LeClerc 01 - Autumn Ecstasy (25 page)

CHAPTER TWELVE

Linsey contentedly dug through the huge chest kept at the foot of the bed, the events of the day before forgotten. Not wanting to intrude on Bear’s privacy, she had forced herself to leave it unexplored. Curiosity finally got the upper hand, and she tried to sound casual as she asked him about its contents. Bear saw the inquisitiveness sparkling childlike in her eyes and with a grin told her to find out.

Feeling as if she was prying, Linsey carefully removed first one thing and then another, until interest overcame caution and she happily jumbled through the various items. At the bottom she could see a large wrapped bundle and grunted from the effort of lifting the heavy package out of the chest.

“Flannel!” There were several bolts of the soft, sturdy fabric with matching threads, needles and pins. “Why didn’t you tell me you had this? I could have used it to make the gown for the baby.”

Looking up from the hide he was cleaning, Bear shrugged. “It’s been years since I’ve gone through that chest. I’m not sure anymore exactly what’s in it. I guess I just forgot about the cloth.”

Just like a man, Linsey decided as she set the fabrics aside and began replacing the other items in the chest. Now that she knew he didn’t mind, she would investigate them more thoroughly another day.

She closed the lid and carried the material to the table. She discovered there was enough fabric for several shirts, which he desperately needed. In some of his old ones the cloth was so thin she could see her hand through it, and in others the weave was tearing apart. She had repaired them when possible, but most were fit only for the rag bag.

Sewing was something Linsey not only enjoyed but was good at. She put the flannel on her shelf and sat down with one of his old shirts. Using the point of her knife, she carefully picked at the seams. With it as a pattern, she could quickly make him several new shirts.

“I have decided that when I must be gone from the cabin you will go to the village.”

“What?” Linsey looked up, startled out of her concentration by his abruptness.

“It’s not safe for you to be here alone; so I’ll take you to the village when I leave, and you can visit with Morning Moon.”

All day long, Bear had seemed to almost haunt the cabin. Linsey had been expecting something like this, but now that it was out in the open, she wasn’t sure how to handle it.

“What if I don’t happen to want to spend the day with her?”

“You’ll have no choice.”

This wasn’t going the way he had planned. After loving Linsey with a passion that bordered on desperation, Bear had lain awake most of the night, with her safely enfolded in his embrace, his thoughts in a turmoil. The day had seemed endless as he’d searched for a solution, and this had seemed the only reasonable one. He’d been sure she would agree. He was no longer so sure.

“Just like that
—”
Linsey snapped her lingers “— you decide what I will or won’t do and I don’t have a say in the matter?”

“You’ll be safe there.”

“I’ll be safe here!” She looked down at the shirt in her lap and ripped a few more threads free.

“The next time someone like Zeke breaks in, you may not be so lucky!”

“There is no one else like Zeke,” she muttered to herself.

Bear heard her but chose to ignore the comment. “I thought you’d gotten over your irrational fear of the Indians and that you liked Morning Moon.”

“It wasn’t irrational and I do like her!” Linsey stood and paced the small confines of the cabin. “I just don’t happen to want to spend all day, every day, with her! There are too many things that need to be done here. Do the wives of other hunters spend their time being watched over?”

“I don’t particularly care what other hunters do.” It was the only way he could think of to protect her, and she was going to agree if he had to throw her over his shoulder and carry her to the village!

Linsey knew she had to win this argument. If Bear wouldn’t let her stay alone, he’d never agree to letting her stay once spring arrived. And she knew she wanted to stay; she wanted it more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life. He had to see that she could survive in his wilderness.

“I’m not going to the village,” she said firmly. “I’ve never been watched over, and I’m not going to start now.”

“This is not the city with fifty people within shouting distance. If Wolf hadn’t happened along, God alone knows what Zeke would have done to you. I can’t take that chance.” Bear tried to make his voice sound reasonable. “You’ll be safe with Morning Moon, and if I can’t make it back at night, I won’t have to worry about you.”

Linsey sat on the edge of the bed and began unlacing the leggings. He could take her to the village, but he couldn’t make her stay, she decided as she kicked off the moccasins, removed the leggings and reached for the hem of her dress. This discussion was getting them nowhere, and she refused to continue it. Time would show him that she was safe alone in the cabin.

Bear’s breath caught in his throat as she pulled the dress up over her head. The shadows from the fire danced over her creamy skin, and he watched her nipples pucker from the chill in the room. All thoughts of tomorrow fled as he became a willing captive of her wild beauty. He put aside the hide he’d been working on and slowly approached the bed.

She unknotted her hair and let it fall in a cascade of russet fire around her shoulders. Grabbing the flannel shirt she’d claimed as her own, Linsey started to slip it on when she realized he was standing in front of her. He took the shirt from her hands and threw it to the foot of the bed.

“You don’t need that,” he murmured in a velvet whisper.

“It keeps me warm.”

“I’ll keep you warm.”

Bear sat on the bed and pulled her between his thighs. Her breasts were level with his mouth, and he eagerly sought one of the puckered peaks. He teased it with his lips and tongue until she buried her hands in his hair and pulled his head against her. Her knees grew weak, and her legs began to tremble as he supported her weight with his hands cupped around the fullness of her bottom.

Linsey unlaced the thong of his shirt, running her fingers over his muscular chest and shoulders. With a groan, he released her long enough to pull it over his head and toss it away. He nuzzled the soft skin beneath her breast, his tongue making ever decreasing circles around the globe until he reached his goal. Linsey was unaware of holding her breath until she released it with a shudder as his lips closed warmly over her nipple.

Bear gave her other breast the same treatment while Linsey gently rubbed her stomach against the thick hair on his chest. Growling deeply, he moved his mouth lower, sampling the firm skin covering her ribs, the crevice of her waist and the swell of her hips. His hand followed the enticing slope of her bottom, his fingers finding the moist warmth between her thighs. When his mouth reached unchartered territory, Linsey grabbed handfuls of hair, pulling his head away.

“What are you doing?” she asked, startled by the invasion of his tongue. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, clearly showing her unease with this new caress.

His eyes were burning with desire as they searched hers. “There are so many things yet to discover and learn,” he whispered huskily. Placing a kiss low on her stomach, Bear stood and easily picked her up. “When you are ready, I will show you other ways for us to please each other, for now this is enough.”

He placed her in the center of the bed and quickly finished undressing. Carefully parting her thighs with his knees, Bear lowered his body to hers until they were one.

His weight was familiar as he filled her with his burning velvet shaft. Thoughts of yesterday and tomorrow faded like the light in the sky at dusk. Just as the sun would rise to chase away the dark, so would their dilemma wait for their return to reality. Only now mattered as they journeyed to the world they knew awaited their return — a world that only two who love can share.

“Linsey!”

The bellowing roar outside the cabin door startled her so much that she jabbed the needle deep into her finger. Ruby-red blood beaded on the tip, and she stuck the offended finger into her mouth.

“Open the damn door right now!”

“He’s not happy,” she mumbled to herself as she placed her sewing on the table and stood.

“Did you hear me?” A rattling of the door told of his impatience. “Dammit woman, answer me!”

A heavy pounding on the door tested the strength of the bar across it, and Linsey considered not letting him in until his temper cooled somewhat. But the longer she delayed, the angrier he seemed to grow, and his curses came clearly through the thick wood.

She had known that he would discover her deception sooner or later, but she had hoped for later! With a resigned shrug, Linsey lifted the heavy bar free and jumped back as the door was thrown open.

Anyone with an ounce of common sense would have run in terror from the expression contorting his face. Linsey briefly wondered when her common sense had deserted her, for she felt no fear. Someone had to win this standoff, and she was determined it would be her.

“You’re back early today.” Linsey turned casually and walked back to her chair. She sat down and picked up her sewing.

Bear stalked toward her, his hands knotted into tight fists. “You owe me an explanation.”

“Why?” Linsey found it hard to maintain her casual pose. She knew he would not harm her; but only a fool baits a wounded animal, and standing over her with nostrils flared and a muscle jumping violently in his jaw, he much resembled his namesake.

“Woman! Don’t play with me!”

“That’s not what you said last night,” she mumbled softly, her eyes sparkling.

Bear gritted his teeth and brought his hand down on the table with a bone-rattling slam. “What are you doing here?”

“Sewing?”

“Linsey … !”

She tilted her head slightly to the side and looked at him with a gentle smile. “I think that’s the first time you’ve ever used my name.”

“Stop avoiding the question! Why aren’t you at the village?”

“Would you believe me if I said I got homesick?” His eyes narrowed.

“No, huh? How about Morning Moon got tired of my company and asked me to leave?”

“When did you come home?”

“A little earlier today than I did yesterday. I must have stayed fifteen minutes this morning; yesterday it was closer to an hour.”

“The day before yesterday?”

Her brow wrinkled as she considered the question. “It must have been mid-morning before I got home. I ran into Kaleb, and we talked for a while. You didn’t tell me he had been invited to winter with the tribe.”

“You’ve been at the village every evening when I’ve gotten there.”

She smiled sweetly. “You almost caught me yesterday! Pd just gotten back and sat down to play with Chattering Squirrel when you arrived.”

His voice lowered until it was deadly soft. “For three days you’ve gone to the village with me in the morning, then come back home a short time later. In the afternoon, before you think I’ll get back, you return to the village?”

“Well, not really.”

“Not really?”

“Actually, it’s been four days.”

“Linsey,” he spoke through clenched teeth, “I’ve only taken you there for four days.”

“I think I like it better when you call me Autumn Fire or Angel. The way you’re saying my name makes it sound like a curse.”

She didn’t understand what he said next because he spoke in Shawnee, but she decided she was glad she knew so little of the language. His voice was harsh, the words snarled as he dropped his pack and removed his coat. Linsey folded her hands in her lap and looked the picture of innocence.

Bear fought to control his raging anger. He’d been frantic when he’d arrived at the village and Linsey had not been there. Wolf’s face had been serious, but his eyes had sparkled with amusement when he’d informed Bear that she’d left early that morning and had not returned yet. The trip to the cabin had seemed endless as he pictured her hurt or lost. Finding her quietly sewing had only made his temper soar.

“Tomorrow you will stay at the village,” he ordered. “No.”

“No?” His look was incredulous. He’d seen grown men back down when his temper had flared. Now this little bit of femininity was sitting as calmly as if they were discussing the weather, occasionally looking at him as if he were a child throwing a temper tantrum!

“No! Before Zeke broke in, you didn’t worry about leaving me here. Nothing has changed. I refuse to continue going to the village every day.”

“You refuse! Linsey, I’m not giving you a choice!”

“I dinna ask for a choice, mon! You canna make me go.”

His eyes narrowed. “Would you like to place a wager on it?”

“You and whose tribe?”

“Woman, you will do as I say!” he roared.

“This is America. My father died from wounds he received fighting in a war that helped make this land and its people independent of a monarchy. If you want to be a king and rule your subjects, go back to France, but don’t stand here and try to rule me!”