Never Surrender by Deanna Jewel

Author:Deanna Jewel [Jewel, Deanna]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Swallowtail Productions LLC
Published: 2010-12-04T22:00:00+00:00

The next morning, Kate realized Taima’s killer had told her the truth. She now stood atop a hill. An encampment spread over the valley before her as she carefully scanned the groups of traders and Indians. Men milled about exchanging furs for guns or liquor, cooking utensils or blankets. Teepees dotted the land as well as a small lodge or two.

Kate’s stomach knotted to think what lay ahead. With her hands still tied to the long, leather rope, she was tugged behind her captor’s horse down into the encampment of men. The beat of her heart raced faster than the rhythm of her reluctant steps. She pulled the rope taut, hoping to slow their progress, but the savage yanked her forward.

As they entered the area, men crowded around her, Indian braves and trappers alike. Some men stayed near the lodge with their female Indian companions, paying no heed to her entrance into their vicinity. The stench of unwashed bodies sickened her.

She glanced from one unshaven face to the next. Brown, rotted teeth were revealed as the trappers smiled and leered at her. Bile rose in her throat to think she would be given to one of these filthy men in exchange for a few guns and whiskey.

When a bearded trapper reached out to touch her face, the scarred warrior dismounted and pulled his knife to stop the man, pointing the knife at the trapper’s throat. “We trade first. Show me guns,” he said.

Kate couldn’t believe this Blackfoot would actually trade her like a piece of equipment. He wrapped her rope around his hand and pulled her along, following the bearded man as the crowd cleared an exit for him.

Humiliation heated Kate’s face as the Indian women whispered behind their hands. She wondered how those women could allow such filthy men to touch them, but they seemed to enjoy the attention.

Kate lowered her lashes to stare at her hands. Dirt caked to the blood on her wrists around the rawhide. Her fingernails were broken and dirty. The body odor of traveling for six days without a bath almost choked her, and she knew her hair hung in a knotted mess. She just wanted to die, it would be easier.

Unwillingly, Kate followed the men to one of the trapper’s huge tents, but she waited outside with Taima’s killer and the other men. The trapper tied open the entrance flap to reveal his trade goods, then bent and threw back a blanket. Kate couldn’t believe her eyes. Nearly thirty rifles lay spread over the ground beside three cases of whiskey.

Realizing she was actually being given to this trapper, her stomach flipped, then tightened as she stared at the scruffy man. His gaze devoured her where she stood. Kate covered her mouth, but doubted that would stop the bile forcing its way up her throat. Quickly stepping away from the entrance, she got sick at the side of the tent, then turned away and collapsed to her knees. A cold sweat covered her face.

She couldn’t believe she would be given to that awful man inside.

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