Dorothy Garlock - [Wabash River] (31 page)

“Rain, I was thinkin’ the young feller could be takin’ the first watch if it sets well with ye. I be stayin’ with him a spell.”

“It’s all right with me if you want to take on the chore.” Rain picked up one end of the pole supporting the deer carcass, Badker picked up the other, and they started up the path. Vonnie and the boys followed, one boy carrying the fiddle, the other the milk pail.

“Bye, Amy and Eleanor. We sure had a good time.” Vonnie’s voice came out of the darkness.

“She seems happy,” Eleanor said.

“Why wouldn’t she be? She’s got her husband and her boys to do for.” Amy climbed into the wagon and Eleanor followed.

“Oh my, I’m tired.” Eleanor flexed her shoulders and stretched her arms. “Don’t you want to sleep on the cot? We can take turns on the pallet.”

“Well . . . no.” Amy pulled her bedroll out from under the cot. “I’m going to sleep outside.”

“Outside? Whatever for?”

“Because I want to!” Amy spoke sharper than she had intended. She was immediately sorry but didn’t know how to fix it.

“I’m sorry I asked,” Eleanor said quietly. She sat down on the cot and began to unbutton her dress. “It’s your own business if you sleep with Rain. Believe me, Amy, I don’t blame you. I’d do the same if someone loved me.”

“We’re going to be married—”

“What do a few words from a preacher amount to? Besides, we could all be killed before we meet up with one.” Eleanor stood, pulled her dress down and stepped out of it.

Amy reached over and squeezed Eleanor’s hand. “If you’re not careful, Eleanor, I’m going to start liking you very much.”

“I’d like that. I’ve never had a woman friend, or a man friend, either, for that matter,” she added dryly.

“You have now. Rain and I are going to homestead in the Arkansas. We may not be far from the fort.”

Eleanor lay back on the bunk. “When I was in Louisville, the idea of going to a fort in the wilderness seemed so romantic.”

“And it doesn’t now?”

“It’s scary, Amy.”

“It’s reasonably safe there. If it wasn’t, Major Bradford wouldn’t have sent for you.”

“I’m not worried about that. I guess there’s not much use in worrying about anything at all. What will happen will happen.” Eleanor giggled softly. “You know, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Aunt Gilda had come along. She and Rain may have killed each other.”

“I’ve a feeling Rain would have been able to handle her.”

“You know, I think you’re right.”

Sixteen

Amy spread her blankets with Rain’s in a grassy spot beneath a fir tree a dozen yards from the campfire that was now only a few glowing embers. If she were sure this was where Rain wanted to stay, she would cut some pine boughs for their bed. She placed her rifle within easy reach and sat down to wait. It was a dark night, made darker still by the dense woods that surrounded their campsite. The night air was cold. Amy shivered and pulled one of the blankets up around her shoulders. The cold retreated and warmth came as she huddled beneath the tree and watched and waited for Rain to come to her.

She wondered where Gavin and Tally were. If she were keeping watch, she would move slowly, making a complete circle around the camp. Juicy had told her that was the thing to do when camping out in the open.

A figure suddenly came out of the darkness and crouched beside her. Instinctively, one hand threw back the blanket and the other reached for her knife.

“Whoa! It’s me.”

“Damn you, Rain! Don’t sneak up on me.”

“You shouldn’t have let me. I’ve been watching you for several minutes.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to, sweet girl.” He slid his arm across her shoulders and his lips nuzzled her cheek. “Come on. I want to talk with Gavin, then I’ll take you to a place where I’ll have you all to myself for a few hours.”

Amy’s heart felt like a hummingbird gone mad inside her chest. She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. He quickly rolled up their blankets and tucked them under his arm. Amy picked up her rifle. Rain led her through a thicket that grew close to the riverbank, across loose shale, and along the stream that spilled over and around slabs and shelves of rock.

Out of the corner of her eye Amy saw something move, something on the shore upstream. Amy tried to look directly at it, but saw nothing at first, then detected movement. This time she saw the shape of a man standing among the boulders.

Rain whistled the call of a night bird and another figure moved out of the darkness and stood beside the first one.

When they reached Tally and Gavin, Rain snorted. “You’re trying hard to get yourself killed, Perkins. I saw you fifty feet away.”

“I thought I was . . . hid.”

“You moved. Boulders don’t move,” Rain said impatiently. “It’s a good thing there’s no one around. I want to talk to you and Amy, Gavin. There’s something you should be aware of. I’d rather not alarm Miss Woodbury. I don’t know how she’ll stand up to what’s turned out to be real danger for her.”

“I be thinkin’ the lassie be stronger than we first believed.”

In short, terse sentences, Rain told them about Hammond Perry wanting the assignment to build the fort at Belle Point, and when he was passed over for Will Bradford, his hatred for the man almost exceeded his hatred for Farr Quill. He told them Perry was a vindictive man and would go to any means to satisfy his need for revenge.

“He knows Miss Woodbury is Will’s intended bride. He’s going to try and take her. He’s already tried and failed. He won’t give up until we get to Belle Point, if then.”

“The mon would
kill
the lassie to spite a mon who bested him?”

“That or worse,” Rain said bluntly.

“Holy God! Why did’na ye say so when we were at Kaskaskia? I would kill the mon with me bare hands!”

“At Kaskaskia I was reasonably sure that was his intention. The attempt to keep us from crossing the river proved it. Perry wants Miss Woodbury.”

“What will he be doin’? The lassie would’na wed the mon.”

“If not he would sell her to a brothel downriver. Either way it would be a victory over Will Bradford.”

“He will’na be havin’ her!” Gavin’s strong words vibrated from his deep chest.

“There’ll be another attempt made during the next few days. They know where we’re going and they know that there’s only one wagon trail. What I want to do is to travel fast for the next few days and maybe outrun them. When we get to Davidsonville we’ll leave the wagon, get horses and mules, and go cross-country. The wagon and Miss Woodbury’s trunks can be picked up later.”

“Why not leave the wagon here with the Badkers, Rain?” Amy’s hand wiggled into his and gripped hard.

“We need a horse for Miss Woodbury and a couple of good pack animals. We can get both in Davidsonville.”

“She can have my horse.” Tally’s voice came out of the darkness where he had retreated after Rain had scolded him. “I can ride one of the mules and lead the other. They’re good pack mules . . .” As Tally finished speaking his voice faded and Amy wanted to kick him for having so little confidence. Mules were something he knew about.

“They’ve not been broken for riding and we don’t have time to break one in,” Rain said sharply.

“I may not know much about how to get along in the wilds, Rain, but I know mules.” It was the strongest statement Amy had ever heard Tally make. She was secretly elated. In the silence that followed Tally’s outburst he added, “I’ve worked with mules since I can remember. I can ride one and lead one and you and your horses may have a hell of a time keeping up!”

“Hmm . . .” Rain was silent for a moment. “All right. We’ll leave the wagon here. Gavin, do you know that shelf I showed you this evening? That’s where Amy and I will spread our blankets tonight. Give a whistle sometime after midnight and I’ll take the early morning watch.”

Amy felt the blood rush to her face and was grateful for the darkness. Rain was making sure Gavin and Tally knew they were sleeping together.

“No need for that, mon,” Gavin said without the slightest hesitation. “Me ’n the lad will be seein’ yer not disturbed this night. Be off with ye.”

Amy walked beside Rain over the rough stones, past boulders as high as her head and through a dense growth of sumac. Up a short incline near a bend of the river Rain stopped. The shelter was under a shelf of rock five or six feet above the river. It was not quite a cave; it was perhaps five feet from floor to ceiling at its entrance and went back three or four feet into the cliff. The floor was covered with cedar boughs.

“I was here today while it was still light,” he said softly in answer to her unasked question.

Rain leaned their rifles against the stone wall and dropped their blankets on the boughs. He slipped his arms around her as if he couldn’t wait and his lips fell hungrily to hers. They were demanding, yet tender.

“I’ve been waiting all evening for this time alone with you,” he whispered.

“This is a perfect place. I’m glad you found it.” Her eyes danced lovingly over his face and her hand inched up to curl about his neck.

The kiss they shared was long and deep and full of promised passion that flared whenever they touched. She took his kiss thirstily. His lips pulled away, his arms dropped from around her and he bent to spread their blankets on the soft cushion of cedar boughs.

“What is this?”

“My . . . nightdress.”

Amy took it from his hand, sank down on the blankets, bent her head and unlaced her shirt. When she looked up, Rain was no longer there. In her haste her fingers fumbled with the laces on her moccasins and the belt to her britches. It seemed an eternity until she slipped the nightdress over her head and lay back on the blanket, moved to the far side and pulled a blanket up over her.

She sat up suddenly and sucked in her breath. Should she unbraid her hair? Yes, she decided. Rain would like that. She loosened her hair from the long braid and combed it with her fingers. She lay back down, her heart pounding like that of a scared rabbit, but she was not scared. How many long, lonely nights lay behind her? They were over now. She would be with her love forever.

Rain appeared suddenly and dropped down beside her. He was naked to the waist. He had washed in the river. She could smell the dampness of his skin.

“You’re so quiet,” she whispered.

“Years of practice.” He quickly removed his moccasins and britches and lay down beside her. “The water was cold, but I didn’t want to come to you smelling like a goat.”

She felt a sweetness, a rightness when he turned to her and wrapped his arms around her. Amy wasn’t prepared for the warmth or the strength of his hard, muscular body; his long legs against hers, his arms under and around her. Her trembling body was gathered tenderly to a warm, naked chest, matted with soft hair. The feel of his body against hers created a sweet, unbearable, erotic pleasure-pain in the pit of her stomach that spread through her femininity with throbbing arousal. His legs meshed with hers and she rubbed the bottom of her feet on the tops of his. Her hands stroked his back and shoulders, caressing him. Her face found refuge against his neck. She felt his hands on her buttocks, pulling her tightly against him.

“Your bottom is just a good handful,” he whispered. Then laughed such a joyous laugh that she wanted to cry.

“I . . . love you.” It was all she could think of to say.

“Ahh . . .” His arms locked her to him. “This is heaven. Pure heaven.”

“I want to be with you forever.”

“You will be.” He smoothed her hair back from her face with his palm. She felt his excitement, felt his whole strong frame begin to quiver. “Amy, Amy, Amy—”

“I’ve waited a long time for you. Love me, Rain. Truly love me.” Her heart beat with pure joy.

Amy met his searching lips and surrendered to the excitement of his touch, her mouth responding to the insistent persuasion of his. The kiss deepened. His hunger seemed insatiable and his caressing hands became almost savage.

“Your mouth is so sweet,” he whispered, his lips moving to her eyes. She lifted her fingertips to his cheek and pulled his mouth back to hers. He responded instantly to the urgency of her desire. His tongue gently stroked her inner lips, the moist, velvet texture sending a throbbing message to her womb. He pulled on the cloth that kept his hands from her warm flesh. “Take this thing off, sweet.”

He sat up, bringing her with him. Anxious hands lifted the nightdress and pulled it off over her head. He lay back and stretched out, pulling her on top of him. He positioned her thighs between his and pulled her up to lie on his chest. She covered him, the blanket covering her. His hands cupped her buttocks, pressing her against the hardness that had sprung alive when he first touched her. It lay now, long and throbbing, cradled between their bellies. She gloried in the feel of him, knowing that soon he would fill her aching emptiness. She lifted her head from his chest, her hands framed his face and she kissed him again and again.

“I can’t believe I’m really here with you . . . like this.” Even as she spoke her hands clutched him, her stomach muscles tightened, her breathing and heartbeat were all mixed up.

“I want to see you,” he whispered. “God! I want to see your face when I love you.” His callused fingers stroked her from her neck to her spine, learning the smoothness of her back and haunches; pressing her to the hardness that thrilled her to the marrow.

“You will, you will . . . soon.”

He rolled her on her back and hovered over her. “I wanted this first time to last a long time. I don’t think I can wait very long . . .” The words were groaned thickly into her ear. “I like the feel of your breasts against my chest, your belly against mine, your arms around me. Amy, Amy, why didn’t I come back sooner?”

The deeply buried heat in her body flared when she felt the tug of his lips on her nipple. He kissed her breast, rolled the bud around with his tongue and grasped it gently with his teeth. Tremors shot through her in waves as his exploring fingers moved over her body, prowling ever closer to the ultimate goal. She welcomed them when they probed between her parted thighs and slid into the mysterious, moist secret place, touching what had not been touched before. The thrust of her hips incited him to lift his mouth to hers in a kiss that stripped away everything but the need to assuage the ache building to unbearable heights within both of them.