"Please don't," the lovely blonde beseeched softly. "Just accept things the way they are and don't try and change them."
"You are asking the impossible," Mark responded truthfully.
Erica refused to allow herself to react to the tenderness of his manner and continued to voice her own pleas. "If you'll not let Viper spend the night here with me, will you
at least let me go see him? I can scarcely be expected to carry on a coherent conversation with you when I am so worried about him."
Mark frowned darkly, disgusted that nothing he said had the slightest effect upon the willful Erica, but then it never had. "You may see him, but not alone."
When Mark turned toward the door, Erica hurriedly followed. He carried the lantern, and holding it aloft, lit her way. Viper was still sitting where he had been all afternoon. Cold and hungry, he had been given nothing to eat or drink when the soldiers had had their evening meal. He lifted a weary glance to Erica's face, and then, startled by the sight of her elaborate coiffure and expensive gown, he frowned. "If you have come to see me, madam, the least you could have done was bring along a few crumbs from your table. It is what I am usai to eating."
In spite of himself, Mark Randall could not help but laugh, the Indian's request was so humorous. "Sergeant," he called out promptly. "Give the prisoner food and something to drink. We have plenty."
"Yes, sir," came a cry from the shadows near the fire the men had built to cook their rations.
Intrigued, Mark knelt down beside Viper, and still holding the lantern aloft, he looked him over closely. That the brave was so handsome was still unsettling, but now he realized he was bright, too, and that alarmed him all the more. "If you speak English so well, why wouldn't you talk with me earlier? It would have saved you a bad headache, if for no other reason."
Viper did not reply. Instead, he looked up at Erica, his glance a curious one as it again swept over her stunning apparel. She had on new slippers, and as she was holding her skirt slightly above her feet, he could see she was wearing new silk stockingfs as well. She looked like a princess, while he had been treated without the slightest respect. He had only to remind himself that she was white and he was Indian. Nothing would ever change that, nor the difference in the way they would always be treated. "You have already made your choice?" he asked sullenly, wanting to hear the words from her own lips.
"What choice?" Erica asked, confused by his question, but when Viper cast a significant glance toward Mark, she
suddenly understood. Kneeling beside him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his ebony hair. "To love you is the only choice I will ever make. How can you doubt my love? Do you think if we are parted for a few hours I will forget you or how dearly I love you?"
That impassioned declaration of love was more than Mark could bear. He rose, and taking a firm hold upon Erica's arm, he yanked her to her feet. "That's more than enough of that disgusting display. Tell the savage goodnight." But before Erica could speak those words, he had pulled her away.
When Viper's hands were untied so he could eat, the soldier guarding him failed to notice how loose the rope had become. As he ate the unappetizing food, the brave reconsidered his plan to escape. It was clear to him that Erica was under as heavy a guard as he was, and while he still thought it likely he could make good an escape, he would not abandon her. The mention of a trial both puzzled and perplexed him, for he had never expected to be put on trial. If he was charged only with kidnapping Erica, he was certain she would say she had not been held against her will. If she were allowed to speak in his defense. On the other hand, he would not deny he had fought in the uprising when he had fought, and fought well.
The trooper guarding him took Viper's empty plate, then allowed him to relieve himself before he was again securely bound. This time Viper made no effort to break free. He would face whatever was to come as he always had: bravely. Erica would not desert him; he was certain of her love, but why hadn't she realized how her dressing in such elegant clothes would hurt him?
When Mark followed her back into the house. Erica moved as far away from him as she could. "Stay away from me," she warned. "I'll not share my bed with you, and if you force yourself UF>on me I'll see you're tried for rape."
"I mean only to see that you have all you require to spend a comfortable night." As though to prove that point, he added another log to the fire, then began to stack the dishes upon the table. "You didn't touch your dinner. I will leave it here in case you are hungry later."
"Please go." His presence in the house she had shared with Viper made her horribly uncomfortable, and Erica wanted to be alone with her thoughts. When Mark turned and walked toward her, she tried to back away, but she found the north wall of the small dwelling at her back.
A slow smile curved across Mark's lips as he made one last request. "I will leave you alone until morning, but only if you will kiss me goodnight."
Erica clenched her fists angrily at her sides. "I am Viper's wife, not your fiancee. Can't you accept that?"
"No," Mark replied in full honesty. "As tar as I am concerned, you've had an Indian lover, not a husband. While I consider that regrettable, I told you I'd accept the blame for it. I also intend to make certain that our marriage will be a legal one, and that you'll never have need of any man but me ever again."
Erica did not try and escape him as his arms encircled her waist. His lips were soft and warm as they brushed hers, calling forth bittersweet memories of the love she no longer felt. She stood unyielding, showing not the slightest shred of emotion, until, finally discouraged, Mark dropped his hands to his sides and stepped back.
"I'm sorry," he apologized. "You've been through a terrible ordeal, and perhaps the worst is yet to come. I'll try and have more patience. Goodnight."
Erica watched him go without responding, for while the first days of the uprising had indeed been a horrible ordeal, the weeks she had spent with Viper had been paradise. She could not bear to think the man she loved would be placed on trial. "He is innocent, though," she whispered softly to herself. Then she realized that while his part in the uprising might have been brief, he must have fought as fiercely as any of the other braves. To make matters worse, surely the judges would be white, and after the despicable way the Indians had always been treated, what chance would Viper have in such a biased court?
Suddenly terrified by that thought. Erica ran to the door and called for Mark. In a moment he appeared, his expression a most puzzled one. "Yes, what is it?"
"Just what sort of trials are planned for the Indians who took part in the uprising?" Erica inquired breathlessly, her fears plain in her voice and anxious manner.
Disapix)inted she had not wished to say something jjersonal to him, Mark became defensive. "I paid little attention," he began, "since my only concern was in finding you. The braves are being tried by a military commission. The trials had just begun when I left, so I know very little about them."
"A military commission?" Erica did not like the sound of that at all. "What punishment would such a prejudiced group think appropriate for the Sioux?"
She was already so upset, Mark did not want to add to her worries. "I told you, I paid scant attention to the trials. When we reach Camp Release you can get all the details you want."
When he turned away, their brief conversation over in his view. Erica ran after him. "No, wait. Tell me what little you do know," she implored him.
Mark turned slowly back to face her, his expression grim. "I heard they sentenced some braves to prison terms, while others will be hanged."
"Oh, dear GodI" Erica cried, her heart leaping to her throat. "You'll have to let Viper gol Set him free. Say he got away from you. I'm the one you want, not himl Oh please, let him go!"
Mark wais fast growing accustomed to taking the distraught blonde's arm and leading her into the house, and he did so again. As he closed the door, he cautioned her to be more discreet, while his own mood bordered upon rage. "I don't think any of the troopers overheard you. At least, I hope not. Viper is my prisoner, and I intend to see he is returned to Camp Release to stand trial. The commission will decide his ^ilt or innocence. Don't ask me to do it, because I would just as soon beat him to death with my bare fists as set him free. Now goodnight."
Before he could open the door. Erica threw herself against it to block his way. "You've seen how proud he is. Vip>er will never plead for his life, but I certainly will." The man she loved would hate her forever for what she was about to do, but he would be alive, and that was all that mattered to her. "Let him go and I'll do whatever you ask. I'll marry you tomorrow if you like. I'll go back to Wilmington and be the wife I once wanted to be to you. I promise I will. Just let Viper go, do it now, tonightl"
Mark was sorely tempted to take her up on that bargain, but he wanted her to come to him out of love, not out of misguided devotion to some devilishly handsome Sioux. "What has the man done that makes you so frightened for his life?"
"He's done nothing more than fight to insure the Sioux's right to exist. The government has broken all its promises to his people, and now to try them for protesting that mistreatment in the only manner left to them is obscene!"
Mark knew very little about the causes of the uprising. What he did know, however, was that hundreds of white settlers had been slaughtered. He was amazed that she would take the Indians' side against her own kind. "What is obscene, my darling, is to murder innocent women and children to make a point in a political argument. Think about that while you are packing whatever you wish to bring with you tomorrow. We are leaving at dawn, and I'll expect you to be ready to go."
Her spirits crushed after Mark had not even responded to her offer to marry him in exchange for Viper's life. Erica asked in a barely audible whisper, "Do I mean so little to you that you won't even consider setting Viper free?"
Rather than respond with words, Mark pulled her into his arms and kissed her with such brutal passion that he left her lips bruised when he pulled away. "No, my angel, I love you far too much to make you my wife for any reason save love." Having dashed her hopes completely, he left the house, but he took the precaution of posting a sentry at her door so she could not set Viper free herself now that he had refused to do so.
Neither Mark nor Viper slept well, but that Erica had not slept at all was readily apparent when the captain went to her door the next morning. Lavender circles marred the delicate skin beneath her eyes, and her thick lashes did not hide the fact that her lids were puffy as a result of too many tearful hours. While she held herself proudly, she seemed on the verge of tears still.
Not wanting to begin another round of arguments. Erica had chosen to wear her faded blue dress, since the new pink gown was far too fine for riding and she knew without asking that Mark would make her change her clothes if she tried to wear her buckskin dress for travel. She had taken care to pack the soft Sioux garment, the new gown, and the fine new lingerie in a pillow slip, and she had put Vip)er's extra clothes in the to'ightly painted rawhide carryall known as a parfleche, which he had brought with him.
She already knew the tomcat would be unwelcome on the trip and would have to be left behind, so she had left him the scraps of venison from the previous night's supper. Thinking the owners of the farm might return soon, she had left the quilt she had admired folded at the foot of their bed. She had kept the little house spotlessly clean, so she hoped when the farmer and his wife returned they would not be angry to find someone had lived there while they were gone. // they returned, she reminded herself, for it was possible they might be dead, or too
frightened of the Sioux to ever return.
"I'm ready to go," she announced wistfully, plainly reluctant to leave the small house in which she had been so happy. "I want to bring VijDer's bow and quiver, and his rifle, too, but I don't know where they are."
"They were on the porch yesterday. I've already packed them with my gear." That the beautiful young woman he had found the previous afternoon had suffered so horribly during the night disturbed Mark greatly, for he wanted her always to be happy, as long as that happiness included him. She had obviously already executed Viper in her mind, but how long could she possibly grieve? he wondered. She was a sensitive young woman. Would she mourn for her Indian lover for several months, or as long as a year? That was a depressing thought, but Mark was confident he could eventually rekindle the fiery passion that had once burned so brightly within her heart when he had held her in his arms. That she had not been able to say she did not love him cheered him sufficiently to allow him to simply ignore the dramatic change in her appearance.
"Since they lost their home, your aunt and uncle are living in the back of their store while the town is rebuilt. I promised we would stop by to see them when I found you."
"No, that's impossible," the slender blonde pointed out sharply, greatly alarmed by that suggestion. "We can't take Viper there. It would be far too dangerous for him."
Mark placed his boot on the edge of the porch, striking a casual pose as he tried to apF>ear calm while he forced back the angry outburst he wanted so badly to yell. Finally, he got control of his temper and responded matter-of-factly. "I'd say the people of New Ulm have every right to despise the Sioux, since so many of them lost not only everything they owned, but precious members of their family, as well. I don't want to create any kind of an incident, however. You and I will go into the town alone and leave the men in a secluded sp)ot to guard your Indian."
"Yes, he is my Indian," Erica agreed with the first true smile Mark had seen from her. "I wish you would try and remember that."
"A F>oor choice of words," Mark apx^logized. "I brought along a horse for you. She is a gentle mare, and you should enjoy riding her."