Excerpt of White Wind by Susan Edwards

Sarah didn't dare give in to fear, and desperately grasped at anger instead to give her the courage needed to stand up to Willy. "I won't marry you, Willy, and you can't make me, either." Sarah breathed a sigh of relief as Willy straightened angrily and paced in front of her. Sarah met his rage-filled glare with a scornful look of her own. Inwardly, she trembled. Willy had never been so bold before. Sarah rose abruptly, intending to flee to the loft, expecting he'd slam out in anger and leave her alone for the time being. As soon as she placed her foot on the first rung of the ladder, Willy grabbed her arm, spun her about and shoved her hard against it. "Oh, no, you don't. Yer not walkin' out on me this time." His eyes spewed hatred and venom as he tightened his hold on her arm. "You thinks about this, missy. You'll be mine whether or not ya marries me. I'll have you one way or 'nother!" Laughing, Willy narrowed lust-filled eyes and squinted at Sarah's terror-stricken face. "Ya knows I can take what I want any time, dear girl. Would be wise for you to be nice to ol' Willy. Ya know, be friendly like." He took another swallow from the flask as he continued. "Yep. If you was a mite nicer ta me, maybe I would treat ya gentle like." Sarah clenched her teeth against the pain from Willy's biting fingers. Her heart thudded in panic. Willy's eyes gleamed with lust, but it was his voice that frightened her most of all. His shouting, tantrums and whining she'd learned to shut out, but now his flat monotone chilled her to the soul. Sarah's eyes widened, and she gulped. "You can't—I won't—" "I can. Ya will," Willy informed her, his eyes hard and menacing. He noted Sarah's rapid breathing. "I ain't takin' no for an answer, and don't look to them ol' folks to help you none. I haves it in me to gets rid of 'em if they turn innerferin'," he warned, tightening his grip. "This here's dangerous territory. Accidents happen out here." "You wouldn't," Sarah gasped, shocked that he would threaten the lives of the two people she loved most. Willy's lips curled in a self-satisfied sneer as he released her arm to take another gulp of the amber liquid. "I would, girl. Believe I would. Of course, Ben does all the work round here. No way am I doin' all that back-breakin' work. Course, before I do away with him, I'd hafta find a way to make Ben tell me where John hid your money. He seems mighty fond of Mary and you, though, so it shouldn't be too difficult." Willy studied his ragged dirty nails and rubbed them on his shirtfront. "But if you marry me, the money will be mine, you'll be mine and nobody gets hurt. It's up to you." "No!" she cried, closing her eyes against the fearful images. Sarah could only stare in frightened silence at the crazy man before her. Willy was dangerous, unbalanced, more so than any of them had thought. She had to get help. Slowly, she inched away. A hand slammed beside her head, effectively blocking her escape. Sarah froze and swallowed her fear. Hands held palm up, she appealed to him. "Look, Willy, it's late. Why don't we discuss this in the morning? You've had too much to drink and I'm tired. Tomorrow we can settle this." Sarah was determined that starting tomorrow she would have Mary and Ben move into this cabin, or she'd move in with them. And she would keep Pa's rifle at her side at all times. "I ain't drunk. Yet."

Sarah's eyes followed his, and she gulped when shesaw the bulge growing under his breeches.

"We's gonna settle this tonight One way or'nother." Willy grinned, suddenly confident.

"What do ya think would happen if the soldiers and trappers found out you're a...half-breed?" he asked smugly.

Sarah's hands flew to her throat, her eyes widened and she shook her head. "How do you know about that?" she whispered hoarsely. "No one knows."

With the rising feuds between whites and Indians, she would be regarded as a "breed" or "squaw" by most. She would lose the respect her father had worked so hard to secure for her, which was why it was a closely guarded secret. Who would think with her blond hair and blue eyes that one of her parents was an Indian?

The liquor began to loosen Willy's tongue even as it slurred his speech. "The good, trusting 'n' loyal friends of John will all find out tha' he married a redskin's pregnant whore. Worse 'n' that, they'll find out he's lived his life a lie, that they have the seed of a savage in their midst," he gloated.

Willy flung his hands out and shook his head in mock sympathy. "Why, with all tha' raidin' 'n' killin' and bad feeling's startin' to build, I just don't see how yer gonna be able to survive out here unless it's as someone's whore."

"But... How did you find out?" Sarah stammered. Only Ben and Mary knew of her heritage, and surely they of all people wouldn't have said anything to him.

Willy sneered triumphantly. "Dear John couldn't keep secrets from me, ya know. He and I were such ‘buddies' as we was growing up." Shaking his head slowly back and forth, an evil glint deep in his eyes, he continued. "Some of them secrets came in mighty handy in those days."

He shifted his wild-eyed gaze back to Sarah. "Though I'll hafta hand it to him, he sure kept this secret for a long time." Willy smiled a fiendishly toothy smile. "And like so many of his secrets, this one will be very useful to me, won't it, my sweet?" he said hatefully, running a calloused finger down her soft pale cheek.

"Why are you doing this to me? Why do you hate me so much?"