Authors: Georgina Gentry
Colt (11 page)
Spider feinted, then caught Colt off balance, knocking the breath from him as they rolled over and over in the dirt, the crowd giving way before them. His bitten leg ached as Colt fought to get out from under the skilled Comanche warrior, but Spider was going for the kill, Colt could see it in his angry eyes. He grabbed Colt's arm and twisted.
Biting his lip, Colt fought against the pain as Spider tried to break Colt's arm. It took all the strength he owned to throw Spider off him and stagger to his feet. He struggled to rotate that arm, getting the feeling back into it, but he was hurt and he could tell from the slight smirk on Spider's face that he knew it and he would have no mercy.
Before Colt could recover, Spider dived at him again, caught him around the waist, and quick-jabbed Colt's kidneys as he struggled to escape. Then Spider moved his iron grip up to Colt's chest and began to squeeze until Colt thought he would pass out as he fought for air. He was losing; he could tell from the triumphant gleam in Spider's dark eyes and the agonized expression on Hannah's face. He could smell both sweat and blood as he struggled to escape the iron grip.
Spider put his face close to Colt's ear as he squeezed him tighter. “Tonight, I will take the yellow-haired one again and again until she gives me another son!”
The thought of the slender Hannah helpless under the cruel Comanche enraged Colt and gave him superhuman strength. He reached back and caught Spider's head in his grasp even as Spider squeezed him almost into unconsciousness. It took all the energy he had left, but Colt managed to toss Spider over his shoulder and flat on his back onto the ground with a resounding loud thump.
The crowd gasped and then murmured as Spider groaned and then lay still. Colt, sweating and gasping for air, stepped back.
Many Scalps stepped forward and looked. “Spider's head has hit a rock. He will not awaken for a while. Young Stallion is the winner of this match and the woman.”
The crowd cheered as Colt leaned against his knees with both hands, still gasping for air. Obviously Spider was not that popular with the other Comanche.
Now Many Scalps approached him as thunder rumbled again in the distance. “You have fought fair, my adopted son, but the storm comes soon and you cannot leave tonight.”
Colt looked at the sky, gulping great breaths of air, knowing the old warrior was right, there was a bad storm coming fast. He wanted to take Hannah and her child and ride out of there, but the lightning now flashing across the sky might be more dangerous to them than the Indians.
“All right, my adopted father, I will stay the night, but I fear Spider will not take his defeat well.”
Everyone looked toward Spider. He now lay groaning and moving ever so slightly.
Many Scalps put his withered hand on Colt's shoulder. “You have won fairly and the right to reclaim the white slave. We will give you a special teepee for the night so that you may enjoy her, and I will deal with my angry son.”
He led Colt over and ceremoniously handed him the rope that tied Hannah. Colt took the rope and stood looking down at her, half naked and vulnerable. Did she understand enough to know that she was being given to Colt for his night's pleasure before the Comanche would allow them to leave the camp?
Chapter 7
Several of the women pushed forward, giggling and one said in Comanche, “Ho, Young Stallion! You have waited a long time to bed your woman again. Tonight we will prepare her for you.”
Colt nodded and let them lead Hannah away, his mind already wondering how he was going to handle this. He was an honorable man, engaged to the major's beautiful daughter, and Hannah was a married woman, her husband even now probably making the trip to the fort to get her. And yet the maleness of him was tempted, so tempted, by the slender beauty. It had been a long time since Colt had had a woman and tonight, he could have Hannah; the Comanche had ordered it. He could enjoy her tonight, and tomorrow he could take her back to the fort, turn her over to her husband, who would never know nor would anyone. Hannah would be too proud to tell anyone that her lithe body had been the prize in a fight between blood brothers. As his body grew excited at the thought, he realized that maybe he was more savage than civilized. He had won the right to this woman's body, and as warrior Young Stallion, he was expected to take it.
Colt spent the next hour wandering about the camp, visiting with old friends. He knew many of these people personally and they had been good to him. It troubled him that someday soon he might have to attack them.
Spider had been carried off to his own teepee and did not reappear as the storm built and rumbled toward them. Soon there would be a terrible rainstorm and maybe a tornado sweeping across the bare plains.
Colt went down to the creek with some soap made from yucca and washed himself thoroughly and then stood naked in the warm air to dry. His bitten leg ached and his twisted arm seemed sprained. He stood there naked by the water and flexed his muscles, thinking about Hannah and what she must be thinking right now. More than that, what about Spider? He didn't think the warrior would give Hannah up without another confrontation, and when they attempted to ride out, Spider might do something desperate. Even tonight, when Spider thought of Colt in the arms of the slender blonde, he might try to kill Colt to take Hannah back.
Colt heard giggling and looked around. Several Comanche girls were watching him from the shadowy bushes, their hands over their mouths. He grabbed for his pants, but it was too late. He heard muffled mumblings of “big stallion” as the girls fled. He looked down at himself. He might be bigger than most men, all right, or maybe it was just the thought of sleeping with Hannah that had engorged his manhood. All he could think of was mating with her, and she would have no choice in the matter. Yet he was an honorable Texan and engaged to another woman. God, how was he going to handle this?
In the darkness, He strode back to the camp where Indians were doing chores and cooking food, feeding horses. Women smiled at him as he passed, letting him know that if he would prefer a Comanche maiden, many of them would be happy to provide him with pleasure.
A pretty maiden led him to a special teepee that had been prepared for him, complete with soft buffalo robes to lie on and a set of new buckskin clothes. There were also big dishes of stewed meat, fried bread, and the fruit of cactus.
Clad in only his blue trousers, he sat down before the small fire cross-legged. After a time, he heard women laughing and he looked out to see them leading Hannah toward the teepee.
Colt caught his breath at her beauty. She had been washed and perfumed with wildflowers in her long, yellow hair. She wore a fine, beaded white deerskin and walked with dignity toward the teepee as if accepting her fate. The women thrust her into the teepee and then scattered into the night. Outside, it thundered again and then the rain began, light at first and then a downpour.
Colt closed the opening of the teepee and they were alone before a small fire with rain beating down outside. “Are you all right?” he asked.
She nodded and did not smile. “You have won me and I thank you for saving me from Spider. Would you like food now?”
He shook his head, mystified. She was acting like a typical captive as she settled back on her knees with her hands in her lap.
“Have you had anything to eat?”
“Does Young Stallion give me permission to share his food?”
“What's the matter with you, Hannah? Of course I do. I've come here to rescue you. Where is your little boy?”
“Many Scalps's wife is watching him tonight while I do my duty to pleasure you.”
“Is that what you think I fought Spider for? The chance to bed you?”
She shrugged, blue eyes sparking fire. She had a fiery spirit and that would never be broken by any man. “The Comanche expect it and the whites back at the fort would never know. You must know I would not tell anyone.”
“I would not want you that way.” He remembered now that what he had been attracted to was Hannah's defiant spirit. A man might take Hannah by force, but he would never break her. To make her come to him willingly would be any man's challenge and a very sweet victory.
Instead he dished meat into a gourd and handed it to her. “Here, eat. Remember I am engaged to Olivia and I have honor.”
She shrugged. “Honor sometimes fails when a man has a chance to bed a woman, even if she is not as pretty as the major's daughterâor is it that you want a virgin?”
He stared at her, wishing he could have been Hannah's first man. He could have made the experience so wonderful for them both because he was skilled and because he knew how to be gentle. His manhood swelled at the thought and he wanted to forget about Olivia and take this girl in his arms, make her his completely. “Shut up and eat.”
“At least servicing you would be better than the hateful Spider.”
He noticed bruises on her face as she took the gourd and began to eat and he wanted to kill the warrior, wanted to choke the life from him for hurting this slender girl. She was not his to protect, he reminded himself again. He watched her eat as the thunder rolled and the rain pounded outside. “Look, Hannah, we both know you are married and I am engaged to Olivia.”
“And she is much more beautiful than I am.”
“I reckon most people would think she is, but when you smile, I think you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
She looked up from her food and smiled, ever so slowly, and he wondered again why he had ever thought her plain.
He said, “In all that today, I never saw you shed a tear, not when you were being used as a prize, not when you were standing there bound and half naked before that crowd.”
She tossed back her long golden hair, which gleamed in the firelight. “Remember I never cry. I learned long ago, it does no good. Many men have hurt me and mistreated me, and I decided long ago that no man would ever make me vulnerable and dependent enough to weep again.”
Colt thought of Olivia, who seemed to weep tears like a fountain at the slightest opportunity. “Finish your food. It's going to be a long night.”
She set her gourd aside and studied him. “You know Spider as well as I do. Do you really think he is going to let me spend the night in your arms and then let us ride away in the morning without ambushing and killing us both?”
“I don't know. He is obsessed with you.” He didn't look at her, but he knew she was right. They probably weren't going to get out of this alive because of Spider's treachery. At least Colt wouldn't. The evil warrior wanted Hannah back in his blankets and if Colt couldn't get her out of the camp, she faced years of Spider rutting on her slender body, filling her belly with his seed so that she would give him more sons.
Hannah leaned forward to add twigs to the fire and he saw the rise of her full breasts under the delicate doeskin. He could not stop staring at them despite himself.
She gave a scornful laugh, then stood up and grasped the hem of her doeskin shift. “In spite of what you say, Young Stallion, I know what you are thinking.”
He held up a hand to stop her from pulling off the shift. “I'm sorry, Hannah. You must know I wouldn't take you by force. You've had enough of that in your life.” He sat cross-legged, his maleness swollen and throbbing with need as he looked up at her. Her skin was pale as milk with long, slender legs and big breasts. Colt had a terrible need to pull her down on the soft buffalo robes and make passionate, frenzied love to the girl, pulling her almost inside him as he coupled with her and stroked that delicate skin.
“Are you sure?” She stared at him with those soft blue eyes.
Colt took a deep breath and clenched his fists, fighting his own need. “I told you you could trust me and I meant it.”
She looked down at him a moment longer. He could smell the scent of the flowers in her hair and the warm, womanly scent of her, and he had never lusted for a woman like he lusted for this one. It was taking all his strength not to grab her hand, pull her down beside him, and taste those full breasts.
“Thank you.” She seemed to be trembling as she sat down across from him again.
It was going to be a long night, he thought. While the Comanches thought he was taking the girl over and over in a frenzy of lust, he was going to have to control himself not to do just that.
He said it without thinking. “You have no idea how much I want to take you, make you my own at this moment.”
There was only a pained expression in those wide blue eyes. “I know, but IâI trust you.”
Somehow that was more important, more satisfying to him than taking her. “And have you never wanted a man, wanted him inside you, wantin' him kissin' and pleasurin' you?”
She shook her head. “I have been used, but I never found any pleasure in it. It was painful and cruel.”
For a minute, he thought she might actually weep, but instead, she took a deep breath and swallowed hard. “What happens now?”
He noticed she was trembling and realized the rain outside had caused the teepee to grow cool. “We have a long night ahead. We will try to leave before dawn. Spider may not be expecting that and we may be able to get away.”
“I will not leave without my little son,” she said. “That is what brought me back to this camp and Spider's blankets in the first place.”
“I will rescue him, too,” Colt promised softly, but even he was not sure how he could accomplish that.
“Thank you.” She nodded. “I'm beginning to think you are different from the other men I have known.”
If only she realized how much he lusted for her at this moment, she would not say that, he thought. However, he only gestured toward the soft buffalo robes. “You are cold. Take the robes.”
He saw the suspicion in her face.
“Don't worry,” he assured her softly, “I promise I will not touch you.”
She hesitated, and he hated the two men who had hurt her and put that fear in her eyes.
“Hannah.” He took her hand and pulled her over next to him, threw the soft buffalo robe over her. “Lie down and go to sleep. I will keep watch.”
She lay down next to him, still shivering. He was cold, too, but he only stared into the fire and listened to it rain outside. He did not want to look at her, she was too tempting. Besides he was in love with the beautiful Olivia. He imagined the dark-haired beauty naked in their wedding bed and still she did not arouse him like the thought of Hannah did.
“You are cold,” Hannah noticed.
He shrugged. “I am a soldier and before that, a warrior. I am used to hardship.”
“I will share the buffalo robe with you,” she whispered.
“Aren't you afraid?” He looked down at her in the dying firelight.
She seemed to consider his question. “No, for the first time with a man, I am not afraid.”
He grinned at her and slid under the robe. Her lithe body put out heat like a stove, and he realized how cold he really had been. Taking a deep breath, he put his arm under her head and pulled her closer, warming his half-naked body with hers. She stiffened and then relaxed, letting him cuddle her up against his chest so that she was protected from the cold and anyone who would hurt her.
He looked down at her small face as her eyes flickered closed. He had never felt so protective and tender toward a woman before. He had lain in many a woman's arms, but this one was special somehow. She fit up against him as if she had been born to be his. He reached down and gently pushed the yellow hair away from her face and without thinking, brushed his lips against her temple. Again his manhood rose against her warmth and he needed her, desired her as he had never needed a woman. She's married, he reminded himself, and her husband will be coming for her. You cannot send her back to him with your child in her belly, no matter how great your need.
Think of the beautiful Olivia, he chided himself. The dark beauty was much prettier than Hannah and an innocent virgin. If you marry Olivia, you will be proud to display her on your arm and teach her how to make love, and she will give you fine sons.
Hannah would give a man fine sons, too, Texas-born-and-bred sons, tough cowboys and Rangers and sheriffs, not the delicate, back-East civilized men who dipped snuff and wore silk cravats.
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