Spirit's Song by Madeline Baker

surrender. I will not back down.
    Climbing into the saddle, he urged the roan east. Ravenhawk’s tracks were easy to follow now. Thinking himself safe, the Lakota wasn’t making any effort to cover his trail.
    Jesse felt a grin twitch his lips as he examined the Appaloosa’s droppings. Ravenhawk and the woman were less than an hour ahead. Riding double was slowing them down.
    Jesse grunted softly. He would have them before nightfall.
    * * * * *
    Kaylynn woke with a start to find Ravenhawk leaning over her.
    “What is it?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”
    He smiled down at her. “Nothing’s wrong, sweetheart. Dinner’s ready.”
    “Oh.” She stared at him, her heart pounding, as his hand tunneled up into her hair.
    “Pretty,” he said, his fingers gently massaging her scalp. “Real pretty. Soft, too.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Where’s home for you?”
    “New…New York City.”
    “Never been there.” He ran a finger down her cheek. “I could go with you. Make sure you get there safely.”
    She swallowed hard, his nearness making her uncomfortable. “Why would you want to do that?”
    “Why not?” His lips brushed her cheek. “A woman as pretty as you are shouldn’t be traveling alone.”
    “Oh.” He had beautiful eyes, large and dark and filled with a look she had seen in Alan’s eyes all too often. Fear spiraled through her as Ravenhawk bent lower, closer, his breath fanning her cheek.
    He was going to kiss her. The thought spurred her to action. Rolling to the left, she scrambled to her feet and backed away, truly afraid of him for the first time.
    He smiled up at her, a lazy, roguish smile. She knew it was meant to be enticing, but all she could think of at that moment was Alan. He had wooed her with sweet smiles, charmed her with his good looks and flowery words, made her think he was wonderful, but it had all been a lie, and she had the scars to prove it.
    “I’m hungry,” she said, and with a show of bravado, she turned her back on him and went to see what he had fixed to eat. She should have known. Jerky and beans and hardtack.
    She helped herself to a plateful, poured a cup of coffee and sat down.
    Ravenhawk rose to his feet with a wry grin. She’d won that round.
    He was reaching for a hunk of jerky when the short hairs prickled on the back of his neck. A moment later, a voice cut across the stillness.
    “Don’t even think about it.”
    Ravenhawk swore. He knew that voice all too well.
    “Get those hands up.”
    Ravenhawk thought of making a dive for his gun, thought of plunging into the sheltering darkness beyond the firelight, but the sound of a .44 being cocked put any thought of resistance out of his mind. Yellow Thunder wasn’t likely to miss at this range, and there was no way to outrun a bullet. He should have killed the bounty hunter when he had the chance, he thought bleakly. He’d been pretty sure he had killed him when his second shot went high and wide, creasing Yellow Thunder’s forehead. He could have made sure then and there, finished him off with a bullet to the heart, but he’d never been a cold-blooded killer. More’s the pity, he thought now as, with a sigh of resignation, he raised his arms over his head.
    Jesse stepped out of the shadows, his hooded gaze moving from Ravenhawk to the woman. She stared at him as if she was seeing a ghost, her mouth agape, her brown eyes wide and scared.
    He swayed on his feet, exhaustion and fever burning through him. He hadn’t slept in almost two days, he was weak from the blood he’d lost. He wished he could forget Ravenhawk, that he could put his revolver down, that he could stretch out beside the woman, lay his head in her lap and go to sleep. He was so tired, so damn tired.
    He stared at the woman and everything else seemed to fade into the distance. Mao’hoohe. Red Fox…
    He took a step toward her, felt himself falling, endlessly falling, into a deep black void.
    “Well, I’ll be damned,” Ravenhawk said.
    Kaylynn