If he could be tracked across the country through the reservations, what was keeping Kennedy from being tracked as well? She’d been seen with him, and that posed its own problem. The likelihood of the other girl’s father giving up Kennedy was definite if he found out she was being hunted. Those thoughts had his overprotective side kicking into high gear. At least Maliki hadn’t called her by name.
“Cree?”
“Hmmm?”
“Why did that guy at the gas station think you disrespected his cousin?”
He wondered when they’d get to that. “This is gonna sound bad, but I slept with her when I was down at the Pine Ridge Reservation. That was the same day I came to find you.”
“Did you do something you shouldn’t have?”
“Hell no. I guess she was pissed I kicked her out of my tent.” He wouldn’t tell her what had gone down between him and the woman. There was no reason Kennedy needed to hear the details of that escapade.
A knock at the door stopped the conversation. Cree slid his hand under the sofa cushion, pulling the gun hidden under it. Climbing off the sofa, he racked the first round. They weren’t expecting company, so he looked at Kennedy and nodded toward the back of the house. “Go to the bedroom and stay there until I tell you it’s safe.”
He waited until she had closed the door before opening the front door. Peering outside, he saw the sheriff and some tribal officials standing on the porch. “Running Wolf, we need to talk,” the tribal chief said.
Moving back, he opened the door wider. “Come in.”
When everyone was standing in the living room, he put the gun on a shelf. “What brings you here so late in the evening?”
“Roddy Little Elk is saying you disgraced his cousin.”
“This again?”
“He’s not letting up on it.”
“Didn’t screw the woman, but I did watch her fuck herself.” His words were crude and could be taken as disrespectful. Cree didn’t care—he was pissed that he was being hassled over some iskwew. “She shouldn’t climb into a man’s bed naked and wait for him to come into that bed if she isn’t willing to go the distance.”
“Did she want to go the distance, as you call it?”
“To a certain extent. And before you ask, when she said stop, I stopped. Then I threw her out of the tent.” Scrubbing a hand over his face, Cree didn’t have time for this shit. “So, what’s this visit about, Sheriff.”
“Her cousins are gunning for you, son.”
“I’m not worried about them.”
“What if I tell you the family wants you to marry the girl?”
The bedroom door flew open, showing a pissed-off Kennedy moving fast across the floor. The audible cracking sound of a hand slapping a face resounded in the small living room. Kennedy stared at Cree. “You asshole.” Turning to face the other men in the room, she put on a look of disgust. “Cree won’t be marrying anyone because his cheating ass is already married to me.” Kennedy turned back to Cree, forcing tears to crest her lashes. “I thought I knew you.”
She raised her hand to slap him again, but he grabbed her wrist, stopping the contact. “Go to the bedroom. We’ll talk about this later,” he growled at her. Letting go of her wrist, he watched her rush back into the other room and slam the door.
Directing his attention back to the other men in the room, he refused to rub the spot where Kennedy had slapped him. “Like I was saying, I didn’t disgrace Bedoya.” He held out his hands.
“Maybe talk to Bedoya Little Elk.”
“You want me to talk to another woman about what happened in my tent?” Cree looked at the closed door and pointed toward the bedroom. “Did you not see how pissed that female is? She won’t have it. She might ask you to scalp me instead.”
“She needs to be careful what she asks for.”
Cree crossed his arms over his broad chest, staring at the older men in his living room. “I’m already married, so I don’t know what you want me to do.”
“They won’t believe you’re married to that white woman.”
“What do you suggest for resolving this issue?”
“Remarry your woman in a traditional blanket ceremony. Here on the reservation, under the full moon in three days.”
