The Renegade's Woman by Nikita Black Read Free Book Online

whistles and let me get some damned sleep! I won't come!"
     
    His eyes narrowed.
     
    She crossed her arms under her breasts, feeling the heavy bear claw hanging under her dress poke into her skin. "I won't let you tempt me with your gorgeous body and your wicked hands. It's wrong, and I won't let myself want you. "
     
    He continued to stare down at her. She could see her words were having no effect on his plans whatsoever. If anything, he looked more determined than ever.
     
    Moisture pooled in her eyes, blurring her vision. "You don't love me. You won't marry me. Why should I throw my life away on a man who--"
     
    "Come to me tonight. If you don't, I'll come and get you. " With that, he turned his horse and trotted back towards his friends.
     
    She squeezed her hands into fists and stamped her foot on the hard ground. "You goddamn stubborn son of a bitch!" she whispered, kicking a nearby clump of weeds soundly. "Why won't you leave me alone?"
     
    "My heavens, who is that man?" Alyssa asked for the tenth time that night.
     
    After supper, they'd all gathered around the campfire inside the circle of wagons -- she and Alyssa, the Tompkins', and the three other families who'd started out with them from Virginia. Sally's sister had been feverishly speculating as to the identity of the new guard standing in the moonlight out at the tree line. Mr. Dexter had apparently heard of the Indians' peculiar interest in Sally and decided to post an extra man by their wagon.
     
    The man did look unusually good in his cavalry-striped trousers, she had to admit. The blue wool rode low on his lean hips and trim thighs. His snug flannel shirt encased a broad chest and muscular arms which carried a Winchester rifle at the ready. He had his collar flipped up against the chill and a cowboy hat covered most of his face and dark hair so it was impossible to tell from this distance who he was. Though, there was something vaguely familiar about the way he moved... Something intense, like a wolf...
     
    Suddenly, she squinted and stood abruptly. No! It couldn't be. He wouldn't dare!
     
    "Is there something wrong, dear?" Mrs. Tompkins asked.
     
    "No! I mean yes. I have to take a walk, " she said, using the polite euphemism they'd all adopted when someone needed to slip into the forest and use the non-existent facilities. She grabbed a tin cup and filled it with coffee from the fire. "Maybe I'll take our new guard some coffee on my way. "
     
    Alyssa's mouth dropped open. "Why, I declare, Sally Ann Hewitt! Whatever has come over you?"
     
    She shot her a grin. "Maybe some of your high-falootin' manners have finally rubbed off. " Alyssa was no doubt peeved she hadn't thought of it herself. Just as well. She'd have gotten a nasty shock when she got close enough to see Standing Bear's bronze face, handsome as it was.
     
    "As I live and breathe, " her sister muttered as Sally strode away from the circle of amused faces.
     
    "Oh, " she halted after a few steps and called over her shoulder as an afterthought, "Don't wait up for me. I really am taking a walk. "
     
    She left the group and marched determinedly across the dark no-man's land to where Standing Bear leaned against a tree in a puddle of moonlight, his Winchester cocked casually over a shoulder.
     
    "Just what the hell do you think you're doing? Are you out of your mind?" She thrust the coffee at him, spilling half of it in the process.
     
    "What's this?" He sniffed the cup suspiciously.
     
    "Arsenic, " she answered, wishfully. "Go on, try it. " She planted her fists on her hips and watched him take a tentative sip, imagining him keeling over dead right there and solving her dilemma once and for all.
     
    "Mmm. Good, " he said, nodding. "How is it made?"
     
    "Beans, " she answered, hardly able to suppress her irritation. "Ground up beans from South America. "
     
    "Beans, " he muttered, then shot a glance toward the wagons and handed her his rifle. "Hold this while I drink your arsenic.