Yellowstone Heart Song Page 4

  Chapter 3

  Daniel lay awake, more uncomfortable than he’d been in a long time. He had noticed the woman’s body tremble under the blanket. He lay down next to her after he was sure she’d fallen asleep, so she could absorb some of his body heat. She must have become aware of his warmth, for she had moved closer to him until her entire body pressed up against him. He stayed motionless. He didn’t need a hysterical female waking up in the middle of the night.

  As the hours dragged on with excruciating slowness, the feel of her softness next to him stirred a fire in him unlike anything he had ever felt. The pleasant scent on her clothing and hair enveloped his senses, reminding him of spring flowers.

  To pass the long hours, he trained his mind and ears on the sounds coming from the forest. A pack of wolves roamed nearby. They had found the hiding place of a newborn elk calf, announcing their victorious hunt with gleeful barks and several howls. He’d heard the mother elk’s bleating calls after the wolves made their kill. These sounds were familiar to him, comforting. They told him everything was as it should be in his world. What wasn’t familiar was the steady breathing and soft moans he heard from the woman pressed up next to him.

  Before the first light of dawn, he finally forced himself away. He stared down at her in the dawning light, wondering again, as he had all night, where she could have come from.

  The sun had barely risen, and he and Elk Runner busied themselves cutting trees and saplings, making a travois for Aimee to ride on that he would drag behind him. It was the most practical way to get her to his cabin if she couldn’t walk. He remained sullen and quiet as he worked, his movements more forceful than necessary. He couldn’t comprehend why this woman evoked such strong emotions in him. His dark mood did not escape Elk Runner.

  “This woman has taken root in your mind,” Elk Runner taunted. “And you liked sharing her blanket.” Daniel grunted, unwilling to be baited by his brother, who clearly enjoyed his discomfort.

  “This travois is done.” Elk Runner tied the last bit of twine to secure some branches together. “I will go now and find out if she is being followed. I will return to your cabin when I know more.” After a moment’s pause, he added, “You found her, White Wolf. You should keep her as your wife.”

  “It is not the white man’s way,” Daniel ground out. “And you know I do not want a wife.”

  Elk Runner grinned. Daniel flung a tree branch at him, which he dodges skillfully. Laughing loudly, he turned and disappeared into the forest.

  Alone with the sleeping woman by the fire, Daniel packed the leftover meat, and checked his rifle out of habit. With nothing else to do, he sat on a log and studied her yet again. He couldn’t get his fill of watching her. She looked beautiful, even with her disheveled hair and dirty face. He wondered if her hair could be an even lighter shade of yellow after she washed the dirt out of it. Without a doubt she could use a bath. He should take her to one of the many hot water pools in the area. It would soothe her bruised body as well as get her clean. He knew which pools were safe to bathe in, and which ones would boil a man in an instant if he fell in.

  Why are you so concerned for this woman’s comfort? He knew his reaction was merely due to the fact that he hadn’t been with a woman in months, and he certainly hadn’t laid eyes on a white woman in over a year.

  *****

  Aimee stirred and slowly opened her eyes. One of her rescuers sat a short distance away, staring at her intently. She pulled herself to a sitting position, wincing at the throbbing pain in her ankle.

  “Good morning,” she yawned, rubbing the temples of her pounding head. She glanced up as he walked towards her. She drew in a sharp breath. With her first clear look at his face, it became obvious that this man was not an Indian. It was easy to make that mistake in the dark of night. Although white, he could almost pass for an Indian.

  Her eyes poured over his clothing and appearance. He wore a dark-colored breechcloth and leather leggings with fringes on the sides. His faded red flannel shirt had been poorly patched in a few places. Several leather pouches were draped around his neck, and over one broad shoulder dangled a powderhorn made from the horn of a mountain sheep. On the belt around his waist hung a tomahawk and large hunting knife. He wore un-decorated leather moccasins. His raven black hair fell to his shoulders, with some unruly strands tumbling over his forehead. Her eyes moved to his deeply tanned face, his square jaw line shadowed by a day’s growth of stubble, and dark brown eyes that betrayed none of his thoughts as he moved ever closer.

  Her pulse quickened as she met and held his hard gaze. She couldn’t help but stare. Those penetrating dark eyes drew her in. She blinked, but found herself unable to look away. Dear God, she couldn’t recall ever seeing a painting or drawing of a mountain man that looked like this guy. Images of rough looking, bearded wild men came to mind. The man in front of her was quite simply…stunning. The feral, masculine virility he projected took her breath away, leaving her head spinning dizzily, and not from dehydration this time.

  “Drink,” he handed her a full water bag. “I wish to be on our way soon.”

  “Where are we going?” She felt tiny sitting on the ground while he loomed over her.

  “I have a cabin less than a day’s walk from here.”

  She stared as a fledgling thought took root in her brain. It couldn’t be him, could it?

  “I still don’t know your name,” she called out quickly when he would have turned to walk away. He regarded her for a moment with those penetrating dark eyes.

  “I am called Daniel.”

  “Nice to meet you, Daniel. Thank you again for saving my life.” Her smile froze on her face as she watched his expression harden. His jaw visibly clenched, and his features took on a predatory look. His dark eyes turned even darker. Without another word, he turned and headed into the trees.

  Puzzled by his abrupt departure and the savage, almost hateful look on his otherwise much too handsome face, she watched him stride away. Tall and proud, his light steps belied his size. Shrugging, she couldn’t help but smile to herself. She couldn’t believe her turn of good luck.

  “Daniel will look out for ya.”

  “Does he know you’re a time traveler?”

  “No, and I don’t want him to find out, neither. You gotta promise not to tell him

  how you got there.”

  Zach Osborne’s son, the man she had been advised to find in the Madison Valley, had found her instead!

  While her rescuer disappeared into the forest, she unlaced her boot and pried it off her foot. “Ouch.” She sucked in a deep breath, then peeled off her sock and gently started poking at her ankle joint. Now that it wasn’t confined in the tight boot, she could actually see her throbbing foot start to swell. She poked a finger in the skin, watching the indentation it created from accumulated fluid slowly fill again. There was no way now she could get her foot back into that boot.

  As much as it hurt, she moved the joint, palpating with her fingers for fractures. She chewed her lower lip to keep from crying out as she performed her examination. The last thing she wanted was for Daniel to think she was a wuss.

  With a sigh of relief, she concurred with her initial assessment that she hadn’t broken anything, and that it was just a sprain. For all her lack of preparation for this “trip”, she gave silent thanks that she had at least packed her medical kit.

  However, her kit didn’t contain an icepack. She glanced around for the stream that gurgled nearby. Even as she thought about a way to get there – crawling on hands and knees seemed to be her only option – Daniel appeared with a thick sapling that was forked at one end. He approached wordlessly and held it out to her.

  “You made me a crutch?” She beamed. “Thank you.” She took the offered stick and pulled herself up. Blood rushed from her head and she fought the dizziness that threatened to overcome her.

  “Use the bushes if you need to.” Daniel motioned curtly with his head to a stand of bushes. “How much longer unt
il you will be ready to go?”

  “I would like to soak my foot in the stream for a few minutes before I bandage it. It’s only a sprain, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to move very fast. I’ll try my best to keep up.”

  Daniel’s eyebrows shot up, and he gave her a quizzical look. It left her feeling weak and inadequate. Just like with Brad. Was he making fun of her? All the old insecurities came rushing back like an avalanche, and she could feel herself weighted down, and sinking with apprehension. Aimee squared her shoulders and held her chin up. She would prove she wouldn’t be a burden. She wasn’t going to fall into the same pattern all over again of kowtowing to a man.

  Standing in front of him, she wondering how he cut a crutch that fit her height so perfectly. She felt completely tiny in his presence. He was more than a head taller than she, and seemed to be at least twice as wide. At five foot one, she was used to being small around most of her friends. And while Daniel wasn’t overly tall, the proud and confident way he carried himself gave him an imposing appearance.

  Grabbing her backpack, she hobbled to the stream and sank down in the dew-covered grass along the bank. She removed her other boot and sock, and rolled her pant legs up to her knees. Lowering her feet into the icy water, she couldn’t suppress a gasp.

  Aimee rummaged through her pack, and took out an ace bandage, her mirror and brush. She laughed at her reflection. Caked-on dirt mixed with dried blood, and several nicks and cuts crisscrossing her nose and cheeks. Her wildly disheveled hair gave her the look of an Amazon woman.

  “If Brad could see me now.” No, I’m not going to think about him. For once, I’m where he can’t hound me.

  She cupped her hands in the water and splashed it on her face, rubbing gingerly to get the grime off. The crystal clear water beckoned, but it was too cold for her to contemplate a full bath. Instead, she found her small bottle of shampoo, bent forward as far as she could, and let her hair hang into the slow-moving stream.

  “Sorry if there are any fish in here,” she mumbled. She made short work of lathering and rinsing her hair. The cold water gave new meaning to the term “brain freeze”. She wrung her hair dry as best she could, and ran her brush through the long tresses, using the bristles to rake some feeling back into her scalp. She gathered everything into a ponytail with the spare scrunchy she kept wrapped around her brush handle. Her other scrunchy was long lost. Some bangs and shorter side wisps of hair fell loose and framed her face. She hastily pulled her one sock and boot back on, then wrapped her ankle expertly with an ace bandage.

  Aimee slung her backpack over her shoulders, and pulled herself up with her crutch. Turning around, she noticed Daniel leaning casually against a tree a short distance away. He had his arms folded across his chest, watching her with those intense dark eyes, a frown on his face.

  What am I doing wrong now? she wondered.

  Some sort of contraption she had not seen before lay on the ground at his feet.

  “Okay, I’m ready to go now,” she called out. “I feel a bit more human again. Thanks for being so patient.”

  “You will ride on this travois,” he said curtly. She noticed his eyes roaming over her body, as if he was assessing her for something. His gaze lingered on her exposed legs, and she fervently wished she had remembered to roll the pantlegs back down to her ankles. Too late now.

  “You want me to sit on that?” she asked skeptically, trying to draw his attention away from what he was staring at. “And then what? You’re going to pull me?”

  “You can’t walk on your own.”

  “I really don’t want to inconvenience you like this.”

  “We need to be on our way. I want to reach my cabin before nightfall.” There was a definite note of impatience in his voice, and Aimee thought it best not to argue with him further. She grudgingly obliged and positioned herself in the middle of the travois. Daniel picked up the two poles at the end of the contraption, and headed out without another word. He set a brisk pace, and she decided it best to keep quiet.

  The ride jarred every bone and already aching muscle in her body as the poles dragged over the hard and rocky ground, but she was determined not to complain. If her teeth would all be intact after this, she’d consider herself lucky. This guy had saved her life, and no doubt had to be hugely inconvenienced by her presence. She firmly closed her mouth and clenched her jaw to brace the jostling of her brain.

  An hour later, Daniel had detoured around the edge of the canyon, and they reached the banks of the Gibbon River below the falls. Aware that he kept mostly to the meandering riverbank with its softer loamy earth, he had picked out the smoothest path possible, no doubt for her comfort. Guilt enveloped her. He showed no sign of slowing his pace the entire morning, amazing her with his endurance.

  He seemed unconcerned when they passed close by a group of bison, while she gripped the poles of the travois until her knuckles turned white. She eyed the massive creatures nervously. A few of the beasts raised their heads from cropping at the lush grasses and watched them pass. Their eyes seemed to stare directly at her, and the hair at the back of her neck stood on end.

  Quit being ridiculous! They’re not giving you the evil eye. They’re just curious.

  Only when they had moved a safe distance away did she breathe easier. She observed more bison, and a large number of elk in the distance as the day wore on. Hawks lazily circled the cloudless deep blue sky in search of an unsuspecting meal. The scenery was magnificent. She savored the crisp, clean air, catching the occasional scent of sulfur carried on the breeze, a reminder of the geothermal wonders of this area. The only sounds came from insects in the tall grass, birds in the distance, the occasional warning call of a ground squirrel, and the scraping of the travois poles on the ground. There was just no better place on earth.

  By mid-day, Daniel stopped suddenly. He gently set the poles down, and she turned a questioning look up at him.

  “Drink some water,” he ordered, and handed her his water bag. He removed some meat from his pouch and wordlessly offered it to her. She couldn’t decide which parts of her body ached more. Her head and foot competed for the most throbbing body part award, and she wished she had taken some ibuprofen before they started on their journey. She opened her backpack, discreetly took out the medicine bottle, and swallowed a couple of pills. Daniel didn’t sit down to rest. He stood off to the side, constantly scanning their surroundings.

  “I would like to stretch my legs for a minute,” she broke the silence. She hoisted herself up with her walking stick, hobbling around awkwardly once the dizziness subsided. She stretched her back in a long arch, with her hands on her hips. Then she bent forward to touch her toes. It felt good to stretch the tight muscles. Hobbling around for a few minutes, she waited for Daniel to say something. She caught him casting odd looks her way, and she wondered what he was thinking. The prolonged silence made her uncomfortable. Conversation had always come naturally to her.

  “How much further is it to your cabin?” she finally asked.

  He didn’t answer immediately. She’d almost given up on a response, when he said, “we will be there before the sun sets.”

  “It’s really nice of you to take me with you.” She wished she could engage him in a little more talk than the few curt words he spoke to her. Watching him pick up the travois and head towards the river, she asked, “don’t you want me to get on that thing first?”

  “We need to cross the river,” he replied without looking at her, as if that explained everything. “Stay where you are,” he commanded almost as an afterthought while he hoisted the travois over his head and waded into the water.

  “Ok, I’ll wait here,” she mumbled and shrugged, feeling completely useless.

  Daniel deposited the contraption on the opposite bank and made his way back. Wordlessly he strode up to her and, in one swift motion, bent and scooped her in his arms.

  “Whoa!” Purely by reflex, her arms flew around his neck to hold on. Oh man, his face was way too c
lose. She noticed the sheen of perspiration clinging to the growing shadow above his upper lip. Her eyes locked onto the penetrating stare that came from underneath his dark lashes, and the unruly hair that fell forward over his eyes. Her heart hammered against her ribs. Awareness of his arms of steel, rock solid chest, and pure rugged maleness seeped into her body. Daniel’s face remained hard and unreadable as he waded through the river a third time.

  “Please don’t drop me,” she teased, trying to ease the tension, and ignore her wildly galloping heart. Daniel didn’t seem to think her comment was funny. His eyebrows furrowed into a dark scowl. The slight twitch of his upper lip reminded her of a wolf, ready to bare its teeth and strike, and she wished she could take her words back. Twice today she’d observed this savage, almost hateful look, and she wondered why he held such animosity towards her.

  Safely on the other side of the river, Daniel placed her on the travois, picked up the ends of the poles, and silently continued at his brisk pace.

  Chapter 4

  It was late afternoon or early evening when the area they were in took on a familiar feel. Aimee turned slightly on the travois to look in the direction of travel. She recognized the little valley, framed by straight-walled mountains on the south side and sloping wooded hills to the north, which came into view. The river they had been following made a sweeping bend before another river, which seemed to flow straight out of the mountains from the south, joined this one. Together, they converged into one wide body of water that continued to flow west.

  “The Madison!” she blurted out loud. Daniel turned his head to give her a puzzled look. Idiot! Aimee kicked herself mentally. I shouldn’t know this. She knew that Lewis and Clark had named this river in 1805, but much further to the north of here, not at its origin in this little valley. Their expedition hadn’t come through the Yellowstone area. But Zach had also called it the Madison, so the name must have been widely used early on.