Stealing Thunder

Tiernan and Kate quickly got the horses into the fenced pasture. He bent over to say something to his cousin, who grinned at him and hit him in the arm as if she were teasing. Now, what was that about?

Then Tiernan turned his gelding in her direction, and Ella felt her pulse rush a little faster. Behind him, Kate watched, waved to Ella, then took off the way she’d come. His expression sober, Tiernan stopped the horse directly in front of her but didn’t dismount.

Feeling her face grow warm, Ella looked up at him and said, “I didn’t know you were working on the set.”

“That would make two of us. Are you just visiting or are you one of the actresses?”

“Actress?” Ella couldn’t help but laugh at that. She’d made the same mistake with Nathan earlier. “I couldn’t act my way out of a paper bag. I’m just doing a little consulting work. The producer wants to get the Lakota scenes dealing with spirituality right. I’ll only be here for a couple of weeks.” She realized that, despite her earlier thoughts, she’d relaxed while talking to Tiernan. His expression had softened, as well. “So you’re wrangling the horses?”

“The ones from both the family ranch and the refuge. Not the reservation horses.”

“No, that would be my cousin.”

“Cousin?” His forehead pulled into a frown. “Do I detect some tension there?”

“Nathan can be difficult,” Ella said, then admitted, “We had words earlier.”

“’Tis a shame.”

She shrugged. “The reason I stopped you…have you heard anything about what happened yesterday?”

“It seems that Harold Walks Tall’s death was declared an accident.”

“No! That can’t be right!”

“I don’t believe it, either. But apparently they found no drug in his system.”

“What about what happened to me?”

“The deputy put it to a hunter making a mistake, thinking he was aiming at an animal. A waste of time ’twould be going after someone who merely made a mistake.”

She didn’t miss the sarcasm in his voice. “That was no more a mistake than Harold Walks Tall’s death was an accident!”

“’Tis not me you need to convince.”

“There’s just no way to prove it,” Ella said.

No easy way.

No way she wanted to take.

All her instincts had been aroused by the incident. Before she’d known there was a body, she’d sensed the darkness and danger…and then she’d seen the raven’s track in the earth. But those were all things she was unwilling to talk about. Things that could raise suspicions. Things that could get a person killed.

Forcing the image of Father as she’d seen him last out of her mind, Ella was about to suggest it would be best to leave it alone when the thunder of hooves caught her attention again. She looked past Tiernan to see another herd of horses heading toward the fenced pastures.

“Looks like Nathan is here.” Her cousin and two other men from the rez were bringing in the herd.

“I should be introducing myself, then. Forge a bond since we shall be working together.”

“I’m not sure that’s possible. Even though Nathan went away to university and lived in the white world for years, he returned to his mother’s people and the rez. He’s become something of an activist, part of a group that wants to dissolve treaties and take back the Black Hills for the Lakota.”

“Could that happen?”

“What reason would a powerful government have to give over settled and valuable land?”

“Aye, that I understand. Hopefully it won’t cause troubles here.”

“Hopefully.”

“Maybe you ought to come with me, do the introductions.”

Ella glanced over at the herd her cousin had brought. Nathan was behind the last of the horses to go into the pasture. One of his men swung closed the gate and latched it.

“Looks like it’s too late.”

“Not if you ride with me.” Tiernan removed his left foot from the stirrup. “Get on.”

Ella hesitated but Tiernan gestured for her to mount behind him. Tossing caution to the wind, she slipped her foot into the stirrup and bounced upward, catching him around the waist to anchor herself as she threw her free leg over the horse’s back.

He took off immediately, and as her breasts pressed into his back, Ella realized her mistake. Her head went light and her pulse started to race and she felt that uncomfortable connection with him yet again. And from the way he suddenly stiffened in the saddle, she expected he felt it, too.

What did this mean? Her being light-headed and disconnected from everything but him? She felt as if she were converging with him somehow—not here, but on another plane.

Distracted by the discomfort and weird thoughts, Ella didn’t realize one of Nathan’s men was yelling about something in Lakota until Tiernan stopped near the pastures. Even though she was an expert in Lakota history, she’d spoken nothing but English since leaving the rez. Even so, she caught some of the words. Something about a curse. Then the man looked her way and his face curdled in contempt. She didn’t recognize him, but he pointed at her and said she was the one.

“What’s going on?” Tiernan asked.

“I—I don’t know.”

And then she did. Scratched into the fence posts that joined the two pastures was a raven’s track.

Chapter Four

“What is he talking about?” Tiernan asked, glancing back to see that Ella’s face had gone white.

“Superstition,” she said, but he knew there was more to it than she was willing to admit.

“Jacob, back to the rez,” Ella’s cousin ordered.

Jacob kept his eyes on Ella as he backed up and got hold of his horse. He kept staring at her even as he mounted and rode off.

Tiernan could feel Ella’s horror. Her arms were still wound around his waist. He had that feeling again, same as the day before, something he didn’t want to recognize. Still, sensing she was close to panicking, he tried to comfort her by placing his free arm over hers and clasping one of her hands. And then he called up peaceful thoughts and concentrated on that and gradually felt her calm down.

An imposing figure, Nathan Lantero walked over to them, stopping near Ella. “Don’t worry about Jacob,” he told her. “I’ll speak with him.”

“Do you think it will do any good?”

“It’s only a sign, Ella. Nothing bad happened. What will he be able to tell The People? Nothing.”