Jordan kept her mouth shut, certain it would be a mistake to anger him further. But she did know one thing for sure--there was no way she would sit back and accept
her fate
as he called it. The Indians had changed her fate eleven years before when they'd killed her parents. They wouldn't ruin her life all over again. She and Kari were going to get out of the village alive and untouched.
"Go," he said, motioning for them to precede him back to the camp as he followed behind in silence. Jordan dug her fingernails into her palms as she watched Kari wipe away tears. She glanced back at the half-breed--Gray Hawk. Maybe he would listen to reason. What could it hurt? She turned and he stopped, watching her with suspicious eyes.
"What exactly do you intend to do with us?" she asked, lifting her chin a notch under his cool stare. "I have money if that's what you want. I'll give you anything."
One black brow lifted, his gaze moved slowly down her body and up again. "Anything. Are you sure about that?"
"Absolute--" The word died on her lips, suddenly realizing what he meant by anything. She bit her lip, sure that a response would only get her in more trouble.
She turned and kept marching. By the time they reached the teepee, her anger was like a volcano boiling inside of her.
He grabbed several bowls and handed them to her. "You will go with the other women and help prepare our meal."
She stared at the bowls, refusing to take them. He wanted her to serve him? Her self-imposed silence exploded a second later and she replied coolly, "I will
not
be your slave."
A nerve ticked in his jaw, and he pressed the bowls into her hands. "You
will
do as I say."
Jordan took the bowls from him with a curse. She followed behind Kari, then stopped in mid-step. Without considering the foolishness of her actions, Jordan turned and threw the bowls at his head.
He caught one in his hand, but a loud crack filled the air as the other hit its mark. Her eyes widened in alarm seeing the stream of blood run down the side of his face.
"Jordan!" Kari gasped in disbelief.
Jordan stood completely still, horrified at what she'd done, but was unable to do anything as Gray Hawk put a hand to his bleeding temple. His gaze moved from her to the bowl in his hand, then to the ones scattered at his feet before returning to her once again.
Jordan swallowed hard, watching with a sense of doom as his gray eyes darkened like angry thunderclouds.
Kari went to pick up the bowls, but Gray Hawk shook his head, giving her a silent order to leave them alone.
Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid
, Jordan told herself over and over, hoping she appeared less terrified than she felt. Lifting her chin, she put her hands on her hips. "I told you I wasn't going to be your squaw."
He took a step toward her. She took one back.
"Pick up the bowl, Jordan."
Hearing her name from his lips was unsettling. Maybe it was because he sounded like any other white man, instead of a savage. Well, it didn't matter who he was...she wouldn't serve him. After all, she hadn't escaped one man only to become a slave to another. Glancing at the dish at his feet, she shook her head. "No, I will not."
"Yes, you will," he said through clenched teeth.
Her pulse began to beat erratically at the threatening tone in his deep voice. His dark face set in a vicious expression, he grabbed a length of rawhide, obviously intent on binding her again.
"Oh, all right," she hissed as she bent and picked up the bowls. "I'll cook your damn dinner!
Chapter 4
JORDAN GLARED at the brave whose duty it was to watch her and Kari while Gray Hawk was off hunting, or doing whatever it was he and all those other warriors did all day. It seemed to her that the women did all the work, while the men played.
"I hate this!" she shouted in frustration, scrubbing Gray Hawk's breeches with a vengeance. How she detested doing laundry, and having to do Gray Hawk's made her despise it that much more.
Although it was only the sixth day of their captivity, Jordan felt as though she and Kari had been in the village forever. Since coming to the camp, a good night's sleep had eluded her, and her mood was suffering because of it.
Things had been relatively easy for them the first few days when Gray Hawk had left to retrieve the bodies of his aunt and her friend. But upon his return, he worked them to the point of exhaustion.
"Things could be worse."
Jordan turned to Kari, her brow furrowed into a frown, wondering if she heard her correctly. "How in the world could it be any worse?"
"Well, he could have tortured us, raped us, or killed us by now. Plus, we've been here for almost a week, and you have to admit, he's treated us better than expected."
Kari did have a point, but the fact remained they were captives, slaving for a man they didn't know, and quite frankly, Jordan couldn't stand. It didn't matter that she found him strangely attractive. She hated his arrogance and the way his gray stare followed her wherever she went, as though she were his possession.
"If being tied to the ass-end of a horse isn't torture, I don't know what is," Jordan muttered, beating the leather against a rock. "Look at my wrists...I'm scarred for life!"
"Jordan, you'll destroy those pants if you keep doing that."
"Good," she replied with a satisfied smile, giving them another hard slap.
The brave watched her, his stone-cold expression still in place, his eyes narrowed in warning. He wasn't much older than her, and Jordan had considered using her feminine charms on him, but knew it was probably useless since he was loyal to Gray Hawk. The boy followed the older warrior around like a puppy.
"And you must admit that Gray Hawk seems like a well-respected member of the tribe," Kari said with something akin to pride in her voice. "From what Tawanka says, he is the bravest of all their warriors."
Jordan rolled her eyes. Obviously their captor had charmed Kari into believing he was something other than what he was. "Don't forget that my parents were killed by savages just like him. If you expect me to defend him, I won't. I want to get as far away from him as I possibly can."
Kari opened her mouth, but hesitated a moment before saying, "Tawanka says he took us to replace the loss of his aunt and her friend. Apparently the last white captive who was taken by the tribe was Gray Hawk's mother. She was just about our age, traveling with her husband when he died along the trail. Gray Hawk's father found her, brought her to the village, and in time they fell in love. He married her and they seemed happy. Yet after she had Gray Hawk, she missed the life she once led so much that one night she escaped. His father was completely devastated. I guess she didn't say goodbye to anyone, not even Gray Hawk."
"You'd think they would have found her?" Jordan said, fighting off the momentary sympathy she felt for her captor.
"I guess he didn't even go after her."
Although Jordan felt bad for the boy who had lost his mother, she could certainly understand why his mother had left. Being away from civilization all those years would be horrible. Jordan shivered at the thought. Days in captivity was bad enough, but years away was too much to even comprehend.
Surely Gray Hawk didn't intend to keep them here forever. But what did she really know about him? Their captor always kept her guessing. He was so mysterious, and if there was one thing that truly irritated her, it was his behavior toward Kari, versus his behavior with her. With Kari he smiled easily and seemed relaxed. But when it came to Jordan, she realized he hated her because he never smiled, and when he did talk to her, his voice was gruff and clipped as though he was constantly irritated with her.
She refused to think that the feeling consuming her might be jealousy, yet every time Gray Hawk flashed Kari one of his rare smiles, Jordan felt compelled to slap him. And even more frustrating was the fact that more and more she found herself looking for him, and then there was the way her heart raced and she felt all flushed when he was around. It was disconcerting to say the least--particularly since she'd never felt that way for anyone else, most of all, an Indian.
A splash of cold water hit Jordan in the face, bringing her out of her musings. "Come on, don't be so serious all the time."
Jordan wiped the water from her eyes and turned to Kari, who was grinning at her. "How can you be so content? I don't understand it?"
Kari shrugged. "What good does it do to be miserable?"
Her cousin was faring far better than she was. The people took to Kari's easy nature quickly, and conversed with her through the help of Gray Hawk, or Tawanka, the medicine woman. Not so with Jordan. As if she carried some deadly disease, they avoided her at all cost. Not that she cared. She didn't want anything from them since they were the source of all her despair.
"Oh no, here comes Running Deer."
Jordan glanced up to find Gray Hawk's woman, the one who attacked her, and two of her friends coming toward them, their expressions devious. Running Deer stopped to talk to the brave, flirting, giggling, her fingers toying with his braid before letting it go. A moment later the young man left.
"I don't like this," Kari said under her breath.
"It's all right," Jordan replied, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. After all, Running Deer's friends were big women, and Kari would be useless when it came to fighting.
Running Deer approached Kari first, a sly smile on her lips. Jordan tensed as Running Deer touched Kari's hair, then suddenly the smile disappeared and she yanked so hard, she pulled Kari to the ground.
Jordan saw red.
With a lunge, she was on the woman, sending her crashing to the ground. Straddling Running Deer's hips, Jordan jerked her hair with one hand, while trying to hold off her claws with the other.
Running Deer's horrific cry pierced the air, making the hair on the back of Jordan's neck stand on end. Realizing too late the woman's intentions, Jordan couldn't duck away from the clasped fists that connected with her jaw in a bone-jarring crack.
Shaking her head to clear the fog and dizziness, Jordan swung at the woman, her fist slamming hard into the side of the Indian's face. She was elated with the stunning blow, but Running Deer was already swinging back in retaliation. Jordan turned just in time, avoiding the punch.
Jordan's eyes widened seeing Running Deer had a wicked looking knife. Screaming at the top of her lungs, Kari knocked the knife from her hand, giving Jordan the edge she needed. Her fingers enclosed around the woman's neck. As she pressed tighter, her anger controlled any and all reasoning. It seemed it was a stranger's hands and not her own strangling the woman. She could hear Kari's pleas for her to stop and as Running Deer's dark skin began to turn purple and her eyes began rolling back in her head, Jordan's fingers relaxed slightly. Suddenly, just beyond the mass of Running Deer's black hair, there appeared a pair of large feet. She knew before glancing up who they belonged to.
GRAY HAWK let out an exasperated breath as Jordan glanced up at him with wild eyes. Why was it she was constantly finding trouble?
He reached out and lifted her abruptly to her feet. Instantly she lifted her chin and met his gaze without so much as blinking. Strangely he was impressed by her stubbornness, even though she was taking it to the extreme.
Running Deer came quickly to her feet, holding her jaw.
He knew the woman was jealous of Jordan and Kari. She had been from the moment he'd returned to the village, though she really had no reason to be. They had been lovers for a short while, but that's all they would ever be. When he went on long hunts, he knew she kept her body warm with another, and that thought never bothered him. But her behavior toward his captives did.
Jordan glanced over at Running Deer, her eyes narrowed, looking as though she'd love to take up where she'd left off.
When she took a step in that direction, Gray Hawk picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. With a curse, she jabbed her knee into his stomach. He caught his breath and landed a stiff hand to her rump. A smile came to his mouth when she didn't flinch, or even dare move after that.
"I hate you," she said through clenched teeth.
"The feeling's mutual."
"Put me down you bastard!"
He abruptly dropped her to her feet, and lifted her chin with his hand until she was forced to look directly into his eyes. "You have caused nothing but trouble since the day you came here. Do you want to belong to another? If that's what you want, it can be done. You have embarrassed and humiliated me more times than I can count. By acting this way, you are condemning yourself to a more agonizing fate than being my captive."
"I did nothing...she...that." She pointed in Running Deer's direction. "Forget it, I don't know why I even waste my breath. You never listen!"
"She was only protecting me, and for that we are to be given to another?" Kari asked, taking a step toward him. She touched his arm, then quickly dropped it back to her side.
"I never said I'd get rid of both of you," Gray Hawk replied.
Jordan gasped. "You would get rid of me and keep Kari?"
He did nothing more than lift a brow, making her come to her own conclusion.
She shook her head and bit into her bottom lip before blurting, "I hate you more than I've hated anyone. I never asked for this. You just took it upon yourself to snatch us up and take us away, stealing our dreams and aspirations...our freedom."
He didn't want to hear this, for he'd been struggling with the knowledge he'd taken away their freedom. Clenching his jaw tight, he remained silent.
"What do you expect of us? Do you think we should be thankful? Well, if you do, then think again. I live for the day I leave this horrible place and you along with it." When a single tear rolled down her cheek, he winced. All she'd ever shown was her strength, and now to see her vulnerable made him angry at himself.
"We just want to go home. We've done nothing to you or your people."
There was nothing he could say to make her feel better, so he said nothing, and instead motioned for them to head back to the village. "Go to the teepee and await my return."
She looked ready to run. He knew she would try to escape, and in a way, he almost wished she would. Yet for some reason that he couldn't even explain to himself, he wanted her with him.
With a final glare in his direction, she grabbed Kari's hand and they headed back toward the village. He turned to Running Deer who watched him intently.
He knew what she was thinking. It was what everyone thought-- that he'd bought the women back for his pleasure. Yet he hadn't, at least that hadn't been his plan, even though at night he lay awake, finding it hard to find sleep with the red-haired hellion beside him, tossing and turning in her sleep, her hair fanned out over the furs, over her soft, white skin. How he yearned to take her beneath him and discover every inch of her body.
"Why do you not come to me?" Running Deer asked when they were finally alone.
"You are free to do as you please," he said in response, his gaze shifting to the running river behind her, not wanting her to read the truth in his eyes.
"You want her. You want the white woman. Which one, Gray Hawk? Or are you becoming like Iron Bear and want both?"
"Do not provoke them any more, Running Deer."
"Is that a threat?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.
"No, it's a promise."
Without another word, he walked away, ignoring her curses.
SLOWLY, JORDAN opened her eyes to darkness. The only light came from the fire burning low in the pit, and as she sat up on her elbows, she saw that she was alone. She stretched, glad to have napped for a few hours. A little rest did a lot for her attitude, and she needed as much of an adjustment as she could get before facing Gray Hawk again.
The sound of Kari's voice coming from outside the teepee brought her abruptly awake. Scrambling to her feet, Jordan threw back the flap to find her cousin sitting with the others in a circle around the fire. It struck Jordan how odd Kari looked sitting among all the dark-haired people, despite the fact that she laughed and talked with them as though she truly belonged.
Instantly Jordan's gaze darted around the camp, looking for one man in particular. Not seeing Gray Hawk among the others, she sat beside Kari and forced herself to relax and listen to the conversations around her. She told herself if she tried to learn the language, she would be giving into her captivity by trying to adapt. Yet, unconsciously she found she listened more intently these last few days, knowing it would be much easier, and perhaps even help them escape if she knew what they were saying.
A hush fell over the crowd as the flap to the chief's teepee opened, and the chief, Three Moons, stepped out, followed by his sons, Iron Bear and Gray Hawk.
Holding her breath, Jordan watched as Gray Hawk's gaze scanned the circle and came to rest on her, as though he'd been searching for her alone. To her distress, she couldn't look away. A strange awareness raced through her as she stared. Soft leather breeches clung to his strong legs like a second skin. His narrow hips accented a flat stomach that was hard and muscled. She swallowed as her gaze moved up his body to the bear-claw necklace that rested against his smooth chest, then up further to his face. The war bonnet of white feathers contrasted with his dark beauty, and the painted green stripes running along the base of his high cheekbones made the gray of his eyes brighter and more intense. He was compelling, his magnetism so potent, that the hair on her arms stood on end.
The haunting melody of a wooden flute floated on the breeze. The group around her clicked their tongues, and a few shrill cries rang out as the men of the tribe came together in the middle of the circle. As Jordan looked around the camp, she saw all the men were wearing masks or wore paint all over their bodies, which meant she was about to witness a ceremony of some type.