Ride The Wild Wind (Time Travel Historical Romance) (19 page)

Antonio had almost
forgotten his cousin’s name for Halle. Sonny claimed he had once seen her in a
vision in the sweat lodge and that she had traveled the sky from another world.

 “No, I do
not wish to discuss marriage.”

Sonny was not
deterred. “Your wife and the babe are gone now…two years. You and the boy are
alone. You need a woman to care for you and the child, a strong one to bear you
more healthy children.”

“I have already
had two wives,” he reminded Sonny, adding, “and both situations met with
disastrous results. I have no desire to return to the past.”

“I fear you have
never left
the past.”

Antonio banked his
urge to lash out as anger flared. His cousin had never suffered. Sonny was
wealthy by Navajo standards, and well respected as a medicine man. He also had
two pretty, young wives, both expecting children in the spring “You know
nothing of my losses.”

Sonny nodded
solemnly. “Perhaps that is true, but I do know that a man cannot see what is
before him when he is always looking behind him. You must look ahead and see
what I have seen in my vision—the woman with hair like fire riding across the
stars. She has come to save us. She is our people’s destiny.”

Sonny was speaking
nonsense again. If he had ideas of this sharp-tongued, feisty woman saving a
nation of people, he was far off target. She had become more of a liability
than an asset in many ways, most of which tugged at his heart and threatened to
cloud his good judgment.

“I have never met
anyone like her,” Antonio admitted. “A weaker woman would have crumbled after
all she has endured. You remember how I found her dying in the arroyo a day’s
ride from Albuquerque. Truly a miracle she survived.

  Sonny
nodded. “It was then she proved that her will to live was stronger than the
fever.”

“Yes, she is
strong-willed and resourceful. She does not listen to reason and at times
appears to have no fear. But she does speak with honesty.”

“The woman sounds
much like you.”

    
Antonio flinched.

  “But that is
a good thing, cousin, for you are a strong warrior who needs a mate who is
equally strong. I believe the star woman will never stand in your shadow, but
will be a light to guide you on your journey through these dark days.”

Antonio pondered Sonny’s
words a moment. His cousin meant well, and he respected his

opinion in matters. “I will
consider all you have suggested.” 

         
Antonio pulled a folded, hand drawn map from his vest pocket and showed Sonny
where he had hidden the latest store of weapons. From there, he detailed a
route to the fort, with notations about the location of The People’s stolen
livestock.

“Only you
will
enter the ancient one’s burial cave,” Sonny said. “When you return, I will
perform the Blessingway to protect you from the
chindi.
”

Antonio held back
his response. There was more at stake than fearing a few evil ghosts. If
Sonny’s men failed in their raid on the fort, men would die.

“From the caves we
will head south for a raid on Fort Dennison tomorrow night,” Antonio continued.
“We will reclaim as much stolen Navajo livestock as possible and as well as
food and provisions.” He pointed out the storage buildings. “I watched soldiers
unload munitions and store them in this building. And here…” He pointed to
another, “is where they keep the smoked meats. In this one, bags of grain.”

Sonny nodded.
“Very well. Consider this done. I will choose forty of our strongest men to
accompany you.”

“Will you stay
behind and look after my woman and let nothing harm her while I am away?”

A broad smile
split Sonny’s dark face. “I will keep the Star Woman from harm, but perhaps you
should be more concerned for
my
safety. I have seen what she has done to
your clothes and I do not wish to wrestle with a cougar”

Confused, Antonio
shook his head. He looked down at himself, then back at Sonny who was grinning.
“What? Is this about my shirt?”

“Check the back of
your breeches.”

Antonio stood and
craned his neck to look at his backside, specifically the seat of his pants.
What
the hell?
Were those dried mud footprints?
Large ones
. He clenched
his teeth together. When had she...?

At the river
when they bathed two days ago.

Anger rolled
through him like a flashfire. He looked to his cousin first, and then glanced
over at the sleeping woman. At Sonny’s chuckle, he shot him a hard glare. “I do
not
find this amusing.”

 Sonny bit
back a smile. “You have been bested by a woman.”

Antonio craned his
neck once more and tried to frantically pick off the dried mud but to no avail.
As soon as they reached water again, she would scrub all traces of her dirty
deed from his clothes. She would scrub them until her knuckles were raw!

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Today had been the
most grueling since leaving Albuquerque five days ago. The midday sun beat down
on Halle’s bare head, baking her scalp. Worse, Antonio was acting as if he were
pissed.  She couldn’t think straight in this miserable heat and only
wanted to find a shady spot for a few hours to sleep. That didn’t appear to be
Antonio’s plan.

They rode for
hours, deeper and deeper into a desolate, red rock canyon and finally into an
Indian encampment, arriving in the early afternoon. At least three dozen pair
of dark, hostile eyes stared her down, most of them belonging to men older than
Antonio, and a few young boys barely old enough to be called men. Antonio said
something to the crowd who dispersed. Antonio also disappeared without
explanation.

Deciding she was
reasonably safe, she slid from the horse’s back, Max snug in the small
cradleboard which hung from her back. She needed to pee—
and bad
—but the
sparsely vegetated landscape didn’t afford privacy, not unless she wanted to
risk running into a man-eating rattlesnake behind a large rock. When pressure
on her bladder intensified, she decided any rattlers could simply move over or
be drowned in a gulley wash of urine.

No sooner than she
was out of sight of the men, she realized she’d been followed. She squeezed
through a narrow passage between two rock walls, then scaled the jutting boulders
a few feet, climbing down on the other side. Just when she believed she’d
ditched her stalker, a thin, mostly gray-haired man with stepped out from
behind a boulder to block her path. Behind her, several more men surrounded
her.

Okay. The quest for
privacy had been a bad choice.

The gray haired
man stepped forward and touched her hair.

She smacked his
hand. He jerked back, a mix of confusion and anger twisting his hard, weathered
face. Was he shocked she’d struck him? Halle didn’t know how men from this
culture treated women, but he was about to find out that you didn’t mess with
her.

Lifting her chin a
notch, she gave the old codger a look that warned there’d be hell to pay if he
touched her again. “You want to draw back a nub, Gramps? Go ahead. Make the
mistake.”

A smile quirked
the corners of his mouth. He grasped her by the arms and reeled her against his
solid form, nearly knocking the breath from her lungs. Oh, God, but he reeked
of a month’s worth of sweat! She gagged, then brought her knee up to the old
Stinker’s groin, but he twisted away and released her. The other men who’d
gathered around laughed raucously. She turned to run, but tripped over a rock
and stumbled into another man. Much worse! A man with one ear!

One Ear laughed
and released her into the clutches of Stinker. Max, stuck helplessly in the
pouch on her back yelped and thus began their game of ‘catch’ with the other
men using her as the ball.

She heard a
commotion behind her and Stinker released her. The crowd of jeering men parted.
She turned in time to see Antonio charging Stinker like a raging bull.
Everything happened so fast. One punch from Antonio sent the older man
sprawling backward into the dirt.

Antonio turned to
her, his gray eyes wild, nostrils flaring. “Did he touch you?” He pointed to
the felled man.

She shook her head
no.

Antonio stood over
the older man and spoke some rather intense words in a language she didn’t
recognize. Then he turned to One Ear. “And him?”

“No.”

After that, all
the men left her alone, not looking at her, as if she’d suddenly become
invisible, all except the one eared man. Although he kept his distance, she was
aware of the sidelong glances he’d occasionally cast her way.

There wasn’t a
cloud in the sky or a shade tree to be found for miles. It seemed that even the
winds ceased to blow across the canyon.  She and Max found a spot in the
shadow of a boulder to sit. A while later Antonio brought her a meal consisting
of some sort of roasted meat, and cornmeal mush. Never would she have believed
she’d be grateful for a bowl of mush, but at least her stomach had ceased
growling. And
anything
was better than eating Antonio’s god-awful dried
up animal meat stew thingy night after night.

Mid-afternoon, the
group resumed riding eastward with the forty men following. Since there were no
women, Halle believed she was with either a hunting or war party. Instinct told
her it was the latter.

Antonio had barely
spoken to her all day and when he did, it was to bark out orders.
Sit down.
Stay here. Eat this.
She was tired of being treated like a child, or worse,
a dog. She was thirsty, dirty, and sunburned, her exposed skin the deep red hue
of the desert rocks. Her entire body, particularly her buttocks and inner
thighs ached from bouncing upon the horse’s back all day.

“I can’t ride any
longer,” she told Antonio as miles of endless canyon lands loomed before them.
He didn’t answer. “Please stop a while.”

Still, he ignored
her. Half an hour must have passed before she mustered the strength to even
attempt a conversation with him. “Why won’t you talk to me? Are you angry?”

“What could I
possibly be angry about?”

Oh, yeah.
Something
was definitely up. She heard it clearly in his tone of voice. “Have I done
something to upset you?”

“Perhaps.”

“Is it about what
happened earlier with the men?”

“No.”

Great.  He
was now using one word sentences. Well, at least they were making progress.
“Was it because your brother saw my bare legs?”

She heard him
snort. On second thought, it might have been Max farting. “Hey, Antonio, do you
think we could stop and rest a while. I think Max might have to take care of
some important doggie business.”

Silence again.

Okie-dokie.
Not even the threat of a dog pooping on him had any effect. He apparently
didn’t plan on making this easy. “What if I say pretty please? Will you stop
and let us rest a while?”

“No.”

Oh, this damned
stubborn man! Well, she’d see about that. “Okay. Fine. Max is going to crap in
his pouch and I am going to pee on your horse.”

“I would not
suggest you do such.”

“Yeah? Well, I
asked nicely but it didn’t work. So I wouldn’t push my luck if I were you,
Antonio. I never make idle threats.”

“Neither do I.”

“I didn’t hear you
make one.”

“Perhaps you
recall that I told you once not to test my patience.”

She laughed. “What
are you going to do, you big meanie? Kidnap me? Tie me up? Maybe take my shoes
away? Whoops, guess that’s already been done. Hmmm, let me think. I know!
You’re going to force me to eat some putrid dried animal meat stew thingy
again.”

He was silent.

It was pointless
to attempt a conversation, Hell, she didn’t even care anymore. All she wanted
was rest. But her urge to pee mounted. Even Max turned squirmier. Yep, this
situation was going to turn ugly very soon. And she wasn’t cleaning it up.

From her estimation
of the sun’s position in the sky, it was late afternoon. That meant they’d be
stopping to make camp before dark. On second thought, she might be able to hold
it a little while longer. As for Max, it was anyone’s guess what might happen.

A short time
later, Antonio reined in his mount and whistled to Sonny who was riding behind
a short distance. Antonio spoke to his cousin at length. Then Sonny stopped and
called out what sounded like a command to his men. Once they began to ride
ahead, Antonio dismounted and lifted her and Max down. Hallie released Max who
dashed about in crazy circles and waging his curly tail.

He left his horse
with Sonny and hustled her down a narrow trail through the scrub brush, Max
happily panting and dashing to tinkle on every shrub. Casting a glance back,
she saw that his brother had dismounted, too, but remained in place.

“Where are we
going?” she asked, struggling to keep up.

“You will see.”

The path rose
sharply and grew rockier. It became difficult to walk barefoot. “What about
your cousin? Why is he staying behind?”

“I asked him to
keep watch,” Antonio pulled her alongside him.

Keep watch for
what? She was pretty sure Antonio wasn’t leading her off behind the rocks to
find nature’s port-a-can. Something was up. She stopped abruptly and jerked her
hand from his grasp  “I’m not going any further until you tell me where
you’re taking me?”

He glared. “I’m
taking you to the water hole to wash your muddy footprints from the seat of my
breeches, woman!”

She gulped
.
Holy shit.
He’d finally discovered her dirty deed. Actually, she’d meant to
wrestle the pants from him before now and blot away the prints, but somehow
she’d gotten caught up in all the festivities of being manhandled by toothless
and eye-less men. But this certainly explained his foul mood all day.

“Oh, that. Yeah.
I’m sorry about your pants. I was pissed off at the time if it makes any
difference.”

She could have
sworn she saw the corners of his mouth twitch as if he were about to break into
a grin but was fighting to suppress it.

“I can explain,
Antonio.”

“Do not bother
with explanations. Wash my pants and I will attempt to forget this happened.”

He swept her and
Max into his arms, then carried them over a small ridge and down another
narrow, but rockier foot path. Soon, the most beautiful, sparkling pool of the
clearest water she’d ever seen came into view.

“You may bathe
now.” He set her on her feet. Max yapped, racing back and forth at the water’s
edge, barking and wagging his tail at Halle before dashing off to urinate again
on every dried twig and stone. She never would have imagined his little doggie
bladder held so much.

Halle stared
numbly toward the small oasis. Heaven! She froze. Wait, had he told her to
bathe? What about his pants? Oh crap…forget the pants. He could wash them
himself! There was clean water and a lot of it!

She wasted no
time. Plunking down on the ground, she dipped her feet into the deliciously
cool water.
Ahhh
! Beside her, Max lapped copious amounts.

When she turned
toward Antonio, he was gone. And his clothing was no where to be seen.

Unsure of how much
time he’d given her, she quickly tinkled behind a scrub brush, then undressed
and immersed herself in the refreshing blue pool, dunking her head several
times. The water cooled her sunburned skin and eased the ache in her weary
joints.

She felt giddy,
childlike, and splatted the water with open palms, laughing when the spray hit
her face and tickled her nose. She splashed some at Max who waited on shore.

Swimming about
leisurely, Halle tested the water’s depth at all points. As she suspected, it
was fairly shallow—apparently no more than five or six feet deep at the most.
This was pure heaven—paddling about in cool water and humming a tune. Finally
tired, she braced her arms out on the rocks and laid her head back and stared
up at the endless turquoise sky with feather-like cloud tufts, scissoring her
legs in the water to keep afloat.

Max barked,
signaling a visitor and she slunk into the water, immersing herself to the
neck. At first she was relieved to find it was Antonio until she saw he was
completely naked. Maybe he’d only come back to give her his pants. On second
thought—her eyes riveted on that particular part of his anatomy—was that all
he’d come to give her?

He towered above
her high on the rocks as if he were a king on a mountain top surveying his
kingdom below. His muscular, bronzed torso was backlit by the rays of the
afternoon sun, his sculpted, body outlined in an aura of gold. She stared at
his sex, thick, dark, and erect and her body responded instantly, recalling how
he’d felt in her hand last night.

“May I join you?”
He edged closer to the pool.

Before she could
tell him no
,
he lunged from the rocks and dived in. When he resurfaced,
he slung his hair out of his face and eased toward her. His gaze dipped to her
breasts, the look in his eyes unmistakable. She slunk lower into the water—a
pointless move, she realized. He’d probably been watching her all this time
from his vantage point on one of the bluffs overlooking the pool

“Do not hide
yourself.” He took her by the hands and brought her to her feet. “After the
intimacies we shared last night you are you ashamed to bathe with me?” He
hooked a finger beneath her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes.

Water glistened in
the golden highlights of his damp hair and ran in rivulets down his deeply
bronzed face and chest. He was a beautiful man, one she could only compare to a
work of fine sculpture.  She stared openly at him now with curiosity, her
eyes exploring the rugged, yet masculine angle of his jaw and chin, the hint of
dark stubble on his upper lip. She recalled how it felt to smooth her hand
across his muscled chest, to brush her fingertips over his dark nipples. To
kiss his soft mouth—to really taste him deeply.

Last night was the
first time she’d touched a penis. He’d been steely, yet with skin that encased
him like the softest velvet.  The remembrance of how she’d pleasured him
made her warm with new arousal and she clenched her thighs together as a twinge
caught her unaware. She wondered what he would do if she leaned forward and
sucked at his nipples the way he had hers, if she curled her hand around his
sex and brought him to release again.

Almost as if he
sensed her thoughts, he released her abruptly, then moved away and began to
swim around disinterestedly. She turned away too, fearing she’d revealed too
much. She dunked herself in the water again, then surfaced, smoothing the wet
hair away from her face. She did it over and over, hoping to cool her sexually
heated body, failing. When she came up a final time, he was waiting.