“You’ll sit and take it easy,” Jake ordered, easing her out of his arms and into a sitting position on the blankets.
“I most certainly will not—” Anabeth tried to stand too quickly and almost fainted again.
Jake was at her side in an instant. “Dammit, Kid.” He shoved her head between her knees. “I want you well enough to ride tomorrow, so you’ll do what I say and rest tonight.”
Anabeth’s answer was muffled because her mouth was hugging her knees.
Jake pulled her upright by the scruff of her neck. “What did you say?”
“I said all right!”
Jake kept a close eye on Anabeth while he cooked some venison and beans for supper. To his amazement she ate a huge helping and asked for more. Apparently whatever had caused her upset stomach wasn’t bothering her anymore.
Anabeth insisted on helping with the cleanup after supper. “I’m fine now, really.”
Jake gave her a good looking over, but all he saw was a young woman in the peak of health. Her cheeks were like roses, her eyes sparkled, and she was wearing a beguiling smile. He couldn’t help feeling relieved.
And aroused.
“Time to get some shuteye,” he said. He turned away from her, hiding the proof of the effect she had on him—had been having on him ever since they had left Window Rock. It was hard to stay angry with her when she kept him so … hard.
He had kept his distance from her on the trail, but the need he felt hadn’t abated one whit. His body ached for her morning, noon, and night.
“Jake?”
He kept his back to her. “What?”
“Thanks for coming after me—for caring.” She came up behind him and put her arms around his waist and hugged him.
“Kid …” Jake could feel his self-control slipping.
“Ummm. You’re so warm.”
He was warm, all right. Hot to the core. “Kid …” He put his hands over hers, intending to loosen her grasp. Instead he slowly shoved them down across the hard length of him.
Jake made an animal sound as he felt her hands moving under his. He spread his legs to give her better access to him, then reached around to grasp her buttocks in his palms and pull her snug against him.
Anabeth loved having the freedom to touch Jake as she pleased. She felt her body tighten when she heard his guttural groan of pleasure. He was thick and hard beneath her hands. She reached for his belt buckle.
“Don’t start anything you don’t plan to finish,” Jake grated out.
By then she had his belt unbuckled. Her hands were trembling as she reached for the buttons on his trousers. Jake’s whole body tightened as she released the buttons one at a time. She made a V with the flaps of denim and reached her hands down inside his long johns to touch bare flesh.
A harsh groan broke from Jake’s throat. “Kid, I can’t stand much more of this.”
“You don’t like it?” Anabeth whispered.
“Don’t you dare stop,” he said with a soft male laugh. He was willing to endure this heavenly torture for as long as she was willing to punish him.
Anabeth relished Jake’s sudden gasps, his sensual moans as she explored the feel of his hard male shaft, the crisp thatch of hair and the softness of the sac below.
Finally Jake couldn’t take any more. He freed himself from her touch and exchanged places so that she was in front, and he had his hands around her. “Turn about’s fair play,” he murmured in her ear.
Anabeth made a soft noise in her throat as Jake cupped her breasts in his hands, fondling her tender nipples through cloth until they became hardened buds.
Jake hadn’t the patience to unbutton her shirt. He grabbed a bunch of flannel in each fist and yanked until the buttons popped free. He rubbed his hips against her at the same time he caressed her naked flesh with his palms. His body tautened as her breath sucked in sharply.
“Your turn, Kid,” he said as he slid the buttons on her trousers free.
“Jake, I—” Anabeth cried out as Jake spread her legs wide with his hands. She angled her head back to look up into his eyes. They were lambent with desire. “Jake—”
Jake’s mouth found Anabeth’s, and he swallowed her groan as he slid his hands down inside her long johns. He teased her with his fingers until she was writhing with pleasure in his arms.
“Jake, please,” Anabeth pleaded.
Jake felt her delicate shivers as he eased his hands back up the length of her. He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the pallet he had made for them. He stripped her of boots and jeans, then did the same for himself before mantling her body against the cool night air.
Anabeth made a thick sound of pleasure when Jake thrust inside her. Her hands threaded into the dark curls on his chest, and her fingernails scraped across his warm skin as she arched her hips into his.
Jake found her mouth with his, tasting her with his tongue, thrusting in rhythm with the movements of his hips.
Anabeth knew now what she was seeking, knew what was happening when her body tightened like a bowstring. She grasped her lower lip in her teeth, but it wasn’t enough to hold back the whimpers of pleasure being wrenched from her throat.
“Come with me, Kid,” Jake murmured. “Come on. It’s all right. Trust me, Kid.”
Anabeth stopped fighting the waves of pleasure rolling over her. She pressed her face hard against Jake’s throat as her body erupted in waves of ecstasy.
Jake was not far behind. His climax was so powerful it left him gasping. He dropped his forehead onto hers for a moment, then slipped to Anabeth’s side and pulled her into his embrace.
He couldn’t understand what it was about this woman that made him want her—need her—so badly. He didn’t understand why he felt whole with her. He only knew he did.
Anabeth kissed Jake’s mouth lightly, then kissed his half-lidded eyes closed. “Rest now,” she said. She brushed her fingertips across his furrowed brow. “Don’t think. Sleep.”
Jake heaved a tremendous sigh that evidenced both his confusion and his satisfaction. Moments later he was sound asleep.
As tired as she had been all day, Anabeth was now wide awake. How she loved the man who held her in his arms! She longed to tell him how she felt, but felt certain if she did that he would run like a deer in flight. But if he was going to turn her over to the law in Santa Fe anyway, why not tell him? At least then he would know. At least then there might be a chance …
Maybe tomorrow she would tell him.
Anabeth was lying there trying unsuccessfully to sleep when she heard her name being called. Her Apache name. Jake grunted as she slipped out of his embrace, but he didn’t wake.
A moment later Anabeth had pulled on her jeans and boots and tied her torn shirt into a knot that halfway hid her breasts. She headed away from the fire in the direction of the voice in the darkness.
“Wolf? Where are you?”
“Here.” He appeared right in front of her.
Anabeth crossed her arms over her chest when she saw the way his eyes raked over her.
“I see you have chosen a mate, Stalking Deer,” he said with a sardonic curl of his lip.
She lifted her chin. “I have,” she replied in a steady voice. “How are you, Wolf? And how is Claire?”
“What right have you to ask?”
“Are we not still friends?” Anabeth asked.
The tension seemed to drain out of Wolf. “I had once hoped to be more than your friend, Stalking Deer.”
“But you do not desire me anymore.” She stated it as a fact, and he didn’t deny it. In fact, she watched two interesting flags of color appear on his cheeks. Anabeth smiled. “So you have found a mate as well, my friend?”
“I have,” he said.
“And you will return Claire to her brother now?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have taken the white woman as my mate,” Wolf said. “She is the woman I desire.”
Anabeth looked into
Wolf’s dark eyes and saw a flicker of unease. “Why did you seek me out, Wolf?”
“I wished to speak about … about …”
“About Claire?”
He nodded curtly. Stalking Deer had been his friend when others had turned aside from him. He had not realized how much he would miss the closeness they had shared. He had sought her out because his heart was full, and because he did not know where else to turn for the answers to his questions.
“I’m listening,” Anabeth said.
“Do you think … is it possible the white woman can come to care for me?”
“Oh, Wolf …” How could she answer him? She didn’t know herself why she loved Jake or even how she had fallen in love with him. How could she offer hope that Claire would come to love Wolf, when the emotions she felt herself seemed to have so little rhyme or reason? She didn’t think Wolf could make Claire love him. For Claire to love Wolf, she would have to see in him the man of her dreams. And really, what were the chances of that?
Anabeth took a step toward Wolf, then another that took her into his strong arms. It was an embrace of long friendship. They both sought comfort and gave it freely. But there was no desire between them. Their hearts had been given by each of them to another.
“Did you ever dream when we were children of what our futures might be?” Anabeth murmured against his chest.
Wolf snorted. “The white woman I pictured in my wickiup was you, Stalking Deer.”
“Isn’t it strange how things turn out?”
“Are you happy, Stalking Deer?” Wolf asked. “Do you want to come away with me now to my village—as my friend?”
“I don’t think that would work,” Anabeth said in a strained voice. “I wouldn’t make a good Apache woman, Wolf. I would always want to be doing what you’re doing.”
“But—”
Anabeth put her fingertips to his lips. “I’m glad you have Claire, Wolf. I hope you’ll both be happy. I’ll try to make Jake understand—”
“What is it you’re going to make me understand, Kid?” Jake said in a dangerous voice.
“Jake!” Anabeth tore herself guiltily from Wolf’s embrace.
“This is cozy,” Jake said.
“It’s not what you think!” Anabeth protested. She put herself between Wolf and the Colt Jake had aimed at the Apache’s belly.
“Get out of the way, Kid.”
Anabeth saw a killing rage in Jake’s cold gray eyes. “Let me explain!” she cried.
“I’ve got eyes, Kid. I can see what’s right in front of me.”
“You saw two old friends hugging each other. That’s all it was. Wolf is my friend. Nothing more.”
“Not because he wouldn’t like to be more,” Jake said.
“That’s not true. Wolf—” Anabeth stopped herself because she had been about to say that Claire had taken her place.
Jake read between the lines. His eyes narrowed and a muscle worked in his jaw. “Wolf has another woman. Is that what you were going to say? Who is it, Kid? Is it Claire?”
Anabeth looked over her shoulder at Wolf’s stony face. Did she dare tell Jake the truth? Would her lover then kill her best friend? “I—”
“I have taken your sister for my woman,” Wolf said.
Anabeth knew in that moment that if she hadn’t been standing between them, Jake would have pulled the trigger. She felt the tension in both men, the barely leashed fury in Jake, the hate for all white men seething in Wolf.
“Jake, don’t!” Anabeth pleaded. “What if Claire loves him? What if she wants him—the same way I want you? If you kill Wolf you might break your sister’s heart!”
She could tell Jake was torn.
“Claire wouldn’t love an Indian,” he said at last.
“Why not?”
“Because of what happened to Jeff. Does Claire love you?” Jake demanded of Wolf. “Does she want to be with you?”
Wolf avoided answering Jake’s questions. He said instead, “She wishes to stay among The People.”
“Why?”
“Because her son lives among The People.”
“Jeff is dead.”
“Claire says the Apache boy called White Eagle is her son.”
“Jeff is alive? He’s living in your village?”
“He was taken by Broken Foot in a raid three harvests ago. He is Apache now.”
Jake swore under his breath. “No wonder Claire wants to stay with you!”
“You have to let Wolf go, Jake,” Anabeth said. “You can’t kill him.” Her voice was barely a whisper when she said, “He loves Claire.”
Jake’s lips pursed. He had heard no confession from the Apache, however, that Claire loved him. If he let Wolf go, the chances were slim, with winter coming on, that he would be able to find Claire before spring. He looked into the fierce eyes of the Apache, but found no answers to his dilemma there.
Then he looked at Anabeth, and realized that he would have died himself rather than hurt her. And killing Wolf would hurt her.
He holstered his gun. “Get the hell out of here,” he said brusquely.
Anabeth put a hand on Wolf’s forearm to stay the Indian’s fraying temper. “Good-bye, Wolf.”
“Where will you go now, Stalking Deer?”
Anabeth looked to Jake for an answer.
His eyes were bleak as he answered, “Home. To Window Rock.”
“Will you bring Claire to visit us?” Anabeth asked Wolf. Her glance skipped from one man to the other. There was no love lost between them.
“Perhaps. In the spring,” Wolf said, never taking his eyes off Jake.
“Take care of her,” Jake warned.
“I would give my life for her,” Wolf said. “She will be the mother of my children.”
Jake’s features hardened. “Till spring,” he said.
The Apache said no more, simply turned and disappeared into the hills.
Once Wolf was gone, Jake grabbed Anabeth by the wrist and headed back to camp. When he got there he shoved her down onto his blanket and stripped her, then sat down beside her and stripped himself. He lay down and pulled her into his arms, spooning their bodies together.
“Go to sleep,” he ordered. “We’ll get an early start in the morning.”
Anabeth lay beside him, aware of the tension that radiated the length of him. “Jake?” she whispered.
“What?”
“What’s going to happen now?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“To us. What’s going to happen to us? Are you going to turn me in to the law in Santa Fe?”
“No.”
“Then will you let me go?”
“No.” Jake’s arm tightened around her waist. “You’re going to stay with me, Kid.”
“As your prisoner?”
“If that’s the way it has to be,” he snarled. “At least through the winter.” By then he would have figured some way out of the tangle his life had become.
“What happens in the spring?”
“Let’s take one day at a time, Kid. We have a lot of cold days ahead of us yet.”
But thoughts of the cold were far away as Anabeth fell asleep in the warmth of Jake’s embrace. It was easy to dream that everything would work out fine.
If only she had known …
20
In the first days after they arrived back at Window Rock Anabeth didn’t see much of Jake. She did all the ranch chores that would have fallen to Claire. He worked from dawn to dusk rounding up cattle and making an inventory of the stock left on the range.
Dog had completely recovered and followed Anabeth around like a shadow. One night at dinner, Anabeth announced, “I’ve decided on a name for Dog. I’m going to call him Blackie from now on.”
“Blackie?”
Dog thumped his tail.
“See, he likes it,” Anabeth said.
“Why does he need another name? I thought Dog suited him just fine.”
“Dog isn’t a name. It’s a … a
label. Blackie’s not just any old dog. He special. He belongs to us.”
Jake caught Anabeth’s gaze, and she flushed. “There is no us, Kid. Don’t forget that.”
Jake abruptly left the table, and Anabeth sank down off her chair onto the floor and hugged Dog. “But I wish there were an us, Blackie.”
Dog whined and licked Anabeth’s face.
“At least I’ve got you now,” she said. “I won’t be alone anymore.”
One of the things Jake did early on was make a visit to Will Reardon’s ranch to tell him the status of the hunt for Sam’s gold. But Reardon’s foreman said his boss was gone on business, and he didn’t know when Reardon would be back.
Jake couldn’t be sorry for it. He was beginning to get attached to Window Rock, and he didn’t want to think what he would do, where he would go, if the ranch was lost for want of the gold to pay Will Reardon’s note.
Jake sent a wire to his Ranger captain in Texas, explaining the circumstances that required him to take an indefinite leave of absence. But he knew the day was coming when choices would have to be made.
Each night after supper, Shug joined Jake and Anabeth at the kitchen table, and they talked about what it would take to keep Window Rock afloat without the gold that had been stolen from Sam. Anabeth had sent Jake to the valley to collect her small cache, which was her contribution to keeping the ranch solvent. In the absence of Will Reardon, the biggest decision to be made was whether to move another herd to market or feed the stock through the winter.
“I’ve got enough between my own money and the Kid’s gold to buy feed,” Jake said. “Let’s wait until spring to send more beef to the Colorado market.”
Shug agreed, and Anabeth couldn’t help feeling relieved, since that meant Jake wouldn’t be leaving her alone for the long drive north.
Anabeth talked Jake into playing poker with her again one night, only this time, she didn’t smoke. “Same stakes as before,” she said.
Jake grinned. “Three questions?”
“Right.” Anabeth reached down and whispered to Dog, “Don’t you go giving away my cards, Blackie.”
Dog’s tail thumped, and Jake quipped, “Thump once if she’s bluffing, twice if she’s got the cards.”
Kid Calhoun Page 28
