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She had to remind herself all over again that this was not just any man. He was an Indian. He was someone who was forbidden to her because his skin was copper and hers was white.
But it was as though this man had her in some sort of mystical grip. He did not even need to hold her by the wrist anymore to keep her by his side.
It was in the way his eyes spoke to her when she gazed into them.
She had never allowed a man to look so deeply into her eyes, or…at…her! She always fled anyone who seemed unusually interested in her.
Yet, strangely enough, she still knelt there, strangely hypnotized by the Indian.
Eagle Wolf was not too ill to realize that he was powerfully attracted to this beautiful, petite, fiery-haired woman.
Her skin was white, but her heart was golden, for she must know the danger of being so close to an Indian. He was sure she’d heard many tales about how devilish all Indians were.
Yet there she was, risking everything in order to help him. He saw her as very courageous, and he was touched deeply by her kindness.
But he felt that he was duty-bound to warn her that not all Indians were as peaceful as he.
His people had suffered much at the hands of whites. It would matter not to most Indians that she was a delicate woman. All they would see about her was that she was white, an enemy.
Many warriors would enjoy raping, then killing her, even taking her fiery red scalp to flaunt on a scalp pole.
He had no such scalp pole. Nor did any other warrior of his Owl Clan.
They were decent in everything they did. And they would never murder and th
en rape any woman.
“You did not flee from this man with red skin,” Eagle Wolf said, his eyes searching hers. “You have helped this man who most whites see as an enemy. You have helped this Indian although you know the danger? Today, white woman, the danger is twofold for you. I have the killing disease that has been brought to Indian country by your people, and I am a man with red skin. Do you not fear both?”
“I do not know much about Indians,” Nicole said softly, finding it oh, so strange to actually be talking with an Indian.
Yet there she was and there he was.
“All that I know of your people is what I have read in books,” Nicole said. “And as for the disease that has downed you? Few die from measles. I doubt that you will, either.”
“You call this sickness by the strange name measles?” Eagle Wolf said, arching an eyebrow. “I am not familiar with…measles. I have the deadly disease that is known by the name smallpox.”
Nicole’s eyes widened. “You think you have smallpox?” she asked, her gaze moving from red spot to red spot on his chest.
“Is that not what it is called?” Eagle Wolf asked, again searching her eyes.
“No. What you have is not smallpox,” Nicole said, certain she was right.
“What is this thing you call measles?” he asked, gazing intently into her grass green eyes.
“The red spots on your body prove that you have measles; the marks of smallpox look very different,” Nicole murmured.
She was surprised that he knew the English language so well.
“My people were told about the white man bringing the disease called smallpox to our country, sometimes purposely in order to kill off entire clans,” Eagle Wolf said dryly. “My wife died from the same disease that caused the red spots on my body. If this is named measles, then measles killed my wife. I, too, will surely die, and so will you.”
“I know that I will not have measles again by coming in contact with you,” Nicole replied. “You cannot have measles more than once. I had it. And I am very sorry about your wife. Some do die from measles, but not many. The fever is surely what claimed her. Did your wife’s temperature go very high?”
“Very,” Eagle Wolf said solemnly, slowly nodding. “Nothing could stop it. Not even our people’s shaman, who is skilled at healing.”
Nicole recalled earlier how he had grabbed her by the wrist and said that she would die. “Earlier you told me to leave, that I was going to die,” she said. “Did you say that to me because of your concern that I would get the same disease as you? Did you also believe that you were going to die?”
“My wife died, so, ho, yes, I expected to also,” Eagle Wolf said. “I felt that I needed to warn you.”
