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He whisked his arms around her and brought her hard against him. “Will I ever,” he said huskily, then kissed her as his body gyrated seductively against hers.

  Realizing now just how hungry this man was for a woman, Mary Beth felt panic rising within her. What if she had started something that she could not stop? What if he forced himself on her now?

  Mary Beth pressed her hands hard against his chest and managed to get him away from her.

  “Sir, you are moving much too quickly for me,” she said, knowing that her face was red with a hot blush. “I am a decent woman. I’m sorry that I made you think otherwise.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, coughing nervously into his hand. “I got carried away. It’s just that you are so beautiful and you seemed to want what I want.”

  “I do, but not all that quickly,” Mary Beth said. She took slow steps away from him. “Please realize that I was only recently widowed. I must show some respect for my late husband, must I not? Please understand that I do not want to rush into anything just yet. But I would so much enjoy your company until I feel it is alright to go farther than a kiss.”

  “Then you shall have it,” Colonel Downing said, smiling from ear to ear. He stepped toward her, took one of her hands, then slightly bowed and gave her a gentlemanly kiss on her hand.

  “I so admire you for being the lady that you have just presented yourself to be,” he said.

  “You did not think I was too brazen as I flirted with you?” Mary Beth asked, easing her hand from his. “I am not used to such things as this. I . . . I . . . was married to my husband for so long. I never knew any man before him.”

  “I shall honor your wishes,” Colonel Downing said. “May I request your presence tonight at my dining table? I am certain you are tired of eating alone in that cabin, am I right?”

  “Yes, very,” Mary Beth said, forcing a soft laugh. “And, sir . . . I mean, William, I gladly accept your invitation. I shall wear one of the dresses that you brought me this morning.”

  “That would please me so much,” he said, walking her to the door. He grabbed her by one hand and turned her to face him. “Something else. Why not move in to the spare bedroom here at my home? I have worried so much about you being out there all alone. I promise not to force the issue of . . . of . . . going farther with me until you say that you are ready. Then, Mary Beth, might you even consider marrying me? I can give you the world. I have a mansion in Boston. When I retire, I shall take you there. You will never want for a thing.”

  Mary Beth was stunned by all that he was offering her.

  But although most women would die for such an opportunity to live the life he described, the thought sickened her.

  She could not get this man’s words from her mind about how much he hated Indians and how he hoped to kill as many as he could before he died . . . especially Brave Wolf!

  “That sounds wonderful,” she said, hating being caught up in more and more lies.

  But for Brave Wolf, she would do anything . . . except go to bed with Colonel Downing. She would have to achieve her goal before Colonel Downing—no, William—caught on to her plan, for he would surely expect her to share his bed before too long.

  “You don’t need to return to the cabin,” he said thickly. “Everything you will ever need is right here for you. Let me show you to your room, and then I shall bring my wife’s trunk of clothes there for your perusal. You can choose from her dresses and diamonds.”

  He glanced down and saw her moccasins peeking out from beneath the hem of the dress. He smiled at her. “Surely you can find at least one pair of my wife’s shoes that will fit your lovely feet,” he said. “We just didn’t try hard enough the other time. We must get those buckskin things off your feet.”

  Mary Beth had to force a smile, while inside she was dying a slow death. She hoped she had not started something she could not stop.

  “Come, my sweet,” Colonel Downing said, placing an arm around her waist and leading her down the corridor. When he opened the door to a bedroom, she gasped at its opulence. She could hardly believe her eyes. If this was a spare room, she was surprised. The smell of the colonel’s wife’s perfume was much stronger here.

  Had the colonel and his wife slept in separate quarters? She gave him a sideways glance. Perhaps this man was not as successful in bed as he would wish to be. If so, he might be even more anxious for a woman than a normal man.

  Mary Beth hoped she had not started something she could not control. A man’s hungers could go so deep, there might be no stopping him once he had even a tiny taste of a woman’s sweetness.

  Mary Beth had to make sure he did not get any taste of her “sweetness.”

  She was afraid that her life depended on it!

  Chapter Twenty

  Give me a kiss,

  Add to that kiss a score;

  Then to that twenty

  Add a hundred more.

  —Herrick

  A bugle had just blared, sounding officers’ call. As the morning sun streamed through the bedroom window, Mary Beth brushed her hair with a gold-plated hairbrush that had belonged to another woman . . . the colonel’s wife.

  She gazed at her reflection in the mirror that hung above a lovely oak table. Today, even dressed in an expensive silk dress, she felt out of place.

  It was apparent that the colonel’s wife had been a much different breed of women from Mary Beth. She had been a society woman, whereas Mary Beth had lived a much simpler life on a farm.

  She knew that many women would welcome the chance to enter such a glamorous world. But all Mary Beth wanted was to be with Brave Wolf.

  She even looked forward to living in a tepee, keeping it clean and neat for her husband once she became Brave Wolf’s wife.

  A knock on the door made her flinch, for she knew whom to expect when she opened it.

  No doubt the colonel had came to invite her to breakfast in the dining room, for surely he would not ask her to join the soldiers in their dining hall. She knew that he would not want to flaunt her there for all of them to see.

  “Mary Beth?” Colonel Downing asked from outside the door. “Are you awake?”

  “Yes, I’m awake and dressed,” she said. She sighed, for she dreaded being with him again.

  But she had to see her plan through to fruition. Somehow she must find a way to discover his complete plan against the Crow so that she could warn Brave Wolf beforehand.

  She placed the brush on the table, then went to the door and opened it.

  Colonel Downing was freshly shaved and smelled of aftershave lotion. His uniform was neatly pressed and his hair was combed.

  He was not an ugly man. This morning he was smiling with an expression that might catch any woman’s fancy, except hers.

  Mary Beth just wanted all of this behind her. She knew the danger she was putting herself in each day she remained at the fort, especially if anyone suspected what she was up to.

  “Well, good morning to you,” Colonel Downing said, his eyes brightening as he looked admiringly at her. He clasped his hands behind him. “You look quite fetching this morning, my dear. Quite pretty, indeed.”

  “Thank you,” Mary Beth said, uncomfortable beneath his close scrutiny, and wanting anything but compliments from him.

  “I’ve made plans this morning that I hope you will agree to,” he said. He took his hands from behind him, now clasping them before him. “Usually I eat with my men, but this morning I am taking breakfast in my private parlor with only a few officers. Will you join us?”

  “Sir, I don’t think I would feel comfortable with the others,” Mary Beth said, truly concerned about their attitude toward her. “Can you just bring my breakfast to me? I don’t mind eating alone, honest, I don’t.”

  “I must make a point to my men,” he said, suddenly frowning. “I want no more grumbling from them about you being here, when they cannot have their own wives with them at the fort. It’s imperative that they understand you are my intended.”

 
His . . . “intended” . . . ?

  That truly rankled Mary Beth, but she had no choice but to play along with him now. She had begun this game. She must finish it.

  “And,” he further stated, “these are my choice men. I want them to be the first to hear about our upcoming nuptials, and also the first to know that you won’t be here for long. I plan to send you on to Boston where I will join you later. I have already wired ahead and made arrangements. Even now my mansion is being readied for the new woman of the house.”

  Mary Beth’s head was spinning with all that he had just said. This man didn’t waste any time. He truly thought that she was going to marry him!

  Now she felt trapped as never before. Oh, Lord, she was not sure how long she could play this role before he caught on to her.

  If he did realize what she was up to, what might he do with her? Would he throw her in the guardhouse, or take her out into the middle of the wilderness and leave her?

  Might he even shoot . . . or . . . hang her?

  “You are so kind,” she said with difficulty, finding it even harder to pretend to smile shyly. “You have actually sent word to your home that I will arrive as your wife?”

  “Most certainly,” he said. He reached a hand out for her. “Now will you please join me this morning? But I must confess something to you before we go. There is yet another purpose for this breakfast meeting.”

  “And that is?” she said, reaching out and allowing him to take her hand. She tried not to grimace, for she loathed his touch.

  “I don’t like wasting time over anything,” he said, walking her down the corridor. “While we are eating breakfast, and my men are getting used to you being among them as my future bride, we will be discussing our plans to take care of a few Indians in this area. Thus far, I’ve not gone against any of them Indians unless I was forced to. I have tried to keep peace for those settlers who want to come and live in this lovely land. But after hearing from you about renegades running loose massacring people, I’ve decided it’s time for me to do more to protect whites.”

  He ushered her to the door of the parlor, then stopped. “My dear, I’m going to make those savages pay for what they did to you and your son,” he said thickly. “I’m sorry for how you’ve been treated.”

  She wanted to speak up and defend Brave Wolf, to say that he was anything but an evil Indian. He was everything good, and had even worked to keep peace with whites.

  But she had to keep quiet, at least for now. She had to be able to sit among the men and hear, firsthand, just what their plans were.

  “My dear, I know that you said Chief Brave Wolf rescued you from renegades and escorted you safely here, but he is no less a savage than any other redskin, and he must be dealt with and made to know who’s the boss in these parts,” Colonel Downing said. “He will be the first to know our wrath.”

  Shaken to the core by this man’s hatred for all Indians, and especially Brave Wolf, Mary Beth fought hard to show no emotion.

  “I understand,” she murmured. “And, yes, Brave Wolf did assist me, but I do not know of any atrocities he is guilty of against whites. He may have pretended to be peaceful only to please me. You see, I believe he was infatuated with me. Had I not insisted on being brought to this fort, I imagine he would have tried to get me to marry him.”

  She absolutely hated playing this game, but she had to find a way to make the colonel open up to her.

  “Why, the thought!” Colonel Downing gasped, shuddering. “It sickens me! Well, I’m here to see that he never gets such a ludicrous idea again.”

  She forced another smile, then went into the parlor, where several soldiers were waiting, already enjoying sweet breads and coffee.

  She felt uneasy when they all turned and stared at her. She saw in them the same resentment the soldiers had shown when she first arrived in Indian attire. The beautiful dress she wore seemed to make no difference in their thinking about her.

  She smiled a silent thank you to the colonel as he escorted her to a chair, then as she sat, sat down beside her.

  She waited stiffly, trying to ignore the continued glares. For the moment, everything in the room was quiet. Mary Beth could hardly even hear anyone breathing.

  No one said anything except the colonel. He first gave her a plate of sweet breads, a cup of coffee on a beautiful saucer, then smiled at her as he spoke.

  “I have brought Mary Beth to join us today for two reasons,” Colonel Downing said, looking from soldier to soldier. “First let me say that she has agreed to be my wife.”

  Mary Beth flinched when she heard the gasps of shock on each side of her.

  “The wedding will be as soon as our resident preacher can prepare things,” Colonel Downing said, smiling at Mary Beth. His smile waned when he saw her flushed face and the uneasiness in her eyes. He understood. More than one of his soldiers was giving her angry glares.

  He directed his eyes back at his soldiers. “Mary Beth will spend only a few more days here among us. Then she will go to Boston, where she will make her residence at my home until I can join her when I retire, which I plan to do very soon,” he blurted out. “The recent massacres have awakened me to how short life can be. Now that I have found a woman like Mary Beth who has promised to marry me, I want no more of the military life. I’ll be retiring soon. I am anxious to become a mere citizen of Boston, a husband.”

  There were fresh gasps, and Mary Beth was the center of attention again.

  She, too, was stunned, that the colonel was ready to give up everything for her. She began to wonder if she would be able to get away from him as planned. She knew that he would be out for blood once he discovered the truth behind her promises.

  He would hate her with a passion, for she would be responsible for making a fool of him in the eyes of all who knew him. No man liked to be made a fool of, especially by a woman . . . and not just any woman . . . one who loved an Indian.

  “But first, men, I want to make one last splash as a colonel,” he went on. He leaned forward in his chair. “Today we finalize our plans against Chief Brave Wolf. He is to be the first of many who will pay for our losses at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. And as I have told you, I have a bone to pick with that particular savage, anyhow. No Injun looks down at Colonel Downing as though he is my superior. Well, he will regret ever putting himself above me. Let us talk now and agree to a plan to erase that savage from the face of the earth . . . and then onward, to others.”

  Immediately all attention was averted from Mary Beth. The soldiers got a look of greed in their eyes, like a man gets before winning a hand of poker.

  Mary Beth stiffened and eyed the men, one by one, as each offered his suggestions as to how this surprise attack should be carried out.

  They all agreed to the final plan, then left the room one by one, leaving Mary Beth and the colonel alone.

  “I saw how uncomfortable that talk made you,” Colonel Downing said as he took Mary Beth’s hands and urged her to her feet. “I understand. You’re a woman. No woman wants to hear about death and destruction, not even if it is against the very people who stole her son from her.”

  “It does sound so . . . so . . . bloodthirsty,” she managed to say in a soft voice.

  “What happened to your husband in that dreadful battle was bloodthirsty,” he growled out. “And your son? Who is to say what the heathens have done to him?”

  That made Mary Beth lower her eyes. She hated thinking about what might be happening to her son at the hands of the renegades.

  She was reminded again, though, of how fortunate she had been. She had been rescued by a wonderful Crow chief.

  She had to find her way back to Brave Wolf’s village and tell him all that she had heard today. She might be saving more than him and his Crow people. The plans were to annihilate all of the Indians within reach of Fort Henry.

  “I’m sorry,” the colonel said, gently placing a finger under her chin. He lifted it so that his eyes and Mary Beth’s met. “I som
etimes speak before I think. I did not mean to imply the worst about your son.”

  She hoped that he wouldn’t see the hate in her eyes, for at this moment she hated this man worse than Blackjack Tom, who had still not been found. Hearing the plans against Brave Wolf had been even worse than feeling fingers around her throat, tightening, tightening.

  Right now it seemed as though a vise was around her heart, doing the same.

  “It’s alright,” she lied. “I understand how you feel. It’s just terrible that life has to be this way . . . that there should be any more deaths.”

  “Better they than we,” Colonel Downing said, chuckling. “Now let’s get on with talk about a wedding,” he said, smiling broadly. “I believe we’ll have the ceremony before I ride out with my soldiers for the killing.”

  She cringed at the thought.

  Her mind was desperately planning how she was going to manage to get free of not only this fort, but also this man . . . especially before wedding vows were spoken between them!

  Chapter Twenty-one

  For thee the wonder-working earth

  puts forth sweet flowers.

  —Lucretius

  Brave Wolf pushed his half-eaten tray of breakfast foods away from him. He stared blankly into his lodge fire as he again became lost in troubling thoughts. Now that Mary Beth was no longer with him, he was not sleeping well, nor had he wanted to eat.

  He even found it hard to perform his duties to his clan.

  He only hoped that his people did not notice. He had tried hard to put up a good front.

  But in his eyes, if anyone looked closely enough, was a quiet torment. He knew the sort of man Colonel Downing was. He was cold-hearted, calculating, and had a deep-seated hatred for all Indians.

  It had taken all the willpower that Brave Wolf could muster to tolerate the insolent colonel that day he had came to have council with Brave Wolf after renegades had ambushed and killed the army wives.

  “I must at least try to see her,” he whispered to himself.