Forbidden Fires Read Free Page B

stained the sky. The color reminded him of blood and death.
    His blood. His death.
    “Why did you steal my daughter’s horse?” the man demanded.
    Stalking Wolf licked the blood from his lips. Drawing his gaze from the horizon, he focused on the girl and found himself staring into a pair of deep green eyes fringed with long, golden lashes. The fact that she was quite beautiful despite her rough garb registered somewhere in the back of his mind.
    “I did not steal the horse.” He spoke through swollen lips, grimacing from the effort, and knowing that they would not believe him.
    “He’s lying, Mr. Carmichael,” Abner said with a sneer. “Let’s hang him and be done with it.”
    Surprised that he had directed his answer to her and not to her father, Caitlyn studied the Indian. His eyes were dark, the left one was badly swollen and discolored. His nose and mouth were bloody, and a shallow line cut across his left cheek. His clothing, a loose-fitting buckskin shirt, fringed leggings, clout, and moccasins, were covered with trail dust and splattered with blood. He looked wild, untamed, and completely savage, but she had to admire the way he faced her, with his head high and his shoulders back. She knew he was afraid. He had to be afraid, but it didn’t show on his face. “What if he’s telling the truth, Pa?”
    Abner snorted disdainfully. “They’re all liars, Mr. Carmichael. Everybody knows you can’t trust a redskin any farther than you can throw one. Especially one that’s got a noose around his neck.”
    Caitlyn gazed steadily at the Indian as Abner accused him of being a thief and a liar. She felt a cold shiver in the pit of her stomach as she saw a flash of anger flicker in the Indian’s eyes, and then his expression became impassive once again.
    “I believe him,” she decided, surprising everyone, including herself. She glanced at Luther Hicks, hoping he would agree with her, but even Luther looked skeptical.
    Abner snorted in disbelief. “When did you get to be an Injun lover?”
    “I don’t have any love for Indians and you know it,” Caitlyn retorted, her cheeks flushed with anger. “But I don’t intend to stand by and watch you hang an innocent man, either.”
    Her outburst was met by astonished stares from Abner and her father. No one on the Circle C had any love for Indians, and Caitlyn had always been the most outspoken, the most unforgiving. Yet now she was defending one.
    Caitlyn did not understand her feelings any better than anyone else. She only knew that, though she had been determined to see the Indian hang, she was now just as determined to see that he didn’t.
    Dismounting, she walked over to where the black mare stood grazing placidly on the lush prairie grass.
    “This mare’s in season,” Caitlyn announced. “Red must have caught her scent last night. It isn’t the first time he’s run off after a mare.”
    Stalking Wolf held his breath, knowing his whole future would be decided in the next few minutes.
    Brenden rode to where his daughter stood beside the black horse. For a moment he forgot all about the Indian as he openly admired the mare. She was as fine a piece of horseflesh as he had ever seen, with a coat like black velvet and near-perfect conformation. A sudden need to own the fine animal took hold of him, and his mind whirled with the realization that the mare would be his once the Indian was disposed of.
    “Pa?”
    Caitlyn’s voice brought him back to the matter at hand. “The mare’s in heat,” Brenden agreed. “Hang the Indian and let’s go home.”
    Caitlyn stared at her father. “You can’t be serious.”
    Brenden glanced at the brand on the mare’s left hip. “She’s wearing a Texas brand, a double D,” he pointed out, “and I’ve never heard of any Indians, from Texas or anywhere else, branding their stock. It’s obvious he stole the mare, and he’ll steal our horses, too, if he gets the chance.”
    Stalking Wolf felt his last hope drain out