Sun Woman by Lindsay McKenna

Author:Lindsay McKenna
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

December, 1885

“Uh-oh,” Nettie warned, up to her elbows in suds, “here comes trouble, Mama. Miz Melissa’s heading our way.”

Kuchana, who was sitting inside the tent out of the rain, looked up. It was drizzling outside, and she had just come over to help Poppy iron clothes.

Poppy’s broad, sweaty brow wrinkled. She set the heavy iron aside on a board. “She’s up to something, then,” she muttered. Giving Kuchana a significant glance, Poppy gestured for her to stand up. “Git away from the iron. You’re not supposed to be doing this. If Miz Melissa sees you, she might try to write you up on report.”

Nodding, Kuchana rose quickly and ambled toward the opened flaps, stopping next to Nettie, who was working over a hot tub of water. Melissa was dressed in a dark blue velvet dress, a black, billowing cloak covering her from head to toe. She looked so beautiful, Kuchana thought, watching the woman daintily pick her way across the muddy expanse.

“She’s up to no good,” Poppy grumbled. “She’s got that look on her face.”

“The dress she wears is beautiful,” Kuchana noted wistfully in a lowered voice.

Frowning, Poppy said, “Chile, clothes don’t make a person. In her case, they just cover up the bile she has toward anyone who crosses her path.”

Nettie continued to scrub the clothes against the washboard, her hands red and wrinkled from the hours spent in hot water. “She never comes here, Mama.”

“Not unless she wants something.” Poppy stepped out front, as if to protect her daughter and Kuchana.

Melissa forced a smile as she approached Poppy’s laundry tent. She saw Kuchana standing in the darkened depths of the tent, no expression, as usual, on her face. Hate rose in Melissa. The past month had been a disaster for her plan to get rid of the Apache savage. Kuchana led a charmed life, it seemed. She could do no wrong—at least, she couldn’t be caught breaking any army regulations. Well, this time, Melissa had the perfect plan to drive Kuchana off the post and back to the reservation once and for all.

“I declare, it’s a miserable day out, Poppy,” she said to the laundress, stepping within the confines of the tent.

“It always rains in December, January and February, Miz Melissa,” replied Poppy.

Shaking the water droplets from the hood and pushing it off her hair, Melissa smiled at Nettie and then Kuchana. “My, you ladies seem to be busy despite the weather.”

Nettie smiled nervously, scrubbing the clothes in the tub even more vigorously. “Yes, ma’am, we’re always busy.”

Melissa held Kuchana’s stare. She saw the Apache savage ogling her velvet dress. It was a beautiful creation that Clarissa had made for her. “You seem to like my dress, Kuchana,” she noted sweetly, pulling off her white cotton gloves.

Flushing, Kuchana nodded, always tongue-tied around Melissa. The pindah woman spoke such fluid, musical English that she felt her own attempts at the difficult language an embarrassment in comparison. “Your dress is like Father Sky,” she whispered.

Melissa clapped her hands delightedly. “Oh, you have such a strange and wonderful way of saying things, Kuchana.

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