Part 9 (1/2)
Then he lowered himself into a chair and sat beside her the rest of the night, staring at her as if trying to make up his mind about something. What made Storm Kennedy different from any other woman he had ever known? he wondered curiously. Was she really the Storm that Wakantanka had referred to in his vision, or was he being fanciful and imagining things because her name happened to be Storm? In his heart Grady knew he wasn't responsible for the death of Storm's husband. So why had he appointed himself her protector? Why did he want her with a fierceness that was more pain than pleasure? And why, after he had loved her only once, did he resent any other man who had ever touched her?
Nat Turner rushed past the dozing hotel clerk as if the devil was on his heels. He went directly to the saloon where both Fork and Purdy were known to hang out and found them playing cards at one of the gambling tables. He snarled out a command and they quickly joined him at a table in the far corner of the room. He motioned for a bottle and three gla.s.ses and, when they were delivered, quickly filled them to overflowing and tossed his down, hoping to settle his nerves enough to think clearly. Fork and Purdy drank theirs more slowly, waiting for Turner to speak. They could tell he was upset and figured he would spit it out in good time.
”That's it!” Turner finally blurted out. ”I'm through playing good guy. From now on it's all-out war. The first to feel the brunt of my anger is Storm Kennedy. Next is that half-breed b.a.s.t.a.r.d who seems to know what's going on every minute of every day. It's uncanny, that's what it is.”
”What happened, boss?” Fork asked. He had a good idea what had sparked Turner's anger, but wisely waited for Turner to tell him himself. Fork knew that somehow or other Turner's plans had been foiled again by the renegade. The rich Texas client wanted grazing land in the Cherokee Strip, and Turner hadn't succeeded in buying up one d.a.m.n acre. Homesteaders were a stubborn lot, Fork thought glumly. They hung on to their land till the bitter end, even if it meant starving to death.
”I was so close,” Turner hissed. ”So d.a.m.n close, she had already started to sign the bill of sale.”
Purdy whistled softly. ”How in the h.e.l.l did you manage that?”
”I got the woman drunk, that's how. Everything was going according to plan until the breed showed up. h.e.l.l, a dance was the last place in the world I expected to see the Injun. When I took Storm to the hotel for the night I thought I'd seen the last of him, but he came bursting into the room scant seconds before Storm signed the bill of sale.”
”d.a.m.n!” Fork spat disgustedly. ”I told ya the man ain't human. ”What ya gonna do now?”
”It's not what I'm going to do but what you two are going to do,” Turner said, his eyes gleaming maliciously. ”Listen carefully and do exactly as I tell you.”
Turner spoke in low tones as both men leaned close in order to catch every word. After a few minutes, Purdy said, ”Tonight?”
”h.e.l.l, yes, tonight! The timing is perfect. Do as I say and you'll be amply compensated.”
”We're on our way, boss,” Fork said as he surged to his feet, dragging Purdy with him.
”Report to me when you get back.”
Turner was still sitting in the saloon when Fork and Purdy returned shortly before dawn. The only thing that had changed was the level of whiskey in the bottle sitting on the table before him. It was empty.
”Well?” Turner asked anxiously.
”It's done, boss,” Fork boasted as he plopped wearily into the chair across from Turner. Purdy slouched into the remaining seat at the table. ”Everything went as smooth as silk.”
”What about the breed?”
”He wasn't nowhere in sight. Neither was the woman.”
Turner smiled with slow relish. ”Good work, boys. There will be a generous bonus in your next paychecks. Now we just sit back and wait. It won't be long before Storm Kennedy comes begging me to buy her land.”
Drops of water bathed her face. Gently at first, then in a raging torrent. Storm sputtered and came awake. Grady was standing above her, pouring the contents of a gla.s.s of water over her face. When mere sprinkles failed to awaken her, he upended the entire gla.s.s.
”d.a.m.n you, what are you doing?” Storm struggled to sit up, then flopped back down when the grinding pain in her temples made even the slightest movement excruciating. But Grady showed no pity as he continued pouring until the gla.s.s was empty and her face drenched.
”Wake up, Storm. It's time to start for home.”
”Home?” Storm said, trying to remember where she was and failing miserably. ”Where am I?”
”In a hotel room.”
”What!” This time she managed to struggle to her feet. ”With you?”
Grady's grating laughter made her stiffen with indignation. ”I spent the entire night in a chair watching you sleep. Do you recall nothing of what happened last night?”
”Of course I remember. I went to a barn dance with Nat Turner. But-how did I end up in a hotel room with you?”
”I'll leave you a few minutes so you can freshen up,” Grady said. ”Then I'll explain everything over breakfast.”
”d.a.m.n it, Grady Stryker,” Storm said, stomping her foot, ”don't you dare leave this room until you tell me if we-if you and I-”
”Relax, Storm, I didn't touch you. When we make love again I want you fully awake and aware of everything I do to you.”
”You-”
Whatever she was going to say was lost on Grady, for he was already out the door.
Breakfast was the last thing Storm wanted. Her stomach was churning wildly and she knew if she put anything inside it she would promptly lose it. And her head was pounding with a hundred hammers. She did manage to keep down a cup of tea, but kept her face carefully averted from the huge plate of greasy eggs, steak, and potatoes Grady was shoveling down with such disgusting gusto. Once he had taken the edge off his hunger he began relating the events of the previous night. Storm listened in wide-eyed horror to the tale of how that skunk Nat Turner had very nearly succeeded in tricking her into selling her land.
Once Grady had finished with all the nasty details, Storm stared at him a full minute before speaking. ”How did you know where to find me?”
”I followed you.”
”Why didn't Nat see you?”
Grady smiled obliquely. ”No one sees me if I don't want him to.”
”Would I really have signed a bill of sale for my homestead if you hadn't arrived when you did?”
”You already had the pen on paper when I burst into the room. I lost precious time when that blasted hotel clerk refused to tell me which room you were in. Seems Turner paid him to keep quiet. He wouldn't have told me at all if I hadn't offered him something even more valuable.”
”More valuable? Did you offer him more money?”
”I offered him his life,” Grady said with quiet menace. His tone of voice sent a s.h.i.+ver down Storm's spine.
”I can't believe Nat would get me drunk. He told me the punch wasn't spiked. I was so thirsty from dancing, I must have drunk a gallon of the stuff.”
”I tried to tell you what the man was like.”
”You also kept interfering in my life when you had no right.”
”Where would you be today if I hadn't interfered?” His intense gaze pinned her to the wall.
”I-don't know, and I thank you for last night, but that doesn't make you my keeper. From now on I'll know what to expect and be prepared.”
Grady sent her an oblique look as he sc.r.a.ped back his chair and rose to his feet. ”If you're able to ride, I'll take you home. We'll have to ride double, but the extra weight will be no burden for Lightning.”
Though Storm didn't relish the idea of being so close to Grady for the ten-mile ride home, she wanted to return to her snug little cabin as quickly as possible. ”I'll manage.”
A weak sun broke through the clouds as Storm and Grady rode home. Though Grady kept their pace deliberately slow and easy, each jolt made Storm aware of his muscular form pressed in intimate contact with hers. Her hips rested snugly in the cradle of his loins, her back was warmed from contact with his chest, and everywhere they touched felt like a burning brand against her flesh. She stiffened her spine in a futile attempt to hold herself upright, but the position soon became impossible to maintain. In the end she grit her teeth and let herself absorb the comfort his huge body provided.
Storm even managed to doze in the saddle a time or two, barely aware when Grady eased an arm around her waist and pressed her more snugly against him. But Grady was more than aware of how perfectly she fit his arms and how small and vulnerable she seemed against his hardness. A surge of protectiveness such as he hadn't felt since Summer Sky's untimely death gave him an unsettling sensation in the pit of his stomach. He didn't need another woman in his life, he cautioned himself sternly. He especially didn't need a white woman whose independence and stubbornness were completely at odds with the qualities he admired in a woman.
A groan left Grady's lips as Storm s.h.i.+fted in her sleep, fitting her bottom more snugly against his loins. Was there no end to the torture he must suffer on Storm Kennedy's account? In his village, when he wanted a woman-usually one of the accommodating widows-he merely made his choice and took her with little fanfare or discussion. But it was different here in the white world, where a man must satisfy himself with prost.i.tutes or take a wife. And Storm was the last woman in the world he would take to wife. She'd probably make Little Buffalo a terrible mother. Or would she? Conflicting emotions were still waging a battle inside his brain when he reached the outer boundaries of Storm's homestead, never antic.i.p.ating the total devastation that awaited them.