Pioneer Woman

Rebecca looked out across her surroundings angry and alone—held captive in a Sioux camp. Her body ached from long hours of work. She knew if she would ever be free it would be up to her. Her husband, Bart Lee, would not search for her. His handsome looks and polite manners were enough to beguile her from her home in Pennsylvania, but his love was for money

Her marriage had become one of servitude. Rebecca’s new home isolated in mountains of Western Maryland, surrounded by endless forest, made her life vulnerable to an Indian attack. Bart’s frequent trips left her with Ginny and Sam, a black couple Bart had purchased at an Annapolis slave auction.

Travelers had begun stopping at Bart’s tavern for food and lodging. Most were trappers but one man was Paul Melville, an engineer seeking to find iron ore in the mountains for Eastern investors. On one trip he had brought her yarn, and Ginny and Sam presents from Baltimore.

Why did she think of him now? It was only a matter of time when she could no longer delay her Sioux captor’s lust. She preferred death to the life she faced. Rebecca had no way to know one man still searched for her.