The Cheyenne Maiden by Robin Gideon

Author:Robin Gideon [Gideon, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Erotic Romance Fiction
Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
Published: 2013-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

They went without a fire that evening, just in case someone was hunting the hunters. After dusk, Fox scouted the shadows. By the time she returned, Riley was already asleep. He had teased her earlier, indicating that he might be interested in making love again. Fox had dismissed his hints as bravado, fully aware of the extent of his injuries, and she wasn’t surprised that after he ate, he fell into a deep sleep.

For a long time she sat near him, watching him as he breathed gently, and she wondered what was to become of them. She doubted that any of the hoof prints they followed belonged to Eagle Spirit. The marks were too easy to follow. She’d never before tried to track her own brother, but she suspected that he would be crafty and always vigilant. She didn’t dismiss Eagle from her fears—there was still the possibility that he was the sniper who had shot Riley—but her inner voice suggested she was not now trailing him. That was as much peace of mind as she could hope for.

Fox was tired of thinking, exhausted with worry about decision-making. She felt the bitter irony of Riley’s joke that she was making all his decisions. Fox, for her part, believed she had little control of the world around her. In fact, she was reminded of the time when she was just eight, shortly after she had decided to become a Nut-uhk-e-a, when she was learning to ride a horse. Barebacked on the animal, she was thinking everything was fine, when the horse had gotten spooked and taken off at a full gallop. Yet Fox had held onto the horse’s reins as tightly as she could, her eyes squeezed shut, wanting desperately to jump off so the horror would end but too afraid of the fall to do that. And all the while her tiny body had continued to bounce crazily on the panicked animal’s back.

In all the years that followed, Fox had never completely forgotten the terror of losing control of a situation. As a result, she’d gone to extraordinary lengths, even by rigid Cheyenne standards, to train her horses. Fox would rather walk through fire, or, worse, swim underwater where the lizard-like water spirits lived, than experience the same sensation of helpless, abject terror again.

She considered curling up next to Riley as he slept. She’d thrilled in the moments when she had been in Riley’s arms, feasting her senses on his kisses, his sweetly arousing caresses. But now when his strong arms weren’t surrounding her and his skilled hands weren’t driving her senseless with ecstasy, she was able to look at herself in a clearer, and harsher, light. And she wasn’t entirely certain she liked what she saw.

Changing her mind, Fox stretched out alone on her bedroll a few yards from Riley. With the Winchester rifle close at hand, she quickly fell asleep.

* * * *

Riley sipped his coffee. There were times when coffee tasted absolutely heavenly. He sat cross-legged where he could keep his eye on Fox as she slept, and on the breakfast cooking over the campfire.

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