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He lifted his arms upward and placed his hands gently at Mia’s waist. As she peered into his eyes with a bitterness he did not want her to feel, he attempted to distract her from dwelling on the fact that she was a captive among people so unlike her own.
“Food will be brought soon,” he said as he lowered her to the ground.
The feel of her tininess in his hands made him reluctant to let her go. He knew he was wrong to allow himself such feelings about her.
But how could he not? She was one of the prettiest women he had ever seen, and when she was not being bitter and combative, her eyes seemed to express the sweetness he believed was in her heart.
She was not the sort who seemed to live her life with anger and mistrust.
When Mia heard that food would be brought, she wanted to lash out and say that she wished to have nothing cooked by his people, that she would rather starve. But the truth was that she needed nourishment in order to keep up her strength.
She would escape at her first opportunity, yet…where would she go? From whom would she seek help? She was alone, totally alone in the world.
She didn’t respond to him, for she was afraid her words would hold too much bitterness in them. Instead she smiled sweetly and followed him inside the huge tepee.
She was stunned at its neat and comfortable appearance. The floors were covered with soft-looking mats, made from what looked like some sort of vines.
There was a fire burning in a fire pit circled by rocks in the center of the lodge. The smoke from it spiraled slowly upward through a smoke hole.
Blankets and pelts were rolled up along the inside walls, having been put there for the visitor’s comfort. Mia smiled at the sight. Her rear end felt numb after riding on the horse for so long, and she was looking forward to sitting on something soft.
Wolf Hawk seemed to have the ability to read her mind. He spread out a blanket, topped with a plush pelt, then gestured with a hand toward it.
“Sit,” Wolf Hawk invited. “Get comfortable. I shall go for food.”
He walked away, then stopped before going out through the entrance flap. “Do not attempt to leave, for even as I speak, a warrior stands guard outside the lodge,” he said sternly.
He saw her eyes waver, and then she looked away from him.
He went outside and strode to the lodge of his cousin Little Snowbird, where he knew good food was always bubbling over the cook fire.
Little Snowbird smiled at him. “You are here to eat?” she asked. He ate most of his meals with her, especially since she had become a widow.
“I am here to take food to the white woman,” Wolf Hawk said, hesitating at calling Mia a captive.
In his heart she was nothing of the kind. She was a woman he desired more each time he looked at her.
She had a way of reaching inside his heart and making him believe that she did not hate him.
He had seen her gaze at him more than once with the eyes of a woman who was interested in a certain man.
He was glad that she had given him that look, for he hoped to find her innocent of wrongdoing so that he could treat her as someone special…as someone he might ask to remain permanently in his village.
Since her father’s death, she had no one to defend her or care for her. He felt the urge to become her protector.
In time he would know if his feelings toward her were warranted.
“Wolf Hawk, my cousin, do not let your eyes linger on that woman,” Little Snowbird said, giving him a sideways glance as she prepared a platter to take to the woman. “She is not of our world, Wolf Hawk. Remember that. She…is…a part of the white race that has wronged so many of our people.”
“You forget who you are talking to?” Wolf Hawk growled out. “Little Snowbird, I make my own decisions about things and I never enter into anything without being certain of what I do.”
Little Snowbird gave him a sheepish look, then smiled as she handed the platter to Wolf Hawk. “It is because I love you too much,” she murmured. “Ever since your mother left us to walk the road of the hereafter, I have become your mother.”
“And I have appreciated your love and concern,” Wolf Hawk said, taking the wooden tray from her. “I am sorry for having just spoken to you in a tone that is not usual for me. But know that I must be in control of my own heart. I guard it well.”
“I know,” Little Snowbird said. She reached up and patted him gently on his handsome, copper face. “I know. Go now. There is enough food for both you and the woman.”
