He held her gaze for a long moment. “Would it help any if I told you how much I love you?”
The words took Rayna’s breath away. She knew she should have been surprised or shocked, maybe even a little distrustful. She felt none of those things because she’d known that he loved her as she’d stood earlier in the comforting circle of his arms.
“When did you figure that out?” she asked quietly.
Meade gave her a gentle, wistful smile. “When did I know it, or when did I admit it to myself?”
“Both.”
“I think I knew it somewhere inside myself the night we sat in the courtyard at Rancho Verde. You came down the stairs in a white dressing gown, and your hair spilled around your shoulders like an angel’s halo. You were so vulnerable that night, but you weren’t at all defeated. And you were too proud to let a stranger see you cry.” He nodded as he recalled the moment. “Yes, I’m quite certain of it. That’s when I fell in love with you. Of course I wouldn’t admit it to myself until a few days ago.”
Rayna remembered that night at Rancho Verde and the way he’d tried to comfort her. “I think I envy you.”
“Why?”
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“Because you can recall the exact moment,” she told him. “I’m not sure when I fell in love with you. It just seems to me that all of a sudden the certainty was there.”
Meade felt his heart constrict with a joy so intense it was almost painful.
“But you do love me?”
Rayna looked into his eyes with the same intensity as she’d gazed into the fire, only this time she wasn’t looking for answers; she was giving her heart.
“More than I ever imagined possible.”
“Do you love me enough to marry me?” He held his breath, waiting for her answer.
She tilted her head to one side. “Loving you won’t change who I am, Meade,” she warned him.
“I hope not. The world would be a dismal place without at least one Rayna Templeton Ashford around to stir things up from time to time.”
“Rayna Templeton Ashford . . .” She murmured the name and a delicious warmth spread through her. With a single word she could soon be Mrs. Meade Ashford. She would marry and raise a family. Neither had been part of Rayna’s vision of her future, but now she couldn’t imagine anything more wonderful.
Unable to bear the distance that separated them, she moved around the fire and slipped into Meade’s arms as though she’d been doing so all her life.
“I’ll marry you if you promise me one thing, Meade,” she said, reaching up to caress his face.
“What?” he murmured, mesmerized by the loving light in her eyes.
“When we wake up in each other’s arms tomorrow morning, promise me you won’t have any regrets this time.”
“No regrets,” he promised as his lips closed over hers.
A series of valleys and ridges marked the beginning and end of the White Mountains, and by dawn Sun Hawk and Skylar had traveled across and over the first ridge. Before they moved into the next valley, Sun Hawk knew he had to be certain he had lost his enemy. He found a safe place for Skylar to hide and rest, then returned to the highest point of the ridge and surveyed the wide open valley, praying he would see nothing but sage and cactus.
What he discovered instead was a lone Apache rider pushing his horse to its limits in an attempt to reach the shelter of the ridge. Sun Hawk’s heart thudded heavily in his chest. There could be no escape this time, for once he and Skylar began to cross the next valley, the tenacious Apache would spot them when he reached the top of the ridge.
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best not to kill their pursuer, but the brave had to be stopped or Sun Hawk would never be able to get his wife to safety.
Knowing his enemy would follow the trail Sun Hawk had left, he worked his way along the ridge and down. He lost sight of the brave, but it didn’t matter. He knew just the place to lay his ambush. He and Skylar had ridden through a ravine that cut the ridge in half, and his enemy would have to trans-verse it, too. He approached it from above, and found a good hiding place with an excellent view of the entrance. Readying his rifle, intending only to kill his enemy’s horse, he waited.
Patience had always been Sun Hawk’s friend, but as the minutes crept by, he began to realize something was wrong. The brave could not have made it through the ravine before Sun Hawk arrived, but he should have arrived soon after. But nothing stirred. Everything was silent. There was not even a hint that anyone was approaching.
“You do not want to kill me, Sun Hawk, or I would already be dead.”
The voice was close, and Sun Hawk sprang into a crouch and whirled. His enemy was on a ledge above him, not close enough to touch, but close enough to kill or be killed. The fact that Sun Hawk was still alive told him a great deal, as did the realization that his enemy had drawn no weapon. He stood boldly in view, waiting to see how Sun Hawk would respond.
Slowly he came to his feet. “And you could have killed me, my enemy, but you did not. Why?”
“Because we are not enemies.”
“Then why do you follow me?”
Moving very slowly, Case crouched at the rim of the ledge and looked questionably at Sun Hawk. The Mescalero brave nodded, and Case jumped down. For an instant he was completely vulnerable, and they both knew it.
The show of bravery impressed Sky Hawk. “How did you know I would not kill you then or when you first spoke?”
“I know many things about you, my friend,” Case replied. “Your father told me you are a wise man who believes in peace. I trusted his faith in you.”
Sun Hawk frowned, not certain whether to believe him or not. “When did you speak with my father?”
“Two days before your people arrived at the Rio Alto reservation. He was very sad because he did not know what had become of you.”
Sun Hawk shook his head. “My father would not have sent you and two white men to find me.”
“No, he did not.”
“Then why do you follow me?”
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was obvious, and it deepened even before Case told him, “The woman who travels with you will not be punished for killing the soldier, Talbot.”
Sun Hawk frowned. “Why should I believe this?”
“Because the Gray Fox himself sent me to tell you this. The soldier who accused her of murder confessed that he lied, and now everyone knows she was only protecting herself. She is free to do whatever she wishes. She has no reason to hide.”
One part of Sun Hawk rejoiced in the news, but another part of him withered and died. If Skylar was truly free, she could go back to her white family, now. “What of the soldier I killed? Will she be punished for that?”
Not will I be punished, but will she be punished. Case knew then that Morning Star had found a wise and brave warrior who loved her above all else. When this nightmare ended, he would gladly rejoice in the love she had found, but for the time being, he was grateful to be able to tell Sun Hawk,
“The soldier you attacked did not die. He is alive, and the Gray Fox knows that you took Skylar from the soldiers because you feared for her life. He cannot turn away from the fact that you wounded one of his warriors, but he has promised your punishment will be small. You can soon be free to return to your own people.”