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“Fire Thunder, ask him,” she blurted out. “Please ask him if he knows my mother.”
Fire Thunder gave her a slow gaze, then knew that with her astuteness, she was aware of the tension between him and the sheriff, and concerned about it.
“Mother?” Sheriff Adams said, idly scratching his wrinkled brow. “Miss, what’s her name? I know everyone in these parts who deserves bein’ known.”
“Eloisa Soriano,” Fire Thunder answered for Kaylene.
Kaylene paled when she saw the quick reaction of the sheriff—how his jaw tightened and his beady eyes narrowed even more.
“Eloisa Soriano . . . is . . . your . . . mother?” he questioned warily. Forking an eyebrow, he looked Kaylene slowly up and down.
Then he looked up at Fire Thunder. “This woman you are looking for is a leper,” he said, his voice tight.
“Yes, we know that,” Fire Thunder said. He reached a hand out for one of Kaylene’s and squeezed it reassuringly.
“Then you do know her,” Kaylene said anxiously. “You do know where she lives.”
“Everyone knows of Eloisa Soriano,” Sheriff Adams grumbled. “And everyone knows not to go near her.”
“I must see her,” Kaylene said, her voice breaking. “I have never known her. I have never seen her. I must, this once, see my mother.”
“She is not pleasant to look at,” Sheriff Adams said, visibly shuddering. “And I warn you not to get near her. She is cursed!”
Kaylene paled. She turned her eyes away from him, then gazed intently at him again. “Tell me how to find her,” she said, her voice grim.
“If you must know, she lives far into the hills, alone,” Sheriff Adams said. He then took them outside onto the porch and pointed out the direction they should take to get to Eloisa Soriano’s cabin.
“Thank you,” Kaylene said softly.
“Fire Thunder, it was good to see you again,” Sheriff Adams said as he walked them to their horses. “Come again. All past differences are forgotten, are they not?”
Fire Thunder glowered at the sheriff as he untied the reins of his and Kaylene’s horses.
He then helped Kaylene onto her horse, swung himself into his saddle, and rode away with Kaylene without even a nod to the sheriff.
“You haven’t changed a bit, you damn savage!” Sheriff Adams shouted after them. “You’re like all redskins. You don’t have an ounce of appreciation in you! You just take, take, take!”
Fire Thunder rode onward in the direction of the hills. He looked heavenward, and saw how the sky was darkening. “We will make camp, then go to your mother tomorrow,” he said, giving Kaylene a soft gaze. “We are unfamiliar with the terrain. It would not be safe to travel up the hillside in the dark.”
“Whatever you think is best,” Kaylene said, glad to be out of the town of Laredo, now where the countryside seemed less threatening. The scent of spring was in the air as the wildflowers which dotted the landscape sent off their spicy fragrance.
When the moon was full overhead, and a thick stand of trees for the cover for their camp was found, they quickly built a small fire within a circle of rocks.
Kaylene ate the beef jerky and slices of dried pumpkin that Fire Thunder had taken from his store of food in his parfleche bag. She kept looking toward the hillside which housed her mother, somewhere among the trees.
“I will soon know my true mother,” she whispered as she took the last bite of the jerky. She drank big gulps of water from the canteen, then crawled over to Fire Thunder and sat down on his lap, straddling him with her legs.
She eased the last tiny piece of jerky from his hand and tossed it aside, then twined her arms around his neck and drew his lips to hers.
“I love you so,” she whispered against his lips. “You are so good to me.”
“You would not have said that a few weeks ago,” Fire Thunder said with a low, throaty chuckle as his hands crept up inside her blouse. “I was a vicious savage in your eyes.”
“I never saw you as a savage,” she whispered. “And please, please never say that word again to me. It is white men like my . . . like John Shelton, and even perhaps that sheriff in Laredo, who are the true savages of our world.”
“You are a woman who fills my heart with so much joy,” Fire Thunder said, then kissed her with a tenderness that grew slowly into a surge of passion.
When he cupped her breasts, she moaned softly into his mouth. Her skin was warm and smooth against the flesh of his fingers. Her lips were moist and hot against his mouth.
