Silken Savage (32 page)

THE AFTERNOON was almost balmy as the mid-April sun warmed the tiny glade. Tanya had donned her moccasins and gone to the woods in search of herbs and roots, taking Kit with her. A light breeze played with her tawny locks as they lay shining across her shoulders. Soon her hair would be long enough to braid once more.

Busy digging in the moist earth, Tanya at first ignored the small noises nagging at her brain. Then a feeling of being watched made her tense in alarm. Still stooped, she spun about, her knife held ready, her eyes searching the surrounding trees. Kit, too, had heard the slight movements. The cougar stared intently ahead, her ears perked and listening, her body coiled to spring.

For a few tense seconds nothing moved, and then a tall figure of a man stepped out from behind a tree. He stood in the shadows watching Tanya, saying nothing. He wore dark trousers and shirt, rancher’s boots, and had a coat slung across his shoulder. A western hat shaded his face from her view.

Kit snarled a warning. The man said something in a voice too low for Tanya to hear, but Kit evidently heard him. The cougar bounded toward him before Tanya could utter a sound, and to her immense surprise, instead of attacking him, the cat leapt up to rub her head against his chest and lick his chin affectionately with her big wet tongue.

It was then Tanya’s heart began a frantic drumbeat in her chest. Her knees went weak, and she stood up on wobbly legs. Her gaze raced over the man’s face and form, what little she could see of them, and a thousand butterflies took flight in her stomach as her hopes soared. Tanya’s voice cracked as she tried to speak past the lump in her throat.
“Panther?”

The man stepped forward into the sunlight and Tanya recognized his coat as the cougar-fur jacket she had sewn so lovingly. Her longing eyes traveled to his face, still shaded by his hat, but by now she was sure.

“Oh, Panther!” Her heartfelt cry floated on the breeze. The next thing she knew, without recalling having run to him, Tanya found herself enfolded in his fierce embrace.

“Wildcat,” he murmured just before his lips crushed hers. Their kiss carried all the intensity and longing built up through the months of separation.

Tanya’s hands crept along his shoulders to find their way into his crisp, sheared hair, her body arching into his in a bid to get closer still, though not a breath of space separated them. Tears of joy flowed down her face, wetting not only her cheeks, but his, adding salt to the nectar of the kiss.

At length, he pulled his mouth reluctantly from hers. “Let me look at you,” he breathed. “Let my eyes feast upon your face.”

Her own eyes adored his beloved features. “You’ve grown thinner,” she commented breathlessly, “and you’ve cut your braids.”

“So have you,” he reminded her. He led her to a fallen log nearby and sat down next to her there.

She lay her head on his chest. “It has been so long, Panther. I worried so!”

“Did you think I would not come?” he asked.

“No. I knew you would come for us, but I worried that you took so long. You said only death would keep us apart, and I wondered if something had happened to you.”

Panther nodded. “I was wounded. I came as soon as I could.”

At this, Tanya’s head flew up and she searched his face apprehensively. “Are you all right now? How badly were you wounded? Who cared for you in my place? When did this happen?”

Panther grinned down at her. “Yes, Woman-of-Many-Questions,” he teased, “I am fine, though Shy Deer is convinced only my wish to be with you saved my life. She and Walks-Like-A-Duck nursed me for many weeks. I took a bullet through my shoulder in the last skirmish at the Washita. That alone prevented me from reclaiming you sooner.”

“Oh, Panther! Are you
sure
you are all right? It must have been a serious wound to keep you down so long.”

“I lost much blood and I still have not regained all my weight, but I am strong and well and here for you now.”

He pulled her closer to his side. “How are our sons, Wildcat?”

“They are well,” she assured him. “They have grown so much since you’ve seen them last.”

“I am eager to be with them, but first many things must be settled,” he told her. “Tell me how things have been for you. You have been staying with your parents?”

Tanya sighed. “Yes. All is well now, but it was a strange reunion at the beginning. They did not know quite what to think when I arrived with two sons — and Kit! My sister Julie was hateful and my mother pitied me. My father was angry and at first refused to accept Hunter and Mark. They all failed to understand how I could possibly love you.”

She paused, and he asked, “Do they accept their grandsons now and the idea of a Cheyenne son-in-law?”

“They all adore the boys. I do not know what they will think of you. They all seemed to believe I would forget you in time, but they are wrong! My love runs too deeply for that, Panther.”

“My heart yearned to hear those words from your lips,” he told her, rewarding her with a brief hard kiss, then continued, “What has become of Melissa?”

“She lives with us in my aunt and uncle’s house. They have adopted her. You would like Aunt Elizabeth. She alone has understood my love for you. Not once did she condemn me for the way I acted upon arriving here. She accepted me as I was and quietly bestowed her love on me.”

Panther gave her a thoughtful look. “What did you do to upset them so, besides bring my sons into their home?”

Tanya’s chin came up proudly. “When I saw their reactions to me and our sons, I refused to speak anything but Cheyenne, except to Jeremy, my aunt’s nephew. He has twelve summers and was quite impressed with Kit and me.” Tanya shook her head. “Poor Melissa was left to interpret and do all the explaining. I continued to dress in my deerskins and headbands, I insisted on keeping Kit inside to protect us, I even prepared a pallet on the floor, refusing to sleep in their soft bed. Above all else, I rejected Jeffrey’s declarations of love and had the bad manners to attempt an escape, trying to return to you.”

Panther’s dark eyes widened at this. “What? When was this?”

“It was two moons past, and Jeffrey caught up to me with a troop of his men. I got only as far as the Arkansas River.”

“This Jeffrey,” Panther frowned, “is he the man you were promised to before I captured you?”

Tanya nodded. “Yes. He is a lieutenant in the cavalry. He was at Washita with General Custer and found me. At first my family hoped we would marry. Jeffrey still wanted to marry me, but I would not have him. I told them I already had a husband.”

“Do they still want you to accept this man?” Panther asked, scowling.

“Jeffrey is still adamant, but my family has seen how crazed he can be and now they shield me from him. My father saved me when Jeffrey tried to rape me after I ran away.”

Panther grabbed Tanya by the shoulders, his face stormy. “He
raped
you?”

“No, Panther,” Tanya caressed his face between her hands. “He tried and failed. Since then he has apologized, but none of us will listen, except Julie. She is besotted with him and it caused her pain to see how obsessed he is with me. I hope it is a passing infatuation with her, for I fear Jeffrey is not in his right mind half of the time.”

“He will never have you, not while I live,” Panther vowed passionately, stroking her hair.

“Not under any circumstances,” Tanya corrected gently, her golden eyes shining into his. “Oh, Panther, it is heaven to be back in your arms! I missed you so!”

Tanya’s hands once more pushed their way into his hair, knocking his hat off. Suddenly a thought occurred to her that she had brushed away until now. Her brow knitted thoughtfully as she inspected his clothing.

“Panther, why are you dressed this way? Where did you get these clothes?”

A shadow seemed to fall over his face as he gazed at her intently. “Tanya, there are things you do not know that I must explain to you.” He waited expectantly, trying to gauge her reaction.

It took a few seconds for his words to soak in, and then she exclaimed, “Panther! You spoke to me in English!” Her face registered her shock, her eyes wide in surprise. “How long have you spoken English? I detect no sign of an accent.”

“Since I was a child. I grew up speaking Spanish, Cheyenne, and English.” Panther’s hands tightened on her arms as she tried to pull away from him.

Hurt and angry, Tanya glared at him. “You understood every word I’ve ever said to you!” she accused. “You let me make a fool of myself! You saw me struggling to communicate my thoughts and feelings, and never let on! You made me falter my way along until I learned Cheyenne!”

Panther nodded calmly. “You needed to learn Cheyenne. In fact, you learned faster because of your need to communicate.”

“You could have told me afterward,” she insisted.

“I saw no need to until now.”

Something in his face made her ask, “Why now?”

“There is more you must hear,” he continued seriously. “My father was Chief White Antelope, Black Kettle’s brother. This you know. What I have never told you is that my mother is white.”

Tanya gasped in surprise, and Panther shushed her with a finger to her lips.

“Actually, she is a Spanish Mexican, captured by my father near Sante Fe. She detested the Cheyenne ways, and though she became my father’s wife and they loved one another, after my birth she wished to return to her own people. My father let her go, taking me with her. Now you see why Black Kettle set up such rigid tests for you to prove yourself. He saw how heartbroken my father was to part with his wife and son.”

“Raquel and her father, Miguel Valera relocated to Pueblo, where they bought a ranch north of town. No one knew of my heritage, so my grandfather suggested my mother pose as a widow. In a fit of pique at his suggestion, my mother chose the surname of Savage for her married name. She became known as Rachel Savage around Pueblo.”

“All my life I was known here as Adam Savage. Not one person knows I spent my summers with my father in the Cheyenne village. They all thought I went to Santa Fe or Mexico to visit relatives, that my father was an Englishman and that I take my coloring from my Spanish background.”

“I’ve been raised and educated as white. I have lifelong friends in this town, and everyone knows and respects the Savage name. My mother runs the ranch in my absence, and over the years we’ve acquired wealth and prestige. I spent a few years attending college back East. Two years before my father’s death, I chose to live permanently with the Cheyenne. I prefer their way of life. My mother has spread the tale that I am living in Europe to explain my absence.”

“I know you are hurt that I did not tell you these things. At first I saw no reason to. Then, when you became my wife and were expecting my child, I felt that if I told you at that time, you would want me to bring you to your parents. I could not do that, Tanya. I had chosen my life with my father’s people, and you had to choose it too, freely and completely, with no regrets and no ties to the past. Later, it did not seem important to tell you. I could not guess that one day we would be separated, or that we would come together again like this.”

“You deceived me,” she charged, her voice shaking with unshed tears.

“No,” he denied promptly. “I was what you believed me to be; what I chose to be. It was important that you accept me as such, and not hope to return to the white world someday. I am A-Panther-Stalks, Cheyenne Chief, and you are my wife, the mother of my sons. Nothing can change that; not all your hurt or your anger. I know it has been a shock to you, but it does not alter our relationship. My love for you is still the same, your heart still calls to mine. If you deny it, you are a liar.”

Tanya, fighting her hurt and confusion, said nothing.

“You made vows to me, Tanya; binding vows,” he reminded her sternly. “You promised to obey me, to see to my comforts and raise my children, and to follow wherever I go. I am holding you to your words. You are my wife in every sense of the word, and I will never let you go. Both of us have suffered this separation long enough, through no fault of our own. We are together now, as we should be, and it would be foolish to let pride stand in the way of happiness. Are you now going to act as a loving wife should, or are you going to show me how stubborn you can be and hurt us both?”

He smiled down at her tenderly as she considered this. “My arrogance is stronger than your stubbornness, little one. You know I will win in the end, so why not save your energy for better purposes?”

Panther’s lips hovered over hers as he finished speaking, teasing at the corners of her mouth until her lips came up to meet his in a kiss of surrender. With a sigh of resignation, her arms encircled his neck as she yielded totally to his sweet persuasion.

“Panther, I do love you,” she conceded in a whisper. “I’ll always love you.”

“Show me,” he commanded softly.

There, in the shelter of the glade, they made love after months of agonizing separation. Panther undressed her, slowly exposing every inch of her soft skin.

“I knew there was a reason I dressed you in buckskin. This gown has a thousand buttons.” He gave an exasperated chuckle.

Tanya laughed at his expression. “I only gave up my deerskins two months ago, after my attempt to return to you. They were unfit to wear any longer. Besides, my family had fully accepted Hunter and Mark by then, and I also started to speak English then.”

“Am I making love to a white woman now?” Panther questioned hesitantly.

Tanya shook her head. “I am what you make me; what you want me to be; your wife and your love.”

Her answer satisfied his doubts, and his lips claimed hers in a kiss clearly meant to dominate, to mark her as his alone. Tanya submitted willingly, sensing his need to renew his mastery over her. She revelled in the strength of his arms about her, his lips molding hers, his hands undressing and caressing her.

Following his lead, she helped him shed his clothing, then stood drinking in the sight of his glorious bronze body. Her fingers traced the still-pink scars of the new wound of his shoulder. Tears blurred her vision as she leaned forward to gently kiss the wound, as if to heal him with her lips, to absorb some of the pain he had endured.