AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Again she grabbed it away from herself and shoved it into his arms.
“I want nothing from you but my freedom,
” she said, furious when her voice broke and her eyes wavered.
Then she blurted out, “I am afraid of you and your warriors! Please, oh, please let me go!”
He was stunned that she was still so afraid of him when he had done nothing to deserve such fear.
“You are wrong not to trust me,” Brave Wolf said softly. “I offer you friendship. I will eventually return you to your people, but I have explained to you that I am on a mission. I must succeed with this mission first.”
“What sort of mission are you on?” she cried. “More raids and destruction against whites, especially the cavalry?”
Understanding her wrath, her mistrust, he ignored the coldness in her voice . . . the accusation. “The mission is for my mother. I have promised to find my brother, Night Horse,” he said. “Can you not understand that my mother’s wishes come before yours . . . a woman I never knew until tonight?”
“You still don’t know me at all,” Mary Beth said, her voice softer now. “I . . . I . . . have never been with Indians before. Can’t you see why I’m so afraid? Why I want to return to my people as quickly as possible?”
“Yes, I understand, but you must understand a son’s feelings for his mother,” Brave Wolf said tightly.
His words made her break down and cry again.
Yes, she did understand a son’s feelings for his mother. If her David was still alive, he surely cried for her even now.
“I wish I could make you understand things that I know are causing you to mistrust me and my warriors,” he said.
“How can I ever understand what is happening, when so many of my people have needlessly died?” Mary Beth said, wiping tears from her eyes. “Only recently there has been a terrible battle that claimed so many soldiers’ lives. How do I know that you were not there, sending arrows into the hearts of the men? Perhaps you even killed my . . .”
No.
She must not let him know that her own husband had died that day. She would not give him the chance to gloat over something that tore at the very core of her being.
“I have told you that I am a peaceful Crow chief who does not enter into warring with whites,” Brave Wolf said, again attempting to place the blanket around her shoulders.
This time she allowed it. He moved to his haunches beside her, soaking up the warmth of the fire himself, as he attempted to tell her some more about himself. He hoped that more information would help her to trust him.
“I told you before that I am wicasa-okinihan, an honorable and respected individual and that I am a bachay-chay, a good man, a chief, concerned with helping people, not harming,” he began. “Under first my father’s and then my leadership, my Whistling Water Clan of Crow has never entered into confrontations with your white people. It is my role in life to help my Crow people learn to live in the way of the white man. Like my chieftain father, I have even gone and met with the Great White Father in Washington on behalf of my people. This recent battle was not of my doing, nor my people’s.”
He went quiet, for there was one warrior of the Whistling Water Clan who had participated. His brother. But he felt it was best not to mention that to this white woman, not yet anyhow.
When Night Horse was found, it would be soon enough to confide in Mary Beth.
But first, Night Horse had to be found!
Mary Beth was stunned by what he had just said . . . that he had actually been to Washington to speak with President Grant. Oh, surely he was lying. It was just a ploy to make her trust him.
But as he had been talking to her, he had sounded so convincing, she could not help gazing at him. She wished that he was, indeed, the way he represented himself . . . a caring, truthful man, who did fight for peace.
He was such a handsome man with such a soft, kind voice. His midnight eyes could entrance her if she allowed them to.
He was a man of athletic build, lean and tall, and his skin was fairer than most Indians she had seen. It was a lovely copper color and looked soft to the touch.
His sculpted face had a noble expression, and she admired his long, thick, black hair which hung down his back to his waist, held back from his face with a beaded band. One lone eagle feather was woven into a lock of his hair at the back.
He wore only a breechcloth which revealed much of his muscled body to her, she had to keep herself from gazing where she knew that he surely was so very gifted, for he was very virile. He was all man.
Suddenly she realized that he had noticed her studying him. He was gazing back at her with a curious look, for surely he was wondering what she was thinking as her eyes took in so much of him.
She was angry at herself for letting down her guard for even one minute. She saw danger in allowing him to think that she was softening in her feelings toward him.
