Page 45 of The Last Warrior

“Am I what?” Suzette turned her face in toward his touch and resisted the temptation to lean in farther. Why was she so affected by this man?

His hand slipped down to her neck, and Suzette caught her breath. His fingers upon her were light, barely more than a simple caress.

“Are you aware of your promises to me?”

“I made none.”

He smiled slightly as his hand came to rest on her shoulder. “And yet I remember the white man’s minister asking you to obey me and to give yourself to no one but me. What of those promises?”

“I… I…”

“And what of the vows we took together, here in this glen? Do you think the Creator is so easily fooled?”

“I am unaware I made any vows here. I thanked you for your help. That is all.”

“I choose thee, Black Lion,” he repeated, reminding her. “Do you think the Great Spirit would agree with you? Do you think He would think what is between us is not real?”

She jerked up her head. “Are you insinuating you want this marriage to be real?” It was strange, very strange. Because with this thought, a rush of sensation exploded within her.

“No, not completely. At the time, I agreed you would have only my name, so long as it is only this you wish. I only make the point that we did seek His will, and we did make vows between us, before Him. With my body, I thee worship,” he uttered. “And how easy it would be, I think, to worship thee.”

Suzette frowned up at him. He barely touched her, for his fingers lay gently atop her shoulder. But she might as well have been branded, for his touch invoked excitement all through her. “Please understand and remember that I…I am not ready to be romantically involved with anyone.”

“Are you not?” He leaned forward, and she stared up at him as though mesmerized.

“No. I already told you nothing like this would happen unless…”

“…you agree to it,” he added. “I remember.”

“And I…I…” She jerked away from his touch, which seemed to be the cause of her problem, and took a few steps back, putting more distance between them.

With a slight grimace, as well as a smile, he said, “A man can always hope.”

She ignored his words and turned her back on him, pacing farther into the forest. She stopped beneath the same large pine where they had said their vows to the Great Spirit.

He did not follow her, but remained a few yards away.

“You have been gone for several days, have you not?” she said.

“I have.”

“Where did you go?”

“I went to the mountains, there to seek guidance from my spirit protector.”

“Spirit protector? What is a spirit protector?”

“It is an animal, or a plant, or a spirit who has heard your plea for assistance, and has expressed its desire to help you. Taking pity on you, a spirit protector gives you its power.”

“Oh,” she said as though she understood him perfectly. “Help you to do what?”

“To ease a situation that plagues me.”

“You are plagued?”

“I am troubled,” he admitted.

“I am sorry to hear about it. And this spirit protector…does what?”