Yellowstone Dawn (Yellowstone Romance Series Book 4)

by Peggy L Henderson

  Josh fumbled with Dani’s skirts, her hands meeting his at her hips as they both pushed the garment down her legs.

  “Why do white women insist on so many layers of clothes?” Josh grumbled against her cheek. “It’s much too cumbersome.”

  “You have experience undressing white women, do you?” Dani teased, nipping at his neck.

  “You’re the only white woman I’m interested in undressing,” Josh growled. He rolled to his back and pulled Dani on top of him. Free of her dress and petticoats, she straddled his hips. The sensuous smile on her face as she gazed down at him added fuel to his desire. He reached up and weaved his fingers through her hair, and pulled her toward him.

  The sudden loud knocking against the cabin door in the main room brought him up short. His head sank back against the pillow. He clenched his jaw, staring up at the ceiling and pressed his hands against his temples. He groaned in frustration, then cursed loudly. Who the hell was in the valley this early in the morning, or at all, for that matter? He rarely had visitors.

  Dani rolled off him, and pulled a blanket over herself. Her passion-filled eyes beckoned to him. “I’ll be right back,” he grumbled. “Right after I shoot the bastard at the door.”

  Josh grabbed for his shirt and rushed out of his room. The idiot was pounding so loud, it would surely wake the baby in the other room. He reached for his rifle propped against the wall, and yanked the front door open.

  “What the hell is so important that . . .” Josh stopped himself. Two young Shoshone boys, no older than ten, stood in front of him. They were dirty and looked worn out. The buckskin clothes they wore would hardly keep them warm in the frigid nighttime temperature.

  “Running Wolf.” One of the boys stepped forward and addressed him respectfully in Shoshone. Josh’s eyes narrowed. “Our father and uncle have instructed us to seek you out. There are white men shooting the buffalo several miles to the south of here. We heard and saw them. Our family has no weapons to fight these men, so we stay in hiding. My father says you would know what to do.”

  “Come inside,” Josh said. He lowered his rifle and stepped aside, motioning with his hand for the boys to enter. Reluctantly, they did as instructed. Their wide eyes roamed the cabin.

  “Who is your father?” Josh asked, speaking his mother’s language.

  “Gentle Bear,” the boy answered. Josh had heard the name before, although he didn’t know the man. The few scattered Tukudeka families that were still left in these mountains had become more reclusive than ever before, with the threat of the army rounding up all Indians living within the boundaries of the national park.

  Josh’s mind raced. With the clearing of the weather, and the snowmelt, the poachers were at it again. The army detail from two weeks ago had provided him with similar information. He cursed silently. He had no choice but to go and investigate this newest incident. His eyes wandered longingly toward his bedroom. Dani emerged at that moment, fully dressed.

  The boys stared at her, open-mouthed, before lowering their gaze respectfully.

  “Josh? What’s going on?” Dani’s eyes moved from him to the two boys in the room.

  “They bring news of more poaching,” Josh said. He met her across the room, and reached for her hand. “I have to go with them.” His voice was full of regret as he looked at her. Dani’s eyes narrowed, and her chest heaved. She squared her shoulders, and raised her chin.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” she said heatedly. She pulled her hand from his, and bunched both fists at her hips. With her chin, she motioned to the boys. “Look at them. They look half-starved. You’re not going anywhere until they have a decent meal and warm up by the fire.”

  Josh stared at her for a second, then his mouth widened in a smile. “I knew there was a reason I decided to keep you as my wife.” He said, and kissed her gently.

  “Let me pass so I can get some breakfast started,” she said, and pushed him aside. Josh’s eyes followed her. His heart was about ready to burst with pride and love for this feisty little woman, and he wondered what he’d done to deserve her.

  *****

  “I’ll be back tonight,” Josh said quietly, his forehead resting against Danica’s, regret and yearning in his voice. He cupped her face between his hands. It took all of Danica’s willpower not to grab hold of him and refuse to let him walk out that door. She knew she was being foolish. Josh had a job to do.

  “I’ll miss you,” she whispered, fighting the tears that threatened to spill. Josh gently pressed his lips to hers, and she leaned into him, gripping his shoulders. He pulled away, and inhaled deeply.

  “Soon,” he promised, his dark eyes full of unfulfilled longing.

  Danica merely nodded. Her voice would crack if she uttered a word. She gave his arms a squeeze, and stepped away from him. Smiling at the two boys who stood wide-eyed and open-mouthed by the door, she raised her hand and waved to them. They quickly averted their eyes.

  “You be careful now, you hear?” she said sternly, mustering up the courage to sound cheerful.

  Josh reached for his rifle propped up against the wall by the door. He looked up and grinned at her. “With two beautiful girls to come home to, I’ll be extra careful.” He slung his water bag over and across his shoulder, and Danica handed him a package with food she had prepared.

  “Make sure those boys eat. And you, too.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He stepped up to her and kissed her one last time, his lips lingering on hers. With a deep sigh, he took a step back and turned. One of the boys opened the door, and said something in Shoshone. Josh nodded to him, and the trio left the cabin. Danica followed them to the door. Josh glanced over his shoulder once more, and she waved, her other arm wrapped tightly around her waist.

  Why did it seem so different this time when he left? He’d gone away for parts or most of the day before, but this time it felt odd. Josh hadn’t declared his love for her before. That was the difference. She was his wife now, permanently. She still couldn’t believe it. Her wildest dreams had come true.

  Danica smiled as she watched the three figures head across the meadow toward the river. They veered to the right to follow the river’s course heading east. Somewhere, Josh would probably find a shallow place for them to cross. He had decided to go on foot, since the boys didn’t have horses, and he could navigate some of the more difficult terrain better on foot than on horseback.

  With a determined sigh, she tore her eyes off of Josh’s retreating form, and headed back into the cabin. She could get a lot done today. The weather was nice enough that she could do some laundry. If she got started before Dawn woke from her nap, the clothes would have time to dry on the line before the day was over. Quietly, she checked on her sleeping daughter, then gathered the baby’s soiled linens and some of her own clothes into a basket. Hesitating briefly, she went into Josh’s room and removed the shirts he haphazardly tossed over a chair in the corner. Her eyes fell on his bed. The furs and blankets lay bunched and ruffled all over the mattress. Some had fallen on the floor.

  Danica smiled, and warmth crept through her extremities and settled deep in her stomach. Her heart did a little flip flop. Perhaps tonight, when Josh returned, they wouldn’t be interrupted and could finally consummate their marriage completely. She sighed wistfully and left the room, deciding to come back later and straighten up the bed.

  For the next half hour, she hauled water from the river into a big tub closer to the house. Her hands were numb from the frigid river water by the time she was finished. She wished she had a real laundry kettle that she could simply hang over a fire here in the yard. It would be so much quicker and easier than heating water inside the cabin one bucket at a time. She would definitely speak to Josh about that.

  Danica’s eyes lifted from her work to glance at the other cabin, some twenty yards away. When would Kyle and Kate return? It would be nice to have another woman for company, and she’d gotten along well with Kate five years ago when they first met. A slow smile spread across he
r face. It was the same day she’d run into Josh, and her heart had been hopelessly lost.

  Danica hummed a merry tune as she hung the laundry on the rope Josh had strung for her several weeks ago behind the cabin. The morning had passed quickly. After Dawn’s mid-morning feeding, she’d been able to finish the wash, and was nearly done hanging the clothes on the line. She contemplated what to cook for supper tonight. She should do something extra special for Josh.

  Dawn’s faint cries from inside the cabin pulled her from her thoughts. “Oh, couldn’t you have waited five more minutes,” Danica said out loud. She eyed the basket at her feet. Just a few more articles of clothes, and she would be done. Quickly, she pinned one of her petticoats to the line. Dawn’s cries grew more insistent. The laundry would have to wait. She wiped her hands on her skirt, and hurried to the cabin.

  “Coming, my precious,” she called, and opened the cabin door.

  A loud gasp escaped her lips, and her hand flew to her chest. Her heart had surely stopped beating for a few seconds from shock. Standing in the middle of the room, with her baby in his arms, stood Jonathan Douglas, a wide sneer on his face.

  Chapter 21

  “Hello, Danica,” Jonathan said loudly over the noise of the wriggling infant in his arms. He held the baby stiffly, gripping her much too tight around the middle.

  Danica rushed up to him, the panic in her replaced by a fierce protectiveness for her child. He took a step back when she reached for the baby.

  “Hand me my daughter,” she said forcefully, staring at Jonathan with unflinching eyes.

  “Don’t you mean my daughter?” His smirk intensified.

  Danica’s heart raced wildly. He had clearly done the math and realized that the baby couldn’t possibly be Josh’s. Now that he’d seen her, it would be even more obvious. She had to get Dawn away from this evil man’s clutches. She laughed coldly.

  ”Josh Osborne is my baby’s father. Now hand her over before I finish what I obviously failed to do last summer.”

  Jonathan snorted. Dawn’s cries shot straight to Danica’s soul. Why, oh why, did she not carry a knife strapped around her leg like she did while with the Shoshone? His hand moved from under the baby’s back, and to her horror she saw the shiny end of a pistol pointing at the infant. Carelessly, he rested it on her torso.

  “What do you want?” she asked, stifling a gasp. The blood rushed from her head straight to the soles of her feet, leaving her weak and shaking.

  “Why, I want my darling baby girl and her sweet mama, of course,” he said, his voice dripping with honey. His cold smile showed off his gleaming white teeth.

  “Give me the baby, Lieutenant Douglas, and then we can talk,” Danica pleaded. Right at this moment, she didn’t care what he did to her, as long as she could get Dawn away from this deranged man. She swallowed nervously, the bile rising in her throat.

  “I’ll hand her to you, Danica, but believe me, my gun is aimed right at her, and I’m a much better shot than you are. So don’t do anything you might regret.” His cold eyes bore into her.

  Danica nodded helplessly. There was no doubt in her mind that he would do exactly as he threatened. She reached her arms out, afraid she might be too weak from shock to even hold her baby. Lieutenant Douglas handed her the squirming infant.

  “Shhh, shhhh, it’s all right. Mama’s here,” she cooed to her baby, hugging her close to her chest. Dawn settled at Danica’s voice, and began rooting for her breast.

  Danica turned away from Douglas. The thought occurred to her to dash out the door, but she wouldn’t put it past him to put a bullet right into her back. Her baby’s life was at stake here. She couldn’t risk it.

  “I need to feed her,” she said evenly.

  “Don’t mind me,” he drawled, much too close behind her. Danica’s back stiffened. She inhaled deeply, gritting her teeth, and headed for the rocking chair in the far corner of the room. Maybe while Dawn nursed, it would buy her some time to figure out what to do. She grabbed for the blanket lying on the rocker, and draped it over her shoulder to cover herself.

  Jonathan pulled a chair from the table and sat facing her, his legs out in front of him, crossed casually at the ankles. His pistol sat in his lap. Danica refused to let this man see the fear in her. She met his lewd stare with hard eyes. Something was different about him. With a jolt, it suddenly occurred to her that he wasn’t wearing his cavalry uniform, but was dressed in civilian clothes. His hand swiped at the long oilskin duster he wore. Danica watched the end of the coat drop down away from his leg.

  A fleeting memory of riders charging down a windswept hill at full gallop, shouting and shooting at a group of defenseless Shoshone blurred her mind. She’d only seen horses’ hooves, and the legs of some of the riders that day when the old woman shoved her to the ground. One of the attackers wore a long oilskin duster. Her eyes widened, and her heart pounded fiercely in her chest. She distinctly remembered seeing a cavalry brand on one of the horse’s shoulders.

  Could it be possible? Jonathan Douglas and his small regiment of soldiers were the same men Josh had been trying to track down for poaching. The same men who shot him. Was it coincidence that Jonathan had shown up now, the day Josh left to investigate more bison killings? Danica’s mouth went dry. She tried to keep her breathing even. Discreetly, making sure the blanket covered her, she moved Dawn to her other breast. With a sinking heart, she realized that Josh may have walked straight into a trap.

  She had to engage Jonathan in conversation, find out what exactly he wanted. Clearly, it was not to claim Dawn as his daughter. He certainly didn’t act like a loving father.

  “Why are you here, Lieutenant Douglas?” she asked again, keeping an eye on his hand caressing the butt of his pistol. She hoped her voice didn’t betray the anguish she felt inside. His triumphant smile made her want to throw up.

  “I told you already,” he drawled. “I did some thinking on this after we left here a few weeks ago, and came to realize that your baby couldn’t be the spawn of that filthy half-breed. You were as pure as a newborn foal when I took you, so you couldn’t have been in the family way already.” His eyes narrowed, and he stroked his chin with his fingers. “So, unless you spread your legs for him the moment you left me lying on that cabin floor for dead - and I highly doubt that, considering how very uncooperative you were with me - that baby had to be mine. Now that I’ve gotten a good look at it, there’s no doubt in my mind.”

  Danica laughed bitterly. “You have no interest in this baby. You just threatened to kill her.”

  Jonathan drew his legs back and sat up in his chair, then leaned forward. “My regiment and I had some business in Virginia City after leaving this godforsaken place.” He waved his pistol through the air, disdain in his voice as his eyes traveled across the room. “I learned something very interesting while me and the boys had us a drink at the saloon.” He directed his stare at her again.

  “Yeah, and what would that be?” Danica challenged, raising her chin.

  “You’re a rich woman, Danica.” His smile didn’t reach his cold eyes. “Your daddy may have acted no better than the town drunk, but he owns the bank in Virginia City. He told me he was getting ready to pull up stakes and move west. Seems that when the liquor flows, so does your old man’s mouth.”

  Danica smiled slowly. Her eyes didn’t waver. “My father pretty much disowned me, Lieutenant. He wants nothing to do with me. You’ll not get any money out of him because of me.”

  “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, my dear.” He stood, and casually walked over to her. He towered over her. Placing his hands on the armrests on either side of her chair, he pinned her to the rocker. His perfect white teeth gleamed as he smiled down at her.

  “He went on and on about how much he hated Indians, how his son was killed by them, and how his daughter had betrayed him by carrying an Indian’s child. He told an interesting story of how he punished his daughter by marrying her off to a half-breed, so she would live with her si
ns for the rest of her life.” Jonathan stepped back, and studied her face. “It occurred to me then that you were his daughter. Of course, I had to put his mind at ease that you were pure and good, and couldn’t possibly have done what he accused you of. After he sobered up the next day, he and I had a long chat. I told him how my regiment and I had rescued you from those vile Indians, and that you and I fell in love, and planned to marry. I had gotten shot by that half-breed Josh Osborne, and he left me for dead. When I came to, you were gone. I told him how I searched for you, that I didn’t even know you lived in Virginia City. When he mentioned your advanced pregnancy, I told him the child could be no one else’s but mine. Of course, I was contrite and apologetic that you and I had consummated our love out of wedlock, but marriage was always my intention, and I wanted you back, especially since you had my child. I was heartbroken.” He clutched his hand to his chest in a dramatic gesture.

  Danica could only stare. “There’s only one problem, Jonathan,” she sneered, emphasizing his first name. “I’m already married.”

  He waved her off. “That’s easy to remedy. Josh Osborne won’t be around much longer. He’s been a thorn in my side for a long time. If he’s lucky, I’ll have him shipped off to the Wind River Indian Reservation for his crimes as a poacher, where he can rot with the rest of his kind. Of course, many Indians prove to be difficult, so I’ll have no choice but to kill him. And you and I can live happily ever after.”

  “You’re a sick bastard,” she spat. “I’ll never marry you.”

  “Oh yes you will, Danica. Once your daddy is gone, you’re going to inherit a lot of money. Lucky for me, as your husband, it’ll all be mine.”

  “You tried to kill Josh once before, and you were unsuccessful,” she ventured to say. She watched his jaw clench, and his eyes narrowed menacingly. “The same day you and your men shot that innocent family of Shoshone.”

  “How do you know about that?” he demanded, and lunged at her. He stopped short just in front of the chair she sat in. Danica didn’t flinch, but put a protective hand on her daughter’s head under the blanket.