Tender savage (32 page)

"Yes, they are fine. With the uprising over, they were with those who returned to New Ulm with plans to rebuild the city. There are not many with that courage, but they are among them."

Erica bit her lower lip nervously, uncertain how to phrase her next question. "Did Gunter tell you that I knew Vif)er? That he and I were friends before the uprising began?"

Astonished by that question, Mark placed his fingers under Erica's chin to tilt her gaze up to his. "What do you mean? How could you p>ossibly have been friends with an Indian brave?"

"Gunter did not tell you?" Erica asked again, her lower lip trembling as huge tears continued to escape her thick lashes and flow down her flushed cheeks. "He said nothing about seeing us together?"

"My God, Erica, were you so angry with me for refusing to marry you that you would stoop to disgracing yourself with an Indian brave to get even?"

"Nol It was nothing like that!" Yet Erica found Mark's piercing gaze impossible to return, and looked down at the shiny brass buttons on his coat instead. Tears continued to slide down her cheeks as she tried to explain how she had met Viper. She took care to make the tale as innocent as |x>ssible. The story sounded plausible to her, since it was so close to the truth, but when she said the brave had come to New Ulm to rescue rather than kidnap her, Mark laughed out loud.

"So you were flirting with an Indian brave. Is that it? You considered it a harmless pastime, no doubt, since you are so very good at it, but Viper took you up on it. Well, your little escapade is over. Erica. Don't call the man your husband ever again, because he was never that. Since he seems to have treated you well, I will thank him for his kindness, but I am taking him back to stand trial and then I am taking you home. I told your father I would marry you here, and he agrees that is the best course."

"You and my father have decided again what is best for

me?" Erica asked resentfully. "Well, the answer is no. I will not go back to Wilmington, and I will not marry youl"

Mark's eyes narrowed as he recoiled from the hostility of her words. He could think of only one reason she would think she had to remain in Minnesota, and he quickly moved to satisfy his curiosity. "There's been time. Are you carrying that savage's child? Is that why you think you must stay with him?"

Mortified that he would ask so j^ersonal a question. Erica shook her head violently. How she had escaj>ed conceiving she did not know, but she had. "No, there will be no child." At least not yet, she told herself.

"Thank God for that," Mark responded emphatically. He remained seated upon the bed, holding her m his arms as he tried to think how best to reason with her when she was in a totally unreasonable mood. Since the situation was so far removed from the one he had expected to find, he decided to go slowly, to carefully lead her where he wished to go taking one small step at a time. "We need decide nothing today. Erica. There will be plenty of time to make our plans alter we reach Camp Release where the Indians are being tried."

"I'm staying with Viper," the defiant blonde vowed stubbornly. "I don't care what you and my father have planned for me, I won't leave him."

"Do you realize how swiftly I could make you a widow if you keep insisting you are that savage's wife?" Mark inquired with a slight smile, as though he would not think twice about shooting Viper.

Terrified by that threat. Erica again tried to escap>e his grasp, and again failed. "How dare you make such vile threats to me? How dare you? He would never treat you in so despicable a fashion."

"I doubt an Indian's principles can be any higher than mine," Mark respxDnded confidently, but he had not meant to upset her needlessly when he would never execute a man for the crime of loving her. "Now I want you to take a bath, a long, hot one to wash away every trace of your Indian lover's touch, and then you'll put on the gown I brought for you to wear. We'll have dinner together, and in the morning we'll leave for Camp Release. If after his trial you

still want to remain with Viper, and he still wants you for his wife, we will make whatever decisions must be made then."

Mark released her and rose to his feet. "I'm glad you've not been tortured or abused, but I won't pretend I'm not bitterly disappointed that you seem to care more for some savage you've known a few brief weeks than you do for me. I still love you with all my heart, and I always will."

Erica remained on the rumpled bed, her emotions a painful confusion of guilt and despair, for she knew she had betrayed Mark's trust in the most cruel of ways. Drying her eyes on the back of her hand, she made an attempt to use his affection for her to make him see her love for Viper was neither a hasty infatuation nor a sordid affair. "Viper and I have known we belong together almost from the hour we met. He knew I was engaged to you, but that did not prevent us from falling in love. We knew there were bound to be problems at the end of the uprising, but we were prepared to face them. If you love me so dearly, can't you help me now? Can't you put your jealousy aside and help me to find happiness with the man I love?"

That Erica would prefer some half-naked savage to him was more than Mark could bear. He reached for her hand, pulled her off the bed, and drew her close. "What happened to the love you swore you felt for me? You were heartbroken when I postponed our wedding, and now you expect me to casually kiss you good-bye and allow you to live with a Sioux? You ask too much, but I have a question for you. Can you tell me with all honesty that you feel nothing for me anymore? Nothing at all? Can you look me directly in the eye and say that^"

Erica swallowed hard, forcing back the wave of uncertainty that question brought. Not knowing how to respond, she tried to change the subject. "I know it must have hurt you when I left without telling you good-bye."

"Hurt doesn't begin to describe the pain. That's a dead issue, however. It's done, over. I want to hear you say you don't love me. Can you do that, or not?" he demanded sarcastically. "Or have the last few weeks been so difficult for you that you no longer know what you want, or whom?"

Erica could not deny that Mark was very handsome. His light brown hair had been bleached by the summer sun until it now glistened with streaks of p>ale gold. His skin was deeply tanned, complementing his well-shaped features. The soft brown ot his eyes still held a world of emotion, while the love that shone so brightly from their depths was unchanged. She could not even recall the time she had not loved Mark, but once Viper had entered her life, he had simply ceased to exist. Yet here he was demanding to hear the truth of her feelings, and she had no idea what to say. "Don't ask me to say that I do not love you, for I always will. It is only that now I love Viper more, and I wish to live my life as his wife rather than yours."

The muscles along Mark's jaw tightened menacingly. He had absolutely no intention of surrendering the woman he loved without a fight, and at present the advantage was his. "The man will have to stand trial. Erica. Hundreds died in the uprising, and those who took part are being called to account for it."

"The war was not going well for the Union when last I heard news of it. If the Confederacy wins, do you expect to be put on trial for being on the losing side?"

"Of course not," Mark denied with a dark frown. "Don't be absurd."

"Then why are the Sioux to be tried? The uprising was every bit as much of a war as the war between the states is. That they lost is punishment enough."

Mark laughed derisively. "Save your arguments for the trial. I think Viper will need them. Now heat water for a bath while I fetch the gown I brought."

"I don't need a bath, nor a gown. I want to be with my husband. He's been hurt and I don't want him to be all alone when he's in pain."

"He'll feel nothing for hours. Now I suggest you see to your bath or I will scrub that delectable body of yours clean myself when I return."

He slammed the door as he left the house, and Erica had the uncomfortable feeling he meant exactly what he said. After a moment's hesitation she flung open the door and carried the bucket to the well to draw water. As she returned to the house, she saw someone had moved Viper into the shade at the side of the house, and, grateful fcMr

that show of kindness, she braced herself for her next confrontation with Mark.

Just as Mark had predicted, it was nearly dark before Viper regained consciousness. His head was aching painfully. He tried to raise his hand to his forehead, but found his arms bound tightly behind his back. Half a dozen men were playing poker nearby, while the others napped or cared for their mounts. He'd been propj^ed up against the side of the house, but by moving slowly, he managed to shift his position slightly. Unfortunately, he soon discovered there seemed to be no way he could find a comfortable pose.

His mouth still tasted of dirt. He remembered being struck from behind while Erica had stood by screaming as though she were the one who had been hit, but nothing else. There was no sign of her or the hostile officer. Mark, Erica had called him. So that was Mark. Imagine that! Mark had come for her and obviously did not like what he had found. That would not change what was, however.

One of the troopers looked up then and noticed Viper was awake. "Hey, chief, how ya' feelin?" he called over to him.

Knowing it would be useless to reply. Viper looked away, his gesture a contemptuous one. He had not expected to be treated so badly, but now that he knew what the army's attitude was, he would not cooperate in the smallest degree. He began working at the ropes that bound his wrists. With luck, by nightfall he could set himself free. With that thought firmly in mind, he watched the men playing poker, his glance as arrogant and disdainful as it had always been when he had to deal with whites.

While Mark helped himself to another serving of venison. Erica continued to argue. She had bathed and dressed in the fine lingerie and pale pink gown he had provided, but she felt no differently than she had before she had changed her clothes. "I want to be with my husband," she stated firmly. "You had no reason to separate us."

"Nonsense. I had every right. The man's under arrest, you are not. I'm pleased to see you've learned to cook passably well. Not that you will ever have to do the

cooking in our home, but it will help you to direct the woman who does more knowledgeably."

"If all of the airmy's officers are so pig-headed as you, it is no wonder the Union is losing the warl" Erica cried out with an exasperated sigh.

"We are not losing,' Mark contradicted sharply, then seeing no point in debating that issue since he could not support it with facts, he changed the subject abruptly. "Your father wished me to tell you he has quit drinking. If you think I am livid over your choice of mate, try and imagine introducing that savage to your father. Do you think you will ever succeed in winning his blesssing for such a ridiculous union?"

Erica straightened her shoulders proudly. She had yet to touch her dinner, but she had no app>etite whatsoever for food. "That an Indian and a white woman would choose to marry might be unheard of in Wilmington, but it is not here in Minnesota. We plan to stay here."

"Moving from one humble dwelling to another as the owners return to their farms?" Mark inquired snidely.

"I've made no claim that this is our house. We have brought in the farmer's crop, though, and he should be grateful for that," she pointed out quickly.

"Why you would wish to marry a man who will dress you in hides and make you work in cornfields is beyond me. That is not the decision of a sensible woman. Erica, and you were always a most sensible sort."

"Until I wished to be married before you left for the war?" she replied sarcastically. "Was that when I took leave of my senses?"

"I have apologized for that," Mark admitted readily. "Had we married, we would not be sitting here in this tiny house arguing over your choice of husband."

"I want to see him," Erica demanded once again. "Post guards around the house, if you must, but I want him to spend the night here in the house with me."

Mark started to laugh and found it difficult to stop. He raised his napkin to cover his mouth as he tried valiantly to recover his composure. "You'll not spend the night with that heathen ever again. Erica. If it's a man you want in your bed, it will be me."

"You wouldn't darel" she hissed.

"Not without an invitation, no, but as I recall, I have already received one." Mark smiled slyly, thinking he had just caught her in her own trap.

"That was a long time ago, Mark Randall, before I met Viper and became his wife. You had your chance, and you missed it."

"So, you are simply trying to pay me back for that imagined insultl" Thinking he had just scored an imix)rtant point in their verbal battle, Mark's eyes glowed with fiery sparks of triumph.

"That was not an 'imagined insult,* it was a very real one." Disgusted with herself for remembering so clearly the shame she had felt that night. Erica turned her chair to the side so she did not have to face him.

She had combed her hair into a marvelous upsweep of radiant curls, and the style set off the exquisite beauty of her profile so perfectly that it took Mark a full minute to recall what they were discussing. By that time, all he wished to win was her love, not some ridiculous argument. "I went to your house the next morning. I had hoped to make things right between us, but you were gone, and I had no chance to apologize for upsetting you so badly. Will you forgive me now?"

"Don't you think it's a bit late for such a display of remorse? Why didn't you beg my forgiveness when you wrote to me, if you were so eager to make amends?"

Mark wadded up his napkin and tossed it upon the table. "Because I have as much pride as you," he responded regretfully. Rising to his feet, he circled the small table, took Erica's hands, and drew her up to face him. "We are a perfect match, my pet, and you know that as well as I do." He leaned down to kiss her, but Erica turned her head to avoid his lips, and his affectionate gesture landed upon her cheek.