she'd cut any closer, you'd be missing a nose.”
Karlee picked up the pan and razor. “It's not that bad,” she defended.
“That bad! I've seen scalped men left with more skin.” Wolf watched her hand holding the pan carefully.
She thought of tossing the pan of soapy water at him but decided against it. After all, she'd be the one to have to clean up the mess. “Want any lunch? I was about to bring Daniel some.”
“Sure.” Wolf sat down by the bed. “One thing I will say, Danny boy. Your wife is a better cook than she is a barber.”
Daniel pressed the towel to a trail of blood running down his chin. “That's not saying much. But I'll give her one thing, she tries. She's not a woman who lets not knowing stop her from trying.”
Karlee closed the kitchen door and tried to figure out if Daniel's last statement had been a compliment or a complaint.
Thirty minutes later, when she returned with a tray of food that could be eaten easily with one's hands, Daniel's bleeding had stopped. She thought of reminding Wolf that several of the cuts on her husband's face had been made by flying glass and not her razor but decided the subject was best left forgotten.
She had no doubt whenever Daniel thought of her shaving him, he'd also think of the way she so boldly leaned against his chest. He probably thought her some scarlet woman pretending to be naive. After all, she'd acted shamelessly so many times in the past few days, he must think her the dumbest woman he'd ever met. Or worse, a flirt.
No. Hugging him that first night could be considered flirting. Maybe even the kiss she asked for. But what she'd done while she shaved him could only mark her as a brazen harlot. Karlee wasn't sure exactly what that encompassed, but she felt certain she fit the criteria. The first morning after he'd married her, Daniel must be sure she was a fallen woman with countless sins to account for.
She set the tray down and planned to exit as soon as possible when their conversation drew her.
Wolf was explaining how he'd wired Adam and Wes, Daniel's brothers, for a second time and again had no reply. They were either on their way, or there was too much trouble for them to come. Adam was a doctor in Fort Worth with a wife and new baby to worry about. Wes lived in the middle of nowhere on a ranch that took the better part of a day to ride across. They might not be the easiest men to get a hold of, but Wolf knew they'd come as fast as they could once they got word.
Gerilyn Whitworth Landau was another story. She and her husband had a winter place in New Orleans. They might already be in town looking for Daniel. It wouldn't be long until she found him. And once she did, Wolf was convinced, trouble would rain aplenty.
“I thought I'd bed down in the barn tonight. The boy is getting tired of my hospitality. I don't think he knows why I'm keeping him captive. Probably thinks I plan to fatten him up for a winter kill.” Wolf shook his head as he bit off a chunk of apple. “It's just a matter of time before he figures out some way to get free. When he does, there's going to be the devil to pay, I'm afraid.”
“It wouldn't do to have Allie on her way and me have to kill her brother before she gets here,” he added as he finished off the apple.
“He knows why you have him tied.” Valerie's voice came from the kitchen doorway. The young girl stood with her arms folded as she leaned against the frame.
“You think so, little lady?” Wolf laughed. He obviously irritated Valerie by treating her like a child and not the woman she thought she already was.
“I know so,” she replied calmly. The girl knew Wolf well enough to have no fear of the man. “I told your Apache why he was here when I took him water yesterday.”
Wolf knocked his chair over as he stood. “He speaks English?”
“No.” She smiled. “I speak Apache. Or at least enough to communicate. My grandfather made sure I could, just as my father insisted I know a little French.”
“And what does our friend have to say?” Wolf looked doubtful.
“He says he has no white sister.” She glanced to see if the twins were listening, then lowered her voice. “And he says he will kill you all and sprinkle the ground with your blood before the next full moon.”
“Did he tell you his name?” Wolf was starting to believe her story.
“Niccohoma,” she replied. “It means ‘without fear.’”
“I don't want you going near him again,” Wolf ordered as he realized just how dangerous the boy, still a year short of being a man, could be to all of them. “He might just kill you, little lady.”
“He said he wouldn't harm me. The blood of his people flows in me.” Valerie held her head high.
“But the blood of the Apache doesn't flow in that kid. He was captured during a raid on a settlement northwest of here. I talked to an Apache who remembered the day they dug him, half dead, out of a plowed field and took him home with them like a war prize.”
“But how can you be so sure he is the brother of Allie all these years later?” Karlee interrupted.
“The Apache described the same scene Wes's wife did of seeing the bodies of her family and others piled in front of the settlement. Then everything was burned. The old Apache that told me about John, not Niccohoma, also said another warrior carried a little girl about the same size over his saddle. Only he went to another village and by the time the two warriors met again to hunt, the little girl had been traded. Like I've heard of them doing, they adopted the boy as a son and traded the girl as a slave.”
“I told him you thought him a captive,” Valerie answered. “He said you lie. He is Apache. He has no memory of any other world. Of any other people. His mother is the wife of a chief and she has no sons but him.”
“He can say anything he wants, Valerie, but that doesn't make it true.” Wolf didn't like to be called a liar, even in another language.
The kitchen door popped suddenly as if the wind caught it and threw it open in a wood-splitting snap.
A cry, not quiet human, shattered the air, frosting the stillness with fear. In one heartbeat, everyone turned toward the sounds from the kitchen and cried one thing.
“The twins!”
THIRTEEN
KARLEE BUMPED INTO THE BACK OF VALERIE, AND Wolf ran into them both as they bolted into the kitchen. The twins were nowhere to be seen, but the wild savage Wolf had called John stood next to the pump with a knife in each hand.
His body glistened with sweat. His eyes were wild with fear and hate. Bloodred rope burns circled his wrists, and dirt covered his body almost to his shoulders.
“Now, hold on there!” Wolf ordered. “Put down those knives, son.”
The boy raised the blades, preparing to fight.
Karlee held Valerie's shoulders, pulling her back a few inches to the relative safety of the doorway.
“No!” The girl jerked free and ran deeper into the room. “I can talk to him. He'll listen to me.”
Niccohoma glared past her to the others crowded at the door. He obviously considered the girl little threat. But she drew his attention when she spoke Apache.
Wolf inched his way along the wall. A knife would never stop a man like Wolf Hayward. Judging from the boy's gaze darting from Wolf to Valerie, he guessed as much.
Someone from behind Karlee gripped her shoulder suddenly, causing her to jump and cry out almost as loudly as the captive had when he burst into the kitchen.
The intruder hardly appeared to hear her. He backed against the counter and prepared to make a stand.
“Help me,” Daniel commanded, pulling himself beside her.
His hands were wrapped and the blindfold covered his eyes. He didn't seem to be able to put any weight on his injured leg, but still he moved forward.
Karlee slid her arm around his waist and donated her strength to his useless quest.
“What's happening?” he whispered. “Are the twins all right?”
Karlee glanced around the room and noticed the blanket tent wall move slightly. “They're safe in the tent for
