Dakota Dreams (Historical Romance) (37 page)

Breanna stood, hands on hips, legs spread apart, and anger gleaming in her eyes. "I could tell you the 'how' of it, my lord, but I believe you already know that. Oh, you are very adept at wooing a woman into your bed, but you care little for the consequences."

"Breanna" he asked, dismissing her sarcasm and trying to take in all she was telling him, "did you know you were with child when you left the Arapaho village?"

The proud tilt of her head gave no hint to the trembling that was going on inside her. "If you are talking about when you sent me away, yes, I knew."

"Why didn't you tell me? You know I would never have allowed you leave without me had I known you were with child."

"I knew that, Dakota. That's why I chose not to enlighten you."

There was now anger in his eyes. "Why, Breanna? I had a right to know."

"Because, if you had decided to come with me, I wanted it to be because you wanted to, and not from some misplaced duty you might have felt."

He cupped the baby's soft head in the palm of his hand, awed that anyone so small could belong to him. Dakota was overcome with a strong love and protectiveness. This little person was someone who had been created by him and Breanna. It softened his heart to think she had carried his seed within her body.

Breanna was watching the different emotions that chased across Dakota's handsome face. She felt tears stir in her eyes when he lifted his son and held him against his face, planting a soft kiss on the baby's hand.

There was no denying that Dakota was moved by his child. Still Breanna wanted to strike out at him, to make him pay for not being with her when she had brought their son into the world.

"May I assume that this is the first child you have fathered, my lord?"

His jaw tightened, and his eyes narrowed in on her. "Yes, you may make that assumption."

"Hello," Levi called out, making his way down the cliff. "I've come to take the baby, seeing as how the two of you have things to talk over."

"Never mind, Levi," Breanna stormed. "I am going with you."

Dakota stood up and placed the child in Levi's arms. "No, she's not. You take the baby with you. Breanna and I may, or may not, be back to the house tonight."

Levi nodded and smiled, satisfied. He knew when Dakota got that gleam in his eyes, he made things happen. Poor Breanna was about to meet with an immovable force. The hunter chuckled to himself as he climbed the cliff, the young Viscount Remington in his arms. All Breanna needed was for Dakota to quit acting as if he was afraid of her rejection of him, and to make her see things his way.

Levi knew that Breanna was a strong woman and she needed an even stronger man to rule her, one who loved her and would cherish her as Dakota would if she would only give him the chance.

Levi glanced down at his precious burden. "Well, little one, it seems you are going to belong to a happy family after all."

37

Breanna watched Levi depart with a feeling of panic. She did not want to be alone with Dakota. She was afraid she would allow him to see too much of what she was feeling, and she had to protect herself from being hurt again.

Dakota took her trembling hand in his, his eyes soft and pleading. "Breanna, will you ever be able to forgive me for not being with you when our son was born?"

She shrugged, pretending indifference, all the while watching the way his hair gleamed, black and thick in the sun.

"It was of no great significance. You did not know I was with child, so, therefore, you are excused."

He looked at her, puzzled. "No, I'm not. At least not in your mind. Will you tell me all that you are thinking and feeling so I can tell you what is in my heart?"

She faced him with a stiff, proud tilt to her head.

"No. Your questions are easy, my lord, but my answers would be more complicated."

"I have time to listen."

She pulled her hand from his grasp and walked to the water's edge. "Since I have known you, Dakota, I have had to compete with your memory of a dead Indian girl, the whole of the Arapaho tribe, and your reluctance to let me be a part of your life. I am not condemning you, I am merely stating facts. I really have no reason to condemn you for anything. You did not choose to be my husband, so I should not have expected you to act the part."

Breanna could feel him behind her. The warmth of his breath teased her hair, and she felt a weakness shake her body.

"You have every right to expect just that," he said. "Would you feel more tied to me if we went through a proper ceremony? I know if my grandfather had not become ill, he would have insisted we have the ceremony. Of course, I do not need some rites to make me feel married to you, Breanna."

She turned around. "I believe the time for that has passed. It would not seem proper since we have a son."

"If that is your wish. I am willing to do whatever it takes to make you happy."

"Does this mean you will be staying in England?"

"I have no intentions of ever leaving unless you drive me away." He smiled. "Even then, I doubt if you would be rid of me."

Now she searched his eyes, daring to hope. "Are you saying you have cut your ties in America?"

"I have settled the problems caused by Black Otter. The Arapaho have been exonerated from any blame in the raids he perpetrated. I am now free of any obligation I may have owed them. In my heart I know Two Moons would say this to me if he were alive."

Dakota reached for her, and Breanna reluctantly allowed him to pull her into his arms. "I have no further ties there. My life is here, with you and our son. My life and my love are here," he said softly, his arms tightening about her.

She jerked her head up, a tremendous splintering of her defenses crumbling to let in hope. "Your . . . love?"

He smiled, and there was a wealth of feeling in his green eyes. "Yes, my dearest love," he said thickly. "How could you even question how I feel about you?"

"I thought . . . Running Deer . . . I . . . you love me?" she choked out.

Laughter shook him as he pulled her back into his arms. "I never loved Running Deer. I admit there was a time when I thought I might love her, but that was nothing compared to this aching need I feel for you. All I can think about now is the sparkle of your golden eyes or the way your beautiful hair frames your face."

Tears swam in her golden eyes. "Oh, Dakota, I never—"

He placed his finger on her lips. "How could you not know that I love you? It seems everyone else knew it."

She was still not convinced, and being female, she asked, "When did you . . ."

His eyes moved over each feature of her face as if he was becoming reacquainted with them. "I can tell you the exact moment I fell in love with a beautiful fiery woman who set my blood boiling and wrapped herself around my heart so tightly I could scarcely think of anything else."

“When?" she asked again.

"The first day I saw you. You were unconscious on the ground, and when I lifted your head onto my lap and you opened your golden eyes, my heart was no longer mine."

"But I didn't know."

"I realize that, because I took the greatest pains to keep you from finding out. You couldn't know that first night, as I waited for you to come downstairs, I was actually considering leaving rather than facing you. I had heard the unflattering things you said about your husband, and I feared you would not accept me. But I stayed. Already it was too late for me, Breanna, because I had to have you."

She reached out and touched his face. "Oh, my dearest love, that day when I regained consciousness, I was so disturbed by the feelings a handsome stranger had brought to life within me. I found myself telling you things I would never have told anyone else." She smiled. “When I discovered you were my husband, I was horrified because of what I had said, but I was also glad you were the man to whom I had been married.''

He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the soft palm, while his eyes darkened with something akin to passion. "We had to go a long way to find each other, Breanna, and I never want us to be parted again."

"Dakota, there is something that has been bothering me. Can you ever forget that it was I who killed your Indian brother?"

He pressed his rough face against her satin-smooth cheek. "I will never forget that you cared enough for me to take up a gun and shoot a man. I know what that cost you, since you had never before taken a human life."

Her aching fingers reached around him, and he lifted her into his arms, carrying her up the cliff toward the hunting lodge.

"Where do you take me, my lord?" she asked almost coyly.

His eyes flamed with an inner light. "I am taking you to my bed, my lady, and I may keep you there the rest of the day and on into the night."

Breanna threw back her head, feeling as if her heart would take flight. No one had a right to be this happy, she thought as he pressed hot kisses on her throat.

Dakota entered the hunting lodge and carried Breanna to the bedroom that the two of them had occupied the first time he had made love to her.

He placed her on the bed and stood staring down at her, loving the way her red-gold hair fanned out around her. Driven with burning desire for her, he first wanted to feast his eyes on her beauty.

"Is there a chance that I can seduce you into loving me, my lady?" he asked sincerely.

She held her arms up to him, feeling a thrill go through her body as his deep voice stirred her desire to life. "There is a very great chance, my lord."

Dakota enclosed Breanna in his arms while he bruised her lips with hungry kisses, heightening their sensations.

"I love you, my Breanna," he murmured. "Never be where I cannot reach out and touch you. I need you in my life."

Breanna closed her eyes tightly as his weight drove her into the soft bed. Loving him as she did, her lips sought his sensuous mouth.

When at last Dakota raised his head and he stared into her eyes, Breanna tried to speak of her deep feelings, but her voice came out in a deep throaty sigh.

Dakota understood what she was feeling, because he was caught up with the essence of her, and it reached to the depths of his whole being.

"I will stay with you for eternity, my love," he assured her, chasing away any remaining doubts she might have.

Breanna could not have said why, but at that moment she thought of Holden and Cillia, and she smiled. She hoped wherever the two lovers were, they would know that they had a son of whom they could be proud.

Fleetingly, she thought about the Arapaho war chief, Two Moons, and gave him credit for shaping Dakota into the man he was today.

Happiness fused the lovers together, as the distant pounding of the surf was drowned out by the murmured words of everlasting love.