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"Let me make introductions," Ralph said, stepping in front of Jolena, momentarily blocking her view of the Indian, then moving to the Indian's side, placing a fond arm around his shoulders. "This, my friends, is one of the most skilled guides of the region. You are in the proud company of Spotted Eagle, whose father is Chief Gray Bear. His companion is Two Ridges, the son of Brown Elk. They will guide you through the wilderness and also protect you from the marauding Cree."
Ralph turned to Spotted Eagle and Two Ridges. "My special friends, my I introduce you to Jolena and Kirk Edmonds, who make their residence in Saint Louis, Missouri," he said, gesturing toward Jolena and Kirk. "They are on a mission of the heart," he explained. "They have come to search for and find the elusive butterfly that you, Spotted Eagle, have spotted. They wish to take their knowledge of it and specimens back to their ailing father."
Spotted Eagle had not taken his eyes off Jolena, unnerving her. It was as though he was looking deeply within her soul, perhaps trying to pull from within her the answers to the questions that his eyes were asking.
She had to wonder why. Did she resemble someone he knew?
Or was it because he was instantly attracted to her, as she was to him?
If he only knew that she had met him before, in her midnight dreams, then he would have cause to stare at her!
She could not wrench her own eyes away, having loved him before ever having met him face to face!
This was confusing to her, these feelings for a man who was, in tr
uth, a complete stranger to her.
And he was not just any man. He was an Indian.
In Saint Louis she had seen few Indians. They had mostly kept to the riverfront, where they traded with people of the city. She had never ventured there herself, her father having forbidden it.
"You come to this land for your father's benefit?" Spotted Eagle said, finally breaking the silence between them, which had begun to be strained. "His name is?"
"Bryce," Jolena said, her voice slight and filled with awe. "Bryce Edmonds."
"He is Indian in coloring?" Spotted Eagle could not help but ask. "He is Indian, yet has taken on a white man's name, the same as you?"
Kirk's eyes widened and he swallowed hard, not liking where this conversation was leading. " Our father is quite white, thank you," he said stiffly. He placed a hand to Jolena's elbow and whisked her away, walking her briskly away from the questions and introductions.
"That damn Indian is asking too many questions," Kirk growled. "He's been hired to lead, not to interfere in our private lives."
Jolena tugged at Kirk's hand, trying to get free. "Let me go, Kirk," she said, anger brimming in her eyes as she glared at him. "What you did was most impolite. He was just making conversation."
"He saw your skin coloring," Kirk grumbled, flashing an angry look back at her. "And it wasn't just polite conversation that caused him to say what he did. Jolena, you are Indian, through and through. He saw it. He wants to make it his business to know why, and I won't allow it."
Jolena ceased struggling with her brother, knowing that although she was the more willful of the two, he was the stronger.
Throwing a glance over her shoulder, she gazed at Spotted Eaglethis Indian whose name, as well as his handsomeness, intrigued her.
She did not know how, but Spotted Eagle was one and the same as the Indian in her dreams! She did not see how that could be so, yet it was. No one could say that all Indians looked alike, for the slighter Indian companion of Spotted Eagle's looked nothing like the man in her dream. In her eyes, he was not handsome at all.
He, too, had looked at her strangely, but she had defined this as an interest in her. She knew lust in the eyes of a man when she saw it, and this man lusted after her. He seemed ready even at this moment to throw her to the ground and cover her with his body. He frightened her, and she knew to keep an eye on him, especially if she was left alone for any length of time with him.
"Kirk," Jolena blurted, finally yanking herself out of her brother's grip. "I hope that today isn't a sample of how guarded you are going to be of my every move and new acquaintance. You made me look helpless in front of everyone. You know better than that, so please think before you act next time."
"It doesn't take much thinking to know when you need your brother to look after your welfare, especially when an Indian warrior is becoming too inquisitive about you," Kirk said, giving Jolena a frown. "I promised father I would…"
His words broke off as a guarded look came into his eyes, then he looked away from Jolena, silent.
"You promised father you would keep me from finding out about my heritage, didn't you?" she snapped back. "Is he… are you… so threatened by the truth that you will do anything to keep me from even talking to an Indian? Kirk, that won't work and you know it. If I want to talk, for instance, to Spotted Eagle, I will, and I will not allow you to humiliate me, nor him, ever again."
"Didn't you see the way he was looking at you, sis?" Kirk said urgently. "He was looking at you as though he wanted to possess you, or perhaps already did. And I saw the way you were looking at him. Damn it, sis, don't get infatuated with an Indian just because your skin is the same color as his. II don't want you deciding to stay behind when it is time to return to Saint Louis."
Knowing that Kirk's worries were well-founded, and that even she saw the dangers in allowing her feelings for Spotted Eagle to grow, Jolena did not offer him a response. In truth, she did not know what to say. She could not deny even to her brother that she was intrigued by the Blackfoot warrior, for she was not skilled in telling lies.
Instead, she escaped further conversation with him by gazing around her, taking in the scene around them. The site of the fort had been well selected, on a beautiful prairie on the banks near the junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. Jolena's father had told her that since this was the principal headquarters of the fur companies of this region, a vast stock of goods was kept on hand. At certain times of the year, the numerous traders from the distant outposts concentrated here with the profits from their season's trade and outfitted themselves with a fresh supply of goods to trade with the Indians. This post was also the general rendezvous of a great number of Indian tribes, who were continually concentrating there for the purpose of trade.
It appeared that those who lived within the walls of the fort lived in a comfortable style. Jolena could count some eight or ten log houses and stores and knew that forty or fifty soldiers were stationed there. She was amazed at the number of horses in the corral at the far end of the courtyard, not far from the long row of barracks. There had to be at least one hundred horses inside the fence!
