Chapter 5 #3
“I… Perhaps in my own way. Sometimes before I go to sleep at night I will give thanks, but I also ask for His grace to see me through the night.”
Grey Coyote nodded. “It is good.” He arose, his movements so elegant it was uncanny. “Come, we must continue our trek, for it is no longer safe for us to travel in the country of my enemies during the day. Today was an exception because the rain hid us. The night will hide us also.”
Marietta glanced up into his eyes. “I didn’t know you were in the land of your enemies.”
He didn’t respond.
“Who are your enemies?”
“The Crow, the Blackfeet, the Gros Ventre, although I have friends amongst the Gros Ventre, as you saw last night. However, someone from their village may try to follow me.”
“The Gros Ventre? You mean the ones who live in the mud huts?”
He nodded.
“But I thought those Indians were called the Minnetarees.”
He shrugged. “Gros Ventre is their French name. There are the Gros Ventre of the Plains and the Gros Ventre of the River. Those that are by the river are also called the Minnetarees. But they are the same tribe.”
“I see. These are all your enemies?”
“It is so.”
“Then what we are doing is really rather dangerous.”
He nodded. “Hau. But if we journey through the night and are careful, we should meet with no trouble…unless the Gros Ventre or your husband follow us—”
“LaCroix is not my husband,” she reiterated.
Grey Coyote didn’t respond.
After a while, Marietta asked, “Isn’t it more difficult to travel at night—I mean, you can’t see very far in the dark, and what if we accidentally disturb someone…else?”
“I can see well enough in the dark. There are usually stars or a moon to guide us. And I will not make the mistake of running into…someone else.” He grinned good-naturedly at her, and it was Marietta’s turn to stare hard at him.
This was the first time Grey Coyote had openly smiled at her, and something about it caught her attention.
True, the gesture transformed his hard face, making him appear almost boyish.
But there was another quality about him, an energy, if you will, that she couldn’t quite name.
But he had turned away and had bent down, unfastening the hobbles from around the pony’s legs. For an instant, she watched his powerful fingers at work, recalling their feel upon her waist only a few moments ago. Strange how a simple action like this could seem so utterly erotic.
Too quickly he was finished, and without looking at her, he opened one of the bags he had hung over his pony’s back. From there he extracted something…
Why, it looked like a blue-and-white garment of some kind, and…was that a corset? And…
“My dress,” she supplied. “You have my dress.” She stepped toward him.
Almost shyly, he offered the garment to her. “The nights are often cold here,” he said, his gaze looking anywhere but at her. “You may need these, as well as my shirt and robe.”
She accepted the gift from him. “Yes, I will need them. Thank you.” Spinning away from him and using the pony as a shield, she stuffed the corset into a bag and threw the dress over her head, settling its length down over her waist and her chemise.
She drew in the dress’s waist with its buttons and ties, and then began the long process of fastening the material-covered buttons down its back. But it was hard work.
“Mr. Coyote,” she said, after a moment. “Might you help me? I can’t seem to reach all these buttons.” Her back was to him, but when she cast a quick look over her shoulder, she was amazed to glimpse an expression of the utmost apprehension on his face.
She smiled to herself. Was he as affected by her as she was by him?
However, she did truly need his assistance, and when he didn’t immediately rush to her aid, Marietta glanced again over her shoulder. “Sir?”
He cautiously approached her.
With one arm bent, and reaching down over her back, she gestured toward the buttons. “They are here, at the top of my dress.”
She felt his fingers on the dress, working over the buttons. It took a much longer time than she would have expected. Once or twice, when his touch grazed the delicate skin at her neck, shivers raced along her spine.
She gulped.
At last she heard Grey Coyote cough, obviously clearing his throat, and he stepped away from her. “It is finished. Now, come.”
“Very well.” She turned around for his inspection. “How do I look?”
He didn’t say a word. Indeed, he gazed at her as though he barely believed she had to ask.
But he was her only mirror, and Marietta repeated, “Do I look all right? Everything in the right place?”
Grey Coyote nodded, appearing most strained in doing so. However, after a moment, he seemed to have collected his wits about him, and said once more, “Come.”
“Yes. I will.”
Together, with the pony following after them, they wound their way down the bluff.
Before they left the spot completely, however, Marietta glanced back at the top of the rise affectionately, looking for the place where they had stood.
What was it about this particular spot? Their time there?
If she wasn’t mistaken, there, on top of that lonely butte, something had touched her heart.