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at you are at the fort among pindah-lickoyee. Some might become suspicious of you. You do know the lack of trust the pindah-lickoyee have for Apache, and you, my ish-tia-nay, are a full-blood Apache.”
“If you truly think that I should do this, I will,” she murmured. “And I promise that I will be very careful. I would die before bringing harm to you or our people.”
“Do not say such a thing,” Storm said. He reached over and twined an arm around her waist and drew her closer to him. He gazed intently into her eyes. “My Shoshana, my Shoshana. How I love you. I was so afraid after you left that I would never see or hold you again. I came after you not because I still felt the need to hold you captive, but because I love you and could not live without you.”
“Nor could I without you,” Shoshana murmured.
Her insides melted when he leaned closer and kissed her.
He straightened up again and brought his hands back to his reins. “We have lingered too long here,” he said tightly. “We are fortunate that that panther was not the one that haunts my mountain. Let us go now. And be watchful, my ish-tia-nay, be ever watchful. You know how quickly a panther can appear and attack.”
Shoshana shuddered at the thought, for she also recalled the way Mountain Jack had appeared out of nowhere.
He and others like him were always out there, threatening havoc. Danger lurked everywhere, it seemed, in Arizona. Missouri had been so tame in comparison.
But Missouri was no longer her home. She was where she belonged. She was with Storm and her mother.
They set out toward the fort together, able to ride side by side now because the pass was not so narrow here.
“And how is your sister?” Shoshana asked, drawing Storm’s eyes quickly to her. “Why was she unconscious? Had she fallen from her horse?”
“She was not ill at all,” Storm said, his voice tight with anger. “It was all pretense. She had sneaked up near us when we were talking and heard what we said. She heard me call you my captive. She saw how it angered you. She pretended to be ill in order to give you a chance to escape. She knew that was what you wanted, and it was what she wanted, as well.”
“It was all false?” Shoshana said, stunned to know that Storm’s sister could hate her so much. “She did this in order to make certain I would no longer be a part of your life . . . or hers? Why, Storm?” she quickly added. “Why does she dislike me so much?”
“It is not dislike that caused her dishonesty, but instead . . . jealousy,” Storm said, hating to admit such a thing about his sister. “She believes you mean too much to me. She knew that if I did hold you captive, you would eventually forget your anger toward me, as my white mother forgot her anger at my father, who also held her captive. She feared that like my white mother and my Apache father, we would marry. Dancing Willow has been the most important woman in my life since my mother’s death. She enjoys doting on her younger brother.”
“Why hasn’t she married?” Shoshana asked softly. “If she had a man, she would not worry so much about you.”
“She has never found a man who interested her enough to marry him,” Storm said. “As a Seer, she enjoys a position of much respect among our people. I see such contentment in her eyes when she makes someone else happy. She is a good person. But in this one thing, she must change. She must accept that I have found the woman I wish to make my wife. And she will accept it. She will have no other choice. Soon she will understand, and there will be peace among we three.”
Shoshana’s eyes wavered, for she now recalled the coldness and resentment she’d seen in Dancing Willow’s eyes. If Dancing Willow could go as far as to pretend to be ill in order to take Storm’s attention from Shoshana, what else might she do?
“She will accept you,” Storm said, smiling at Shoshana. “You will see. She is good at heart. She would never do anyone harm.”
“Yet she pretended to be ill to gain something for herself,” Shoshana said tightly.
Storm’s smile faded, for he knew that Shoshana did have cause to be wary of Dancing Willow.
“Storm, you are suddenly quiet,” Shoshana said. “What are you thinking?”
“That I love you so much,” was all he would say. He could not voice his doubts about his own sister.
They rode off the mountain onto open prairie land that stretched to the trees fringing the Piñaleno River. The cottonwoods were beautiful. Beneath them grew bushes that produced many kinds and colors of wild berries.
They rode onward, and Shoshana sighed with pleasure when she saw a large field of wild sunflowers. She saw a number of fat wild turkeys eating the sunflower seeds, as well as many other birds swooping down to challenge them for their late-afternoon meal.
“It is all so beautiful,” she murmured, yet deep inside she was beginning to dread the task that awaited her.
If she couldn’t pull this off, she knew she might cause Storm’s people a lot of grief.
Even if she did succeed, the same could be true. If George Whaley got angry enough, would he not demand that the cavalry search for her? Would they know to look for her in Storm’s village?
That was one thing she certainly wouldn’t reveal in her note to George . . . that she would be marrying a powerful Apache chief. It would be too dangerous.
No. He would never know where she had gone, or with whom.
Chapter Twenty-three
