Ride The Wild Wind (Time Travel Historical Romance) (23 page)

Lukachukai stirred, as did Tani. He had to get Doli
out of the
hogan before his aunt awakened.

“Please do not send me away, Antonio. I came to tell you good news. I am
carrying your child.”

He scoffed. The child could not possibly be his. It had been well over a
year since he visited her bed—or any other woman’s for that matter.

“You are to never come to my family’s home again.”

“Because of Crazy Hair?”

He shook his head in disgust at the new name some of the others had
given her. Clothing tucked beneath one arm, Antonio stepped over Tani and
Lukachukai who’d since awakened. Grasping Doli by the arm, he escorted her
outside.

“I do not know what you find interesting about that skinny
bilagaana
.
She looks like a stick wearing a dress.”

Antonio whisked on his shirt, grimacing when he glimpsed Doli’s pregnant
belly beneath the open blanket. “Cover yourself.”

She whisked the blanket around her shoulders. “Your new woman is ugly
like a mangy dog.”

“I have asked her to be my wife. You will treat her with respect.”

Doli snorted. “I was your wife once.”

“Yes, and you are no more because of your affairs.”

Doli flung herself against him, clung to him.  “I could be your
wife again.” She sobbed against his chest. “I promise to love only you, this
time. There will be no more men.”

“We cannot return to the past.”

She slipped her arms around his midsection and hugged him tight. The
blanket fell away. “Take Crazy Hair for a second wife. She can cook and wash
for you but I will please you in all the other ways. I will give you
Dine
children.”

He plied her arms from around him and grasped her by the shoulders and
gave her a quick shake. “Go back to your own hogan and leave me alone.”

She tore away. “Crazy Hair cannot love you as I can.”

“
Doli, go!”

“She will never please you, Antonio. She is not like us. She does not
understand our ways.”

“Now!”

Doli spat on the ground at his feet. “You are a pig and she is a dog!”
she screeched. “May you have ugly four-legged dog children!”

Doli snatched up her blanket, turned on her heels, and stormed away.

Antonio leaned back against the mud and timber wall of his aunt and
uncle’s home and closed his eyes. He’d worried Doli might cause trouble. Sonny,
too, had warned him of Doli’s jealousy.

While his maternal family was respectful of his decision to marry Halle,
he knew they were disappointed. She wasn’t Navajo. Life for her would be difficult
with
The People
but there was no alternative. At least as his
wife she would become a member of the tribe and retain full ownership of the
home and children—the
Dine
way. It was a good life for a woman—much
better than her life at Elena’s.

He was about to enter his family’s hogan when he saw Halle coming toward
him. She was dressed in a traditional Navajo blanket dress, and if he hadn’t
seen the fiery tips of her red hair, he wouldn’t have recognized her. He took a
few steps toward her. “Why are you out alone? You should be resting.”

She barreled down the trail, her shoulder length locks flying like
flames behind her, the tiny dog on her heels. Her face was taught, clenched in
anger. She launched herself at him, nearly knocking the breath from his lungs
upon impact.

“You lying, stinking, rat bastard!” She gave another hefty shove which
caught him off guard and sent him staggering backward against the hogan.

He threw his hands up when she came at him again. “What has you so
angry?”

“You’re married!” she shrieked, beating her tiny fists into his chest.
“What, did you think I’d ever agree to be a part of your harem?”

Within seconds, a few people arrived to check out the commotion. Others
peered around the blanket covered doors of their homes.

He grasped her by the hand to lead her away from curious eyes.
  

“Don’t touch me you lying snake!” She jerked against his grasp, but he
held her firm.

With Halle raging at him all the way, he led her to the edge of the
sleeping encampment. No doubt Doli was behind her rage. Perhaps his former wife
had paid her a visit before she’d snuck into his bed.

Once they were a good distance away, he spun her around to face him.
Taking her face between his palms, he gazed into tear filled eyes.  

“I’ve been an idiot,” she whispered brokenly. “I trusted you. I believed
you…you really wanted me.” Her voice broke and her shoulders shook with each
choked sob.

“Halle, no. Don’t cry.” He caressed her cheek with the back of his
hand., “I
do
want you. Did someone say something hurtful?”

She recoiled. “Don’t you dare try to sweet talk me! And don’t you touch
me again. Go touch your precious wife!”

So it was true. Doli had set about causing trouble again. “You have
spoken with Doli.”

“Oh, so is that your wife’s name,
Doli
?”

“She is not my wife. We have been divorced for many years.”

“That’s not what she says. She claims the two of you are married and are
expecting a child together!”

“That is a lie. We are not married. The child in her belly is another
man’s.”

She blinked. “But…I saw her follow you outside the hut. You were putting
on your clothes. She was butt ass naked. She was kissing and touching you. What
else am I to think?”

“Doli cannot accept that I no longer desire her. And if you had paid
closer attention you would recall that I did not reciprocate her affection.”

  “Well if you ask me, it appeared the two of you already
reciprocated a little affection! Did you have sex with her?”

“No, I did not. What you witnessed was not as it appeared.”

“Oh, really? She was kissing you against your will? Why you poor, poor
man.”

 He sighed and thrust a hand through his hair, realizing his
encounter with Doli must have looked incriminating. “She came to my bed without
my knowledge or consent. I awoke to find her there.”

“You’re a liar, Antonio.”

Exasperated, he threw his hands up. How could he make her understand
that Doli had purposely created trouble?

“I hate you.” She sniffled, swiping at her eyes. ”And I hate this place,
too. It’s dirty. There are rats everywhere. I want to go back to Albuquerque
where people are civilized. I want a bathtub with real soap and a soft feather
bed with warm quilts. Or better yet, I want to go home—to my cozy little
apartment in Albuquerque. I want to take a warm shower, then get up at
six-thirty in the morning, stop off at Cuppa Joe for a big ass latte and tart
cherry bagel, and then go to work at Back Stage and pretend none of this crap
ever happened!”

“You are a spoiled and ungrateful woman.”

She gasped. “How can you say I’m spoiled because I want to live in a civilized
manner?”

Antonio would listen to no more. His family had taken her in, had fed
her and found her warm clothing. They had asked an elderly couple who’d lost
all their children over the years and whose fondest wish was to have a child
again, if they would become her adoptive parents. They happily agreed, despite
the fact Halle wasn’t Navajo

“These people have taken excellent care of you since we arrived,” he
reminded her. “Have you not been fed and clothed? Did my aunt and uncle not
find a family to give you shelter? You insult their hospitality, Halle, and by
doing so, you insult
me
.”

She placed a hand on her hip and did some odd craning bird-like movement
with her head and neck. “Well excuse me, if I’m not groveling with gratitude at
your saintly feet, but have you forgotten you kidnapped me and forced me to
stay with you?”

“What would you have me do now? Return you to Elena’s where you’ll earn
your living on your back? Or perhaps I should
send you to Frank Cole and
collect the reward after all. Is the idea of being abused by him preferable to
the thought a safe and peaceful existence among the Navajo? With me?”

Her stance relaxed a bit. “These people hate me, Antonio. I see it in
their eyes. They blame me for what the soldiers are doing. How do you expect me
to live a ‘peaceful existence’ here? They’ll never accept me.”

“Become my wife and they will.”

“But I don’t even know you.”

After spending these past few days and nights with her, he figured they
knew one another extremely well. “We know enough for now.”

“You’re a traitor.”

He scoffed at her remark. “Your government’s term for anyone who isn’t
on their side.”

The slur wasn’t lost on Halle. “Hey, I’m not on the
government’s
side in this mess so don’t take a ‘tude with me, mister.”

“A ‘tude?”

“An attitude,” she clarified.

Antonio let out a pent up sigh. “You are right. My remark was unfair. I
apologize.”

“Did you know that soldiers are scalping Navajo to claim a bounty?”

 His heart lurched in his chest. Yes
, he
knew of this, but
had told no one, not even Sonny, fearing such news might spark retaliatory
attacks on soldiers
.
How had she acquired this information? He kept his
expression blank so as not to give anything away. “What are you talking about?”

She took a few steps closer. “In the beginning, Carson offered his
troops a dollar for each head of Navajo livestock they rounded up. But there
were some renegade soldiers who extended that reward to scalps as well.”  

Likely, she had read a newspaper before they departed Albuquerque.
 Unimpressed, he folded his arms across his chest. “If you have finished
with your imaginative ramblings, perhaps we might discuss my marriage offer one
final time.”

He watched as her dark brows knitted together.

“Fine. We’ll talk. Hell yeah, we’ll talk. But first you answer a
question. Suppose I do marry you, Antonio, and we have children? What if
something happens to you or me. What if you or I get killed. Will they be
imprisoned when the soldiers find your people? Or will they be left orphaned?
Have you thought that far ahead?”

“As my next of kin, Sonny
will look after you and our children
should anything happen to me.”

“Don’t you understand? Your cousin
will probably be dead, too.”
She shook her head. “I won’t put a child of mine through that uncertainty…never
knowing their parents….never having a permanent home.”

“There will be no more talk of soldiers. They have not found us—and will
not. Navajo scouts are tracking their every move. If they do locate our camp,
we will have advance warning.”

“Still, it changes nothing, Antonio. I don’t want to get married. Not to
you or anyone else.”

“But your new parents have accepted my offer. There will be a ceremony
in a few weeks.”

She gaped at him. “
Hellooo.
You’re not listening, Antonio. I
don’t want to get married. I want to go back to Albuquerque, specifically to
Elena’s.”

“Elena betrayed you!” he thundered out. “What must I do to convince you
of the truth?”

He watched the fire fade from her eyes.

“Okay. I’ve thought about what you said before, about Elena giving me
the initiation dress. Maybe you were mistaken. Perhaps it was another dress
that looked exactly like that one. And so what if she knows Franklin Cole? It’s
a small world, right?”

“You read the letter.”

“Yeah, I read the letter but it wasn’t specific enough for me to suspect
Elena was negotiating with him for any reward.”

“You are naïve.”

Her delicate nostrils flared in anger. “You’re wrong. Elena wouldn’t
take advantage of me. I was her confidante, Antonio—her closest ally for the
past three months. I know more about Elena Costanza possibly more than anyone
including you.”

How could he make her understand the danger she was in? She was
innocent. Too much so for her own safety. No
, he
knew Elena extremely
well.  “You deceive yourself, Halle. Elena is an opportunist. She will
look you in the eye, lie through her teeth and then in the next breath sell you
for a gaudy pair of cheap earrings.”

“Okay, fine. I don’t have to go back to Elena’s. Max and I can get along
in Albuquerque without her. I’m talented. I can sew dresses and style hair and
write letters for people who can’t read or write. If I had the right tools and
supplies, I could craft things you wouldn’t believe—props for the theatre and
really cool stuff like body parts, fake scars and sores and realistic looking
burns.”

He grimaced at the image of sores and burns.

 “Come on. There must be a demand for my talents in a city the size
of Albuquerque.”

“You will not survive alone for one day in that city on your own.”

She threw up her hands. “Then what am I to do? Stay here in this hellish
place until the government forces us into hiding?”

“You have no choice. Either you will marry me, or your new family will
select a husband for you. One-Ear has also asked for you.  He is wealthy.
Considering that fact, he is the better match.”

“Well they can’t force me to marry the old, one eared man.” She moved
away from him and folded her arms over her breasts.

“They can and will, Halle. Given your advanced age they will be in much
of a hurry to see you wed.”

“Advanced age? I’m twenty two, thank you.”

“And a virgin,” he muttered under his breath.

She frowned. “I told you once I didn’t want to be. Guess you missed your
chance, huh?”

He held back a response. There was plenty of time left. And despite his
anger, the present almost seemed as good a time as any.

“Okay. Fine. I surrender. I’ll marry you, but only under one condition.”

Antonio could only imagine what ridiculous terms she would set forth. He
wasn’t certain he wanted to know. “What condition?”

“We won’t sleep together.”

“You want separate hogans?”