Elaine Barbieri Read Online Free PDF Page B

girl causes our people to doubt you.”
    His expression unyielding, Shadow Walker repeated, “What do you want, Spotted Bear?”
    Spotted Bear’s gaze hardened. All pretense discarded, he responded, “I would buy the girl from you.”
    “Why?”
    “Many Cheyenne maidens look to me with favor, but I find none who pleases me, and my lodge is empty. The girl is young and strong. She would serve me well.”
    “She has been injured.”
    “She will heal.”
    “She is headstrong and she mocks our ways.”
    “I would teach her the proper conduct.”
    “How would you do that?”
    Spotted Bear’s gaze left no need for words.
    “No. The girl is my captive and a gift to Rattling Blanket. She will serve Rattling Blanket well.”
    “There is only one way the girl can be taught to serve.”
    Shadow Walker spat, “We will speak of this no more!”
    Spotted Bear’s countenance flushed with heat. His gaze narrowing, he turned and walked back to the camp with heavy strides—as Shadow Walker watched with an anger of his own.
    Miranda awakened slowly. Her head ached. Her stomach was queasy. Her body felt as if it had been pounded by relentless hammers during the night. Several moments passed before she realized she was not lying in Rattling Blanket’s lodge. Full awareness dawned and her gaze snapped toward the sleeping bench on the opposite side of the lodge.
    He wasn’t there.
    Releasing a relieved breath, Miranda closed her eyes. Her attempt to escape had failed. She was no longer the captive of a soft-spoken squaw with kind eyes. Instead, she was the captive of a fierce warrior who had spoken a warning she had chosen to ignore.
    He had said the time for warnings was over.
    What came next?
    A stabbing pain in her head interrupted Miranda’srioting thoughts and she squeezed her eyes more tightly shut. She snapped them open again at the sound of a step outside the lodge and held her breath when the flap was raised. Her heart thudded as Shadow Walker entered.
    Unwilling to allow him the advantage of towering over her, Miranda stood up quickly, grabbing the pants she had discarded in her escape attempt. Who had left them for her? Rattling Blanket? She instantly regretted her hasty movement when the throbbing in her head worsened. Refusing to be the first to break the silence between them, she returned his stare with as much confidence as she could muster. Her silence allowed time for closer assessment of her captor.
    Shadow Walker was tall—somehow, taller than she had realized. His broad shoulders encased in soft buckskin seemed to shrink the narrow confines of the lodge, exuding a power she attempted to ignore as he faced her. She had avoided looking at him as he had ridden her back to camp, but now, looking up at him in the dim light of dawn, she saw that the hair that hung past his shoulders was as black and shiny as a raven’s wing, that his eyes were dark and somehow fathomless, and that his features were even and sharply cut. He looked far different without the war paint that had transformed his handsome face into a fearsome mask, but she was reminded that although the mask was gone, the warrior remained, when he gripped her arm and pulled her toward the door.
    Enraged that he did not bother to speak, Miranda jerked back her arm and said, “I demand to know where you’re taking me.”
    “Demand?” A hard amusement flashed in Shadow Walker’s eyes. “To demand is the right of the victor. To you, that does not apply.”
    “You won’t get away with this! Someone will come looking for me, and when I’m found here—”
    Shadow Walker interrupted, “Your threats are wasted. I do not concern myself with the retribution you threaten. I have faced the white man’s horse soldiers without fear. Their bullets have drawn my blood, yet I have survived. I have also faced their deception. I have learned from it and will never grant an opportunity to deceive again.”
    Refusing to relent, Miranda repeated, “I demand to know