Wild Thunder (10 page)

“I know,” Hunnah said softly. “But sometimes he is even more stubborn than his sister.”

“You are stubborn?” Strong Wolf said, his eyes dancing into hers. “I will enjoy learning all of your traits.”

He then looked away from her and gestured toward his village with a wide sweep of his hand. “Can you see, my woman, the village I am so proud of having established?”

“Yes, and I see it as quite industrious,” she said as she watched women at work in large fields of corn.

His eyes followed hers. “You see the women?” he said. “They are magical in their growing of corn. There is always much corn bread, corn stew, and cornmeal. The women are sowing beans and squash today around the hills where the corn is already growing.”

“I never realized the garden area was so large,” Hannah said, turning to look at Strong Wolf. “Yet I see small gardens next to each home. What is planted there?”

“With plows and hoes furnished by your government, my people grow not only corn, beans, and squash in the fields, but also peas, potatoes, pumpkins, and melons in the smaller gardens next to their homes,” he said. “But corn is our principal field crop.”

“And who cares for your personal garden?” Hannah asked, her eyes wide.

“Since I have no wife, nor a sister, my people loan me women to care for my crops,” Strong Wolf said, smiling when he could almost read her mind, thinking that should she marry him, she would have to labor hard from day to night.

“Do you mean to say that the men never help in the gardens?” Hannah dared to ask.

“Men hunt, women grow,” Strong Wolf said matter-of-factly, now knowing for sure that she asked the question because she was thinking of her future with him. “You see, my woman, the hunt is a labor meant only for men. A man knows where to hunt, when, and what. But that does not always mean that they will find meat on the day they choose to hunt. A woman always knows that her chore will not walk away and hide from her, as animals are wont to do.”

Hannah laughed softly. “I see,” she murmured.

“Yes, when they are available for the hunter, away from their hiding haunts, the Potawatomis sees the deer, buffalo, and bear as especially prized. But also he hunts for turkey, pigeons, squirrels, rabbits, and ah, so much more that the forest houses.”

He paused as he looked through the cover of the trees, toward the stream that snaked across the land close to his village. “And the stream is bountiful with fish,” he said. “Sturgeon is our major fish catch.”

“And then you have a variety of nuts, berries, and herbs in the forest,” Hannah interjected. “Also plums, persimmons, grapes, mulberries.”

“You see how easy it is to learn ways of the Potawatomis?” Strong Wolf said, laughing softly at how she had joined in the conversation about food and game. “We Potawatomis, when nature is good to us, have enough from the forest in ways of berries and nuts, to feed our family from June to August.”

Hannah watched young braves standing near the fields. “What are the boys there for?” she said, pointing to them.

“They are there to drive away birds and animals while the women do their planting,” Strong Wolf explained.

Several acres of uncultivated land that stretched away from the village at the right side was covered with blue grass, which made excellent pasture for horses. As they left the village behind and rode past the grazing horses, Hannah admired them.

“I have always wanted to own many horses,” she blurted out. “It was my dream as a child to train horses.” She looked over at Strong Wolf, her eyes wavering. “My father never understood. He wouldn't allow me to have my dream.”

“You come to my village any time and choose your favorite horse, and it is yours,” Strong Wolf said. “You can now, if you wish.”

“Truly?” she said, her eyes widening. Then she sighed. “Thank you for offering, Strong Wolf. But it's best that I don't. I truly must hurry home. I must see about my brother. He's surely been up from bed for hours and is worrying his head off about where I am. We mustn't give him cause again to think that I was taken hostage.”

“Again?” Strong Wolf said, forking an eyebrow.

She told him about what had happened yesterday.

She could tell that he hadn't taken to the story too well, especially the part where her brother had actually gone as far as having sent Tiny and his men to the fort to report that she was missing, with suspicions that Strong Wolf was responsible.

“But, Strong Wolf, how can you be angry at my brother for thinking you abducted me,” Hannah murmured. “You
did,
if only for a short while.”

They exchanged smiles, then rode onward until they reached the outskirts of her brother's ranch.

“I will now leave you, but not because I wish to,” Strong Wolf said, reaching over to place a hand behind her neck. He drew her lips to his and gave her a lingering kiss, then grabbed his reins and wheeled his horse around.

He gazed at her for a moment longer, then rode away.

He was filled with wonder about this woman. Surely she was his destiny. He had to find a way to conquer the ghosts of his past. That was the only way he could ever feel free to love her.

And he must have her.

His life now would be incomplete without her!

Hannah watched him ride away, filled with sweet memories of today that would linger within her heart forever.

She loved him.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw her brother on the porch of the ranch house, slowly pacing back and forth.

Again she had let him down by worrying him.

But this was a small sort of letdown compared to what it would be if she chose to leave him, to marry Strong Wolf!

“Chuck!” she shouted. “I'm home! I'm home!”

When he turned toward her voice, stumbled, and almost fell from the porch, a part of her died inside.

How could she ever turn her back on his need?

How?

You kissed me! My soul in a bliss so divine
Reeled and swooned like a drunkard,
When foolish with wine.

—J
OSEPHINE
S
LOCUM
H
UNT

 

 

 

Hannah stood beside the organ as Chuck played another song. He knew the keyboard well, and he had memorized the songs.

“It's so beautiful, Chuck,” Hannah said, leaning over to give him a kiss on his cheek.

“My music, my ability to play the organ, is something that can never be taken from me because of my damned eyesight,” Chuck said, his fingers moving up and down the keyboard as he played a waltz.

He then rested his hands on his lap as he turned to Hannah. “I know that you're anxious to take your morning ride,” he said, squinting through his thick-lensed glasses, “Go on, Hannah. But promise me that you won't go far.”

She knelt down beside the bench and peered up at him. “Chuck, do you remember me telling you about the horses that I saw at Strong Wolf's village?” she said, taking his hands, squeezing them affectionately.

“Yes, you saw them while on your outing yesterday,” he said, nodding.

“Chuck, I'd love to go and see them again today,” she said, searching his face. When she saw his jaw tighten, she knew what to expect next.

“I don't want you going that far, sis,” he said solemnly. “You were gone too long yesterday.”

“I was gone that long yesterday because I went somewhere else besides Strong Wolf's village,” she said. “I'm intrigued by the mystery cave and the place of smoking waters. I went there first, then went to Strong Wolf's village.”

Chuck paled. He eased his hands from Hannah's. “How did you know about the cave? About the smoking waters?” he said thickly. “That's not something you would just happen upon.”

Feeling trapped, Hannah went silent. She hadn't told Chuck about her abduction, which was how she had discovered the cave and smoking waters. So how could she explain?

“Chuck, I'm in love,” she blurted out, seeing the shock register on his face as he jerked his head back as though having been slapped.

“You . . . are . . . what?” he gasped disbelievingly.

“I'm in love,” she repeated. “With Strong Wolf. He took me to the mystery cave and the smoking waters. He showed them to me.”

She was not about to tell her brother that she had received her first kiss from Strong Wolf while there. That sort of secret must stay between only herself and Strong Wolf.

“He . . . took . . . you there?” Chuck said. He paused, then reached a hand to Hannah's face and ran his fingers slowly over her features. “Sis, I wish you would stay home today. Don't go to the Potawatomis village. Don't see Strong Wolf anymore. Haven't I got enough complications in my life? Must I have to worry about this?”

“There's nothing to worry about,” Hannah said, taking his hand. “Chuck, I'm a big girl now. I can take care of myself.” She paused, then went on. “And I have never felt anything for a man until now.”

“Hannah, surely it's only an infatuation,” Chuck said, easing his hand away. “He's an Indian. He's going to be a powerful chief. Surely that is what attracts you to him.”

“There is much more about him than him just being an Indian that makes me feel good inside.” Hannah said, sighing. “And, Chuck, he
loves
me. Truly loves me. Please be happy for me. For
us
.”

“How can I be happy?” Chuck complained. “Hannah, you are so inexperienced in these things. You even shied away from too many social functions in Saint Louis. Most girls, when they enter that age of discovering boys, did everything they could to attract one for herself.”

“I was never truly shy, Chuck,” Hannah defended. “I . . . I . . . just wasn't interested. That's all.”

“That strengthens what I said a few moments ago,” Chuck said, his voice shallow. “You are . . . inexperienced, Hannah.”

“I'm going to marry Strong Wolf,” Hannah blurted out before she even had the time to think. Her face heated up with a blush as she watched her brother's reaction.

When he only stared at her and said nothing, she was relieved, but worried about her brother's feelings. If she married Strong Wolf, that meant she would leave Chuck to fend for himself!

Chuck said nothing else about it. He knew not to. He knew that once his sister had made her mind up about something, no one could change it. He saw now why his father had placed her in the convent. He had hoped to tame her wild heart.

“Maybe that's what you need.” he suddenly blurted.

“What?” Hannah said, forking an eyebrow.

“A husband,” Chuck growled out. “Maybe a husband could handle you better than father, or I
ever
could.”

“Chuck, I thought you, of all people, understood me. How could you even want me to be as you call it—handled?”

“I'm sorry, sis,” Chuck said, heaving a sigh. “I used the wrong word.” He gestured toward the door with a flick of a hand. “Go on, now. But be careful.”

“I will have the rifle with me at all times,” Hannah said. She went to Chuck and kissed him. “And you know how skilled I am with firearms. Father taught me well enough.”

“Yes, and he has regretted ever since that he turned you into a tomboy,” Chuck said, turning to place his fingers on the organ keyboard again.

“I'm not a tomboy, Chuck,” Hannah said. “I'm a woman!”

But she knew that he didn't hear her. He was playing the organ, the music purposely much louder.

Hannah watched her brother playing the organ for a moment longer, then turned around and stamped from the house.

She was glad to be out on the open range. She couldn't forget her brother's expression when she had told him that she was in love with Strong Wolf, and that she might even marry him. His look reminded her of all of the white people who looked to Indians as untamed savages, and that in the white world, it was forbidden for a white woman to marry a redskin!

“Well, I will show them all,” she whispered to herself. “There is no law on this earth that will keep me from loving Strong Wolf!”

She flicked her reins and sent her horse into a hard gallop in the direction of Strong Wolf's village. But she kept an occasional look over her shoulder for the likes of Tiny Sharp. Her brother still had not fired him.

And as long as he was in the area, she couldn't let her guard down. She trusted him no more than she trusted a snake!

Would you but come,
While lies were yet moist with your breath;
While your arms clasped me round,
In that blissful embrace,
While your eyes melt in mine,
Could e'en death e'er efface.

—J
OSEPHINE
S
LOCUM
H
UNT

 

 

 

Strong Wolf sat as motionless as a ghost beside his fireplace. The bowl of his pipe rested on a knee as he thought over a request that had just been made of him.

First he looked at Colonel Patrick Deshong, and then Claude Odum, the Indian agent for the area. They were there to have council with Strong Wolf.

Colonel Deshong had voiced first their reason for being there.

Claude Odum, a close friend and ally with Strong Wolf, had voiced his opinion on the matter.

Both men saw the importance of a road being built on land that lay just adjacent to Strong Wolf's, on the far side away from where his land hugged up against Chuck's.

Still thinking, Strong Wolf coiled the fingers of his right hand around the long, tender stem of the pipe and placed the tip to his mouth. The glow of the fire crept through the pipe's smoke, making the room take on an eeriness, the silence a strained one as Claude and Patrick breathed shallowly in their anxious waiting.

Strong Wolf's thoughts went to Bird in Ground and how he had been unmercifully attacked and beaten by interlopers on Potawatomis land. Bird in Ground still refused to point an accusing finger at whoever was responsible.

This made Strong Wolf think that just perhaps it
might
benefit him and his people to have a road on Potawatomis land, on which white men would travel. Too often the white people used his land, anyhow, to get to the river. This often brought them too close to the village. His people needed their privacy.

“If I agree to a road, can I say where it will be built?” Strong Wolf suddenly said as he again rested the bowl of his pipe on his right knee.

“Most assuredly,” Patrick said, his eyes lighting up to know that Strong Wolf was seriously considering giving them permission.

“Then I will say now that it will be placed far enough from my village to ensure not only my people's privacy, but also their safety from whites,” Strong Wolf said, laying his pipe aside. It had already been passed to Patrick and Claude, strengthening their bond of friendship with Strong Wolf and his Potawatomis people.

“Yes, I assure you that it will not interfere at all in your hunt, or your daily lives,” Patrick said, nodding.

“Then, it is agreed upon,” Claude said. “The council was good today, Strong Wolf.”

“It has been too long since you came and shared more than council with me and my people,” Strong Wolf said, smiling over at Claude. “You have not shared a meal with the Potawatomis for many sunrises now.”

He looked over at Patrick, then shifted his gaze back to Claude. “Will you both share food with me today?” he asked.

He nodded toward the fireplace, over which hung a piece of savory meat roasting on a spit. Coffee was simmering in a pot in the coals at the edge of the fire. “Does it not tempt you?”

“Yes, quite,” Patrick said, chuckling.

“
I
have the time,” Claude said. “How about you, Patrick?”

“My duties await me,” Patrick said, then laughed softly. “But don't they always?” He nodded. “Yes. I could stand a bit of food before I return to the fort. Thanks for offering, Strong Wolf.”

They laughed and joked, enjoying one another's company as they ate the roasted venison and unleavened bread, and drank the Potawatomis's brand of dark, strong coffee.

“It has been refreshing being here today, away from the troubles that always await me at the fort,” Patrick said, setting his empty wooden platter aside. He chuckled low. “There is always something to add another gray hair to my head.”

“Should I be as lucky as you to have such a head of hair, I'd welcome a gray one or two every day,” Claude said, chuckling as he ran his hand across his bald head. “Damn it, I'm only thirty, and I've already lost my hair.”

The sound of a horse arriving just outside Strong Wolf's cabin drew their conversation to a close. Strong Wolf went to the door and opened it. His eyes widened and his heart did a strange sort of somersault when he saw Hannah dismounting her pinto. He smiled a silent welcome to her.

She returned the smile.

“Good morning,” she said, her insides swimming with rapture when he reached out and grabbed one of her hands.

“You have come to my lodge,” Strong Wolf said thickly. “That is good.” He held her hand for a moment longer, relishing the feel of her flesh against his, then released it.

“Is this a bad time?” Hannah asked, looking over her shoulder at the two young braves holding the reins of two horses that stood as though waiting for someone just outside Strong Wolf's lodge. She looked into his eyes again. “Do you have company?”

“Company?” Strong Wolf said, arching an eyebrow, unfamiliar with that word being used in such a way.

Understanding his confusion, Hannah worded her question differently. “Is someone here already?” she murmured. “If so, I can come back later.”

“Yes, there are people here,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at Claude and Patrick, whose eyes were intensely watching what was transpiring at the door. He stepped aside and smiled at Hannah. “Come inside. You can join our council.”

Hannah paled. “You are having council?” she asked, her voice guarded. “I'm sorry. I have chosen a wrong time to come and ask to see your horses. I can come later.”

“Horses?” Strong Wolf said. “Ah, yes. I offered to show them to you. You are to choose the one you wish to have as your own.”

“I haven't come to take a horse,” Hannah quickly corrected, wincing when she saw an instant hurt in his eyes.

“Perhaps later, but not today,” she quickly interjected.

“Please do come inside,” Strong Wolf urged. “I do not believe that Colonel Deshong and Claude Odum will mind if you join our council.”

Hannah tensed with the mention of Colonel Deshong. When she had gone to the fort to defend Strong Wolf, this man had been too inquisitive about her relationship with Strong Wolf.

Now he would be even more curious.

Yet she had no choice now but to step inside and face the man again. She knew that when Strong Wolf stepped aside, the men inside the lodge had been given full view of her. They had also heard him invite her in to join their council.

She had to wonder what sort of council; what had drawn Colonel Deshong here? Had he changed his mind? Was he going to arrest Strong Wolf after all?

Strong Wolf placed a gentle arm around her waist as he led her into the lodge. She smiled wanly at the colonel, then looked over at the other man. Dressed in buckskin, he was tall, extremely thin, and bald. His dark eyes were friendly as he held out a hand of friendship for Hannah.

“I'm Claude Odum,” Claude said, offering his name before Strong Wolf got around to making introductions. “I'm the Indian agent for this area. And you are?”

“Hannah,” Hannah murmured, taking his hand, gently shaking it. “Hannah Kody. My brother Chuck owns a ranch not far from here.”

“Why, yes, I know Chuck,” Claude said, his smile fading. “I've recently heard about his eyesight failing him. I'm sorry.”

“Yes, it's quite hard on my brother,” Hannah said, swallowing hard.

“And what brings you here today, Hannah?” Claude asked, dropping his hand to his side.

“Horses,” Hannah said, feeling awkward as she turned slow eyes to the colonel, knowing that he was watching her, curious.

“Horses?” Claude said, forking an eyebrow.

She looked quickly back at him, glad not to face the colonel's questions yet. “Yes, Strong Wolf offered to show them to me. You see, as a child it was my ambition to train show horses. I . . . somehow . . . got sidetracked.”

“And how did that happen?”

“My father. He had different plans for me.”

“Those were?”

“He is a physician. He wanted me to follow in his footsteps and work in the same field as he.”

“A woman physician?” Colonel Deshong suddenly said, sending Hannah's gaze his way. “Now, that might prove interesting.”

Hannah's spine stiffened. “Had I aspired myself to be a physician, I would have been as good as any man in that field,” she quickly defended.

“Out here, so far from civilization, a woman doesn't need to aspire to anything, does she?” Colonel Deshong said, giving Harmah a slow smile.

Hannah felt trapped. She gave Strong Wolf a harried, pleading look.

He responded quickly, having noticed her uneasiness.

“Hannah is a woman of good heart,” Strong Wolf said thickly. “She is caring for her brother in his time of need.”

“I see,” Patrick said.

“I truly must be on my way,” Claude said, reaching down on the floor for his coonskin hat. He plopped it on his head, then reached out and again took Hannah's hand. “Hannah, it has been delightful. I hope I will have the pleasure of seeing you again.”

“Thank you, sir,” Hannah said, smiling up at him, his height surely at least six foot five inches. “It has also been my pleasure. I look forward to seeing you again.”

She placed her hands behind her back and clasped them together so that she would not have to offer a handshake to the colonel as he also got up to leave. It was obvious that he had purposely unnerved her. She had to wonder why. While at the fort, she had found some qualities about him that she had admired.

But today? She saw too much in him that she didn't trust, or like.

“Hannah, you take care of yourself while riding alone,” Colonel Deshong said, his eyes momentarily locking with hers. Then he placed a hand on Strong Wolf's shoulder. “It's been good to talk and dine with you, Strong Wolf. And thank you for your permission to build the road. I'm now in your debt, you know.”

Strong Wolf nodded, then walked Patrick and Claude to the door. “Come and have council anytime,” he said, watching them mount their horses.

After they were gone, he turned and gazed at Hannah. “You have come to see horses,” he said thickly. “Do you wish to see them now? Or later?”

So suddenly alone with Strong Wolf, his black eyes stirring her insides so pleasurably, Hannah went to him and framed his face between her trembling hands.

Hardly able to believe that she could be as bold, as reckless, she guided his lips to hers.

When his arms swept around her waist and yanked her against his lean, hard body, Hannah's head swam with the ecstasy of the moment.

Strong Wolf whispered against her lips, “You want to see the horses now?” He stroked her back, the heat of his hands reaching through the thin fabric of her cotton blouse. “Or later?”

“Later,” Hannah whispered back, her voice unfamiliar to her in its huskiness.

Strong Wolf whisked her fully up into his arms and held her close as their eyes met in an unspoken passion. He kicked the door shut, then kissed her feverishly as he carried her toward his bed.

Hannah twined her arms around his neck, fearful, yet anxious, for what would soon transpire between them. She could not, she
would
not, fight the want, the need, any longer.

She now realized that she had not come today to see Strong Wolf's horses.

She had come to share much, much more than that with him; her very soul!