LeClerc 03 - Wild Savage Heart Read online

  His massive chest and wide shoulders pulled at the seams of his shirt while his pants hugged his heavily muscled thighs. He rode his horse as if he had been born upon its back. And perhaps he had, she thought, acknowledging that this man was every bit as dangerous as he looked. His appearance no longer hinted at his Indian heritage, it now demanded that his heritage be recognized.

  And he still looked at her with contempt.

  Molly felt Nathan’s stoic gaze linger on her and she forced herself not to fidget on the seat. She felt that he could read her every thought with those searching black eyes, reach right into her soul and find it wanting. She was still horrified at the thought of riding into the unknown wilderness with him.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” Adam asked softly.

  Startled, Molly forced her eyes away from Nathan and turned to her husband. She felt a vivid blush creep up her neck and she knew that Nathan would observe it and probably know the reason.

  “Yes, Adam,” she replied in the same way she had answered the same question several times earlier. “I’m really all right.”

  “I know a woman’s first time can be painful, sweetheart, and I was a little rougher than I should have been.” Adam lowered his voice as the memory of their wedding night brought a heavy sensation to his loins. “I wanted you so badly. I know that’s no excuse but it is the reason.”

  “Adam, please … “ she stammered.

  “I’m sure Nathan will understand if you need to stop a little earlier tonight.”

  “Adam, don’t you dare … “ Molly broke off, completely mortified at the thought of Adam explaining such a situation to his friend.

  “He’s a man, honey, he’ll understand.”

  “If you mention a word of it to him I swear I’ll… I’ll climb off this wagon and walk back to Charleston!”

  Adam chuckled at the intensity of her reply. His sweet, shy Molly had hidden depths, a few of which he had discovered last night. Her delight in the pleasures to be found in their marriage bed had overwhelmed him. He felt himself begin to harden as he remembered her eagerness to please him.

  Clearing his throat, Adam forced his thoughts away from last night. There were many long miles, and even longer hours, before he could once more make love to his wife. And he knew time would pass even more slowly if he were to dwell on the memories. Ah, but those memories were glorious!

  Nathan watched the newlyweds whisper to each other and he saw the blush cover Molly’s face. Spurring his mount away from the wagon, he wondered, not for the first time, exactly what Adam saw in his wife. To Nathan, Molly was plain rather than pretty. She was too tall, far too thin for his tastes and she was shy to the point of being insipid.

  She was like so many of the women he’d known since he’d left his home in wilderness of Kentucky for the civilized wastelands of Pennsylvania. He had come to know many beautiful women, women who had become fascinated with the tall, unbelievably attractive man.

  Hawk shook his head at the memories. The more mercilessly he had treated some of them the more they seemed to have wanted him. He didn’t understand that they were drawn to the ruthless savage that lurked just beneath his civilized veneer. They were as enticed by his intensity and the promise of violence as they were by his muscular body. The few women who thought they had experienced his savagery had become slavelike in their devotion to him. In fact, he acknowledged, they had become annoyances, until he had been forced to either move on to another city or to show them the truth of his cold-blooded cruelty.

  Nathan almost smiled at the mental vision of the horror and terror that would have covered the faces of his former lovers if they had ever witnessed the real savage, the Shawnee warrior capable of every cruelty and atrocity credited to the Indian.

  He was Nathan, raised by loving white parents, surrounded by gentleness and peace. He was Morning Hawk, full-blooded Shawnee warrior, born in death, witness of brutality and rage.

  He was both and neither. He walked a line between two worlds, comfortable in neither. Feeling that the ingredient missing in his life was just around the next turn, Nathan Morning Hawk kept searching. For nearly six years he had lived as a white man, surrounded by the city and the trappings of civilization. Now he was going home. Maybe he would find that nebulous something in the wilderness rather than the city.

  He refused to consider the possibility that he would never find the sanctuary he sought. He knew that somewhere, someplace, he would find whatever it was that had forced him to take this endless journey. He would find the missing part of his soul.

  Molly was just another white woman who looked at him as others had. He read the curiosity in her gaze as her honey-colored eyes met his. But he also saw more than curiosity; he saw fear and contempt; he saw fascination and self-disgust caused by that fascination.

  He had agreed to help Adam move to the unsettled wilderness of North Carolina. He’d help Adam set up a new home, would teach the other man the things necessary for survival then he’d be on his way. By winter he’d be home with the family that accepted him as he was and loved him without question.

  He rode several miles ahead of the wagon, looking for potential problems, finding none. At this point in their trip the trail was clearly visible and well traveled. The gentle spring rains hadn’t worked on the trail yet, as they would in only a few more weeks, filling it with potholes and ruts. Now they crossed gently flowing streams, but soon those same streams would be raging rivers, swollen from floods further upriver.

  Reluctantly, Nathan returned to the wagon. He noticed that the well-sprung wagon rode smoothly enough for Molly to rest her head against Adam’s shoulder. Adam, wearing the look of a man well pleased with life, nodded as Hawk rode up, being careful not to dislodge Molly. Adam thought she might be asleep; Hawk knew she was awake and listening to every word.

  “Follow the trail. It forks about a mile down, take the right fork.” Hawk looked the way they had come. “You expect the old man to send someone after her?”

  “I don’t know what he’ll do,” Adam replied quietly. “I wouldn’t put anything past him, though.”

  Hawk nodded in agreement. He’d met Charles Gallagher and knew the man would make a formidable foe but he didn’t really expect to be followed this soon.

  “He’ll search Charleston first, but I’m going to backtrack a ways, just in case I’m wrong.” He watched the sliver of color showing beneath Molly’s nearly closed eyes. “If I don’t catch up to you by dark, find a place off the trail to set up camp. Start searching for a campsite before dark, keep your fire small. You can’t get lost, but if you do I’ll find you before morning.”

  “And what shall we do if you get lost, Mr. Hawk?” Molly opened her eyes, stung by the assurance in his voice that he would find them.

  “Why, Mrs. Royse, do you fear for my safety?”

  “No,” Molly replied bluntly.

  Hawk’s eyes narrowed at the aversion evident in her reply. “Pray that I do return, Mrs. Royse, for your husband is the first to admit that he knows nothing of the wilderness. Should some harm befall me then you would have the choice of returning to face your father’s wrath or becoming lost and probably starving to death.

  “Starvation is a slow, lingering death,” Hawk added quietly, his intense gaze riveted to her face as he watched for her slightest reaction. He was surprised when her eyebrows rose haughtily but no sign of fear marred her features.

  “Surely, this close to town, even we poor travelers could find our way home. Should we become disoriented, however, I have every confidence that Adam is capable of shooting something edible. And while it may not resemble something anyone would recognize when I am finished with it, once it is dead I am more than capable of cleaning and cooking it.

  “So, you are wrong, Mr. Hawk. We may become lost, but we won’t starve!”

  “Easy, love,” Adam chuckled at her spirited reply. “He didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Good, since he did not succeed.” Molly adjusted
her bonnet so that it protected more of her face.

  “Actually, I kind of like the idea of being lost in the wilderness with you.” Adam’s eyes drifted to the fullness of her mouth. He thought of the wine-sweet taste of her when she had opened her lips for his invading tongue. Swallowing back a groan he forced his gaze back to Hawk. “If we’re lost don’t be in too much of a rush to find us, friend.”

  “Stay on the trail. I’ll be back by dark.” Hawk turned his horse and headed back the way they had come.

  “I am so glad he’s gone for a while,” Molly mumbled softly.

  “Me, too.” Adam reached for her chin and turned her face to his. “I can’t wait until tonight to taste you, Molly mine.” He lowered his mouth to hers and licked her lips with the tip of his tongue. “Open your lips for me, love, let me in.”

  Molly went willingly into Adam’s arms. She felt her bonnet fall from her head as he stroked her hair. Opening her mouth, she grew dizzy as his tongue imitated the rhythmical strokes of mating she had learned so recently.

  Adam tied the reins around the brake, freeing his hands to hold and fondle his wife. He pulled her onto his lap and adjusted her until her hip rested against his throbbing hardness. He found the buttons of her shirt and opened it to her waist, slipping his hand inside and covering the fullness of her breast.

  The kiss went on and on until Molly thought she’d faint from lack of air. She felt Adam’s hardness against her and she rotated her hips invitingly. She moaned when his warm hand covered her breast.

  Forgetting time and place, Adam caressed his wife until they were both hungry for more. He fought with the yards of material in her skirt until he discovered her cotton-covered thighs. With practiced ease, he searched for the opening in the seam of her drawers and then found her, warm and wet and ready for him.

  “Is there a problem?” a familiar voice called from the back of the wagon.

  Molly nearly fell, trying to free herself from Adam’s hold. She pushed his hand from beneath her skirt as she slid from his lap and onto the seat. Adjusting her clothing with hands that shook, Molly was forced to hold her shirt closed when her fumbling fingers couldn’t work the buttons.

  “When I didn’t hear the wagon move on I thought I’d better come back and investigate.” Hawk had seen enough to know exactly what he had interrupted. “There are better times and places for that kind of thing.”

  Adam grinned at the mild rebuke. “I’d have to disagree with you there, Nathan. I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing right now.”

  Molly turned scarlet with humiliation and couldn’t decide which man she’d rather shoot first. Adam stared at her with hungry anticipation while Nathan looked at her with skepticism bordering on rudeness.

  “By all means, continue,” Hawk replied quietly. “I made enough noise to awaken the dead but you were so engrossed with each other that you didn’t hear me coming. This is a heavily travelled trail. Don’t get so involved that you forget to listen for land pirates or local Indians.”

  “Land pirates?” Molly asked incredulously. “Outlaws, bandits, highwaymen, robbers, choose whichever name, it means the same. They’ll kill Adam, rape you before killing you, then take everything of value in the wagon.”

  Molly wrapped her arms around her waist, unable to stop herself from looking around the sunlit clearing.

  “There’s no need to frighten her, Nathan,” Adam said softly.

  “The realities of life are frightening. She needs to know exactly what to expect.” Without further word, he turned his horse and rode away.

  Molly quickly buttoned her shirt while Adam grabbed the reins and flipped the whip to get the oxen into motion.

  “I realize the necessity of having a guide, Adam, but I do wish you had found someone other than Mr. Hawk.”

  “We needed someone we can trust, Molly. I’ve known Nathan since we attended the University of Pennsylvania together. I trust him with my life, and yours.”

  “But he just seems so… so …” she shivered at the memory of his penetrating stare.

  “Does he frighten you, Molly mine?” Adam asked softly.

  “Yes.” She leaned against him, using his warmth as a security against her unfounded fears.

  Adam was quiet for long minutes, gathering his thoughts. “He is a full Shawnee Indian, raised by a white family.” He clucked his tongue at the oxen and rested both elbows against his knees. “I don’t know much about his past, but I do know that he is both intelligent and honorable.”

  “Well I just hope you won’t be offended that I’m not as impressed by your friend as you are.”

  “I’m delighted,” Adam replied with a grin. “At the university all the women flocked around him and completely forgot about the rest of us. There seems to be something about him that attracts the ladies.”

  “Not this lady!”

  He leaned over and kissed her nose. “That’s good to know. I’d hate to have to fight my best friend over my wife!”

  Molly smiled at his nonsense. A few months ago it had seemed an empty waste of time to yearn for a husband and children. Now she was sitting on a wagon, heading west, with her new husband who was talking about fighting to save her honor.

  Her thoughts drifted to her father and she wondered if he really would send someone to find them. He was an inflexible tyrant who had ruled her life with an ironfisted control. She knew him well enough to know that he would be violently angry that she had defied him. It had been his decision that she would remain at home and provide for him. He had spoiled her, giving her every luxury available, allowing her everything her heart desired … except a husband and child.

  It still amazed her that her escape had been so easy. But then, there really had been no reason for her father to expect anything. He had met Adam only once and had made it clear to Molly that she was to have no further encounters with the young solicitor. He had patted her hand, having no doubt that she would obey him.

  Knowing that the only way she could ever be with Adam was to escape from her father’s domain, Molly made the decision to travel into the frontier of North Carolina with him. Yesterday morning she had left home with a basket on her arm as if she had been heading for the market, as she usually did every morning. Adam met her a few blocks from her house and escorted her to the livery stable, where Nathan waited with the wagon and team. They left Charleston without anyone the wiser.

  Late that same afternoon, when the excitement was beginning to wane, Adam stopped before an insignificant-looking structure. The humble building witnessed the greatest event of her life. Within its unpretentious walls she became Adam’s wife.

  A bittersweet sadness teased her as she wondered if she’d ever again see her sisters or their children. Perhaps a day would come when her father would forgive her and she’d be able to return to Charleston for a visit. A dreamy smile crossed her face at the thought of returning with her own children in tow — a son and a daughter, both of whom greatly resembled their father.

  “How many children do you want?” she asked abruptly.

  Startled by the question, Adam turned and looked down at her upraised face. “Oh, I guess a dozen or so.”

  “A dozen?” Molly asked, appalled at the very thought.

  “One at a time, of course.”

  “Of course … “

  “We could begin tonight … “

  “Maybe we began last night,” she suggested shyly. “Ah, Molly mine, there is nothing in the world that would make me happier than to know my child rested beneath your heart.”

  Molly blinked back the sudden tears that brimmed in her eyes. “1 love you so much, Adam Royse. You have made me so happy.”

  “It’s going to be hard, Molly.” He thought of the next few months and wondered again if he should have left her safely in Charleston until he could have established a home for her. She would have been safe with her father until he returned for her.

  “I should have left you in Charleston,” he mumbled his thoughts alo
ud.

  “I’m glad you didn’t. I’m not afraid of hard work, Adam, and I’d rather be with you in the wilderness than without you in the grandest palace.”

  “If anything happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself.”

  “What could happen to me with you around for protection?” She smiled gently at him. “I’m sure your friend thinks I’m not worth much but I’m sure even he would provide protection if it becomes necessary.”

  They rode in silence, surrounded by the beauty of nature and the contentment of being together. Adam’s thoughts twisted and turned as he wondered if he’d regret his decision.

  “Molly, should anything ever happen to me …”

  “Don’t say such a thing!”

  “We have to be practical, sweet. It is possible that something could happen and you’d be left alone.” He silenced her protest with a quick kiss. “Should it happen, I’ve asked Nathan to see you back to Charleston.”

  “That won’t be necessary because nothing is going to happen to you! ”Molly felt a shadow drift over her heart. Nothing could happen to Adam, she loved him too much!

  “Molly mine, we have to face the possibility…”

  “Enough, Adam! I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “I have no intention of leaving you, sweet, until I’m an old, old man and you are heartily sick of the sight of me.”

  “Never.”

  Seeing how agitated she was becoming, Adam let the issue drop. Life was too uncertain, accidents happened. He was reassured by the knowledge that Nathan would protect Molly. He couldn’t bear the thought of leaving his sweet wife alone and helpless in the middle of nowhere.

  The afternoon slowly slipped past. The trail was easy to follow and was wide enough to allow the wagon to pass without trouble. They stopped once when Molly spied a bush thickly laden with early berries.

  After tasting a few to confirm their ripeness, Molly removed her bonnet and Adam helped her fill it.

  “I’m rather fond of your bonnets,” Adam said with a smile.

  Molly agreed wholeheartedly. It had been because of her bonnet that they had first met. She had walked to market as usual that fateful morning, not knowing that her life was about to change forever.