Nerves on edge, Cora followed suit. She stuffed her hands in her pockets as she walked alongside the warrior whose fringed hunting shirt flopped against his breechclout and bare muscular legs. He was older than her, maybe by about ten years. With his sun-weathered skin, it was difficult to tell, but he was still very much a man.
She kept her eyes straight ahead and inhaled the scents of bear grease and horse.
The creek bubbled beside them, having recently sprung to life again after a parched summer.
She should thank him for the gifts, but her lips remained silent. This man needed no encouragement.
Wolf Heart’s moccasins crunched against the grass. “The boy needs a father to teach him.” That topic again. Direct and to the point.
She braced herself. “Ben will be back. His father is ill, as I said.”
Up ahead, a blue-winged teal landed in the creek with a splash. Another teal paddled from around the bend.
“Birds know it best not to be alone.” Wolf Heart pointed at the pair.
Her swallow worked its way down to the pit of her tumbled stomach. “Even birds have their time alone.”
They walked on in silence.
She needed to get out of here. “I should head home soon. I have chores.”
He flexed his hands at his sides. “Not good for woman and child to be on own. Could come with me. To live. Life on horizon instead of stuck to dirt patch.”
Her breath caught. Be Wolf Heart’s woman? Her head swam. What if she said no? Would he take her, anyway?
She stopped walking, and so did he. He turned. Their gazes locked.
His dark eyes sized her up. “My first wife died. Childbirth.”
She glanced at Charlie downstream by the horses. Sweat dampened her palms. “My heart is still with Ben.” She placed her hand on her chest. “The miles, the forests, rivers, and mountains in between don’t change that.”
“Then why you not with him?”
“The land.” But that was only part of the reason.
He frowned and crossed his arms. “If the land holds you from him, then your roots too deep.”
“More than the land.” She fiddled with her sleeves. Would it be wrong to tell this man the truth? Much safer than telling Arthur. “Ben…the whites…have something that they call medicine, but it’s like firewater. Once a man tastes it, it’s hard for him to not take a second taste and another. I’m concerned that for Ben, now that he has tasted, the hunger will not go away.”
“Have seen too many warriors like that. I never tasted. Do not plan to.” He jutted his chin. “But how you expect Ben not think of firewater, with his woman and son here, and him far away?”
She swallowed. “He says he hasn’t drunk of it since he set foot on the ranch. Even though he’s now far away, he writes on paper to me.”
Wolf Heart studied her. “Go to him or become my wife in the spring. It is simple. Decide. Show him your trust. Bring himback. If you stay, too much sun, your heart will wither like the flower, without rain.”
He turned, called to Charlie, and headed for his horse.
Leave Texas? Show up on Ben’s doorstep with no certainty as to whether he even wanted her there? His family surely wouldn’t.
She rubbed her hands over her arms and stared after the warrior.
Closing the bedroom door behind him, Ben wiggled the noose of a cravat free from his neck and tossed it on his bed. With hesitant fingers, he opened the envelope. Cora’s letters were too few and far between, and each one had the potential to repair or rend.
He skimmed the parts about the ranch and Charlie’s adventures. His eyes ground to a halt and edged forward with caution at the sentenceI have been reluctant to write to you these past few months on matters of the heart.
He slipped down on the guest bed he’d made his own.
I know you are where you need to be, with your family helping to take care of your father and filling in for him at the newspaper. I understand your family obligations.And I know that though you do not say so to me, your work at the paper means a lot to you.And your father expects you to take over his position there.
