Northern Star (20 page)

Perry agreed. She washed her feet in a trickle of water from the canteen, then rubbed salve on the cuts. She pulled on the thick socks over her legs to the knee. They warmed her legs. “Thanks, Abram. I’ve never had a better gift.”

Hunter returned just at twilight with his dusty uniform jacket thrown over his shoulder. Perry watched him approach. The dying sun was shooting its last rays into his hair, turning it golden. He walked tall and confident, as a man without a care. Silently smiling at Perry, he joined Abram near the small fire Abram had started. They talked of their plans as they finished off the chicken.

She lifted herself slowly into the balloon basket to retrieve her wool blanket. After a second’s hesitation she curled upon the floor of the basket to sleep. The sides cut the breeze, so her shelter would be warmer than the ground and somewhat protected.

As she drifted into sleep, she could see in her mind’s
eye Hunter walking toward her. His movements were fluid and easy, and he walked in long strides. He was smiling as the sun danced in his hair. Then, in her dream, she saw him moving toward Jennifer, not her. She called, but her warnings were unheard, as he embraced Jennifer. The lovely young blonde turned her face toward Perry as she looked over Hunter’s shoulder. Jennifer’s features began to distort and wrinkle into an evil mask. Her lips twisted into a devilish grin at Perry as her hideously misshapen fingers moved toward Hunter’s throat. Perry shouted again and again, but her warning fell on deaf ears.

A tear rolled down Perry’s sleeping face as she rested curled inside her corner of the
Northern Star.

*   *   *

Perry was deep in sleep before Hunter pulled the letter John Williams had handed him from his vest. He tapped the envelope to his chin as he stared into the campfire. After a long moment he slipped the envelope, unopened, into a secret pocket inside his leather boot.

Abram watched Hunter’s curious behavior but, as usual, made no comment.

“Good night,” Hunter said as he picked up his blanket and moved toward the shadows of the trees. “See you at dawn.”

A nod was Abram’s answer. He knew Hunter found his only happiness in his dreams. The black man didn’t have to ask how unhappy his captain was…he knew. He’d seen it in those gray eyes, in the way he took risks, in the deadly game he played with the secret messages. What tore Abram apart was the knowledge that the angel Hunter spoke of in his dreams was sleeping only a few feet away, and he’d given his word to keep her secret.

An hour before dawn Perry woke to the sound of a lonely owl hooting in the distance. As she stood, every muscle screamed in pain. She gently touched her face. The swelling of her lip seemed less than yesterday. However, her half-closed eye still throbbed. She knew without looking in a mirror that her face was a mass of black and blue.

The air was still and carried the warmth of summer as she moved silently out of the balloon’s basket and across the field toward the stream. She knew her directions well and within a few minutes was following the small, bubbly stream as her eyes searched the blackness for the old barn. Gradually her muscles loosened, and she moved swiftly through the darkness.

In less than ten minutes Perry stumbled across an old trail that climbed upward toward the barn. With luck she’d be back at the balloon within the hour. She remembered Abram explaining that after breakfast it would take time to make the balloon ready to travel. He’d told her that they had only enough hydrogen to lift off one more time. The next time they set down, the balloon must be deflated and they would have to stay on the ground. Hunter seemed confident that they would land close to Philadelphia. Abram only chuckled and reminded Hunter of times they’d missed their mark by many miles.

As Perry stepped from the trail the dark shadow of the old barn loomed before her. It had remained unchanged by the storms of God or man. She darted across the damp grass to the barn door and forced it open. A familiar creaking of the ancient hinges welcomed her, as it had that rainy night months ago.

The barn was black inside, and Perry had to feel her way carefully. Without much difficulty she found the ladder and climbed into the familiar loft. The smell of damp hay surrounded her in the darkness, welcoming her with its familiar odor. She relaxed, letting her feet dangle beside the ladder. The last time she’d been in this place seemed like a hundred lifetimes ago. At that time she’d never known a man’s touch. Now she found she longed for the feel of Hunter’s body next to hers with a physical pain deep inside her. Tears threatened the corners of her eyes as she realized she would carry that unsatisfied longing for him to her grave without ever knowing its absolution.

Early dawn light touched the sky, and she felt her way to the corner of the loft—and her treasure. She moved slowly for fear of stepping off the unbanked, open edge. Having hidden her mother’s bundle in haste, Perry tried several boards before the old packet was once again in her possession.

Perry hugged her mother’s leather bag to her breast, longing as she had all her life for a mother’s touch. Whatever its contents were, something would be useful to her because her mother had begged her children to keep it close. She remembered seeing a few pieces of jewelry tucked between papers. Maybe she could sell them if times got hard. She laughed—how much harder need they be? She had no home, her brother still hadn’t returned from the war, she’d lost Noma, and she was on the run from a madman who would surely kill her if he found her. In any case, this bundle contained all her possessions—all that remained of her Southern life.

As she rose, a hand touched her shoulder, freezing her
progress as though an icicle had pierced her heart. Fear paralyzed her mind. The memory of Wade’s beating washed over her in renewed terror.

“Didn’t mean to follow you, kid, but my curiosity got the better of me,” Hunter whispered from a foot behind her.

Perry let the imprisoned air out of her lungs. She closed her eyes, trying to calm adrenaline-fired blood as it ran wildly through her veins.

“What have you found?” Hunter reached casually for her package.

“No!” Perry squealed, backing away from him. Her nerves were still jumpy and her voice trembled in pain.

Suddenly Hunter bolted toward her, his strong arms imprisoning her and pulling her toward him.

Anger fired Perry into action as his touch sent a throbbing of discomfort through her body.
Why must every man cause her such pain?
With his arms encircling her bruised ribs, the pain of two nights before returned in full. Her body reacted like a spring too tightly coiled. She had to release her pent-up anger or snap.

Instead of withdrawing, Perry slammed her elbow hard into Hunter’s chest, knocking him backward. However, his arms still encircled her, and he drew her down on top of him with such force that her hat flew off. Hunter’s sharp intake of breath spoke his shock at the sight of her tangled, but still glorious, mane of hair.

She would have continued to fight, but with lightning quickness Hunter rolled over, pinning her body beneath his in the hay. Fury raced within her as she struggled helplessly to free her arms.

She could feel his body spread over her from her shoulders to her legs. His muscular weight effortlessly held her and quickly blocked any attempt she made to move.

Hunter stammered, “Easy n-now! I’m not going to take that pouch away from you. I’m sorry I startled you.” He took a deep breath to relax. Perry could feel his chest rise
and fall above her breasts. The rock hardness of his body molded into her softness, as it had before in the darkness.

“I only grabbed you because I saw that you were within an inch of diving off the edge of the loft,” he whispered, his warm breath tickling her ear.

Perry turned her head and saw that he spoke the truth. In the half-light she hadn’t realized the edge was so near. His quick action may have saved her life, but she was in no mood to thank him.

“Will you get off me, please?” she whispered, every inch of her body aware of his nearness. She breathed in the fresh, masculine scent of him as she lay beneath his hard male frame.

Hunter moved away slowly, allowing his leg to slide over Perry’s body as he rolled sideways. “Sorry if I hurt you.” He stood and dusted hay from his clothes, unaware of the effect his action had had on her. He retrieved her hat and slapped it against his knee before returning it. The dawn light revealed her as only a shadowy figure before him, her matted black hair covering her bruised and swollen face.

“How could I have been so dense?” The memory of her tiny, perfect body below him was thick in his mind. “Does Abram know you’re a girl?”

Perry only nodded.

“So the joke’s on me. I should have known. I remember a woman caring for me up here in this loft, and my mind couldn’t quite accept you as a boy in camp that first day.” His words came slowly as he spoke, more to himself than to Perry. “The dreams I had while I was injured made reality hard to remember for a while.”

As suddenly as it had appeared, Hunter’s smile vanished. “I’m sorry I hurt you just now, Perry. You look like you have enough problems without being frightened half out of your mind by someone grabbing you in the dark.”

Perry turned away from him and began stuffing her hair
into her hat. “You didn’t hurt me as much as others have,” she answered bitterly.

She couldn’t see the sadness in Hunter’s eyes as she spoke. He felt a great sorrow for this poor girl who’d been treated so cruelly. He found it hard to fathom that from this rough piece of coal before him his mind had fired a diamondlike beauty, but he knew now that this frightened creature was the beginning of his fantasy. His constant dreams of the heavenly woman with loving eyes and a soft kiss had begun forming in this very loft, with this sad creature before him.

“Is your name really Perry?” Hunter asked.

“Yes,” she answered, still not looking up at him.

Hunter walked over to stand above her. “Perry, is there any way I can help you?”

She couldn’t mistake the sincerity in his voice. That low, earnest tone that told her he’d put his life behind his words if necessary.
Dear God
, she thought,
how I hate hearing only pity in his low voice.
But she must swallow her pride if she was to enlist his aid.

Keeping her head low, Perry stood up beside him, her hat now shading her blackened face from his view. “I have to get back to Philadelphia quickly. A man is trying to force me to marry him.”

“Is he the one who hurt you so?” Hunter asked, anger flickering in his words. Perry heard the same cold steel in his voice she’d heard months ago when he’d talked with the two deserters who had tried to rob them. She knew that beneath his calm, relaxed exterior lay a caged animal. Others must feel it also. He was not a man to cross, yet she must dress her truth in lies.

“Yesterday was to be my wedding day,” she answered. “I ran away once, and he beat me. He didn’t think I’d have the strength to try it again. I think he’ll kill me if he finds me.” Her words came as fact, without emotion.

“You look so tiny, but I have the feeling you’d die rather than marry this man.” Hunter moved back into the shadows
to allow her to pass him. “I’ll help you, Perry. I would have offered the same help if you were a boy or a girl. There was no need to pretend.”

Perry could feel Hunter’s kindness toward her and sense his anger at the man who had hurt her. She wasn’t sure how he’d react if he knew his Cousin Wade was the vile groom she was to marry. The less said to Hunter, the better. Before Hunter had time for more questions, she slipped past him, mumbling something about Abram needing her.

*   *   *

Hunter watched her move silently down the ladder. She looked no more than a boy, but Hunter knew from holding her in his arms that she was a full-grown woman. The memory of her soft body hidden beneath her filthy clothes returned to him in a tidal wave. His fingers clenched into fists, then relaxed as he scolded himself and his desire. He moved to follow, then withdrew, unsure. The last thing she needed right now was to be frightened again.

Crossing the loft floor, he watched as she ran across the grass and disappeared down the trail leading to the stream. He spread his arms wide above his head and pushed on the aging beams until they creaked in strain. Now he knew that the origin of his dreams lay with Perry.

She had sparked his mind into conjuring up a vision of an angel of mercy, an angel whose form haunted his every dream, an angel who made all other beauty dim in the light of her memory. Reason told him there was no way this poor creature could be the beautiful woman he’d seen in the shadows of the night. Perry was a dirty farm girl, whereas his angel was a grand lady with a shining halo of hair. Her kiss had ignited a fire within him. His longing to see her was a hunger so great, he felt he might die of starvation if he couldn’t have her.

Lately he’d questioned his sanity. For when he held Jennifer close, he longed only for the woman in his dreams. She danced like a playful nymph across his thoughts. Appearing,
disappearing. Close, faraway. Sometimes she was a fierce fire he would douse from his mind. Yet at other times his arms ached with desire for her. Hunter realized his dream had been given its beginning in this darkened loft. Now this dream haunted him even into his waking hours. No woman, not even Jennifer, could clear the angel’s beauty from his mind. It puzzled him how touching Perry could have brought back so strongly the desire to hold his imaginary woman. Maybe he should marry, before his longing for a dream drowned reality.

He hurried down the ladder to follow Perry, but she was already out of sight. He couldn’t blame her for avoiding men if one had so damaged her face.

Slowly walking back to the camp, he tried to push the memory of his angel back in his mind. She belonged in his dreams, not in his waking hours. By the time Hunter reached the balloon, Abram was already loading supplies. They worked hard readying the balloon for flight, Perry pulling her share of the chores.

Perry avoided his glance until the
Northern Star
was airborne. Then, suddenly, the basket grew confining to her. His quick glance from Abram to Perry told Hunter his black friend knew far more than he was saying.