he was just being overprotective. “You need to get to know her. She isn’t a child anymore; stop treating her like one. Someday she’ll marry. If you want to be a part of her life, you’d better start getting used to that fact now.”
“She’ll get over him. He saved her life. She’s infatuated with him. She thinks she loves him.”
Soaring Eagle shook his head at his stubborn friend. “You don’t listen to anyone, do you? She saved his life back in August.”
“What? You mean
he’s been with her all of this time and… Do you know what could have happened?”
“Yes. But he didn’t take advantage of her. Instead, he asked her to marry him, and you broke them up. You’d just better hope she doesn’t start blaming you. She told me their story, and in all honesty, I’m shocked he took the gold. They would have made it if not for your interference.”
“He’s a white man. He would have hurt her in the end, anyway. How about you? She seems to like you.”
“Oh, no, you don’t.” He headed for the door. “I’m too old to be a rebound love. Take her to town and buy her some clothes. Dress her like the lady she is, and men will come pouring out of the woodwork.”
Lucas held out his hand. “Thanks, brother. Have a safe trip.”
Chapter Thirteen
Joy walked into Lucas’s room. He had his back to her and was hunched over the bed, fussing and packing a bag. She’d forgotten he had another life besides hers to run. She’d been walking off her anger with Lucas and Jared all morning, but it was time to return to reality.
Lucas only wanted to protect her and turned out to be correct on the subject of white men. She decided to stop blaming him for Jared’s wrongdoing. “Can I go on your run with you, Lucas?” She figured if she must stay, she might as well put herself to good use. She also decided to try and use his name.
The enraged look in Lucas’s eyes when he turned startled her. She backed out of his room. “Sorry I asked.” She went to the kitchen to fix her breakfast. She didn’t know what his problem was. She thought they could use the time on his run to get to know each other, but he obviously didn’t want to know her.
“Where have you been?” Lucas yelled as he stalked into the room.
Joy closed the cabinet, turned slowly to him and calmly said, “You aren’t speaking to me, are you? I know you’re not speaking to me.” She set the nuts on the table. “I’m in the same room with you. No. You’re yelling, so you must be speaking to someone a few miles away.” She poured water into the basin and washed her hands. Roaring Thunder had yelled at her plenty of times, and she never resented it, but Lucas yelling at her felt different. She momentarily glanced over her shoulder at Lucas; he had no right.
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