After the Thunder Read Free Page A

Texas.
    And why shouldn’t they be? Tay was far in her past and she had captivated plenty of men since then.
    “All of that was ages ago,” she said, with a careless shrug.
    She looked away from her old friend to tickle the baby’s fat neck with the tips of the hat strings.
    “This baby is so beautiful,” she said. “Her looks are a combination of you and Tay both, although I’d have said that wouldn’t be possible.”
    “Well, her behavior is a combination of you and Maggie,” Emily said, laughing. “She’s barely a year old and she’s running everywhere and into everything.”
    Cotannah laughed, too.
    “Is she as wild as Miranda?”
    “Almost. Yes, I’d say it’s a close contest between the little cousins.”
    “I can’t wait to see them together.”
    “Neither can I.”
    Emily squeezed her arm.
    “Come with me, ’Tannah, I need to welcome Aunt Ancie and Uncle Jumper. At supper I’ll introduce you all to a friend of ours whom I think you’ll find interesting.”
    Emily glanced over Sophia’s head toward the woodsman beneath the tall pine tree.
    Cotannah looked at him, too, glad to be reminded of her latest distraction.
    “Do you mean him? Who is he, Emily?”
    He was still bent over the coyote, but as they watchedhim, he stood up. Just that one, simple, fluid motion made the breath catch in Cotannah’s throat. She waited for him to look her way. He had to be aware she was there, he couldn’t be so wrapped up in that coyote he hadn’t seen or heard their whole noisy cavalcade ride in. Obviously, she thought wryly, seeing her again was not the reason he had come to Tall Pine.
    He never even turned his head; he stared toward the back of the house, instead, and never moved at all until a girl appeared, running toward him with a basket in her hands. He watched her intensely.
    A hard, quick tug of jealousy, like the plucking of a guitar string, pulled at Cotannah.
    “And who is she?”
    “My servant girl, Rosie. I had just sent her for the medicines he asked for when I heard you ride up,” Emily said. “He’s trying to staunch the bleeding.”
    Cotannah didn’t answer. The
alikchi
was watching that servant girl as if he’d never seen a woman before, yet he hadn’t given her the barest glance since she’d arrived here at Tall Pine. What an unheard-of turn of events: a fascinating, handsome, young man paying more attention to a coyote and a fourteen-year-old girl than to her, Cotannah Chisk-Ko, the most sought-after belle of the Nueces Strip!
    She squared her shoulders. Well, she would just see about that! She would not only make him notice her—she would make him court her. A hum of excitement began in her blood at the thought of such a challenge. That gorgeous woodsman, medicine man or no, might as well get ready to come calling!
    “I’m glad he’s a friend of yours,” she said to Emily as she watched him take the basket from Rosie and sort through its contents, “I was hoping you’d know who he is.”
    “You’ve seen him before?”
    “On the road. Just a few minutes ago.”
    “Oh! Was his coyote wounded then?”
    “Yes, and so scared it ran right underneath Pretty Feather. She spooked at the smell of blood and reared up so high I just knew I’d have to jump off or be crushed when she fell over backward. But then this man came out of nowhere, and he petted and talked to her a little, and she calmed down like magic.”
    Emily smiled and nodded knowingly.
    “He seemed really … different … strangely powerful,” Cotannah blurted, “Aunt Ancie called him an
alikchi
. What’s his name?”
    At the mention of Ancie, Emily again started toward the coach to welcome the older couple climbing out of it.
    “Walks-With-Spirits,” she said, over her shoulder, “because that coyote and a mountain lion go with him everywhere, like pets. Some people say they must be spirits because real animals wouldn’t act like that.”
    “What do you say?” Cotannah called after her.
    “Oh,