“Yes, we are pretending.”
“That is good.” He pushed out his chin. “I think this pretend world might be a better world too.Haa’he, it is a good world where all animals, men included, are equal. Do you not agree?”
“Yes. Fine,” she clipped out. What was the man trying to do, purposely antagonize Mr. Hudson? Frankly, from her view of it, Mr. Hudson needed no such prompting. Breathing out a noisy sigh, she voiced, “Shall we go on with the lesson, then?”
But Swift Hawk was not to be roused to anger. He merely grinned at her. “By all means. Do.”
She continued, and just as before, the lesson droned on and on, hardly interesting, until even Angelia was bored with it after a while. However, Swift Hawk did not seem bored.
No. In fact, he was looking at her as though every word out of her mouth were pure gold.
Soon, she heard a snore beside her, and glancing off to her right, she saw that Mr. Hudson, like his children, was fast asleep.
It was a welcome moment, and Swift Hawk took instant advantage of it, his gaze roaming and lingering over every inch of her. In truth, with his eyes, he made love to her.
Angelia responded to that look, basking in the glow of his admiration. How could any woman not? Dazedly, she smiled back at him, wishing that tonight were only the beginning of the rest of their lives.
But it was not, she thought on a more sober note. Angelia sat up a little straighter, wiping the grin from her face.
Although she was reluctant to admit it, Mr. Hudson had validated a decision she had been debating. She would end anything that had been started between herself and Swift Hawk.
Perhaps in the weeks to come, she would be able to glean a moment alone with Swift Hawk and tell him what she must. Or perhaps she would just ignore him.
No, that would never do. The man had saved her life. She owed him at least an explanation.
Wait!
That was it. He had saved her life. A life for a life. And she had given back what she could that was hers to give, her innocence.
What if she were to say,We are even now,as though to spurn him? Luckily for her, she had spoken similar words to him at the time.
True, such a thing might shock him, and Swift Hawk might even come to despise her. But, all things considered, she could live with his contempt. She could do so because, more important than anything else,hewouldlive.
Angelia squinted, watching Swift Hawk smile and flirt with her across the fire. For a moment, her guilt returned, as she sat there basking in Swift Hawk’s adoration.
But hers was a sensible plan, if not a good one. For his sake she must attempt it.
She only hoped that she was, in the end, a very good actress.
Chapter
Fifteen
Thus she (the female of the race) ruled undisputed within her own domain, and was to us a tower of moral and spiritual strength… When she fell, the whole race fell with her.
—CHARLES A. EASTMAN,THE SOUL OF THE INDIAN
A Plantation in Mississippi, Evening
“Iwant them found, do you understand?”
The backwoodsman, clothed in buckskin breeches and a red plaid shirt, clutched his dirty black hat in his hand. Head bowed slightly, he shifted his feet and uttered, “But they’s disappeared, gov’na—inta the West. Lookin’ fer them’s a little like searchin’ fer a?—”
“Needle in a haystack?” interrupted Elmer Riley, a balding and plump man, who was known as the “little Napoleon of the Mississippi.” In truth, the man physically resembled the part—short, sparse, black hair slicked over a bald head. At present, he reclined in a plush chair, booted right foot crossed over his left knee. An oak table, covered in glass, sat at his fingertips.
They were a study in contrasts, these two men. While the backwoodsman looked to be the uncouth primitive that he was, Elmer Riley was clothed in the latest fashionable wear—a stylish Redingote, checked woolen trousers, vest, linen shirt, silk cravat.
A cigar drooped from Riley’s fingers as he glanced up. “Can’t you be original for once in your life, Hooper? They’re somewhere out there. They haven’t gone Indian on us, havethey, and disappeared into some tribe or another?”
