Free A Love Forbidden by Kathleen Morgan

badly as it has?”
    Josie was beginning to delve a bit more deeply into Jesse’s past than Shiloh was willing to reveal. “I never saw Jesse again after that day, until the Bear Dance,” she said with a bemused smile and shrug. “A lot could’ve happened to him in those ensuing nine years.”
    “Yes, I suppose so.” Josie paused. “Do you know if his father was white or his mother?”
    Shiloh hesitated. She supposed she could answer that question and not tread too closely into more private matters.
    “His father was white, a trapper. His mother was a Ute. He traded a pack load of furs for her. Never married her, though.”
    Her friend pondered that a moment. “I wonder if Jesse’s mother was related to someone in Captain Jack’s camp? Persune mentioned that Jesse was quickly accepted by their people.”
    “Maybe. If so, I’m glad. Everyone needs to feel they belong somewhere.”
    That ready acceptance would also explain Jesse’s passion and commitment to the White River Utes, Shiloh thought. If they were actual relatives, they were probably his only remaining family. And considering that Jesse had dearly loved his mother, who had died when he was fourteen, and he had hated his abusive father . . .
    She wondered if her knowledge of his past was yet another reason for his hostility toward her. Because she knew things of which he did not wish to be reminded and did not want spread around as a source of gossip or ridicule. Not that she would ever do that to him, but she supposed he didn’t know that. Didn’t know her anymore.
    “Does it bother you that he’s a half-breed?”
    Her friend’s query jerked Shiloh from her musings. “What? What did you just ask?”
    Josie shrugged. “I wondered if his being a half-breed bothered you. Does it?”
    Shiloh frowned in puzzlement. “Bother me? In what way?”
    “In a romantic way, of course. That was the original topic of this conversation, wasn’t it?”
    Fine. Just fine. Josie was back to that again.
    “If I were to be thinking of Jesse that way—which I’m definitely not—no, it wouldn’t bother me,” Shiloh replied. “If the man was good and strong and brave, and God-fearing too, of course, I wouldn’t care what or who his ancestors were. But I also wouldn’t go out of my way to seek someone of mixed or different blood. The cruel, intolerant people would make a life together difficult. And not just for us but for any children we might have.”
    “You’re awful practical, aren’t you?” Josie asked. “I’m not thinking that love, though, is felt that much with the head.”
    Exasperation filled Shiloh. “No, I suppose it isn’t. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m not looking for a husband, be he white, Indian, or half-breed. I’ve got my hands full right now just trying to get this school going.”
    “Yes, I reckon you do.” Josie straightened and stood up. “Well, it’s getting late and you’ve got another big day ahead of you, what with meeting with Chiefs Johnson and Douglas. Will Jesse go with you, considering how close these two chiefs’ camps are?”
    Shiloh laid aside her now-forgotten knitting and rose to see Josie to the door. “Yes. He said he was ordered to accompany me to all the camps, and though my Ute is good, it’s not fluent. So I might need him to translate if things get too complex.”
    “He’s handsome, don’t you think?” her friend asked as she paused at the bedroom door.
    For an instant, Shiloh wasn’t sure who Josie was talking about. Then the realization dawned that Josie had yet again returned to her matchmaking.
    “If you think Jesse’s so attractive,” she said, “why don’t you encourage him? Because I’m not interested.”
    Josie walked from the room then turned back. “Maybe I will,” she said with an impish grin. “Maybe I just will.”

4
     
    Shiloh awoke to the first rays of dawn peeking through her curtains. She stretched, yawned, and then lay there beneath the thick quilt, savoring the