The Savage

“You did it,” he said, finally breaking the silence.

“Yes,” she said simply. “We’re married.”

She felt Lance come silently to stand behind her, felt his hand settle possessively on her shoulder. S

ummer flinched involuntarily at his touch.

She saw Reed notice the gesture, saw the way his mouth tightened. “Are you…all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Truly.”

He digested that in silence. “There’s nothing I can do, is there.” It wasn’t a question.

“No. I’m Lance’s wife now, Reed. Completely. It’s too late to annul our marriage.”

She felt Lance’s startlement in the tightening of his fingers. Quite possibly he expected her to rescind her marriage vows after the quarrel they’d just had. But her reasons for marrying Lance hadn’t changed. She wouldn’t go back on her word. And she didn’t want her brother holding out false hope.

“We’re leaving for Fort Belknap in a little while,” Summer said into his silence. “The stage should be here shortly.”

“You were going to go without a word to me.”

She heard the hurt in his voice. “I had to, Reed. You would never have approved, otherwise.”

“Well…” The word was expelled on a harsh breath as he looked away, staring off in the distance. “If I can’t change matters…I guess the only thing I can do is try to help.”

He reached in the side storage box beside the driver’s seat and withdrew a small leather pouch. Quietly he held it out to Summer. “Here. It’s all the money we have. Three thousand and some dollars, Union bills. I’ve heard the Comanches are sometimes willing to ransom their captives.” He looked directly at Lance for the first time. “You may need it to buy Amelia back.”

Summer’s eyes filled with tears. Reed hated what she had done, but he was resigned enough not to fight it. And hopeful enough of their chances of success to donate the Weston savings to aid in their sister’s rescue.

She started to move forward, but Lance prevented her by tightening his grasp on her shoulder. When she glanced back at him in question, she found him staring belligerently at her brother.

Lance spoke then for the first time, his tone gruff, hostile even. “I have money. I don’t need yours, Weston.”

His blue eyes narrowing, Reed stared back. “It’s my sister you’re trying to save.”

“It’s my wife’s sister as well. I’ll take care of it.”

There was a wealth of possessiveness in the way he said “wife,” but Summer didn’t think it had much to do with her personally. Lance was only stating the code Westerners lived by: a strong man protected his woman, his woman’s family. He had taken Reed’s offer of money as an insult, as an insinuation that he couldn’t provide for his wife…his white wife.

She watched helplessly as Lance’s smoldering gaze locked on Reed, as Reed glared back at Lance in frustration: two proud males fighting over the right to protect their women.

Reed must have seen the absurdity of it, though, for he suddenly shook his head and let out his breath on a huff of unwilling laughter. His blue eyes held a grim gleam of humor when he said, “I’m not offering you charity, Calder. I’m responsible for Amelia, and it’s my duty to pay for her release. You’ll not make me any more beholden to you, either. I’ll be damned if I’ll let you risk your life in my place without me doing all I can to help. Besides, you may need every penny.”

When Lance remained silent, Reed thrust the leather pouch toward him again. “Blast you, take it! We’re in this together now, whether or not you and I like it.”

Beside Summer, Lance nodded once, stiffly, and released her shoulder. Moving to the buckboard, she accepted the pouch, but instead of stepping back, she climbed up to the seat and embraced her brother.

“This is for the best,” she murmured, pressing her cheek against his. “You’ll see.”

He returned the gesture, holding her tightly. “You be careful, Summer, do you hear?”

“I will.”

After a moment, she felt Reed look over her shoulder at Lance. “You’ll take care of her?”

“Yes.”

Reed let her go then. Holding her elbow, he helped her gently to the ground. Summer knew how much it cost her brother to surrender his duty; it went against every gentlemanly instinct, every family feeling he possessed, to entrust the safety of both his sisters to the care of a man like Lance. But he had no choice, and he seemed to know it.