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“Yes?”
“Who’s that man?” She nodded toward the white man dressed like an Indian. He had bound Jasper’s legs, arms, and mouth and tied him to a tree.
“That is my brother, Wandering Bear.” He turned his head toward the tree where Jasper was tied. “Bear. Come and meet my Ella.”
The white man stalked forward slowly, his eyes narrowing. “Good day.”
“Well…good day to you, too, Mister…Bear.”
He cleared his throat. “Just Bear is fine, new sister.”
“Of course, and you may call me Ella.” She held out her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you. Raven has told me a lot about you.”
“As he has told me about you.”
Ella stared at the handsome white face. His hair was long—longer than Raven’s, like he had told her—and fell nearly to his knees in a thick chestnut braid. Strange that she’d mistaken him for her father earlier, through the fog that had coated her mind. They were about the same height and build, and their eyes were similar, though Bear’s were lighter brown, almost gold. But there the similarities ended. He might look white, but clearly he was Indian through and through. He had a savage look to his handsome face, his golden eyes. A look she had never seen on her father’s visage—until recently.
Ella turned back to Raven. “You should know, Raven, my father will come for me. He”—she cleared her throat—“knows how to track. H-He used to be a bounty hunter.”
“Ah, that explains much,” Raven said, nodding. “Bear is the best tracker in our tribe, and even he could not track your father. It was you we tracked, once you escaped.”
“Escaped? You make it sound like he imprisoned me.”
“Didn’t he?”
“Oh, no.” The urge to defend her father overwhelmed Ella. “It wasn’t like that. My father and mother, they’ve been through a lot. A lot I didn’t know about. A lot I still don’t know. You see, their son, my older brother, was kidnapped by Indians. Long ago. I was barely three at the time. I don’t remember David at all. I know I should feel something for him. But how can I feel for someone I don’t remember? It’s…very sad.”
“I am sorry for your parents’ loss, tehila, as well as for yours. I do not agree with those of my people who take what is not theirs to take.”
“Don’t you?” She couldn’t help grinning. “Didn’t you go to my cabin to take me?”
“That’s different. You are mine to take”—his eyes blazed—“wife.”
He embraced her, brushed his lips over her neck. When he raised his head, he said, “I am sorry you lost your brother. I do not know what I would do without mine. Or my sister, Singing Dove.”
“Don’t worry about me. I told you I don’t remember David. But my parents do, and they feel the loss greatly. That’s why they’re so protective of me. I’m all they have left, and now you’re going to take me away from them.”
“You do not wish to go with me?”
“Oh, yes, of course I wish to go with you. It’s my heart’s desire, Raven. But I’m beginning to understand my mother and my father a lot better. And there’s more I don’t know. Stuff my mother wouldn’t tell me. She said…she said it’s my father’s story to tell. But she also said Indians were kind to them once.” She let out a sigh. “My kind father, the preacher… Well, it turns out I really don’t know him at all.”
“You can never really know another person, Ella,” Bear said from behind her. “Only the Great Spirit truly knows what’s in a person’s heart and a person’s soul.”
“Or a mate, brother.” Raven smiled at Ella, his beautiful full lips lowering to hers. When he was just a hair’s breadth away, he whispered, “You, my mate, my wife, my love, see everything within me. And I see everything within you.” He crushed his mouth to hers and kissed her.
Her skin tingled as she parted her lips eagerly, drinking in his spicy taste, his essence. Her bodice still open, she pressed her body to his, her nipples tightening against his sculpted chest. Raven, her mind whirled. Raven, how I love you.
From somewhere, a throat cleared.
“Brother,” came Bear’s voice.
Raven’s lips tensed slightly but he di
d not stop the kiss.
“Brother,” Bear said again.
Raven’s mouth slid away and he pressed moist kisses to Ella’s cheek. She shuddered.
