Heart of the Hunter (17 page)

Her eyelids were getting heavy when she felt his presence
and then he was there beside her, gathering her into his arms, comforting her
with his touch.

With a sigh, she rested her head against his shoulder and
closed her eyes. She was safe now. Nothing and no one could hurt her while he
was here.

Time lost all meaning as he held her. Her fragrance engulfed
him, her nearness made him feel alive. He lifted a callused finger to her
cheek, drawing lazy circles over her smooth skin, marveling at how lovely she
was. He outlined the shape of her nose, her brows, the fullness of her lower
lip. Fire shot through him when she took his finger into her mouth and caressed
it with her tongue.

“Tekihila…
” He murmured her name, then groaned softly
as she wriggled against him.

Her eyelids fluttered open and she looked up at him, her
beautiful blue eyes glinting with mischief. Her lips pressed butterfly kisses
to his palm.

“Tekihila,
I am not made of stone.”

“Is something wrong?” she asked with mock innocence.

He stared at her, mute, afraid to move for fear he would
come into contact with some tantalizing part of her anatomy that would shatter
his hard-won self-control.

“Blue Crow?” She ran her hand through his hair, slid her
fingers over his nape. And smiled when she felt him shiver.

“Tekihila…
Kelly, you must stop.”

“Why?”

“You are a maiden…”

“A maiden who wants you.”

He groaned again, as if he were in pain, and Kelly drew
back, frowning. Maybe he
couldn’t
make love to her. He was a ghost,
after all.

“Why aren’t you invisible?” she asked, her passion
momentarily swallowed up by curiosity.

“I do not know.”

“Lee saw you last night.”

Blue Crow grunted softly.

“Can anyone see you?”

“Ban.”

Kelly shook her head. “I just don’t understand. You’re not
like any ghost I’ve ever heard about. I mean, you’ve been, you know, gone, for
over a hundred years. Why didn’t your body…?”

Kelly shook her head, unable to go on. The whole subject was
just too gruesome.

Blue Crow shrugged. “I cannot explain it,
skuya.
Perhaps
I walk between life and death because of you. Perhaps I was meant to guard the
gold until you came to claim it.” He gazed deep into her eyes, his soul
touching hers. “Perhaps
Wakan
Tanka
knew I would not be happy in
the land of spirits until I had seen the woman of my vision, until I had held
her in my arms.”

He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her lightly. “The
reason matters not. It only matters that you are here, that I can see you and
hold you.”

His words, soft-spoken and fervent, touched Kelly’s heart.
He was right. It didn’t matter why he had been allowed to linger on the earth.
She was only glad that he was here, able to hold her in his arms. He was a part
of her, more necessary than her next breath.

And she wanted him, wanted him desperately, but she didn’t
say so again. Instead, she relaxed in his arms, content to be held.

“Ah,
tekihila,”
Blue Crow murmured. “I wish…”

“What?” Kelly whispered. “What do you wish?”

“You do not know?”

“I can guess. It’s what I want, too.”

“I know,
wastelakapi,
I know, but it is not to be.
Not now.”

The words
not ever
hung in the air, but neither
wanted to acknowledge them.

“You should leave this place,
tekihila.”

“Still trying to get rid of me?” she asked.

“I fear for your safety.”

“I’m not leaving you. I told you that before.”

“Ah,
tekihila,
you have the heart of a warrior.”

“No, I don’t. I’m scared to death, but I’m more afraid of
losing you.”

Blue Crow sighed heavily. If he couldn’t convince her to
leave, he would just have to watch over her more carefully, at least until Roan
Horse was feeling stronger.

Lee woke with the dawn, feeling better than he had in days.
He flexed his shoulder, pleased that the sharp pains had dulled to a mild ache.

He grimaced as he swung his legs over the side of the bed.
His leg was still sore, but he could stand on it. Crossing the floor, he gazed
out the window. In the east, the sun was rising, painting the sky with vivid
hues of vermilion and ocher.

Pressing his head against the cool glass, he closed his
eyes. When he’d been very young, he’d spent a summer with his grandparents.
Even now he could remember how his grandfather had left the house at dawn each
morning. Standing outside, his face lifted to the rising sun, he had prayed to
Wakan
Tanka
, his voice rising in a song to the dawn. Sweeter than the trill of
a meadowlark, his grandfather’s words had climbed skyward.

“Hear me, Father of us all, maker of heaven and earth and
all living things. Grant me the wisdom to listen to the wind, to remember that
I am one with all Thy creatures—the two-footed, the four-footed and those that
ride on the wind.
Mitakuye oyasin.
We are all related.”

“Mitakuye oyasin,”
Lee murmured. “We are all related.”

Opening his eyes, he gazed at the sunrise once again.
Yesterday he had been certain it had all been a dream born of fever and loss of
blood. Today he knew deep within himself that, incomprehensible as it seemed,
impossible as it was to explain, it had indeed been Blue Crow who had treated
his wounds.

Lee shook his head. Blue Crow hadn’t looked like a ghost,
nor felt like one. Weren’t ghosts supposed to be made of spirit? But the hands
that had treated Lee’s wounds had been warm, callused. As tangible as his own.

A sound at the door drew his attention and he turned to see
Kelly standing there. Belatedly, he realized he was wearing nothing but briefs.

Kelly flushed as Lee met her gaze and then he shrugged, a
glint of amusement dancing in the depths of his devil-dark eyes.

“No need to be embarrassed, Kelly,” he said. “You’ve seen it
all before.”

But he’d been sick then, lying in bed with a fever. She’d
been able to ignore the fact that he was too handsome by half, that he stirred
feelings within her she didn’t want to acknowledge.

She tried to drag her gaze away, but she couldn’t stop
looking at him. The bandages on his shoulder and thigh were very white against
his skin. Smooth, dark bronze skin that she yearned to touch.

She blinked and looked away. What was the matter with her?
She loved Blue Crow, not Lee. But they were so much alike. Had the two men been
the same age, she wondered if she’d be able to tell them apart.

“Kelly?”

With a start, she realized Lee was standing in front of her,
apparently unconcerned with the fact that he was nearly naked.

“I want to thank you,” he said.

He was close, so close. His heat, his maleness, seemed to
encompass her. “Thank me?”

“For taking care of me. I owe you my life.”

Kelly shook her head, wishing he’d get back into bed under
the covers. “I didn’t do anything. It was Blue Crow.”

Lee grunted softly. “Blue Crow. Where is he now?”

“He’s…” She caught herself in time. “I don’t know.”

“He isn’t here?”

“No. He only comes at night.”

“At night? Why?”

Kelly shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Lee’s gaze held hers and she had the distinct impression
that he knew she was lying, that he knew about the gold.

She saw him shift his weight from one leg to the other. “Is
your leg hurting?” she asked, hoping to steer the subject away from Blue Crow. “Maybe
you should sit down?”

“Yeah.” He limped across the room and sat down on the edge
of the bed.

“I’ll fix breakfast,” Kelly said.

“Maybe you could bring me something to wear?

With a curt nod, Kelly left the room.

Lee stared out the window, his thoughts drifting like sparks
in the wind. Blue Crow was here. And the Lakota gold was here, too, somewhere
on the ranch. He wanted Kelly, wanted her in the most primal way. Wanted her as
he wanted the gold, as he wanted the freedom it represented, as he wanted this
land. An unwanted image of Melinda flashed across his mind. Melinda, with her
sweet lying smile and her empty promises of love. He’d measured every woman he’d
known since then by Melinda’s treachery, refusing to trust any of them.

His hands curled into tight fists. He didn’t trust Kelly
McBride, either. She was a rotten liar. But he couldn’t ignore the way his body
hardened whenever she was near, couldn’t deny that he wanted her. Just as she
wanted him.

He swore under his breath. Hell would freeze over before he
let himself get involved with another white woman, he thought grimly, and then
he swore again. Whether he liked it or not, whether he wanted to admit it or
not, he was already involved with Kelly McBride. He wanted her gold. And no matter
how he tried to deny it, he wanted Kelly in his bed.

Filled with self-contempt, he called himself ten kinds of a
fool, but the fact remained. He wanted her in his bed, in his arms, wanted her
as he’d wanted no other woman he’d ever known.

Kelly stood in the doorway, watching the emotions that
played across Lee’s face as he stared out the window. He looked vulnerable
sitting there, vulnerable and alone. She had a sudden urge to sit beside him,
to draw him into her arms and cradle his head against her breast, to stroke his
brow and tell him that everything would be all right, that he wasn’t alone.

And then he glanced up, his eyes as hard and dark as
obsidian, his jaw tense with anger and the urge to comfort him was swallowed up
in the urge to run away before it was too late.

“How long have you been standing there?” Lee asked, his
voice harsh.

“Not long. I…here.” Kelly thrust an armful of clothes at
him. “Breakfast is ready when you are,” she said, and hurried out of the room.

In the kitchen, she braced her hands against the sink and
took a deep breath. His eyes, she thought, she had never seen eyes filled with
such desire, or such hatred. His whole body had been tense, his hands curled
into angry fists, every muscle taut.

She wished suddenly that it was dark, that Blue Crow were
there beside her.

She heard the sound of Lee’s footsteps in the hallway and
then he was there, his broad shoulders filling the doorway.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him limp toward the
table and lower himself into a chair. The white T-shirt he wore made his skin
seem darker, his hair blacker.

She took a deep breath, plastered a smile on her face and
poured him a cup of coffee.

“I fixed waffles,” she said. “Do you want syrup or jelly?”

“Syrup.”

She moved around the kitchen, getting the syrup and
refilling his coffee cup before she sat down.

They ate in silence. Kelly was acutely aware of Lee’s every
move. She saw his grimace when he reached for his coffee cup with his right
hand, inadvertently jarring his injured arm. She felt the heat of his gaze when
his eyes met hers, felt the electricity that arced between them.

He wanted her.

And, heaven help her, in spite of everything, she wanted
him.

Chapter Twenty-One

The silence stretched between them, awkward, uncomfortable,
absolute.

Shaken by the intensity of his gaze and her own reaction to
it, she dropped her fork. It clattered loudly as it hit the table.

And then that stark silence took over once again.

Kelly searched her mind for some safe topic of conversation,
but it was as if she’d lost the power of thought, of speech.

She tried not to notice the way the thin white cotton molded
itself to Lee’s chest, tried to ignore the way her heart was slamming against
her ribs.

And then he moved. She watched his length unfold from the
chair. She noticed his limp, the way his faded jeans hugged his long legs.

He rounded the table and it was suddenly hard for her to
breathe. Mesmerized, she stared up at him, her gaze trapped by his dark
brooding one.

It was a mistake, Lee thought as he bent down and slanted
his mouth over Kelly’s. A big mistake. But he could no more keep himself from
kissing her than he could refuse his next breath.

Her lips were soft, yielding. He ran his tongue over her
lower lip, the tastes of coffee and syrup and woman mingling on his tongue as
he boldly explored her mouth.

Heat shot through him, bright fingers of flame that burned
away his resolve. His hands closed over her arms and he groaned low in his
throat as he drew her to her feet, then wrapped his good arm around her,
pressing her sweet feminine curves against his aching flesh.

And all the while, a part of him waited for her to reject
him, to call him a dirty redskin and push him away.

But Kelly had no such thoughts. Rising on tiptoe, she wound
her arms around Lee’s neck and molded her body to his. Her eyelids fluttered
down as the wonder of his touch spiraled through her. Like a leaf uncurling
beneath the kiss of the sun, desire unfolded deep in the core of her being,
growing, expanding, watered by the sound of her name on his lips, nurtured by
their mutual need.

She pressed against him, wanting to be closer, closer,
wanting to taste and touch every inch of his heated flesh.

She felt him take an unsteady step backward, heard him groan
softly as he reached blindly for the table.

Her first thought was that he was rejecting her, repulsed by
her boldness, and then she realized that he was in pain.

“Kelly, I’ve got to sit down.”

She quickly drew away, her passion fading as concern took
its place.

“Let me help you back to bed,” she said, reaching for his
hand.

To bed. He had a sudden image of Kelly lying beneath him,
her lustrous brown hair spread across the pillow, her sky-blue eyes hazy with
desire. Hard on the heels of that image came the memory of the beating he’d
endured after Melinda’s betrayal.