“I do.”
“And that is…?”
“If I tell you, you will find your brother and inform him of all that I have said. And then Red Fox and I will miss the fun.”
“Fun? Do you realize that this could be serious? And I hardly think that someone tailing my brother is fun.”
“Saaaa.That is where you are wrong. Laughter is good for the spirit, and this is, indeed, a fine joke. Even you would find it so.”
“I hardly think so.” Angelia came up onto her knees so that she could lean forward over Swift Hawk’s reposing body. “I don’t believe this. How can you be poking fun at Julian, when he might be in danger?”
“Very easily, I think. And we do not poke fun at him. But we do think that what he is doing is humorous. There is a difference. Now, do you wish to see this danger that follows him?”
“You would take me there?”
Swift Hawk nodded, and turning around, he pointed toward a ridge that sat perhaps a half mile away.
Angelia shielded her eyes, gazing toward the spot. “That’s where Julian is?”
“Haa’he.”
“Well, it’s not too terribly far away, is it? If he’s that close by, surely there won’t be any trouble that—” Angelia paused. Was it possible that the bounty hunters were here? She hadn’t received any accounts of them, but maybe they worked in secret. She sat back on her heels. “Perhaps you had better take me there, after all. Wait a moment while I awaken Pierre that he might accompany us.”
“Pierre?” Swift Hawk frowned at her. “There is no need to bring Pierre.”
“Yes, there is. I can’t be going off alone with you somewhere. We’ll be seen, and that will cause trouble.”
“It caused no trouble last time we were together.”
“I don’t know if that’s true,” she said, reflecting upon it. “It might have. But no matter. Wait here, and I’ll wake up Pierre.” She made to rise, but Swift Hawk placed his hand over hers and kept her seated.
“Do not worry. There is no need to bring Pierre.” He stared at her, and in his eyes, Angelia thought she saw a spark of…laughter? “After all, what trouble could there be, since a man and his wife are often seen alone together?”
Angelia wasn’t certain she had heard Swift Hawk correctly. “What was that again?”
He shrugged. “What?”
“What you just said.”
He gave her a perfectly innocent look and repeated, “Your brother is over by that ridge, trying to discover who trails him.”
“No, not that—that other thing.”
“You mean about my wife and I being alone?”
“That’s it. That’s the one. Yourwife? You have a wife?” she asked, feeling more than a little confused.
He said, “Certainly I have a wife.”
She sent him a sideways scowl. “I don’t believe you. Where is this person?”
He grinned. “Right here beside me.”
“Wait a minute. How can I be your wife?”
“Very easily, I think.”
Angelia sat for a moment, dazed. How could this be? On one hand, she was cheered that Swift Hawk was, indeed, very much interested in her. On the other hand, she realized she should have been worrying less and practicing more of exactly what she should say to this man.
