Erica fell in behind him. She was shaking so badly she wanted to ding to his arm for support, but since he had not offered his hand she did not reach out to take it. As they
approached the braves eyed them with openly curious, if not hostile, stares. With each hesitant step Erica took she counted them again, but consistently found there were always five of them and only one of Viper. If these men demanded that Viper share her with them, would he do it? Was she being a fool to follow him down the bluff, when perhaps her only hope to avoid being raped or murdered might be to scramble back over the bluff and run away?
These braves had far coarser features than Viper. They were not in the least bit attractive, only frightening in appearance, and while Erica tried to think of some way out of confronting them, her mind was a hopeless muddle, and she decidSi to do exactly what Viper had ordered and keep still. When he reached the stallion, she remained behind him and prayed that his charm worked as well on men as she knew it did on women.
Viper recognized the tallest brave as the drunken fool who had kissed Song of the Wren. Hoping the brute would not also remember him, he greeted the group in his own language and followed with a statement and a question. "My wife had relatives living here and is worried about them. How many people were taken captive?"
Claw of the Badger stepped forward to reply. Despite having had too much to drink when he Had last seen Viper, their meeting had impressed him so deeply that he remembered him well. "How many wives do you have?" he asked with a taunting sneer.
Realizing the man knew him. Viper laughed as though he were amused by that question. He reached out to catch Erica's hand, pulled her around beside him, then patted her stomach with a knowing wink. "This is my only wife. She carries my child, and I & not want her to worry about her family. If they have been taken captive, I want them treated well."
Erica had no idea what Viper was saying, since he had taught her not one word of the Sioux tongue. He appeared to be claiming her as his own, and she tried to smile at the five strangers, then quickly looked down when she recognized the hunger m their glances for the dangerous emotion it was. She feared they were in such desperate trouble that Viper would have to talk until sundown to get them out of it.
Badger looked at his companions, and when none objected he explained. "They fought well, and we took no prisoners here. At sunrise the people loaded their wagons and went east, toward Mankato. We let them go."
Viper nodded thoughtfully, amazed to learn that New Ulm had been abandoned rather than overrun. The Sioux had not won the decisive victory there that they should have, but since the result was the same, he would not criticize what had happened while he had been gone. "We will look for them there, then," he stated simply as he reached for the stallion's reins.
"Wait," Claw of the Badger demanded. "You have a white man's eyes and a white man's wife. If you have not already cut your hair, I think you soon will."
Viper scoffed at that insult. "I am no 'cut-hair.'" Preparing for the worst, he grabbed Erica by the waist and swung her up on the black stallion's back. He handed her not only the reins but also his rifle before he took the precaution of drawing his knife. When he turned back to face the five iM-aves they had moved apart, and he was grateful he already had his blade in hand. "You are a disgrace to the Sioux if you think you can insult another brave's wife and go unpunishedl" he challenged defiantly.
Erica held the horse steady, shocked to realize that Viper had just given her the means to flee when clearly he was determined to stand his ground and fight. That show of courage inspired her own, but since she had never fired a rifle, she considered this a poor time to try and learn how to hit her mark from horseback. She slung the weapon over her shoulder as he usually did, thinking that if she could do no more than force the stallion to trample the threatening braves, she would damn well do it. She took a firmer grip upon the reins and stared down at the braves with a determined look that bore a striking resemblance to Viper's own fiery glance.
Claw of the Badger was cold sober now. To his everlasting shame, Viper might have gotten the better of him with the Indian maid, but he was determined to come out ahead this time. Telling his friends to step aside, he drew his knife and uttered a challenge of his own. "That yellow-haired slut is no fit wife for any brave. We will all have our fill of her when I have finished with youl"
Viper moved toward the left, and without taking his eyes off Badger he called out in English to Erica: "Follow the river downstream. Gol"
Erica did no more than back the big horse out of his way. She did not distract Viper by arming, but she had no intention of leaving him to face five hostile braves all alone. How could he even ask her to do that? she wondered. She would wait and watch. If he could wound the leader, then she was certain they could both get away in the confusion that would surely follow.
When the headstrong blonde did not gallop away, Viper cursed loudly, but he did not take his eyes off the heavy-set brave who stood opp)osite him with knife in hand. He did not mind fighting a larger man. In fact, he considered his leaner buila an advantage, for his sleek body provided a smaller target than Claw of the Badger's did. "It is plain from your build that you have been eating at the white man's table. When will you cut your hair?" he called out.
Incensed by that taunt, Badger lunged for Viper, but the agile brave ducked the blow easily and continued to hurl insults, each one stinging Badger as badly as a jab from the point of his knife would have. Vif)er called him clumsy and stupid, delighting in the man's temperamental response, and he soon had the thick-waisted brave sweating profusely. He then started in on the man's lack of success with women, his jibes both cunning and obscene. Badger had the brute strength of a bull, but his wildly swinging lunges never came close to inflicting any harm upon Vip)er, who was carving him up each time he drew within range.
Erica watched in fascinated horror as the two men circled and lunged, blood and sweat dripping off them like spring rain. It had been clear to her from the beginning that Viper had both the skill and endurance to beat the larger man, and when it became obvious to his friends, she saw them confer briefly and knew they meant to join in the fight.
Viper had kept his eye on the four bystanders, not trusting them to let Badger and him settle the dispute between themselves. He saw one man draw his knife and then another, and he darted inside Badger's reach to stab the man brutally in the right shoulder, forcing him down
in the dirt where he lay howling in pain. Viper then went after the closest man with a fierce swipe, catching the brave off guard and leaving a deep slash running across his chest.
With that bloodshed Erica had seen enough, and gouging her heels into the black stallion's flanks, she forced the powerful animal into the midst of the fray. Badger was still down, screaming for help as he tried to stem the flow of blood gushing from his shoulder, and his four friends scattered to avoid the horse's flying hooves.
"ViperI" Erica called in a frantic command, and when she brought the horse to his side he leaped up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and with a loudly shrieked war whoop urged the beast to a gallop and sent them on their way. The wind whipped her hair against her cheeks, but Erica had no time to brush it out other eyes. She did not know who held the reins, but as they reached ^he Cottonwood River the stallion veered to the right to follow its path. They raced on and on as they had the day Viper had first taken her from New Ulm, but this time her mood was one of elation rather than paralyzing fear. He had given her the chance to leave him, and she had not even been tempted to go when that selfishness could so easily have cost him his life. She placed her hand over his, knowing that fate was making all the choices for her, and that she would cease to struggle against the powerful force she could not see but could feel to the depth of her soul. Viper had claimed her as his wife, and she knew in her own heart that she was ready to be his.
It was not until after they had ridden past the last of the farmhouses nestled along the Cottonwood River that Viper pulled the stallion to a halL Without inviting Erica to join him, he slid off the horse's rump, quickly removed his quiver and bow from his back, ana tossed them to the ground. On his way to the river he shed his buckskins and moccasins, then, with a careless tug, pulled the feathers from his hair. When he reached the water he dove in with a reckless splash, then swam out of sight, leaving Erica staring after him with her mouth agaf^e. Then she began to laugh.
Her first impulse was to hide his clothes, but she doubted that inconvenience would faze him. She felt as hot and dirty as he must have and looked forward to also enjoying a refreshing swim. She still had a healthy respect for the horse's size, however, and dismounted with far more care. She tethered him where the grass was plentiful and left Viper's rifle lying nearby. She then removed her clothes with nearly the same haste Viper had shown. Unlike the Indian, she left her garments in a neat pile before wading out into the water. It was cool, but so soothing after a day spent on horseback that she didn't feel chilled.
She swam out a way from shore, but kept her eyes on the horse and their clothes while she scrubbed herself clean and washed her hair. She was sorry now that she had not asked Viper questions all day, since there was so much she
wanted to know about him. She felt gloriously free, completely happy for the first time in months, and since her lighthearted mood was entirely because of him, she hoped he would hurry back so she could tell him about it.
When Viper returned to find Erica also bathing in the river he expected her to again be wearing her chemise. He swam by oehind her and wrapped his arms around her waist before realizing she was as naked as he. While startled, he did not release her. He pulled her back against his chest as he planted wet kisses along her shoulder. She shivered slightly as his lips caressed her skin, but she did not try to escape him, which amazed him all the more.
Erica made no effort to elude Viper's embrace, because she had no wish to. She leaned against the handsome brave with a lazy insouciance, welcoming the affection she had always found so enjoyable but had also been reluctant to accept. "Aren't Indian maidens far too modest to swim with braves?" she asked, smiling.
Viper had no idea what had come over the lively blonde to make her mood so playful. He had expected her to slip from his grasp like a terrified fish. That she preferred to stay with him instead was a delightful surprise. "Yes, but you need not worry about what they would do. You need be only yourself."
Since that piece of advice suited her needs perfectly, Erica turned slowly to face him and raised her arms to encircle his neck. The water lapped against the fullness of her breasts, only partially veiling her graceful body from his view, but she seemed not to notice. "That is precisely what I intend to be from now on, only myself. I have been very foolish worrying about what will become of me, or what F>eople will say. It is ptoindess to fret over what will happen tomorrow, when we may never live to see the dawn."
"It would be a great pity for a woman so pretty as you to die a virgin," Viper responded with a mocking grin. He still did not understand her mood, but her pose was too enticing to ignore. He slid his hands down her sides to caress the smooth line of her hips and found her body as perfectly formed as he had always known it would be.
Erica shook her head regretfully, certain from his teasing tone that he did not understand what she wanted
so desperately to say. "That would be a small tragedy," she finally replied flippantly. Now that she was looking into his cool silver gaze the words she needed to express the depth of her feelings refused to form upon her lips. How cx>uld she speak of love when he never had? "You've told me you want me to be your wife," she began hesitantly. "But you've never sp)oken of love. Don't Indian braves love their wives?"
Astonished, Viper res[X)nded with a question of his own. "Are you the same woman who triecl to kill me this morning when I stopped you from running away?" j
Erica nodded, ashamed to state out loud that she was. " Her behavior had been as erratic as a madwoman's and she wouldn't deny it. That she had fallen asleep in his arms | and then tried to leave him the minute she had awakened ' was evidence enough of lunacy, there was no other way to describe it. "I have no manners at all," was all that she was willing to admit, however. "It is no wonder that you do not love me." How could he? she thought. He had just jumped into the river without a backward glance. Obviously he hadn't cared if she had been there when he came back or not.
Viper did not know whether to laugh or cry, he considered her comment so ridiculous. She suddenly looked so utterly dejected that he feared she might burst into tears unless he provided the reassurance she seemed to need. He raised his hands to her temples to tilt her face up to his and kissed her, thinking that gesture a far more appropriate response than mere words. How could she fail to know how deeply he loved her? How could she possibly not know? he wondered as his tongue curled seductively over hers.
This time Erica did not resist the heady effect of Viper's affection. She let the blissful longing to know even more of him swell within her heart without restraint. She slid her fingers through his long black hair, loving the feel of the silky strands that fell in damp profusion over his broad shoulders. As always, his bronze skin held an enchanting warmth, and she leaned against him to press their bodies closer still. The river swirled around them, rippling with bubbles as light as laughter. It seemed to enjoy their passion for each other as greatly as they did. Since he had
been in the water when she had first seen him, the lovestruck blonde did not think their surroundings in the least bit odd or strange. They were merely coming home where they belonged.