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Knowing that she would soon be eye to eye with the handsome Indian, Hannah’s pulse raced. She went to the foyer with her brother, then the door. Her fingers trembled as she placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it.
She held the door open for her brother and watched his steps as he went out to stand on the porch, then followed him and stood beside him. Up close, she was taken even more by the Potawatomis warrior. He was so noble in appearance, so wonderful to look at.
When Strong Wolf’s eyes met hers, Hannah grew strangely warm at the pit of her stomach. Her cheeks turned hot with a blush, for never had a man affected her in such a way.
She could even see something different in his eyes as he gazed at her. It was the way she would expect a man to look at her if he found her pleasant to his eyes.
“What brings you here this morning, Strong Wolf?” Chuck asked, squinting as he tried to make out Strong Wolf’s features amid the shadows that his eyes saw now, instead of actual things.
Strong Wolf gazed at Hannah a moment longer before responding to Chuck’s question. From afar these past few days he had watched her riding horseback. He had at once been taken by her free spirit.
And not only that. To him she was intriguingly beautiful, with her long, flowing golden hair, her well-rounded breasts, and her small waist and glowing cheeks.
Unlike any woman he had ever seen before, she was tall and slender like a reed, with a sublime, long neck. He was not disappointed when he saw her eyes were as green as the grass, vibrant, and filled with mystery, yet innocence. Her pale skin looked as smooth as a pebble or a carved stone.
Today she wore a pretty dress, fully gathered, with little puffed sleeves trimmed with lace that draped to the elbows.
Hannah was aware of how Strong Wolf was studying her, causing her to blush and look away. Could he possibly see something in her that he liked? she wondered to herself. Thinking that perhaps he did made her insides glow with strange feelings she had never experienced before.
Oh, Lord, had destiny brought her here to meet this man? she wondered. Had her father been led into the decision of sending her here because of some hidden force urging him to?
Her heart was beating within her chest like the claps of wild thunder as she imagined being alone with this Potawatomis warrior, asking him his true reason for staring at her in such a way.
Surely she was being foolish; he studied her because she was a white woman. Perhaps he saw her as . . .
When he looked suddenly away from her and began talking in a cold tone to her brother, Hannah lost her train of thought and listened to his accusations about a dam having been built that was interfering with the lives of his people.
“I know of no such dam,” Chuck said, stunned by the change in Strong Wolf’s behavior toward him. He had thought they had gained some respect between them, some camaraderie.
But surely he had been wrong. Friends trusted one another. They gave each other the chance to delve into the truths of that which troubled one another.
“You own this ranch, yet you do not know what is happening on its soil?” Strong Wolf said, dismounting his horse. His eyes occasionally moved to the woman, then forced them away again. He had come to get answers from this man. Not get caught up in feelings for a woman.
“Yes, I do own the ranch and the pastureland that surrounds it,” Chuck said stiffly. “And I would be the first to admit that just perhaps I don’t know everything that goes on, as I should. I have a foreman. He is in charge of much that happens.”
“This foreman. He is called Tiny?” Strong Wolf said, folding his arms across his chest as his jaw tightened at the remembrance of watching the tiny little white man roaming around too close to land that was, by treaty, the Potawatomis.
“Yes, my foreman is a small man,” Chuck said, nodding.
“Then you must order this man to remove the dam that he built across water that I secured for my people when I touched the goose quill to treaty papers with white leaders,” Strong Wolf said flatly. “My people are a home-loving group. They never seek fame in war. As you know, I will soon guide more of my people to this land of sunshine and blowing grasses. I seek peace in all things. But if I must fight for my rights in this new land, I will.”
Strong Wolf stepped closer to the porch. “You must prove to me that you are no liar, that when you say you know nothing about a dam, you know nothing,” he said thickly, his face twisting. “I do not ever wish to believe that you are a wily, treacherous, and deceitful man who has been led into bad roads of life.”
As Strong Wolf occasionally looked at Hannah, she was given the opportunity to see into his beautiful midnight black eyes. They seemed to look into her very soul.
Thus far she had stood there and listened, not saying anything in the defense of her brother, for this Indian’s confidence as he talked so openly and fearlessly to her brother greatly impressed her.
But being strong-willed and hardheaded, Hannah could no longer keep her silence. “I’ve heard enough,” she said, stepping between Chuck and Strong Wolf. “No one is going to talk to my brother like that. Not even you, Strong Wolf. My brother is an honest, God-fearing man. You should be ashamed of yourself for thinking otherwise!”
She was aware of her brother giving off a gasp behind her. Her knees weakened as she stared at Strong Wolf, whose eyes were wide with obvious shock of seeing a lady interfering in business between two men.
Suddenly Hannah was no longer as confident when his eyes narrowed into hers. Fear grabbed her at the pit of her stomach. Yet she stood her ground and lifted her chin, defying him with a set stare, willing her eyes not to waver.
“And who is this woman?” Strong Wolf suddenly blurted out. He took one step sideways so that he was again face-to-face with Chuck. He had never before seen a forward woman. He was not so repelled and angered by it as he was impressed.
“This is my sister Hannah,” Chuck said, still in a partial state of shock over Hannah speaking up in such a way. Yet shouldn’t he have expected it? She had always been outspoken. And he never held that against her. She had always been able to fight her own battles in life.
Except for when their father had placed her in the convent. He had worried about that stifling her spirit. He knew now that had not happened.
