Wild Thunder (5 page)

Her hair that lay along her back
Was yellow like ripe corn.

—D
ANTE
G
ABRIEL
R
OSSETTI

 

 

 

As Strong Wolf continued to glare at her, Hannah slowly pushed herself up from the ground.

After she was back on her feet she started to back away from him, their eyes still locked in silent battle.

When he reached out and grabbed her by a wrist, stopping her, Hannah gasped and paled. “Please tell me what's wrong,” she said, her voice tremulous. “Why are you treating me like this?”

In small flashes her memory was returning. She recalled why she had left the ranch; to see if the dam had been destroyed. She recalled now having seen the dynamite planted in strategic places in the dam, and then . . .

“Your brother deceived me,” Strong Wolf finally said, interrupting Hannah's train of thought; her remembrances of what had brought her to this moment in life.

“My brother deceived you?” Hannah said, her eyebrows forking. “How?”

She reached her free hand to her brow, where she felt a slight swelling of the skin. It was just now beginning to throb.

The blast!

She now recalled the blast!

Shortly afterward, it was as though a black veil had been drawn over her eyes when she had been knocked into unconsciousness.

“Your brother played the role of a friend and then the role of one who speaks with two tongues,” Strong Wolf said, confusing Hannah even worse by how he explained his feelings.

Then it came to her.

The dam!

Strong Wolf surely thought that Chuck had gone back on his word and had allowed the dam to stay in place across the stream, after all.

“If you are speaking of the dam, you are wrong to accuse my brother of being responsible for it having not been removed,” Hannah said, pleading at him with her eyes. “It's apparent to me that his foreman blatantly ignored his orders.”

She flinched when he tightened his grip on her wrist, paining her.

“And why should I believe you?” he grumbled. “You can lie as easily as your brother. Do you not share the same blood in your veins? You could share the same ease at lying!”

“My brother and I are both honest people,” Hannah said, firming her chin. “Neither of us make a habit of lying, especially about something like this. It was obvious to me yesterday when you and Chuck were together that he deeply admires and respects you. I could tell that you felt the same about him. He would do nothing to jeopardize the friendship. I am sure that you wouldn't, either.”

She paused, then said—“You
wouldn't,
would you?” she breathed guardedly across her lips.

“I have often been forced to place friendships behind me,” Strong Wolf said, then released her wrist. “Always my people's welfare comes before anyone else's.”

Hannah rubbed her wrists. She gazed at him questionably, not knowing if she had gained ground with him, or if he still wished not to believe her or Chuck.

She then looked from side to side and asked, “Where's my horse?”

“The blast of dynamite frightened it away,” Strong Wolf said, torn with what to believe. He wished to think that this woman whose very nearness made his heart do strange flip-flops could be trusted.

Yet he could not allow a woman to be the cause of his defenses weakening. Many Potawatomis people were responsible for him keeping his sense of logic. They had to remain the main focus in his life. He could not allow himself to trust too easily, even when it was a woman he wished to be free to love.

“Using dynamite was an irresponsible thing to do,” Hannah suddenly snapped, placing her fists on her hips. “Not only could I have been killed, but also
you
.” She moved her fingers to the lump on her brow. “I'm lucky this bump is all I have to show for your . . . your . . . negligence.”

“I warned your brother about the dam,” Strong Wolf said stiffly. “He did not listen. I chose the quickest way possible to rid the land of it.”

“I still say that was the wrong way to handle the situation,” Hannah said, then glared at him. “And I told you that my brother isn't responsible for the dam not having been removed. Why can't you believe me? Tiny was supposed to remove it. He
didn't
.”

“If what you say is true, then your brother must find a way to make sure that what he commands done from now on, is
done,
” Strong Wolf said.

“Then you believe me?” Hannah asked, her eyes wavering into his.

“Perhaps a little,” Strong Wolf said, folding his arms across his chest.

“Either you do, or you
don't,
” Hannah said, frustrated.

He said nothing back to her.

“Well,
I
know one thing for certain,” Hannah said, turning to walk away. “I'm going to find my horse. I'm going home. I'm tired of bantering with you. I don't know how else I can convince you that my brother is innocent of that which you accuse him.”

Strong Wolf watched her walk away for a moment, then something came to him so quickly: a plan that he felt was necessary. He did not have the time to think it through before he went and grabbed her by a wrist again, stopping her.

Their eyes met in silent combat, and he was reminded of so long ago, when it
was
the practice of the Potawatomis to take captives. Despite the momentary terror of such abduction, victims—especially women—were generally welcomed as new members of the community to which they were taken, sometimes hundreds of miles away.

Most captives accepted their new roles, replacing the tribe members who had been lost to disease, nature, or battle.

But this was now, and this was a
white
woman. This was a
spirited,
stubborn white woman.
She
would not accept such fate as easily.

“You are not going anywhere until I am ready to allow it,” he said thickly, their eyes in silent combat again as she stared in disbelief at him.

“Are you saying that I . . . am . . . a captive?” Hannah said, paling.

“If I must hold you as ransom, to get assurances from your brother that are true, yes, for now you are my captive,” Strong Wolf said, disbelieving that he had actually said that.

Never before had he done this.

But never before had he felt the need to. He was afraid that if he did nothing to make the rancher realize the true importance of keeping the water running free, then another dam would appear across the stream before there was another sunrise.

Hannah stared up at him for a moment, seeing in him so much that made her insides melt. Even though he was treating her wrong today, she could still feel something special flow between them.

It was in his eyes that his words betrayed his heart!

He wanted her. She could tell it. She could feel it.

And, oh, she so badly wanted him. It would be heaven to be held by him. His muscled arms could make her feel so protected, so loved!

But at this moment, they were enemies. And she would fight for her freedom!

Wrenching her wrist free, Hannah turned and ran. “My father imprisoned me at the convent!” she shouted over her shoulder. “No one will imprison me ever again!”

Strong Wolf was again in awe of Hannah's spirit, of her will to fight for her rights! He admired this in her, and he wanted her even more than before. She would be a challenge for any man. And he had always enjoyed challenges of all kinds!

He ran after her.

When he caught up with her, he swung an arm around her waist and wrestled her to the ground until she lay flat on her back. Straddling her, holding her wrists to the ground over her head, he watched her breasts heaving beneath the thin fabric of her cotton dress, then looked into her eyes that were filled with the fire of defiance.

“You are even more beautiful when you are angry,” he said, then crushed her lips beneath his as he gave her a frenzied, passion-filled kiss.

His loins flamed.

Her head spun.

Both were startled by the intensity of their feelings for one another.

Her heart pounding, dizzied by the rapturous, heady sensations whirling within her, Hannah wrenched her lips free.

“Please don't,” she whispered, her eyes pleading with his. “I . . .”

Before she could say any more, Strong Wolf was on his feet. His one hand still on one of her wrists, he yanked her up from the ground.

His jaw tight, Strong Wolf forced Hannah to walk toward his horse. When they reached his steed, he placed his hands at her waist and lifted her into the saddle. He then swung himself into the saddle behind her and held her in place as he locked an arm firmly around her waist.

“You can't do this!” Hannah cried, trying to pull his arm away from her waist as he urged his horse into a fast gallop. “Let . . . me . . . go!”

Strong Wolf ignored her as best he could, all the while still feeling the taste of her on his lips and seeing the heaving of her well-rounded breasts.

If he continued this plan of taking her captive, she might end up hating him forever. He could not force her to love him. Those things had to come naturally, from true feelings.

As she had returned his kiss, he knew that she had not
yet
grown to hate him. There had been feelings in the kiss. Passion had been exchanged between them. He did not want it to be short-lived, yet he would look the fool now if he released her.

And he would
not
let himself look less a man to her, ever!

Yes, he had started something that he would have to finish, no matter the end result. He had lived without her until now. So could he the rest of his life, if forced to.

“Strong Wolf, I
must
be set free,” Hannah cried as she looked over her shoulder at him. “My brother is almost blind. I have come to the Kansas Territory for the sole purpose of being his
eyes,
to look after him and help him with his decisions. Don't you see? I can't leave him at the mercy of men like Tiny Sharp! He disobeyed my brother! I must return to the ranch and tell my brother! Who knows what Tiny will do next? I must be there to make sure he doesn't do anything else that can cause harm to my brother!”

Strong Wolf heard the true pleading in Hannah's voice, and listened hard to what she said, yet could not alter his plans.

“If you will set me free now, before this goes any further, I won't tell anyone about your plan to abduct me,” Hannah cried. “I promise, Strong Wolf. I won't tell anyone. Not even my brother. I just want to return home so that I can tell him that Tiny disobeyed him!”

The more she spoke, the more she pleaded with him, Hannah's words reached inside Strong Wolf's heart. He knew that she spoke the truth about her brother, having been saddened himself when he had noticed how Chuck's eyesight was responsible for him being awkward and unsure of his movements.

He knew that it
was
possible that Tiny Sharp
had
taken advantage of Hannah's brother. Strong Wolf so badly wanted to trust Chuck,
and
believe the woman.

Deciding to trust and believe, Strong Wolf released Hannah. He had just been given another reason to admire, to fall in love with, this woman. Her loyalty to her brother touched him deeply. Strong Wolf knew now that she was someone he could not deny himself of loving, as he had all other women he had ever known before her.

He wheeled his horse to a sudden stop.

Hannah gazed in wonder at Strong Wolf. She scarcely breathed as she waited for him to speak, to explain why he had stopped. Her pulse raced as his eyes met and held with hers. She could not stop this crazy, rapturous spinning within her when he looked at her in such a way, so penetrating, as though he was looking into her very soul!

“You are free to go,” Strong Wolf said, his own heart pounding at the way her eyes talked to him. “I will take you home. Hopefully your horse will find its way back to your brother's ranch on its own.”

“Oh, thank you,” Hannah said softly, having to hold herself back when she so badly wanted to fling herself into his arms and hug him. “And I understand your feelings toward such men as Tiny. You have surely been faced with many of the same type of men throughout your life.”

She knew that there had been many injustices performed against the red man. She had just never been in the position of having seen it face-to-face before.

“But, please don't put my brother in the same category as such men as Tiny,” she blurted out. “He is kind, gentle, and most times way too generous.”

She gulped hard. “I'm even afraid that he won't fire Tiny,” she said, a bitter edge recognizable in her voice. “He'll see some good about keeping him on, even after I tell him the ugly truth about him.”

“Being your brother's eyes, perhaps you can make him see the wrong in allying himself with the tiny white man,” Strong Wolf said.

He held her closer as he rode off. He fought off the need that was rising within his heart, to kiss her again, to hold her.

So aware of his hard, lean body so close to hers, snuggled against her backside, Hannah became breathless. Her heart pounding fiercely, her face became hot with a blush as his arm grazed against her breasts. She could almost feel the heat of his flesh through the thin fabric of her white calico blouse.

They rode awhile, then Hannah's breath caught with surprise when Strong Wolf suddenly wheeled his horse to the side and rode in another direction. Fearing that he had changed his mind, and that he had decided to take her captive after all, she pulled at his arm, but he held her too tightly. She had no choice but to see what he had planned for her now. She had to wonder at what point he had changed his mind?