For the Love of Suzanne Read online

  She blushed under his gaze, but was still confused. “Where am I?” she asked in wonder, rubbing her forehead in an effort to ease the pain.

  He looked at her questioningly, glad she could speak English. He’d never seen anything like her and he wasn’t sure she was even human considering how she’d gotten there. He thought again that she may be a person of the stars.

  She blinked her eyes against the blinding sun. Surely, this couldn’t be happening. The last thing she remembered was driving down the road and singing along with a great song on the radio. She hesitantly touched his arm, not sure he was even real, then quickly pulled it back. Oh yeah, he was real.

  She swallowed her panic and lowered her gaze. He could kill her if he wanted to. Where was her car? How did she get here? Where is here? Was this some kind of Old West show? Why was he dressed like that? Who was he?

  He could feel her trembling against him and for some reason, he suddenly felt very protective of her. He kept in mind that if the cavalry were to come upon them together, he could be shot or hanged and her fate would be in their hands. Indian men and white women were not supposed to be alone together. Still, the thought wasn’t enough to make him give her up until he got her to his village and Chief Tall Deer.

  “Where is your family?” he asked her, thinking that maybe she would want to return to them.

  She cleared her throat nervously, surprised at the timbre of his voice and that he’d spoken to her at all. “New York.”

  He knew where that was since he’d gone to school in the East for several years. But it was a long way from here which further confused him. “How did you get here?”

  She met his dark eyes. “I don’t really know,” she confessed uneasily. “One minute I was driving down the road, the next I’m here. I don’t know where here even is. Where am I?”

  “New Mexico Territory,” he answered in perfect English.

  Well, at least she wasn’t that far from home, but when was the last time anybody had called her state a territory? This whole situation was getting more bizarre and scary. Nothing was making sense.

  He thought about returning her to where he’d found her, but didn’t want to leave her out in the oppressive heat with no water or at the mercy of the wildlife or worse yet, the soldiers from the fort who patrolled regularly. They were pretty lawless and would more than likely hurt her since she didn’t look like any other women he’d ever seen. They wouldn’t see her as a person of the stars, not that he was sure she was either, but they killed for sport and he didn’t want her to fall victim to their evil ways of shooting first and asking questions later.

  Then there was the incident with Chief Tall Deer that he needed to rectify. He’d helped one of Chief Tall Deer’s white slaves to escape. The woman had tried to drown herself in the river that flowed near their village. He had pulled her from the water then had taken her back to the fort under the cover of darkness.

  Chief Tall Deer hadn’t missed her for several days, but when he’d discovered she was gone, he’d been angry and sent out a search party with the orders that he wanted only her scalp. Of course, none of the warriors had found her. He’d gone along with the search party to look innocent. It had worked, but it had left him feeling guilty about stealing from the chief. Now, he had to make it right. He didn’t like the way the chief treated his slaves, but his conscience would not allow him to do this any other way.

  He took a canteen off the horn of the saddle and handed it to the blond beauty seated in front of him.

  She was very thirsty and opened it as she looked at him. “Thank you,” she said softly and took a small drink, knowing too much would make her sick. She handed it back to him, suddenly feeling very dizzy and, sure enough, sick to her stomach. “Can I get down for a minute?” she asked breathlessly, rubbing her forehead with her fingers. “I don’t feel well.”

  He easily slid off the horse and held his arms up to help her down.

  She couldn’t find the stirrup with her foot and tried to ease herself into his arms, sliding down the taut length of his tall body and landing on her knees only to throw up in the brush next to his feet. That, combined with the intense heat, made her faint.

  He knelt beside her still body, recognizing the symptoms of being overheated, and carried her to a somewhat shaded spot under a tower of boulders. He gently laid her down, then went back for the canteen, patting the horse as he retrieved it.

  She was slowly coming around again when she felt a little dribble of water slide down her throat. She opened her eyes and gazed into the dark brown eyes of the man. He looked friendly, but she didn’t know him and was afraid. What had happened that she should be with a man like him?

  “Where am I?” she repeated.

  He recapped the canteen and sat down in front of her. He knew and she didn’t, plus she had that extraordinary thing that had exploded. It had moved on wheels, but didn’t have any horses to pull it. How could that be? What would it matter anyway? She was going to Chief Tall Deer who would be very pleased. “You’re on Chiricahua land,” he murmured, looking away from her.

  She knew that Chiricahua was a band of Apache Indians. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to trespass. Is that why you’re dressed like that?”

  He spread his arms innocently and looked himself over, finding nothing wrong. She was the one dressed in a strange fashion with her bare arms and legs and those shoes.

  She struggled to a sitting position, then laid a protective hand on her stomach. Her head hurt and her stomach was still roiling, but it was a bit better than before.

  She looked at the man. He was very handsome with dark eyes and shoulder-length black hair that blew freely in the wind. His face was young and friendly and although she hadn’t seen it, she was betting he had a great smile. He couldn’t be much older than she was. His nose and mouth were perfectly proportioned to his face, and he looked like someone she’d see on the cover of a romance novel. Still, that didn’t explain why he was dressed like that.

  “Where is my car?” she asked calmly, trying not to panic as she looked around the barren landscape. All she saw were rocks and dunes and flatness and the biggest black horse she’d ever laid eyes on.

  He looked at her in confusion.

  She returned the bewildered gaze. “Car,” she repeated when she realized he didn’t know what she was talking about.

  He shook his head and spread his arms lamely.

  “You know,” she made like she was holding a steering wheel and moved her arms up and down as if she were driving. “Car,” she said patiently.

  She could see he didn’t understand and knew it was genuine. The guy didn’t know what a car was. This was getting crazier by the second. He was dressed like some guy doing a Western movie. He didn’t know what a car was. He’d told her she was in New Mexico Territory and then on Chiricahua land. Things were not adding up and it was getting scary.

  “Why were you standing in the road?” she asked him curiously.

  “There are no roads around here,” he told her quietly and picked up the canteen again. “Would you like some more water?”

  She shook her head. “No, thank you.”

  At least he spoke English, but then why wouldn’t he? This must be some sort of play or maybe she’d stumbled onto a movie set or something.

  He poured some water into his hand and gave it to the horse a few times. “You are not well?” he queried quietly, coming back to sit beside her.

  For some reason, the resonance of his voice sent shivers down her spine. That had never happened before and it was a bit startling. It wasn’t too deep, but it was definitely masculine and made her feel even more uneasy.

  She shook her head. “No. I guess not,” she admitted reluctantly. “Where are we?”

  He shook his head with mild frustration and looked at her pensively. He’d told her twice with two different answers, but neither seemed to satisfy her. “I’ve already told you this.”

  She realized then
that he had. “Sorry,” she said softly, thinking that Beau would have at least slapped her and called her a dumb blond. “Um, you don’t know where my car is?” she asked uncertainly.

  He gave a nod toward the direction from which they’d come. “It exploded. You would have been killed had I not pulled you out of the, what you call, car,” he said humbly.

  She was mystified by his lack of knowledge. Everybody knew what a car was and most people had at least one. This was getting really scary now, but she swallowed her panic. “What’s your name?” she asked him in a soft voice.

  “Depends on who you ask,” he replied casually, absently picking up some sand and letting it slip between his fingers.

  “What do you mean by that?” she asked him curiously.

  He shrugged. “My people call me Black Fox. The white men at the fort call me Cody.”

  She struggled to remember if there was a fort around here and couldn’t recall, but then she really didn’t know where she was. His answers to that question had been vague at best. “What fort?”

  He flippantly tossed his arm out, his gaze following. “It’s far away.”

  She didn’t even bother to look because she knew what she would see. More sand, cactus and rocks. This had to be a nightmare. Nothing was making sense. “I need to go home,” she said uneasily and got up. “Please take me back to my car.”

  He looked up at her. “This car you speak of is no more. It created fire like I’ve never seen,” he said anxiously. “You could have been killed.”

  “Then maybe you could take me back to town on your horse,” she suggested, dreading his answer.

  “There are no towns around here. Only my village,” he said patiently.

  She ran her fingers through her hair with frustration, not sure what to do and not at all clear on what had happened. She knew the car was incinerated, but that didn’t answer the question of where it was. She also knew she had to get back to it.

  “What is your name?” he asked her politely.

  She looked at him. “Suzanne.”

  “Suzanne,” he echoed. “Suzanne,” he said again as if playing with the word. It was almost as if he’d never heard the name before and it was a novelty to say it. “Did your mother name you Suzanne?”

  “Yes,” she barely breathed, rubbing her aching forehead. He was her only source of help and she didn’t need him knowing she still wasn’t at the top of her game. “Will you take me back to the road?” she asked him in a shallow voice.

  “There are no roads, Suzanne,” he told her in a soft voice, knowing she was confused. He then offered the canteen to her again. “Would you like more water?”

  She slowly shook her head. “No, thank you.”

  He took a quick drink and replaced the cap, watching her as she weaved unsteadily before him. “Are you well enough to travel now?” he asked even though he suspected she wasn’t.

  “Where are we going?” she asked nervously.

  He rose to his feet. “To my village. To Chief Tall Deer. We can be there by nightfall.”

  She took a step and steadied herself against the big boulder she’d been leaning against, putting her hand to her forehead again as the world began to spin.

  Cody watched her, ready to lend her aid should she fall. He thought they should stay the night. He could hunt for food, but water was scarce and he would have to travel for that; hopefully, not very far. “We should stay. You are not well.”

  She sunk back down to a sitting position, rubbing her forehead. “Maybe I’m not,” she conceded. “It’s so hot.”

  He opened the canteen again and handed it to her. “I will go hunt and find water. You wait here.”

  She drank lightly and handed the canteen back to him. “I don’t know where I would go. I’m lost enough as it is,” she said sadly.

  Panic was brimming. She didn’t know where she was. She didn’t know who he was or how she’d gotten here. She didn’t know how to get back to her car that she now knew was blown to smithereens and, to top it all off, she was sick again. It had to be a dream. A hallucination. She’d been in the heat too long. That was the only explanation. Nothing here was real.

  “You’re leaving?” she asked distressfully, gazing up at him. She was afraid to be out here alone. It was hot and the sun would be setting eventually. The wild animals and snakes would be coming out as the heat subsided.

  He could hear the panic in her voice and knelt in front of her. He wanted to offer her comfort, but knew a man like him could never touch a woman like her. He was a half-breed Indian man and she was a white woman. He was risking his neck just riding on the same horse with her. “I have to get some food and water,” he explained gently, wanting to touch her yellow hair. He’d already smelled it and it smelled clean and sensual, unlike anything he’d ever smelled before. “I will be back,” he promised. “I won’t be gone long.”

  “Can I go with you?” she asked him weakly, not wanting to be left alone.

  “You aren’t well,” he reasoned. “You’ll be okay here,” he assured her and gracefully regained his feet.

  She couldn’t understand this. It was too unreal. He looked like an Indian right out of the old West and he spoke impeccable English. She’d never been a good student in history and now she wish she’d paid more attention in class. At least, she might have remembered if the Indians had spoken English. She knew some had, but that had been a century or more ago, hadn’t it?

  “Are you a movie star or something?” she asked him lamely, looking up at him.

  “Movie star?” he echoed with obvious confusion. “I know nothing of this movie star. What is a movie star?”

  She gazed into his dark brown eyes and could see the genuine question in them. He really didn’t know what a movie star was. There was no way he was lying about this. He honestly didn’t know what a car was nor did he know what a movie star was.

  With a feeling of disbelief and even dread, she asked him in a trembling voice. “What year is it?”

  He arched his dark eyebrows with surprise. “1860.”

  Her mouth dropped open in horror. “No! It’s 2015,” she said hastily. “It’s 2015!”

  He looked at her skeptically, thinking she really had been out in the sun too long. “You rest. I will return.”

  She watched him mount the big black stallion without using the stirrups and ride away, hoping he would. She was alone now and more frightened than ever.

  What was going on?

  Chapter 7

  Several hours later, Cody came back to the place where he had left Suzanne and found her sleeping with her head propped against a big boulder. He took the opportunity to really look her over and appreciated what he saw. He’d seen many white women while he’d been in boarding school and even had a few for teachers, not to mention the brothels he’d frequented from time to time while he was working in the white man’s world. But none of them looked like her. Her hair hung over her shoulders, curled at the ends and parted down the middle.

  Her clothing was scandalous, but he had to admit that it was alluring. He’d never seen pants on a woman let alone pants that were that short. At least not in public. Women usually wore that sort of thing as undergarments, but it did reveal her shapely legs that were lacking hair, something he found incredibly attractive. He watched her chest rise and fall evenly, admiring the fullness of her breasts and her fine neck that just begged to be kissed.

  Her fair skin was pink from being in the sun and he wondered if the sun was bright where she came from like it was here. He wondered a lot of things about her world, especially if all women dressed like she did.

  His body reminded him that he hadn’t been with a woman in a long time. Maybe he could keep Suzanne for himself. That thought wasn’t altogether unpleasant. She could be his slave and do his biddings; he would treat her far better than Tall Deer treated his women. He would treat her right and maybe she would grow to like him even if he was a half-breed. But he knew that was never to be. He had to hand her ov
er to Tall Deer. He owed the chief even if the crazy fool didn’t know it.

  Suzanne slowly opened her eyes when she felt him looking at her. She hadn’t heard him come back and wondered if she’d been sleeping that hard or if he was just that quiet.

  He threw his leg over the horse’s neck and slid to the ground with two rabbits in one hand and a knife in the other. “You skin these.”

  She sat up and looked at the small gray beasts and shook her head with revulsion. “No.”

  He gaped at her. “No?” he asked in shock.

  “No,” she said more sternly. She was sure her stomach wouldn’t take the sight of blood and guts while cleaning wildlife. Besides, she’d never done it before and had no idea how to even start. She had nothing against hunting, but she didn’t want to watch or clean up after it.

  “But it’s your work,” he tried to reason with her.

  She placed her hand over her stomach, wondering if he was going to hit her. “I can’t,” she said weakly.

  “Ah,” he said slowly as the realization hit him. “You still are not well. I will clean and cook them,” he said casually and tossed them to the ground a few feet away from her and went back for the canteen.

  She watched him, admiring how the muscles played in his back as he moved. He was muscular like he went to the gym every day, but she knew he didn’t know what that was. He was tall and graceful and had a few scars on his arms and chest.

  He handed her the canteen. “Fresh water.”

  She took it. “Thank you.”

  He picked up the rabbits and walked away, heading away from her so he could clean them without making her sick.

  She could still see him and watched him even though his back was to her. He was definitely sexy, and she was sure he had no idea that he was. His straight, black and shiny hair hung between his shoulder blades, the muscles in his back rippled with his movements and his legs were long and lean. She wondered who cut his hair and how they did it. It was nice and even, unlike her own.