Free White Eagle's Touch by Karen Kay Page B

last, however, he halted the kiss, raising his head ever so slightly away from her.
    She tried to pull back then, out of his embrace, but she couldn’t go far away. To her relief, she felt her thoughts begin to clear.
    Of all the audacity! It was the first thought she had. Why, the man had certainly overstepped himself.
    Gathering together all the fury that she felt certain was hers, she threw back her head. “How dare you, Indian!” she said.
    “How would you know whether I…desire…whether I love a man or not? And what business is it of yours? You…you, who are no more than an ignorant, filthy savage.”
    He leaned away from her, a dark grin his only reaction.
    She knew, even as she spoke, that the words she’d said were lies. This man was no savage. And ignorant? From this meeting alone, she’d come to realize that this Indian was more intelligent than many of the civilized men of her acquaintance. And as for filthy…she couldn’t have been more wrong. Why, there was not a mark of dirt or grease anywhere upon his clothing, or upon his person, something that could not be said for any of the white men here at the fort…aristocrat or not.
    No, this man did not exactly fit the image of the wild, dirty Indian that was so commonly remarked upon in the East.
    “Shines Like Moonlight has tongue that stings like bee,” the Indian went on to say. “It is lucky for you that you are a woman and that I do not make war upon women. I will overlook what you say for now since you are like the baby, unfamiliar with Pikuni courtesy and manners. But I would advise you learn good manners soon.”
    “Good manners? How dare you… Why, I will do nothing of the sort, Indian. I am here to see my uncle, that is all. And when that is done, I will leave here, never to see this land, nor you, again.”
    He shrugged. “Then it is to be hoped that this man you are to marry is good fighter. He will need to be in order to protect you.”
    “How dare—”
    “Perhaps I should tell him how he will have to watch over you, as a mother bear will watch over her cubs, because without simple courtesy, no Pikuni will understand that you are nothing more than a child.
    Some of my people might even begin to treat you as they would a wolf gone crazy, since it is well-known that a man who will act as you have is either very stupid or very mad.”
    She backed away. “Why, you…you…you have no right to speak to me that way!”
    “Without manners,” he repeated, undaunted, “I know no other way to talk to you.”
    “Yes, well, I will tell you now that your own manners would be a sin to Moses. And I can assure you that I am no child, nor am I stupid or mad.”
    He grinned. “I do not know who this Moses is, but you had better get your man to protect you. You will need it all the more if you are not mad or stupid. Where is he now? Where is this man you are to marry? Where is he when you need him?”
    “I do not need him to protect me and he is…he is…” She knew very well that her fiancé was out with his hounds, hunting. But she wasn’t going to tell this Indian that. She said instead, “Protect me? Why should he need to defend me? As I told you, I am neither stupid, nor crazy. I am self-sufficient. I need no one. My fiancé is to marry me. That is all. He need have no other responsibilities.”
    The Indian just grinned and stared at her for one long moment after another. At length, he said, softly, almost in a whisper, “Maybe you are right, and I am the savage one, but there is one thing I would do for you that I do not see any other man in your white man’s world doing for you.”
    “Oh,” she said, “and what is that?”
    “I would take care of you.”
    “Take care of…? I haven’t asked you to do so, and I don’t—” She wasn’t able to voice more.
    He had closed the short distance between them and, bending down swiftly toward her, he kissed her, yet again, a gentle, delicate graze.
    It sent her mind to whirling. How