For the Love of Suzanne (17 page)

She covered her mouth with trembling fingers,
looking away from him, as she choked back tears. She was more
apprehensive now than ever. She was too far from the accident. She
was convinced she had to be there in order to get back home.

His heart went out to her. He scooted over and
carefully wrapped his arms around her, not wanting to cause her more
pain. He dropped a kiss to her soft blond hair. “Don’t
cry,” he murmured to her. “It’s going to be okay.
I’m going to get you back to where you belong if it’s the
last thing I do,” he vowed quietly.

She sniffed reverently, clinging to him weakly. “I
can’t make it out here, Cody,” she whispered
distressfully. “Please don’t send me away.”

“I won’t,” he murmured into her
ear and smoothed her hair down her back, ignoring the singed pieces
that were still falling onto her clothes.

She rested her cheek on his shoulder, feeling so
warm and safe. She’d never felt this way with Beau; it was so
intense, she never wanted to let him go. She felt him watching her
and finally looked up into his dark eyes.

Her nearness was giving him comfort, too. After
riding an entire day in the hot sun and her blood-caked injuries, she
still smelled rather clean. Her hair was almost white now except
where it had been so viciously burned away by Chief Tall Deer. Her
skin was now a glowing brown from exposure to the sun. Her eyes were
the deepest blue, and he easily lost himself in them. Not only was
she beautiful, she was good. Her spirit was good and her heart was
pure. It pained him to know how much she’d suffered.

But now as she held him around his waist and gazed
into his eyes, it didn’t seem to matter. All that mattered was
the two of them. They were alone. He could feel the tension between
them and it was nothing like he’d ever felt before. It wasn’t
anger but a sweet compulsion to hold her, protect her, and never let
her go.

She moved her hand behind his neck, tangling her
fingers in the dark hair that flowed loosely down his back, and
pulled him down to kiss him very softly, being mindful of her sore
lip.

He didn’t pull away, but held his
reservations. He knew she was married, but her husband went to the
back of his mind as he caressed her cheek with his fingers and slowly
swept the inside of her mouth with his tongue.

It was a long, sweet kiss like none he’d
ever experienced before. It was her. Only her. He’d kissed many
women and nothing could match how she was making him feel. His heart
was racing, his head was floating and his body was heating. It was
more than physical. There was emotion involved that was new, strange,
and exciting.

She was afraid yet brave at the same time. She
entwined her tongue with his and tightened her hold around his neck
as he eased her onto her back again. He felt so good and she was
melting into him.

When he shifted against her and covered her legs
with one of his and his hand wandered her stomach through his shirt
that she was wearing, she shot away from him, covering her mouth with
her hand as she trembled.

He sat up and met her terrified eyes and knew
she’d been hurt worse than what the men had done to her at the
fort and in his village. It was a fear from her soul and he couldn’t
imagine who would have done something that would make her look at him
like she was. He reminded himself that he really didn’t know
what had happened to her at the fort and feared she may have been
raped. He had stopped that act himself when Walking Bull had been
about to do it to her, so he doubted anything like that had happened
in his village.

He took the risk of pushing her hair away from her
face, feeling her tremble under his touch as she held her breath and
kept her eyes closed. “Who hurt you, honey?” he asked her
softly.

She shook her head, not seeing any point in
telling him about Beau. He was gone and couldn’t hurt her
anymore. She just had to go on with her life…if she ever got
back to it.

“Is Beau your husband?” he asked
quietly as his heart raced with anger. She’d been beaten and
brutalized by several different men since she’d been here, but
she’d cried out only for Beau while she was delirious with
fever. Still she’d also said he was dead.

“How do you know about him?” she asked
shakily as she moved her hand away from her mouth, still not looking
at him.

“You called his name while you had a fever,”
he explained, still touching her hair.

She looked around the cave and out the door,
noticing night had fallen. “I did?” she asked with
trepidation, wondering what else she’d said.

He absently toyed with a strand of her hair. “Yes.
You did.”

She still avoided looking at him, feeling like she
had a cheating heart when it came to her husband. He had been gone
for over a month now or longer. She really had no idea how long she’d
been here and had lost all track of time. She was falling in love
with another man when she should still be grieving.

This was just a dream, right? Anything can happen
in dreams. A husband could die. Another man from another place and
time could sweep her off her feet and make her feel like she mattered
when she knew she didn’t. She would wake up and Beau would be
beside her in bed, snoring off another drunk just like always. Cody
and his kindness were just things dreams were made of, a handsome man
who was perfect and loving and promised to take care of her. Yes,
this was just a dream.

He ran the back of his fingers over her cheek.
“Did he hurt you?” he asked softly.

She had never received such compassion from anyone
in her whole life. When it came to men, she’d always been in
the way or a convenience. With Beau, there was the added humiliation
of his cheating and never being nice to her, even when he claimed he
loved her. He had caused her so much pain and she longed to give
herself to Cody, but he was a man and he would tire of her just like
everyone else did.

He dropped a gentle kiss to her lips and eased her
down into his arms as he laid beside her and situated her head on his
bicep. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he told her in a
quiet voice as he looked into her face by the subdued light of the
fire.

“I know,” she whispered, seeing the
sincerity in his dark eyes.

He pushed her hair back affectionately, taken by
her blue eyes and internal beauty. “I would never hurt you,
Suzanne,” he said solemnly.

She nodded slightly reaching for his chest, then
thought better of it and dropped her hand. She knew nothing good
could come from this. This was just an illusion, a mean trick her
mind was playing on her. There was no Cody. There was only Beau, the
father of her child, her dead husband.

“Was it Beau?”

She still didn’t look at him, not wanting to
talk to him about anything pertaining to Beau. She wanted to be with
him without the ghost of Beau in her head, but knew it was just a
dream. Men like Cody just didn’t exist.

Cody wanted to know more about her husband, but
knew he’d lost the moment and said no more. He lightly pressed
his lips to her forehead and tightened his hold on her carefully, not
wanting to inflict any more pain on her.

After a long, quiet moment, he gave her a slight
smile. “Shall we eat?”

She nodded, visibly relaxing. “I’m
starving.”

Cody helped Suzanne outside to relieve herself
after they’d eaten, giving her privacy by keeping his back
turned. She seemed a little stronger now and he hoped they could
leave in just a few days, even though he wasn’t sure where he
was going to take her. He knew where he
should
take her, but didn’t
think it was safe yet. They couldn’t stay here for long. They
were sure to be found.

Suzanne was curious about her clothes. The
buckskin pants were surprisingly comfortable even if they were too
big for her, and the white shirt was roomy and allowed a lot of air
to touch her skin.

He watched her emerge from behind a big boulder.
She was beautiful even with part of her hair burned off and the
bruises on her face. He knew what was under her skin and in her
heart, and that’s where true beauty lies.

She coughed as she walked, but made it to him and
let him support her with his arm. “Sorry,” she said
breathlessly as her body shook with the hacking.

“It’s okay.”

She spit phlegm onto the ground. “I’m
sorry you had to see that.”

He smiled. “I’ve never seen a woman
spit before,” he said lightly, getting a little laugh out of
her.

“It’s not something I normally do, but
I didn’t want to swallow it and I don’t have a Kleenex.”

“Ah yes, the Kleenex,” he remembered
as he led her back to the cave.

He made her herbal tea as she rested on the
blanket, then watched her drink it as they talked about the clothes
she was wearing. She was surprised they were his, but thanked him for
letting her use them.

After the tea was gone, she was drowsy. Her belly
was full, the tea had relaxed her and she was safe with the only man
who had ever shown her an ounce of kindness.

Cody lay down with her and held her close under
the only blanket as they fell into an exhausted sleep.

In the early morning hours, he heard a shuffle
outside the entrance to the cave. He stayed still, but opened his
eyes with the feeling that somebody was outside. Had they been
tracked so easily? Not even a day had gone by.

He listened closely.

There was no sound of horses or wild animals. The
fire had gone out and day was just beginning to break.

His guns were behind him but within reach.
However, he had his back to the door and Suzanne was sleeping with
her arm around his waist. He would have to move fast and be accurate
if they were going to make it out of here alive.

He knew Chief Tall Deer’s death would have
to be avenged. He knew the others would know who had killed the
chief. He also knew he would not die in battle, thanks to a vision
quest he’d gone on when he was younger; he wasn’t so sure
he couldn’t die in a fight or an ambush. They weren’t the
same. He was sure that didn’t extend to Suzanne.

His own horse was tethered inside the cave a fair
distance from Suzanne and himself; when the black stallion began to
stomp his feet, snort, and whinny nervously, Cody was sure somebody
was around.

He stayed still, barely breathing. He knew he had
to move Suzanne to free himself and quickly subdue the intruder.

Suzanne woke with a start and tried to move away
only to feel his hand come over her mouth. “Sh-h,” he
whispered in her ear.

She gazed into his serious face and wondered what
he was going to do to her, trembling with the thought that he was
going to hurt her.

He could see her fear. He crossed his lips with
his finger in a silent order to be quiet.

She nodded, knowing something was wrong.

He diligently moved his arm from under her head
and grasped the loaded pistol that was resting near them. With one
quick movement, he was on his knees with the gun pointed at the
doorway where a man had a gun pointed at a woman’s head.

“You had better think about this, Black
Fox,” the man growled. “I’ve got your woman here
and I’ll shoot her where she stands.”

Cody didn’t back down and kept the gun
leveled at the big man. He knew him to be Red Dog, a fierce warrior
but not an honorable man. He’d joined Chief Tall Deer in his
atrocious mutilations of women and had been known to rape a few on
his own. Lame Bird meant nothing to Red Dog and Cody knew Red Dog
wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.

“Give me the white whore and I’ll let
Lame Bird go.”

Suzanne stood without hesitation. “Okay.”

Cody pulled her back down. “No. I will not
give you the white woman. You give me Lame Bird.”

He laughed and cocked the gun and shoved the
barrel in Lame Bird’s temple with a sneer. “You are a
traitor to our people.”

Lame Bird didn’t flinch, but Cody could see
she was terrified and didn’t blame her. Red Dog had no respect
for life.

Cody knew he had to rescue her and in the back of
his mind, he was wondering where the rest of the women were. Had Lame
Bird fallen behind and the other women left her? Had they been
separated? Had they all been captured? Were any of them even alive?

“Give me the white woman,” he growled.

“No. Release Lame Bird,” he demanded.

“We trade,” he decided.

“No,” he said seriously. “No
trade.”

They glared at each other, but neither moved, each
waiting for the other to do something.

Suzanne looked at Cody. “Trade me,”
she said quietly. “I’m not worth all of this.”

He ignored her and continued to glare at Red Dog,
his gun still leveled at the despicable man.

“Okay,” Red Dog said simply and pulled
the trigger, putting a bullet into Lame Bird’s head, creating a
spray of blood and brain matter as she dropped to the ground without
uttering a sound.

Cody pulled the trigger simultaneously, hitting
Red Dog in the neck and watched both his friend and foe hit the dirt
at same time while the horse whinnied with fear as the exceedingly
loud bangs ricocheted off the walls of the cave.

He didn’t hear Suzanne scream or see her
cover her face in horror, but rushed to the horse to calm and
restrain him, knowing he wanted to bolt. He needed the horse to get
Suzanne back to where she’d come from; that was his first
priority. He grabbed the halter and tried to hold him down as he
reared onto his back legs as high as he could, impeded by the rather
low ceiling of the cave.

He spoke softly to the horse and began to stroke
its nose comfortingly. He did this for a long while before the
stallion was finally settled down. He looked at the two bloody bodies
that were blocking the doorway, realizing that both of their heads
were pretty well blown off. Blood was everywhere as well as pieces of
Lame Bird’s head.