Savage Tempest

He laughed softly. “Ho, do as you wish,” he said, now only watching her. He watched as she held her beautiful long auburn hair back from her face with one hand while bringing the water to her perfectly shaped lips with the other.

She made not a sound as she sucked the water from her hand.

Although she seemed strong in so many ways, she was delicate, too.

He could not help being intrigued by her.

He hoped to learn more about her when they talked once they reached his lodge. There they could be alone together, with the entrance flap securely tied.

He hoped that he could persuade her to accept this new life that he would give her. He hoped that she would accept him as her man, for he felt toward her, a stranger, more than he had ever felt for any other woman. Within his heart he felt a caring he would not have thought possible for a woman of white skin.

He felt torn about having abducted her. A part of him did not want to think of how she must despise him for having taken her from her home, yet a part of him was proud that he had found her and done his father’s bidding.

He would not allow himself to think of the bitterness his mother would feel about what he had done tonight.

Her thirst quenched, Joylynn pushed herself to her feet. As she turned toward High Hawk, she found him gazing at her in a way that made it clear he was attracted to her.

She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Up until now he had treated her gently. She had even begun to trust him.

Yet she must remember that she was not there of her own choosing. She was his captive. And would he not take full advantage of his power over her ev

entually?

She would not allow herself to think about it, not now, anyway. In time, she would find her way out of this predicament. She always had, except for that one day when she was brought to the ground by a madman who’d left his seed growing in her belly.

She swallowed hard and looked down at the ground, for whenever she thought of that child, she felt many emotions. She was determined not to keep the baby when it was born, but her decision ate away at her heart. It was painful to know that she must give birth, then give the child away to strangers.

“Is your thirst quenched?” High Hawk asked, bringing Joylynn’s eyes back to him.

“Yes,” she murmured, swallowing hard.

He looked over his shoulder at his warriors, who were still watering the horses, then nodded at Joylynn. “Sit with me as we wait for the steeds to be fully watered,” he said, already moving toward a thick bed of grass along the embankment.

Joylynn went with him and sat down on the grass, her plan of escaping tonight abandoned, for she knew that there was no possible way to flee this man. He was determined to keep her, and so he would, until she finally found a way to get the best of him.

“You seem to place great value in horses, judging by the way you are taking such time to see that they are watered,” Joylynn said, hoping friendly conversation would cause him to trust her. All she needed was the right opportunity and she would most definitely try to escape, even though he had warned her against it.

She had been a free woman for too long now to let any man hold her captive!

“Do you not place the same sort of value on your steed?” High Hawk said as he glanced over at her chestnut stallion, which was enjoying drinking from the stream along with the others. “It is a magnificent horse, but of course you do not need me to tell you that. How could anyone not see its worth?”

“Especially you, who do not hesitate to take any horse you want,” Joylynn said sarcastically. She leaned closer to him. “Swiftie is mine. He has been mine for many years and will always be, so do not think that I will allow you to place him among your herd. Do not believe he is now yours just because you have me as a captive.”

“Swiftie?” High Hawk said, lifting an eyebrow. “You call your steed by such a name as that?”

“He deserves the name, for he is faster than any other horse I have ever been on,” Joylynn said. Her voice softened. “And what is wrong with that name? Tell me what you call yours. I’m certain what you chose is laughable to me.”

“I have many horses, so I do not waste time naming any of them. One is as valuable to me as another,” High Hawk said proudly. He gazed intently into her eyes. “But women need names. What is yours?”

“Like I said before, my name is none of your business,” she said, yet she was weakening, for this Indian was causing her to feel things in her heart that were new to her. Just his nearness made her feel foreign to herself. And he was her captor!

She turned her eyes away, for she knew how foolish it was to think anything good about this man; surely he intended nothing good for her. More than likely he would place her among the other women and make her work in the fields, or make her carry his water and firewood.

To him, she was undoubtedly no more than a slave.

“If you do not give me your name, then I will give one to you, and that is what you will be called by my people,” High Hawk said, watching her eyes as she brought them up and looked directly into his. “Should I start thinking up names now? Or will you share yours with me?”

“I would never want an Indian name like Sun Flower or Dancing Snow,” Joylynn said, lifting her chin defiantly. “They are ridiculous.”