Wild Splendor Read Free Page B

had shared this lovely house with her father until his untimely death, caused by a scorpion’s sting. And now Harold expected to share it with her. That she would never allow!
    Almost blinded with rage, Leonida started to run from the house, but was stopped when Harold grabbed her by a wrist.
    â€œWhat’s got into you tonight?” he said, turning her to face him. “What’s Kit Carson to think? You behaved like some wild thing someone might find lost in the desert. You’ve got to go back in there and apologize, Leonida, for me to keep face. Kit knows you and I are betrothed.”
    She wrenched herself free and placed her hands on her hips. “Now, isn’t that a pity?” she said, her voice taunting. “You have to suffer a mite of humiliation while the Indians are going to have to lose all of their dignity.”
    â€œDamn it, Leonida, what you know about Indians could be put in the palm of your hand,” he argued. “Just because you’ve been protected here at the fort and haven’t seen what the Indians can do, you stand up for them? Or has that handsome Navaho chief turned your head, making you behave so unlike yourself tonight?”
    â€œWhat justifies you and those men in there making decisions for the Navaho that will take their pride, dignity, and their freedom away?” Leonida said, her voice breaking. “You know you’re wrong, Harold.”
    â€œIt is the only way to stop the marauding,” he said, his voice calmer. “Reservation life is not as bad as you think. The Indians are given a decent life—”
    Leonida did not give him a chance to finish his sentence. “If you agree to this unfair treatment of the Navaho, I won’t marry you,” she said icily. “I’ll return to San Francisco. I’ve friends there. I’ll live among them and be much happier than living here with the likes of you.”
    â€œI don’t like being threatened,” he growled, glaring at her.
    â€œIt is not a threat,” she said, glaring back at him. “It’s a fact, Harold. A damn fact.”
    His eyes wavered. He ran his fingers nervously through his hair. “You’re being foolish,” he said thickly. “Your future is with me. My God, woman, I am offering you a life of leisure. You can’t turn your back on it.”
    A hint of smugness crossed his face. “And besides,” he said, laughing sarcastically, “you can’t travel anywhere. The country is being torn apart by war.”
    â€œHarold, the war between us could—” she began stiffly. Then her tone softened. “Harold, how can you ask that Navaho woman to make that blanket for me as a wedding gift in one breath, and then with your next, condemn her and her people to a reservation?”
    She did not wait for any more of his excuses. She opened the door and stormed out of the house into a moonless night.
    Her heart beating furiously, relieved that Harold had not followed her, Leonida saw a saddled horse reined to a nearby hitching post. She knew the horse was Harold’s, a large, very swift black mare. And that was what she needed now. A horse that would carry her far from the men who were planning the Navahos’ fate. She would ride until she was exhausted, and then perhaps she could return to bed and sleep.
    Not caring that traveling on horseback would ruin her beautiful dress, Leonida swung herself into the saddle. Ignoring the warning shouts of the sentries, she rode through the wide gate of the fort. At this moment she hated the sight of blue-coated soldiers.
    Tears streamed from her eyes when she thought of her father and how handsome he had been in his uniform, and how he had ruled with such gentleness and caring toward the Indians. Surely he would turn over in his grave tonight if he knew what Kit Carson and the others were planning.
    With the night air brushing her face in a warm caress, Leonida urged the