Captive Eden (3 page)

Then he spoke, “You will have no say over what I do with
him.”

Anger swept away the idyllic opportunity of her boldly
taking charge of the moment and kissing him.

“I’ll agree to let you teach him things I never could,
except know this, Brant Sullette, he’s a child raised on my love alone. If you
ever do anything to hurt me I’ll make him hate you.” She didn’t know why she
chose then to challenge his authority, especially when he could dump her on the
ground and ride off with Charlie. But years on her own had toughened her
against domineering men.

“You rely on the fact he would know of such matters between
us.” Brant retaliated. “Remember you are only coming with us because I allow
it.”

When Eden’s father had first told Brant he had a son,
Brant’s prideful elation turned to resentful hatred. He wanted to kill William
Caruthers but waited patiently instead to seek revenge against the woman who
betrayed him. Taking his son from Eden was a fitting punishment. But after
hearing her explanation and seeing distress in her beautiful face, his pain
felt worse than a bullet in his chest. His lungs tightened, limiting his
breathing.

He had lived a lonely five years not wanting anyone other
than Eden. The women he bedded since had been indiscriminate choices, whores he
didn’t remember. He’d grown bitter on regret.

As they rode across the prairie toward the village, he held
Eden close. The smell of her heightened his desires and the softness of her
body almost begged him to hug her and profess his love. He inhaled her
store-bought scent and remembered a time when he had traded two blankets and a
bone-handled knife at the trading post to get Eden a bottle of the fragrance.

When Eden turned her head to look over his shoulder, he had
a moment to study her features. Her pale skin glistened with perspiration. She
was as beautiful as he remembered.

“He’s getting tired, Brant. He needs me.”

He avoided looking in her eyes. She always had a hypnotizing
stare that made him powerless to refuse her anything.

“Brant!” She pushed free of his hold and slipped off his
moving horse.

“Whoa,” he called to the animal, bringing it to a stop.

Eden fell to her knees on the ground but got to her feet
quickly. She hurried to the horse Brant led. He dismounted and watched her lift
the boy from his horse. Half asleep, the boy drooped against his mother’s
shoulder.

“He could have fallen and got hurt,” she reprimanded him.
“He needs to rest.”

“He will ride with me and you ride his horse.” Brant put his
hands around the boy’s midsection.

Eden refused to let go.

He didn’t step back.

With an exasperated breath she relinquished her hold.

After they started again, Brant took the opportunity to
study the boy asleep in the cradle of his arm. He looked for resemblances of himself
and only saw Eden. Her nose and mouth, even the shape of the boy’s pale face
had the gentle contours as his mother’s did. Nothing could stop the love he had
in his heart for Eden, so it seemed natural to feel the same for the child she
bore him.

Brant rode into the small Pawnee village with a measure of
pride. Everyone knew about his son. His mother did not consider keeping it
private. A grandmother’s delight was hard to suppress when she wanted her
friends to know.

His ego swelled as he showed his people that he had
reclaimed what was rightfully his. While the boy gave him a chance to salvage
what was left of his spirit, his broken heart looked for ways to forgive Eden
and regain everything he had with her.

“Nothing has changed,” Eden commented.

“As it should be.” He stopped his horse.

“Life
does
go on,” she added.

“Does it?” Questions filled Brant’s mind. What had Eden done
over the years? Had she found someone to make her happy? Would she plot to go
back east? He had been determined in his plan to take his child away from her.
By Indian tradition, she and the child were his.

Motioning for his young half-brother to come and fetch his
horse, Brant dismounted with Charlie.

The boy woke and rubbed his eyes. His gaze went around to
everyone gathering about them. “Mama?”

“She is here,” he assured the child, hearing fear in his
tone.

He carried the boy to where Eden had dismounted.

She swept Charlie’s hair to the side but showed no sign of
needing to take him. “Are you awake enough for your father to put you down, my
sweet boy?” Eden asked.

Charlie nodded, his gaze still on the sights surrounding
them. Brant lowered him to his feet.

“Do not fear them,” Brant patted Charlie’s shoulder to
bolster the boy’s courage. Then he looked to the people coming closer. “Sully,”
he called. “This is my son Charlie. Take and introduce him to your mother.”

Charlie looked up at Eden with a glimmer of concern.

“It’s all right,” she smiled. “You can go.”

Brant watched the boy’s curious inspection of everything he
passed.

“How many wives do you have?” Eden’s question brought his
attention back to her.

He hadn’t considered she might think he had embraced all
Pawnee customs, including taking more than one wife. He tried to find a trace
of jealousy in her expression.

His mind dragged him back to the night he and Eden made
lifelong vows. They had lain together, professing their love beneath the
heavens. For an Indian, it need be nothing more than saying she was his wife to
make it so. He thought she knew that.

“One,” he answered without elaborating.

“Is that a white man’s law you follow because your mother is
white, or is it you’ve not found another woman who would accept you?” Her words
had a ring of bitterness.

“My preference has never altered.” He took her arm. “Come,
my mother will wish to see you. She has often mentioned how much she has missed
you. Do not upset her with complaints.”

“Like she has a son who has developed the manners of a
badger? What will she say when she learns you would steal my son from me?”

The leather flap hanging over the opening of his mother’s
log-structured lodge flipped back. Tears streamed down her weather-wrinkled face.
She had loved Eden since the first time Brant had brought Eden to the village.

“My daughter has come home, at last,” his mother cried,
rushing to hug Eden.

Sully and Charlie followed her out of the lodge.

“Can I show Charlie the canoe we made?” his brother asked.

“Yes.”

“Brant.” Eden stepped back from his mother’s hug and grabbed
his arm. “Charlie can’t swim.”

“Then he will learn quickly if he falls in the water.” He
waved the boys to go.

“Please, he’s all I have.” Her other hand touched his chest.
The heat of her palm sank deep. Through the leather vest, into his heart, her
fear leached into him.

He didn’t want to cause Eden distress. “Sully, do not let
Charlie go too near the water,” Brant called, also acting on the side of
caution.

“Thank you.” Eden patted his arm.

Brant watched the two boys run off toward the river.

Eden’s touch slipped from him as his mother led her away.

“Brant said you went to Boston,” his mother sighed. “Such a
large and busy city, I understand.”

“It’s different from anything around here, Lucy. There are
many buildings and a lot more people than one could ever imagine being in a
single place.”

“Was your life good there? You had friends?” his mother
asked working her long gray hair into a braid.

“Yes.”

“Did you have sausages and ice cream and chocolate?”

“Not all at one time.” Eden’s laugh blended with his mother’s
and made a cheerful sound.

Brant’s insides clenched deep in the pit of his stomach. The
odd sensation made him feel sick with longing for the simple joy of hearing
Eden happy.

“I miss chocolate.” His mother’s words disturbed him.

“Brant can’t get you any from the Sweet Grove trading post?”
Eden’s gaze met his.

“He doesn’t go to the trading post.”

His mother never expressed any regrets of leaving her life
behind with the white men. She always seemed happy. He had known her love of
chocolate. The twinge of guilt for not providing that small treat for her made
him sad. He had to wonder if Eden would have regrets for staying with him.
Would there be things she missed? She used to tell him she’d be happy to live
anywhere with him. Had five years changed her to the point there was no going
back?

His mother finished tying a leather strip at the end of her
thick plait of hair and took Eden’s hand. “Charlie is a beautiful child, Eden.
Is he a good son?”

“He’s a very good son.” Eden smiled.

“Then he is like his father.” Brant’s mother glanced his
way.

Eden’s gaze lifted as well. “Lucy, my son is every bit like
the man who fathered him. He’s polite, considerate of others and loving.”

“And someday, he will grow to be a brave and generous man
too.” Lucy added.

“Yes, I’m sure he will,” Eden agreed still looking up at
Brant.

Brant stared into Eden’s blue eyes, trying to remember not
to trust anything she said. She didn’t intend to come back to him. He had to
assume that given the chance, she’d run from the life he wanted with her and
his son.

“Come, let us have something to eat before the rain,” Lucy worked
at getting a bowl of soup from the pot hanging over the fire.

“Mama,” Charlie yelled, returning to them.

Brant watched with an ache in his heart. He finally saw
himself in the boy with the display of youthful vibrancy, the sheen of black
hair and the adoration for Eden. The boy loved his mother. A pang of jealousy
hit Brant for the way Eden had deprived him of experiencing the same affection
from his son.

“You should see the canoe and the river,” Charlie exclaimed.

“I’ve seen both before.” Eden gave him a bowl. “Now, sit and
eat while you tell me what you found so magnificent about it.”

“The water goes fast and the fish jump into the air in front
of you.”

“Hmm, yes, I do remember that. One day, maybe you could try
catching one with your bare hands.”

Brant grunted with annoyance. He had tried to impress Eden
once by catching a fish. For his trouble, he had fallen face first into the
water. He didn’t think it was possible to be humiliated more than by his
clumsiness that day.

His mother laughed because she too knew the story. Her gaze
shifted to him and then back to Eden’s giggles. It irritated him to have his
mother enjoy a joke at what he felt an embarrassing moment in his life.

“It was not very funny,” he muttered, struggling with the
many emotions he had colliding inside him.

“What isn’t funny?” Charlie asked. “Catching a fish?”

“No, falling in the cold water while trying.” He rose to his
feet to go.

Eden’s gaze lifted to him. Her eyes glistened as if she were
truly happy. When her delicious mouth moved, he almost didn’t hear the words
that came out.

“Someone will appreciate his efforts,” she said, softly.

He always wanted to forget the foolish moments of his youth.
Eden suddenly made him want to recall each one involving her. There were many
from his attempts to impress her. He tried too hard to make her love him. After
all that they had shared, her moving away had showed him he had failed
miserably.

Brant let the matter drop. On outward appearances, anyone
would think he had the upper hand with Eden. He’d brought her home to his
village on his own terms. She had to do as he said or suffer consequences.
However, while he always wanted to possess her like a prize, the best he ever
managed was to let her have command of him. Adoring her with his heart and
soul, he used to give in to her every whim. Unable to hurt her by taking away
her son proved she was still in charge of his actions.

Once Sully joined them, Eden stayed quiet. The boys talked
endlessly with a thousand questions about the differences in their backgrounds.
Sully especially wanted to know about the white man’s world. Brant felt guilty
for not educating his brother in regards to anything beyond their village.

Unable to sit, Brant paced anxiously, waiting to take Eden
to his lodge. Catching her eye, hoping she’d understand his needs, didn’t work.
She remained content listening to the boys and answering his mother’s questions
about the city.

When his patience wore out, he marched around the fire and
stopped next to his mother. “Charlie will stay with you tonight.”

“That will be good.” She hugged Charlie to her. “The boys
need much more time than there is in a day to know each other and I don’t think
they are ready to end their talk just yet.”

“Come.” Brant motioned for Eden to follow him.

“Where?” She got to her feet on her own when he should have
helped her up. He knew the white customs. Eden had taught him manners.

He didn’t answer and prodded her along.

In the firelight, he had studied her features and tried to
recall the texture of her skin. Long ago, he’d held her close enough to know
the softness of her legs and the smoothness of her breasts. He loved everything
about her touch, even the feel of her fingers folded around his.

“Our lodge.” He swung the flap up so she could enter.

She crossed the threshold.

“Where’s your wife?” She turned and faced him.

He put a hand up to the side of her face. Sliding his thumb
over her cheek, he brushed her lips.

“If you’ve sent her away just to accommodate me, I won’t
have it. Shouldn’t Sully have come here to sleep?”

“He sleeps where my son sleeps.” He slid his hand behind her
head and pulled her to him. “You will sleep where my wife should.”

“And you?” Her voice squeaked. “Where will you be?”

“With my wife.”

Lowering his head, he captured her mouth, taking what he
wanted before she could deny him. Plying her moist lips with a hunger he had
never been able to satisfy, he crushed Eden’s slender frame to him as she
squirmed in resistance.

“Brant, stop.” She wrenched her head to the side. “I won’t
share your bed. I can’t do that with another woman’s husband.”

Digging his fingers into her pinned-up hair, he grasped her
head. “I have said vows to only one woman in all my life, Eden.”

He watched her eyes widen as she absorbed the information.

“But Sully, his mother… He’s your son, is he not?”

“He is my brother. My mother had him several months after
you were gone. Sully is short for Sullette.” He raked his fingers through her
hair, unleashing it from the pins binding it.