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She blinked her eyes and swallowed hard. How could she have possibly dreamed of this man whom she had never seen before?
As in her dream, this warrior was wearing a necklace of distinction. Could he be the son of a powerful chief?
Jolena was stunned and uneasy by the way he was staring at her, as though he was seeing a ghost!
Her head reeled with the feeling that she too was seeing a ghosta fantasy that had frequented her midnight dreams. She was glad when Kirk stopped and turned, discovering that she was no longer walking with him, and came back to her, whisking her away with him with just the command in his eyes.
''Why were you looking at that Indian like that?" Kirk said ac?
?cusingly, leaning close to Jolena so that no one else would hear. "It's playing a dangerous game, Jolena, allowing yourself to get caught up in make-believe about Indians."
Jolena scarcely heard what Kirk was saying and scarcely noticed that he was actually scolding her. "Kirk, do you know if that Indian is Blackfoot?" she asked, again giving the handsome warrior a look across her shoulder, her heart throbbing again when she discovered that he was still watching her.
"Never you mind about that," Kirk said, his voice drawn. "I suspect you'll find out soon enough, though. If I'm right, he's one of the Indian guides that will be traveling with our expedition."
When Kirk turned his eyes back to the Indian, Jolena followed his gaze and then felt somewhat faint at a new discovery! This Indian was wearing black moccasins! He was Blackfoot! The man of her dreams! How could this be? How?
When she felt another set of eyes on her, Jolena shifted her gaze and stared back at the slighter, younger Indian who was standing next to the handsome one. A shiver ran through her when he continued to stare at her, a strange sort of glint in his eyes.
"Kirk, is that other Indian one of the guides, also?" she asked, wrenching her eyes around.
"I'm sure of it," Kirk said, then pursed his lips tightly together, realizing exactly why he was needed in defense of his sister.
Her skin coloring. Her dark hair and eyes. All of those things were drawing too much attention her way from the Indians. They were surely seeing that she was most certainly not of the white community, except in her dress and relationships.
If they knew that she was of this region, therein lay the true danger!
Two Ridges could not keep his eyes from watching Jolena as she walked hurriedly toward the entrance of the fort. He had been quickly taken by her loveliness and knew that Spotted Eagle was as taken as he.
And why wouldn't he be?
This woman with the skin of an Indian and the clothes of white people was a woman of mystery! Two Ridges would know more of her, soon! Forgotten was the young maiden of his village whom he'd been courting. Moon Flower could not compare to this mysterious beauty.
Suddenly his mind was made up.
He would take this woman as his wife before Spotted Eagle had the chance.
And he most definitely would not let Spotted Eagle know of his sudden infatuation with the copper princess. The danger in that was that friends could easily become enemies over a woman. And Two Ridges meant to have this woman, no matter the cost.
Chapter Five
As Kirk and Jolena walked through the wide, opened gate of the fort, a heavy-set man with a loud, throaty voice came lumbering toward them. "Welcome to Fort Chance," Ralph McMillan said as he stopped and extended a hand toward Kirk, than laughed and dropped his hand to his side when he realized that Kirk was too burdened for greetings. "Here. Let my clerks, Steven and John, give you a hand."
"Gladly," Kirk said, laughing softly as the two young men dressed in suits of black fustian with brass buttons began taking the valises from him. "Thank you. Your assistance is greatly appreciated."
Now that Kirk's hands were free, Ralph McMillan extended his hand once again toward him. "One of your scientific friends, who arrived at the fort from the riverboat before you, pointed you out as the main reason this voyage has been made to Montana Territory," he said, shaking Kirk's hand eagerly as he looked from Kirk to Jolena, then back again at Kirk. "Your father was here many years ago. I heard about his attempts to find the elusive butterfly. You've come to capture it to take back to him for his collection, I assume?"
"And for his memoirs," Jolena interjected softly, her gaze taking in this short, compact man with bowed legs, whose age appeared to be perhaps forty. He was dressed well in a suit of blue broadcloth with brass buttons, and his long brown hair was neatly combed and hanging down to his shoulders. She had been told that he was a kind-hearted and high-minded Scotsman, in charge of all of the fur company business in this region, clear to the Rocky Mountains.
"He is presently writing a book," she quickly added. "I would like the ending to say that he has the Euphaedra among his collection. My brother and I hope to make this possible. Our father is not well. A strange sort of paralysis has claimed not only his dignity, but also the use of his legs, or he would be on this journey instead of his children."
Ralph dropped his hands to his sides, then clasped them behind him. "That is a fine thing you do for your father," he said, his eyes roaming over Jolena, realizing that she was, indeed, Indian instead of white, yet, he was too polite to question her or her brother about it.
Ralph's gaze was drawn to Spotted Eagle and Two Ridges as they strolled toward the wide gate of the fort, then raised a hand and shouted at them. " Ok-yi, come!" he said. "I will introduce you to those who are in charge of the expedition!"
Jolena's eyebrows rose, wondering who he was addressing, then her insides trembled knowing that it must be the handsome Indian, for he and his companion were the only two Indians present today at the fort.
Her pulse racing, her cheeks hot with an excited, anxious flush, she turned and found herself looking squarely up into the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, which quickly mesmerized her, as the handsome Indian stopped only an arm's length from her.
