Apache Fire Page 8

  “A choice?” Fear darkened her eyes as she looked up at him. “Tell me you’ll not send me away from you. I could not live with that, Niko.”

  “Would I cut out my heart? To speak such words is to ask me to do this.”

  She searched his eyes, and saw that his clear, steady gaze held the truth of his words. “Never would I ask that. I will listen.”

  “It is good that you learn.” His smile softened the harshness of his voice. “There is a place for me with the agent of the San Carlos—”

  “No! You hate the reservation. I would not ask that you live there.”

  “Woman! It is not for me. You would have food. You would have a place to be safe. I know the lands. Never will the white-eyes find you.”

  “And the other choice?”

  “There is a place I could take you, across the border.”

  Angie struggled to sit up. “Take me, Niko? I was right. You plan to leave me.”

  “I think only of you. I would not have you hunted like an animal.”

  “And while I’m safe, where will you be?”

  He looked away, and she followed his gaze toward the south. “Niko, while you made these choices for me, did you think that there might be a child?”

  “Am I a boy, not to know what the joining of a man and a woman will bring?”

  “No. You are a man, one that I love. I will not be meek and follow your choices.”

  He rose in a controlled rush and loomed above her. “Come,” he said, holding out his hand. “It is time for us to leave here.”

  “With nothing decided between us?” She took his hand, gripping it, while she swore she would not beg.

  As he led her from the cave, Niko looked over his shoulder at her. Proud. Anger tinted her cheeks. Spirit flared in her eyes.

  “It is decided. But I will tell you this. Once I named you Woman of Sorrow. I will call you that no more.”

  She held her tongue to keep from asking what name he would call her now. Dismay filled her when she saw the horses. “Niko.” She jerked his hand to stop him. “I can’t ride.”

  “Then I will teach you. I will teach you all that I know.” He turned and lifted her to his black, handed her the reins of the army horse and swung himself up behind her.

  “Choose for us, Woman of Joy. Do we ride north?”

  She angled her head to the side to look up at him. His eyes gazed upon her with love. “South,” she whispered. “We will ride south to freedom.”

  Weeks later, Corporal Eric Linley reported that his searches for Private Ben Holloward had turned up nothing. He reminded his commanding officer that rumors of gold on the reservation’s lands had surfaced, and they both knew what gold fever did to the men who caught it. Deserter was marked across Holloward’s record.

  Linley left then to attend the service being held by Grant Cowan for his sister. The gravestone was inscribed with her name, the dates of her birth and her death. The grave below was empty. Nothing but charred wood remained of the abandoned agency buildings. It was assumed that wild animals had carted off her bones. None were found.

  And in the months that passed, the rumors persisted that Apache had stolen white children, those of the Mexicans and even other tribes. Unless proof was given, these rumors were always dismissed by the army, just as the whispers of a woman living among them high in the Sierra Madre were dismissed, too.

  It was said that her hair held the captured long rays of the sun and the spill of a full moon’s beams. And in her eyes there burned a fire. An Apache fire of love.

  Author's Note

  For me, writing grew out of a love of history and reading. I have always been fascinated with the West and various Indian cultures. As I write, I try to envision both sides of the conflicts experienced by settlers and Indians.

  Part of the enticement of writing Westerns is reading about the people drawn to the raw land, despite its dangers. Since men wrote most of the history books, there is little mention of the women who were part of the westward expansion. But women did file on homesteads; they also brought a civilizing influence to the West. In the Western Territories a woman had a chance to measure herself against the land. I believe women valued the opportunity and the freedom from the stifling standards of the Victorian era.

  Characters are the most important aspect of a novel to me. They must be strong, vulnerable and flawed to be believable. Each has their own code of honor. And I believe strongly in the healing power of love. That belief is why I write romances.

  I hope that you enjoyed reading “Apache Fire” and will watch for my ongoing Western series, The Kincaid Trilogy.

  Have a great summer filled with love and laughter,

  Raine Cantrell

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