Passion's Series (19 page)

He wrapped her arm about his neck as he slid his other arm about her waist and pulled her close against him. Lowering his hands to her hips he pulled her closer still.

An odd little whimpering sound escaped from between her lips and he felt the vibration clear to his heart. He was intensely aware of her soft curves pressed against his hardness, of the scent of her flesh, the beat of her heart against his chest.

His blood raced. Between clenched teeth, his lips close to hers, he half groaned half whispered, "I have claimed you, woman. You are mine!" He crushed his lips to hers in a kiss that left no doubt in either of their minds.

Beneath the stars and the gently swaying limbs of the old willow, they made love, the giving and taking of one another that sealed their souls and their bodies.

As sounds of their lovemaking mingled with the sounds of tiny shells blowing in the breeze and the night sounds of nature, the spirits looked on and were pleased. The journey had begun.

Chapter Twenty-three

DuPrey looked up from the embers of his dying fire. Across the room from where he sat cross-legged, Laughing Woman stretched sensuously on the bed of fur, and looked longingly in his direction.

He would bed her tonight and every time he would drive into her he would think of New Moon. He waited two days at the place where Winds Blowing was to meet him with New Moon.

Two days he'd spent in anticipation of just how he would save New Moon from her captor. How he would send an arrow straight through the villain's heart. He would scalp him in seemingly great rage for what he had done to New Moon and her people during the renegade raids. Two days of thinking about how she would spread her legs for him; or if she wouldn't willingly, the pleasures he would have in convincing her.

DuPrey rose angrily to his feet and tossed his tin cup to the side. The damned bastard betrayed him. The unreliable savage was probably humping New Moon himself right now! He walked over to Laughing Woman and looked down at her as he pulled off  his clothing.

She looked at his still flaccid member and dread fluttered across her features. DuPrey smiled as her apparent distress illustrated the first faint twitch of anticipation in his otherwise dead sex organ. He kicked at her feet and she spread her legs obediently. He knelt down and placed a hand to each side of her head.

"Are you just going to lay there?" he hissed and slapped her hard.

"Touch me, you bitch!" He hit her again, harder this time and her temper flared.

Laughing Woman doubled up her fist and hit him in the stomach as hard as she could. He didn't flinch. She struggled frantically to work free, but her efforts were of no avail.

Eyes bulged and saliva dripped as he laughed at her struggles. With little effort he caught her wrists and leaned down to her ear to coo in an almost gentle voice, "That's better. Fight me! I like that."

***

The day was warm for early fall. The air filled with the smells of roasting meat and tanning hides. New Moon and Sparrow pulled the rawhide straps stretching the deer hide tightly in place on the standing frame.

New Moon straightened and wiped her wrist across her damp forehead. She had much to do before Panther returned from the hunt and even more to do after. He already provided their lodge with plenty of meat and  hides for the long winter months. Now he hunted for
Akachee.

She looked over at
Akachee
who worked diligently at scraping a hide free of meat. New Moon knew that
Akachee
resented her, wanting Panther to take her back to her own village where he could marry a Choctaw woman, but
Akachee
wasn't letting her resentment keep her from working.

Sparrow tied off her rope and ran over to
Akachee
. "Tell me a story,
Akachee
, please."

Akachee
gave the child a toothless grin and patted her cheek. New Moon knew that before long children would surround the old woman. She smiled.
Akachee
loved the children. It did not matter to her that the little ones were Cherokee.

New Moon walked to the next hide and tested it with her fingers. It was ready to be brain-tanned. As she turned to check on the cooling brain mixture she spotted DuPrey and Blue Feathers from the next village walking in her direction. She raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun and watched them approach.

"Ah, New Moon," the Frenchman sighed and reached out to take her hand. "It is good to see you well and looking so happy. You have been through much hard times."

New Moon withdrew her hand and looked uncomfortably at Blue Feathers and then again to DuPrey. His habit of always taking up her hand unnerved her. As he had explained to her once it was the way a gentleman from his country showed respect to a woman he held in high regard, she accepted.

DuPrey always showed respect for Cherokee customs and so she tried to keep her uneasiness about this unusual custom of touch to herself. Yet, now that she was married, it made her uneasier than ever. She instinctively knew Panther would not approve.

She ran the back of her hand down the side of her buckskin skirt in an unconscious gesture. "I must continue with my work." Turning she bent down to dip a wooden scoop into the brain mixture. When she turned back around the expression on DuPrey's face sparked a quickening in her senses.

Danger.

The slight tremor in her hand stopped and her back stiffened. She would face the danger he posed and she would overcome it. Stepping up to the stretched hide she slowly poured the mixture along the top edge and worked it in with her fingers.

DuPrey eagerly reached out a hand to the wet hide, "Here, let me help you," he offered as his hand slid over hers.

New Moon hastily removed her own hand and smiled sweetly. "Thank you. I always hate putting my hands into this." She grinned even bigger when she saw frustration flicker in his eyes.

After several minutes of working the skin DuPrey helped to cut it loose and then fold it into a large bucket of water to soak. "There," DuPrey straightened and wiped his wet hands on his buckskins. "Now that that's done, why don't we go rest under the shade over there and have a talk?"

"I do not have time to stop. See?" New Moon pointed to a large basket of corn needing to be shucked.

DuPrey turned to Blue Feathers and waved his hand toward the basket. "Well, pick it up, Blue, and take it to the shade over there." He turned back to New Moon. "It looks like we will get to sit under that shade tree after all."

Sparrow and
Akachee
watched with great interest as the large Indian retrieved the basket and carried it to the spot DuPrey indicated and  sat it down. New Moon appeared to be unconcerned as she walked over and  sat down beside the basket.

Sparrow leaned over to
Akachee
, "I don't like that white man."

Akachee
looked down at Sparrow and then back to DuPrey. "Nether do I. I think it is best that you stay away from him."

"I think New Moon should stay away from him," Sparrow quipped. "Why is he here?"

"I do not know, little one, but I will tell Panther about his visit."

"Good!" Sparrow said in relief. "Panther will make him stay away."

Later when the two visitors went to the visitor's lodge Sparrow followed. Hiding behind the low built structure Sparrow spotted a small crack between the cane where the mud mortar had come loose and fallen out. Moving as quietly as she could she crawled up to the crack and pressed her ear up close.

"My contact was right, that bastard is an English agent." The Frenchman's hands fisted and flexed at his side as he paced back and forth. "I'm convinced New Moon knows nothing, all the better for her. By God I'll get rid of that English scum, and the sooner the better!"

Sparrow turned her head to look through the hole. DuPrey paced angrily while Blue Feathers stood tall and stiff to one side.

"We must devise a plan. By marrying New Moon he placed himself in too high a position in the tribe to just kill him out right."

"It is too bad that you did not marry her yourself. Then you would have come to live in this village and would have blessed its people with your great knowledge and love for the Principal People." DuPrey did not notice the sneer in Feather's voice.

"That plan is still a good one, but things are a bit more complicated now. We must get the Englishman out of Chota. We will kill him and blame the renegades."

"Is this not how New Moon's first husband died?"

DuPrey paced past Blue Feathers without responding.

"I have a plan," Blue Feathers spoke up and DuPrey turned anxiously.

"I will send a runner to Tellico. He will tell our brothers we have learned that Red Panther is an enemy to our people. He will tell them how sad it makes your heart for such a one to be among  us and that we must kill him before he spreads his poison further." Blue Feathers paused.

DuPrey was actually rubbing his hands together in his excitement. "Good, good. Continue, please," he implored anxiously.

Blue Feathers allowed a small smile. "You and I will go out to meet this most evil of men and tell him that we know a good place, where there are many turkey with beautiful feathers. He will gladly come with us. We will take him down from the mountains by way of the elk-trail..."

DuPrey held up his hands, "Wait, doesn't the elk trail lead toward English territory? It would be better to take him west toward the Mississippi."

"What you say is wise, but he may become suspicious and not come with us. He will have no fear traveling with us along the Elk Trail. Remember, he does not know you have learned of his treachery and going in that direction will not alert him."

DuPrey rubbed a hand over his mouth and peered at Blue Feathers through his big bugged eyes. "You are right, Blue Feathers. Go and make arrangements for an ambush, but go yourself to Tellico.

"I will meet you there in two days and then we will return here to meet with Red Panther and convince him to join us. Once he is in our custody we can take him to New Orleans and turn him over for questioning." He gave a nasty snort, "Or, we could kill him on the spot. Well don't just stand there, man," he impatiently waved a hand at Feathers. "Go, go! Do what needs to be done. I have a few things to do here."

Feathers nodded solemnly and left the lodge.

Sparrow sat crouched and trembling, too frightened to move. DuPrey was going to hurt Panther. She had to tell New Moon.

Without warning strong arms grabbed her from behind and roughly yanked her from the ground. Before she could gather enough air into her compressed lungs to cry out a cruel hand slapped across her mouth.

She felt the hot, wet flutter of his breath against her neck as he pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, "Well, well. It looks as if I have captured a little bird."

Stark terror raced through Sparrow's being as she struggled frantically against his grip.

"Such a little thing. What did you think you were doing, tiny, little thing?"

Tremor after tremor shook her as her mind raced wildly. She managed to work one arm free and swung her hand back to swat at the mouth that tormented with words of terror.

Her thumb sunk into something soft and moist and DuPrey grunted as he flung her from him. She landed hard. Pushing herself up she looked back to see DuPrey clutching at his eye. She had jabbed a finger into the hateful orb and the sight of blood slipping from beneath his hand gave her a moment of triumph. Then his good eye leveled on her and the fear returned.

She scrambled to her feet and ran. She didn't know which way to go, just away from him. She could hear him thrashing after her. Her heart beat so fast that it hurt within her chest. She pressed harder. She had to get away.

Her foot snagged. Pain ...such pain in her foot. The air rushed from her lungs. A soft whimper. Darkness.

DuPrey snatched the unconscious girl up and tucked her under one arm. He stepped into the cornfield, the stalks were withered, but they offered sufficient covering till he reached the cane that grew against the tall wall of the fortress.

He pressed himself close against the wall and slowly made his way to the stream. Careful not to cause undue ripples, he lowered himself slowly into the water and ducked beneath its surface to come up again on the opposite side of the wall.

Sparrow jerked awake as the cold water engulfed her and she struggled weakly, but the fear of drowning caused her to cling to DuPrey and hold her breath.

When DuPrey emerged on the other side he pulled Sparrow up like a wet puppy and cuffed her hard on the jaw.

Tucking her once again under his arm he scrambled quickly up the bank. "This is almost too easy," he sneered as he readjusted Sparrows weight and headed for the cliffs.

The climb was treacherous and took longer than he would have liked, but he could easily be spotted and had to move carefully from one cover to the next. Reaching a high peak he pushed Sparrow's limp body up the last few inches and then over.

Chapter Twenty-four

James, DuPrey and Blue Feathers stepped out of the forest into a small clearing. DuPrey stole a glance in Feathers' direction and nodded. Immediately Feathers took hold of one of DuPrey's arms and bend it painfully behind his back.

"What are you doing, you fool!" DuPrey struggled against the hold only to have his other arm captured by James. "Turn me loose this instant!" he snarled like a caged animal. At the sound of rustling brush he swung his head in that direction, still foolishly thinking that he'd not been captured in his own snare.

"Captain Ingram," James nodded as he spoke to the English officer.

"Col. Fitzgerald, I presume." the captain responded.

Beau stepped out from behind a large tree and then leaned casually against its trunk. James and Beau exchanged silent nods.

DuPrey cackled like a mad man and all turned to look in his direction. "Yes, damn you all to hell! You presume right." His head swung to James, "You may have won but at great cost to you. I actually thought about letting the little bitch live, but then she put my eye out. Hurt like a sonofabitch too. So I pushed her over the top." He laughed again and Feathers backed away.