Apache-Colton Series

by Janis Reams Hudson

  “It’s all right, Dani,” he said softly. “You’re okay now.”

  Her fear-glazed eyes darted around the room. Travis eased away from her. Was it him she reacted to, or the memory of her attacker? Either way, now wasn’t the time to find out. He stood and moved aside so Rosita and Juanita could care for her.

  “Señor Travis,” Rosita said over her shoulder, “por favor, bring some warm water from the kitchen. We will see to la Señora.”

  Travis backed out of the room mutely, reluctant to take his eyes off Dani. On his way to the kitchen he ran into Jason and told him all he knew of what had happened. “Get the men out and see if they can pick up any tracks. I want that bastard found, whoever he is.”

  “Consider it done,” Jason said.

  A few moments later Travis carried a bucket of warm water to the bedroom. Juanita took it, then ushered him out with words of reassurance as she firmly closed the door in his face.

  Travis clenched his fists at his sides and stood waiting in the hall, staring at his bedroom door. The women would take care of her, and she wouldn’t draw away from their touch, like she would from his. But oh, God! How he wanted to touch her, to hold her, to protect her.

  He paced the hall and cursed, waiting for word of Dani. Protect her. Hell! She’d been attacked practically on his very doorstep. Some fine protector he was!

  Finally, after what seemed like hours, the bedroom door opened and Rosita came out into the hall.

  “How is she?”

  Rosita placed a plump, workworn hand on his arm. “She will be fine. She has many bruises from her fall, and the lump on her head, that is all.”

  “That’s all!”

  “She is lucky. It could have been worse.”

  Travis paled. Rosita was right. Dani could have been killed or raped or shot, or any number of other unthinkable things. “Can I see her?”

  Rosita patted his arm the way she did for Matt when telling him the pudding was all gone. “Let her rest for a while. Juanita will sit with her. You are so upset yourself, you will only upset your wife more.”

  Reluctantly, he left. Three generations of Colton men sat down to a late supper that night. Earlier Travis had explained to Matt as best he could what had happened. He cautioned his son to stick close to the house for safety’s sake.

  The news about Dani upset Matt. Travis knew the boy worshipped her. He’d had to assure him over and over that Dani would be okay, and hoped all the while he wasn’t lying.

  Jason’s news hadn’t lightened the oppressive atmosphere any.

  He had found where the rider sent his horse up the creek bank into the hills, but they’d lost the trail in the rocks.

  After supper Travis went to check on Dani. Juanita, wearing a concerned frown, met him halfway down the hall. Alarm shot through him at her expression. “What is it?” he demanded. “What’s wrong?”

  “La Señora, she is having la pesadilla—a bad dream, and keeps calling your name. I have tried to wake her, but she does not hear me.”

  Travis was down the hall and through the bedroom door by the time Juanita’s words were out. When he neared the bed, Dani was tossing her head back and forth on the pillow, sobbing pathetically, calling out his name. Cautiously, he sat down next to her on the bed, indecision washing over him. He wanted nothing more than to respond to her cry, to hold her and comfort her, but if she recoiled from him in fear, he didn’t think he could stand it.

  “Dani,” he called tentatively.

  “Travis! Travis!” she cried in her sleep.

  “I’m here, Dani.” He caught a flailing arm and held her cold hand in both of his warm ones. “It’s me, Dani. It’s Travis. I’m here.”

  Dani continued tossing her head and moaning, occasionally crying out his name, while Travis talked to her in a soothing voice, trying to calm her. Her cries grew stronger and stronger, until, with one final anguished cry of his name, she woke herself. Her eyes flew open. Travis winced at the mixture of pain and pleading he saw there.

  “I’m here, Dani. It’s all right now. You were having a bad dream.”

  She stared at him, tears coursing down her face, her hair a streaming mass of tangles across the pillows. Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She clenched her swollen eyes shut and covered her face with her free hand, holding onto Travis with the other.

  When she spoke, her voice was choked with misery and tears.

  “I needed you. Oh, God. I called, and called, and you couldn’t hear me. You wouldn’t come.”

  “It was just a dream, Dani,” he said, trying to reassure her. “I’m here. It’s all right now.”

  Travis watched helplessly as she sobbed out her misery. Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes, made paths across her temples, and ran down into her hair. He ached with the need to reach out and wipe them away, but held himself in check. If he frightened her now, he didn’t think she would be able to take it. She’d had a bad scare this afternoon and was much too fragile to cope with another one from him.

  “Dani?” he questioned tentatively. “Dani, love, please stop crying. You’re making yourself sick. Please stop.”

  Dani tightened her grip on his hand and sobbed all the harder. “I c-can’t st-stop,” she wailed.

  He leaned toward her and blinked the moisture away from his own eyes. “Tell me what to do, Dani. I can’t stand to see you suffer this way. I’d do anything to make your pain go away.”

  Daniella looked at him through her flood of tears. She cried even harder and gripped his hand tighter. Why couldn’t he put his arms around her, make her feel safe, warm?

  Tell me what to do… Could she?

  “Tell me how to help you, Dani. I…I want to hold you, and comfort you, but I don’t want to frighten you. Tell me what you need,” he pleaded with her.

  “You-you want t-to hold me?” Her words were interspersed with sobs and sniffles, her eyes wide, her breathing heavy. Her heart refused to beat until she had his answer.

  “More than anything in the world,” he said, his voice quivering with emotion.

  Daniella studied him closely through tear-filled eyes. What she saw sent her heart pounding at a rapid pace. There was no anger from their previous quarrel in his face; no contempt or even pity. Instead, she saw a tenderness that took her breath away, and a longing so great she felt certain it nearly matched her own. She cried out his name and reach for him, and he came to her, wrapped his strong, warm arms around her. As he stretched out beside her on the bed she buried her face against his neck.

  Neither of them heard the soft click as Juanita gently closed the bedroom door on her way out.

  Travis turned toward Dani and covered her legs with one of his. He reigned kisses on her hair, cradled her head in one hand, and held her as tightly as he dared. She cried so hard he felt her shuddering sobs to the depths of his soul, but he didn’t tell her not to cry this time. He understood these tears, for they matched the ones in his own eyes. Tears of overwhelming relief. Relief that, at least for this moment, they could touch and hold each other, each giving and taking comfort. God, but it seemed like years since he’d held her.

  “Oh, Travis,” she cried between sobs. “Hold me. Hold me tight.” She clung to him with a strength that astounded him. He held her so tightly he was afraid he might hurt her, but she pressed even closer.

  “I’m holding you, love, and I won’t ever let go.” He rocked her in his arms and stroked her hair, her back, her arms.

  “How can you even stand to touch me after the way I’ve acted?” she wailed.

  “Not touching you is what I can’t stand,” he said fiercely. “I’ve been going out of my mind for days wanting to hold you and touch you.” Her sobs were quieting now, and he continued stroking her. “But I was afraid I’d scare you again, turn you away from me. And then, today at the creek, when I saw you lying there on the rocks, I…What happened? Can you tell me?”

  “Oh, God, Travis, I was so scared! There was a man!” A shudder ripped through her.
>
  Travis held her closer and murmured, “I know, love, but he’s gone now. Did you see who it was? What did he want? What happened?”

  Daniella took a deep breath and concentrated on Travis’s warmth surrounding her, on his hands stroking her, his lips in her hair. It helped. She wasn’t afraid anymore. Nothing bad could happen to her when he held her like this. In a steady voice, she told him everything that happened at the creek.

  “What about his voice? Did he say anything?”

  She tried to remember every detail, but things were fuzzy in her mind. “He said something,” she murmured, rubbing her forehead. “I don’t remember what, though.”

  “Think. Did you recognize his voice?”

  She shook her head and frowned. “No, but…”

  “But?”

  “But I feel like I should have.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She squeezed her eyes shut a moment, then looked up at Travis. “I don’t know. I remember thinking when he spoke that I should know his voice, but…I was so scared.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck again and held him tight. Travis felt every muscle in her body tense. He tried to ease away, but she wouldn’t loosen her grip.

  “It’s okay.” He rocked her back and forth and whispered in her ear. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you, and I won’t let anything happen. I promise.”

  She quieted while he spoke, and eased the choking hold she had on him. He only meant to kiss the tears from her cheek, but as his lips neared, she turned her head and her lips met his. The shock was instantaneous. Travis felt his blood catch fire and center in his loins. He pulled his head back, feeling lower than a snake for wanting her so badly when she was so distraught.

  An apology formed on his lips, but died in his throat when he felt her hand at the back of his head, urging him down. Her lips parted, trembling. When he looked into her eyes his breathing grew ragged. There was no fear in those pale blue depths. She met his gaze with a steadiness that fanned the flames of his desire.

  Her hand pulled him toward her, and her head raised to meet him half way. Their lips met, gently at first, tentatively. Travis’s tongue traced the path of her lower lip and Daniella felt tingling waves of heat and pleasure wash over her. She felt the smooth, yet rough texture of his tongue as it slipped into her mouth, and she moaned deep in her throat as her muscles quivered and her bones melted.

  The kiss became desperate, demanding, on both sides, and they clung together in mutual need. She met his passion with her own inner fire, surprising them both with the depth of her response. When he withdrew his tongue from her mouth, she followed him, shyly at first, then boldly as she felt his trembling response. This time it was Travis who moaned against her lips while his hands continued caressing her back and hips.

  Travis pulled away, breathless, stunned, both by the emotions and physical responses generated by the kiss, and by the violent upheaval going on in her womb. The twins were strongly objecting to being squashed between two larger bodies. He stroked gently, the way he used to when the babes kicked.

  But his eyes were locked on her face, anxiously waiting. Slowly, slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at him. He stared in amazement at the look of total wonder in her eyes.

  “Is this what you wanted me to feel?”

  He searched her eyes and found the answer. “Yes. This is what I want you to feel.”

  Suddenly Daniella understood. The passion and yearning, the desire, the craving for his touch—those were the things a man wants his woman to feel. And she felt them all. For him. She was his woman.

  Her new knowledge burned bright in her mind and heart, chasing away her feelings of shame at sensations she hadn’t understood, her fear of that deep chasm looming close. It wasn’t a black emptiness to be feared. It was a dark, cozy sanctuary where Travis would take her. A special place they could go together.

  All that remained was for him to show her the way.

  With one trembling finger, she reached up and traced the outline of his lips. “Oh, Travis,” she breathed. “How could I have ever been so foolish as to be afraid of you? Can you ever forgive me?”

  The breath caught in his throat. “You’re not afraid now?”

  “No,” she whispered, staring directly into his eyes.

  Their lips met hungrily. Daniella clung to Travis as a drowning person clings to a lifeline and felt certain the room must be spinning. Her blood soared through her veins in answer to the pounding of his heart against hers. She had never allowed herself to feel passion before and reveled in the waves of heated pleasure that washed over her. His tongue searched out the inner recesses of her mouth, demanding a response she could not possibly fail to give.

  He eased his lips away and left a trail of fire down her neck as he kissed his way over her thin cotton gown toward the breast he cupped in his strong, calloused hand. Tears gathered behind Daniella’s closed lids. When his hot, wet mouth closed over the throbbing peak, raw emotion burst in her veins. He teased with teeth and tongue until her nipple stood hard and erect beneath the wet spot on her gown. He sucked gently, tugging on invisible cords that reached to the very center of her being, where she felt an emptiness despite the babes in her womb. An emptiness that swelled and throbbed with need, a need only Travis could fill.

  His hand stroked her stomach, and his lips followed. His fingers reached beneath her and kneaded her soft buttocks. She moaned with pleasure at the sensations he created, but flinched and gasped sharply when his fingers hit a tender spot.

  Travis felt her stiffen. He raised his head and swiftly withdrew his hands. “What is it? Did I hurt you?”

  “It’s nothing.” She still felt the pleasure he had created in her body, the brief pain already forgotten. “It’s only a bruise.” She ran her fingers through his thick, wavy hair, wanting him to resume what he’d been doing.

  A picture of Dani lying limp and lifeless on the rocky ground flashed in his mind and abruptly cooled his passion. “Where?” he insisted. She had landed hard on those rocks. He pushed her gently to her side and drew the back of her gown up her legs.

  She tried to stop him, but he brushed her hands away. He frowned at the large area of discolored skin. “Just a bruise? You’re black and blue all over,” he cried. He ran his fingers over the bruised flesh, barely touching it, and she flinched again. “I’m sorry, love.”

  His eyes sought hers for forgiveness for hurting her, and she smiled at him tenderly. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” she said.

  Travis scanned the room and spotted a familiar looking small, brown jar next to some larger bottles on the bedside table. He reached for it and sniffed its contents. It was one of Rosita’s secret concoctions for cuts, burns, and bruises.

  Daniella watched as he dipped his fingers into the fragrant herbal mixture and gently applied the cool cream to her bruised flesh. She stared, mesmerized by his hands. Hands powerful enough to grasp a knife and kill a man, yet so infinitely tender when he touched her. Hands that could set her heart pounding and her blood singing with a mere touch. Hands that would, one day soon, cradle her children safely in their strength. Cradle them, God willing, with love.

  Travis concentrated on his task, aching for her injuries. When he finished he smoothed the gown back down over her hips and rolled her carefully onto her back, then reached to undo the tiny buttons that started at her neck and ended at her toes.

  She halted his hands. “No. Please don’t,” she whispered.

  He searched her eyes and tried to identify the emotion that flickered briefly there. His heart sank when he recognized it. “You are still afraid of me, aren’t you?”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “No!” She cried out fiercely and gripped his hands. “I’m not afraid of you. Not…not like you mean. It isn’t that.”

  “Then what is it?” Travis lowered his head and kissed her hands, never taking his eyes from her face. “I only want to look for more bruises.”

  “I know. It’s j
ust that…”

  He watched closely as blood rushed to her face. Tears again filled her eyes and she blinked rapidly. “What is it? Tell me,” he insisted gently.

  “Oh, Travis,” she wailed. “I’m so f-fat and ugly!” She threw an arm over her face. “I don’t want you to see me like this,” she cried.

  “Oh, Dani, Dani.” He raised up and lay down next to her, forcing her arm away from her face. She tried to turn away, but he slipped a hand behind her head to hold her, and kissed the tears from her cheeks. “You’re not fat and you could never be ugly,” he whispered. His other hand began to gently stroke her stomach again. “You’re just six months pregnant, that’s all. You’re supposed to look like this. Don’t hide from me. Share this with me, please.”

  The whole time he spoke, he placed soft, tender kisses across her face. Now his lips settled on hers, and Daniella forgot her embarrassment, her shyness, in the tenderness of his kiss. Before the hunger could build, Travis freed her lips. He reached for her buttons again as their eyes remained locked on each other. She lost herself in the golden flecks of his dark brown eyes and couldn’t think of a single reason why her own husband should not undress her.

  Travis finished unbuttoning the gown, then slipped it from her shoulders and arms, leaving her totally exposed to his gaze. He reached to cup her milk-swollen breasts, longing to feel their weight in his palms, then froze with his hand still in the air. Her left breast bore a ring of five bruises, each in the distinct shape of a man’s fingertip. His heart burned with rage. “I thought you said he didn’t hurt you.”

  He watched her surprise as she discovered the bruises. “I guess I was too scared to notice.”

  With a trembling finger, Travis traced a fine blue vein that ran between two bruises. He wanted to kill the one responsible for marring her delicate flesh, but for now he must settle for soothing her pain. He leaned down and kissed each mark, then reached for the brown jar again, reminding himself he was supposed to be taking care of her injuries, not fondling her.