LeClerc 01 - Autumn Ecstasy Read online

  SWEET SURRENDER

  Luc leaned over Linsey and stared down into the swirling depths of her emerald green eyes.

  “Luc, kiss me,” Linsey whispered. “Please?”

  With a moan he complied, lowering his head to hers. He softly touched his lips to hers, tasting, sampling.

  Linsey responded eagerly, urging him to deepen the kiss, but his teasing continued until she was nearly mindless, wanting more than the light kisses he was offering.

  His lips left her mouth, gently moving to her neck and making a trail up her cheek, over her nose then back to her lips. He raised his head, his burning eyes meeting hers.

  “If I make you mine, my angel, I may not be able to let you go in the spring.” His voice was husky with his rapidly rising passion.

  “Spring is far away,” she replied in a whisper, “and I may not want to go… .”

  ZEBRA BOOKS are published by Kensington Publishing Corp. 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10 Copyright (c) 1990 by Pamela K. Forrest All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  First printing: September, 1990 Printed in the United States of America To Bill with love and to Bob who isn’t able to count footsteps, but knows the true meaning of friendship . . . thank you.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Ohio River Valley Fall - 1784

  The softly gurgling water followed a gently meandering course, its calm journey a reminder of lazy summer days just past. A patchwork of color wove a tapestry in hues of red and gold through the trees. The leaves, their glorious shades fading and turning brown, rustled in a cool breeze that hinted of rapidly approaching winter.

  Linsey MacAdams leaned against the rough bark of one of the giant trees lining the riverbank. Her gaze followed the path of a leaf as it relinquished its hold on life and aimlessly drifted down to the water below. Landing without sound, it twirled and swirled with the current, beginning its journey to a new destination. She envied the leaf its freedom and wondered, given the same opportunity, if she would have the courage to fling herself on the mercy of the murky river.

  “Girlie? Where’s Zeke’s purty girlie?”

  The tranquility of the moment was harshly shattered by the strident whine of a male voice that sent terror rippling down her spine. Watching him approach, she knew it was useless to fight the rope that tightly bound her wrists in front of her. Nonetheless Linsey struggled to avoid the dirt-encrusted fingers reaching toward her tangled auburn hair.

  “Purty, purty,” he chanted incessantly, wrapping the silken curls around his hand and watching them cascade like a russet waterfall through his stubby fingers.

  Above the filthy gag they had put in her mouth, her emerald eyes glared at him with loathing. She felt the nausea burning in her throat as his hand left her hair to stroke her face.

  “Soft girlie, soft purty,” he muttered, tracing the slope of her cheek.

  The overwhelming odor of his unwashed body left the taste of bile on her tongue. Trying to avoid him, attempting to free herself from his repulsive touch, Linsey fought the chafing rope, twisting and turning in its limited boundaries. Her long skirt entwined around her legs, making escape impossible. She recoiled from his encroaching hand, lost the support of the tree and sprawled face-up on the hard ground.

  He took advantage of her helplessness, easily holding her down. His hand created its own trail, caressing her cheek and neck, hesitating momentarily before lowering to the feminine swell of her breasts. As his fingers closed over the mound, he whispered with a sigh, “Purty girlie, purty girlie.”

  The rancid smell of his breath clogged her throat; terror clouded her eyes when she realized that this time there would be no reprieve. The other trapper would not return in time to stop him.

  Each night after setting up camp beside the river, the trapper named Jeb went to hunt the wild game for their evening meal. Left alone with this trapper, Linsey would try to ignore him as he sat beside her, hands dangling between bent knees, his eyes watching her every move. As if the passing of time had given him courage, one night he had hesitantly touched her hair. Stroking its softness, fascinated by its fiery color, he had been content as he repeated his chant of pretty, pretty. Usually it was long after Jeb left camp before this trapper found the courage to touch her. Tonight he had not waited, but had come to her almost as soon as Jeb was out of sight.

  He painfully kneaded her breast with one hand while the other stroked the growing rigidity at his crotch. Spittle drooled down his chin and into his scraggly yellow beard. The frequently vacant look in his watery blue eyes was replaced by one of intense concentration as he began to unbutton the front of her dress.

  “Purty girlie, purty girlie,” he chanted endlessly, laboriously working open the first button.

  With terror-wrought strength Linsey twisted away, mindless of her long hair tangled in the debris on the ground. Maybe if he couldn’t unbutton her dress, he would stop, she thought. Maybe if she fought long enough, Jeb would return. She tried to pull the gag from her mouth hoping her screams for help would bring Jeb back to camp. She cursed the skirt that held her legs immobile.

  “Holt still, girlie,” he whined. He pulled her hands to the center of her chest, his wiry strength easily keeping them in place and holding her to the ground. Feverishly, he worked open several more buttons. Frustrated, when the last few would not cooperate with his clumsy fingers, he pulled until they popped from the dress and rolled to the dirt.

  Linsey trembled with revulsion as he opened her dress, licking his lips at the sight of her chemise-covered breasts. Horrified, she felt a finger trace the pink tip visible through the thin cotton. She screamed at his touch, the sound only a muffled groan.

  “Purty, purty,” Zeke crooned.

  His foul breath assailed her nose, and spit beaded on his beard. Linsey moaned at the pain lancing through her as he cruelly squeezed the tender flesh. Tears of agony traced silent silver paths down her cheeks. Powerless to stop him, terrified by her own helplessness, she twisted on the leaf-covered ground, trying to bring both her arms and legs up to cover her chest.

  No longer using a hand to hold her down, Zeke grabbed both breasts, kneading them, unconscious and uncaring of the pain his strong grasp was causing. As her skirt gave slightly, Linsey brought her legs up, kicking and twisting at the same time, catching him firmly in the stomach. The breath swooshed loudly from his chest as he rolled away.

  Linsey was amazed by the agility of the normally slow-moving Zeke. He quickly stood and returned to her, dropping astride her hips.

  “Ya hurt Zeke, girlie,” he groaned, rubbing his stomach. “Ma ain’t gonna be happy at you. Ma sez nobody’s gonna hurt her baby boy.”

  The heaving of her chest as she tried to breathe brought his attention back to her breasts. With a sudden jerk, he ripped the lacy chemise to her waist, baring her creamy flesh. Linsey screamed.

  “Zeke, leave ‘er be,” the quiet voice of command called over her shoulder. “Ya know Ma don’t hold with forcing no women.”

  “But Jebby,” Zeke whined, “ya done promised Zeke he could have a woman.”

  “This’ll ain’t for you,” Jeb replied with gentle patience. “I done tolt you, this here gal is gonna bring us lots of money when we sell ‘er downriver.” Jeb dropped the rabbits hanging from his belt and walked over to his brother. He pulled Zeke off the trembling girl and smiled maliciously into her terrified eyes.

  “Ain’t she ‘bout the purtiest little ole gal you done ever seed, Jebby?”

  “Shet up, Zeke, and start gatherin’ firewood like I tolt you to do afore I left camp.”

&n
bsp; Reluctant to leave the girl, Zeke continued staring at her, rubbing his crotch. “She’s so soft, Jebby, just like that there puppy Ma gived me. I sure do like all that there red bar of her’n.”

  “After we’ns sell ‘er there’ll be ‘nough money for all the likker and white women ya want, Zeke.”

  “Hit just won’t be the same, Jebby,” he grumbled. Turning, he walked away, shoulders drooped, feet shuffling through the thick carpet of leaves and hands thrust deeply in his pockets. “I ain’t never had me no white woman what’s got red har, and she sure is purty.” Tears ran freely down Linsey’s cheeks as she tried desperately to cover her bare breasts with her tied hands. Jeb’s success in quickly finding the rabbits and returning to camp had saved her. But what about the next time? Some nights he was gone for hours. How could she defend herself from another attack by Zeke? Another attack that was sure to happen within the next few days.

  “Saved you this time, girlie,” Jeb said, an evil smile crossing his face. “Wouldn’t stop him ‘cept old Zeke there is just a mite bit tetched, and once he gets started with a woman he don’t stop till she’s daid.”

  Linsey attempted to wrap her cape around her shoulders, but her tied hands and trembling body made it an almost impossible task. Jeb watched her feeble efforts, enjoying her humiliation and offering no help.

  “Yep,” he continued, “old Zeke just keeps stickin’ it to ‘em till they’s daid. He don’t even stop then lessin’ I pulls him off. I let him have the first woman we stole. Got most of the way to a tradin’ post, and I thought to let him celebrate a little.” He shook his head as if in irritation, but the evil smile spoke loudly of remembered pleasures. “A daid woman don’t bring me no money. Had to go most of the way back to a big settlement afore we found ‘nother one, and she tweren’t nothin’ more than a squaw. So’s I gotta keep you away from him. But you give me any trouble, and I’ll just tell ole Zeke to have his fun with ya.”

  He stared at the tangled mass of waist-length red hair, its color only slightly dulled by weeks of neglect. “Ole Zeke’s right though, you sure is a purty thing. Wouldn’t mind havin’ ya for myself.” His voice lowered to a whisper. “Might just find somethin’ for him to do next settlement we comes to. Then you and me can has us a good time. I’ll show you how a real man does it.”

  Linsey’s eyes widened with the new threat. Until now she had not worried that Jeb would attack her since he ignored her most of the time. Seeing her partially nude body had aroused his interest. With fingers shaking convulsively, and hindered by the rope, she fought to work the buttons through their holes. She closed the dress to beneath her chin and pulled the hooded cape securely around her shoulders, hiding the gaping holes.

  Jeb’s eyes never left her, watching her struggles with an almost sadistic enjoyment. When she was covered, he turned, picked up the rabbits and walked toward the river. As he knelt, he spoke loudly enough for his voice to carry over the sound of the bubbling water.

  “Zeke really loved that pup Ma gived him. Tweren’t nothin’ but a cur-dawg Ma got from a neighbor.”

  He raised his head, and a smirk tilted the corners of his mouth. With a sure movement of the knife, he gutted the carcass in his hands. “One day Zeke hugged it to death. Cried for near on to a week when we buried it out back of the house.”

  She turned her face away from him, trying to hide the repugnance she felt, not only from his words, but because of the hint of sadistic pleasure she had seen on his face when he disemboweled the rabbit. Useless tears coursed silently down her cheeks to be caught by the dirty scrap of material they had used as a gag. Now that Jeb was back in camp, she knew she was allowed to remove it. Her fingers picked at the knot behind her head, a tattered fingernail catching in the material and tearing to the quick. The pain was a small one when compared to the constant agony her life had become since she had been kidnapped by Zeke and Jeb.

  Linsey had found that escape from her captors was impossible, and as the days flowed into weeks, her hopes of returning to Philadelphia dwindled with each passing mile.

  Holding the cape tightly around her as if it were capable of providing protection, she rested her head against the tree. Absently rubbing her aching jaw, she tried to remember how many days it had been since they had stopped her stepmother’s carriage, first killing Elizabeth and then taking Linsey captive. Her mind flickered away from the picture of Elizabeth’s broken body flung carelessly onto the seat of her new carriage, while bright red blood trickled from her mouth onto the rich leather. Linsey had not wanted to accept Elizabeth’s death but knew it was the only reason she had been left behind. Jeb and Zeke wanted women to auction off to the longhunters. Elizabeth, with her sparkling blue eyes, tiny, perfectly formed body and golden blond hair, would have brought a big price.

  Linsey blinked away her tears as she vividly remembered that day and Elizabeth’s excitement over the carriage that had been delivered only two hours earlier. She could still hear Elizabeth’s voice as she pleaded with Linsey to take a ride with her.

  “Please, Linny?” Elizabeth’s deep blue eyes glittered with excitement, and dimples peeked enticingly from the corners of her mouth. “Just a short ride; we won’t go through town, just out to the country and back.”

  “Elizabeth, I’m not dressed for a ride,” Linsey replied, pointing out the cotton day dress and house slippers she was wearing. “Besides, in another hour or so it will be dark.”

  “Oh, please?” Elizabeth pleaded. “I promise no one will see you.”

  Since her father’s death, Linsey had become very protective of Elizabeth and found she could not refuse her tiny, pretty stepmother’s slightest request. Smiling her reluctant agreement, Linsey returned to her room to change her shoes and pick up her serviceable wool cape. Innocently, she stepped outside to the new carriage — and certain death for Elizabeth.

  True to her word, Elizabeth directed the matched pair of bays away from town, following the winding, tree-lined road into the country. The well-sprung carriage handled well, its heavily padded seats cushioning the larger jolts. The wind tore at their hair, pulling it free from its pins until gold strands mingled with auburn, making them appear to be a dancing wave of fire.

  Giggling like a mischievous child, Elizabeth pulled to the side of the road, insisting that Linsey take a turn driving the carriage. As they were trading places, Jeb and Zeke appeared from behind the trees. Each man grabbed a woman, his filthy hand over her mouth so that she could not scream and possibly alert a nearby traveler. Linsey and Elizabeth were both small women, but they fought with all their strength. It was fate that Linsey looked toward her stepmother at the instant Zeke’s handling became fatally rough. A sound like the snapping of a twig filled the air, and suddenly for Elizabeth the fight was finished. Her head hung at an odd angle from her slender neck, her eyes staring sightlessly at the azure sky.

  Linsey struggled even harder to escape her captor and go to the aid of Elizabeth. She refused to accept what her rational mind told her was true. A well-aimed blow turned the nightmare scene to darkness as she sank unconscious to the ground.

  Linsey cursed the unfairness of life. Only six years older than her own nineteen, Elizabeth was much too young to have been married, widowed and now dead. She should have gotten married again, to a man much younger than her first husband. She should have had the joy of children, the knowledge of being loved and adored by her family.

  Forgetting, if only for the moment, that she was heading farther and farther into the wilderness, Linsey mourned the death of the woman who had been not only her stepmother but a dear friend as well.

  Laying on the ground where they had left her, Linsey watched the dappled colors of the autumn leaves above her head. A chorus of sounds played soothingly around her: the bubbling of the water as it danced against the bank, the wind rustling through the leaves, a whippoorwill’s plaintive call. Her thoughts were anything but peaceful, and her agitation grew when she once more tried to recount the number of days they had t
raveled. Linsey soon realized that each day had blended into the next until she was no longer certain of the number. They had walked for several days before reaching the river and the poor excuse for a boat. Jeb seemed in no hurry to arrive at his destination, letting the dilapidated flatboat drift with the current.

  At the beginning, they had passed several settlements, and Linsey had hoped to attract attention. Jeb prevented her by throwing a rotting fur over her and warning her against making any noise. Her fear of him had been too great, and she cursed her own meekness at cowering before his threats.

  Linsey’s thoughts returned to the present when Zeke entered the camp with an armload of firewood. Not wanting to attract the attention of any roving Indians, he quickly made a smokeless fire. The Shawnee normally stayed on the other side of the river, but Jeb took no chances. He used the fire only long enough to cook their meager dinner.

  When the rabbits were cooking, Jeb turned once more to his captive. “Time for us to take a little walk, girlie.” He grinned behind blackened and broken teeth as he untied her.

  Linsey climbed clumsily to her feet, rubbing gently at the raw skin of her wrists. She turned her back on his leering face and headed away from the river. At the beginning she had thought she would die of embarrassment when she discovered he would not allow her the privacy of even a few minutes alone. She knew he would just sneer if she asked him to leave her. She had tried, at first, but begging and pleading seemed to increase his feeling of power. Now, after weeks of having his sharp eyes on her, she simply turned her back and did what was necessary.

  “That’s far ‘nough.” Jeb smirked as he watched the blush crawl up the side of her neck. He leaned against the nearest tree, spitting a stream of tobacco into the dirt at his feet, and licked at the juice on his lips. “Ya know what we corned out here for, so get to hit.”

  Keeping her back to him, she used her cape as a shield from his prying eyes. Since the evening of the carriage ride, she had lived a nightmare. This was only another part.