Free Lakota Princess by Karen Kay

had every right to court him.
    And she didn’t.
    “ Youslept well?” he asked at last.
    Her stomach twisted at the rousing baritone of his voice, at the wanderings of her thoughts. But she merely nodded.
    “How do you feel?”
    “Well enough,” she answered, her voice soft, high-pitched, and she hoped, reflecting none of her inner turmoil. She glanced up at him. “Have you been here long?”
    He nodded. Or at least she thought he did. Against the backdrop of darkness, it was difficult to tell. Silence fell between them until at last he asked, “Your arm? Is it sore?”
    “Yes,” she replied, “quite a bit… All night?”
    Another nod. “You should not be up yet. With an injury such as this, sleep is more beneficial than any medicine cure, white or Indian.” He paused. “Will you rest again when I leave?”
    “Perhaps,” she said. “I should be up and about, seeing to my responsibilities and to you.” She hesitated then, before saying, “I… I…your presence here in my room… I…”
    “I am only here to protect you.” He answered her unspoken question, “There is no other reason, except…”
    Her gaze flew to his through the darkened room.
    “Except,” he continued, “to speak with you privately.”
    “Oh.” She knew the sound of her voice conveyed a note of disappointment and Estrela gave herself a silent reprimand. What, after all, had she expected?
    She glanced down at the thin nightgown she wore, her only covering, and she wondered if he could see beneath the white lace. True, the murky darkness in the room should have hid her from him, but she knew that he could see as well as the owl in the darkness, knew that if he desired, he could inspect her every feature, survey her every feminine attraction.
    The thought was wildly exciting, and she fought with herself to keep her feelings, her thoughts to herself; she could not have him, for her sake, for his. And so she simply asked, “Protect me?” as though she weren’t aware of the potency of his presence in her room.
    “ Ho, yes,” he said, taking his time before he spoke again. “Does Waste Ho wish me to do more than protect her?”
    Estrela sputtered. “I…” She had become accustomed to the English fondness for subtlety. She had forgotten that the Indian did not avoid confrontation.
    “I have come to this land to see you, Waste Ho,” Black Bear continued. “I have come in the belief that I would bring you back with me. I am not adverse to showing you how glad I am to see you.”
    Estrela swooned. More than anything she wished he would. But she couldn’t tell him that, she couldn’t even let him know how she felt about him. “Black Bear…”
    “Ho? Yes?”
    “I couldn’t, Black Bear. Things are different between us now. I—”
    “Enough!” He sighed. “I understand. You do not need to explain.” He grinned. “But I wonder how things are different between us. Would you respond more to my touch now or would you —”
    “Black Bear!”
    He leered at her. “What?”
    Her gaze shot to his, catching the capricious grin on his lips before she looked away.
    “Black Bear, you flirt with me when you shouldn’t.”
    He didn’t answer right away. And Estrela strained forward to see if she had missed something, pulling back when she heard him ask, “Are you married that I cannot court you? Do you belong to another that I cannot have you?”
    “Me…married?”
    “No,” he carried on as though she hadn’t spoken. “You are not. There is no other man here. No one to protect you, to comfort you—to see to your…needs…” He paused for effect. “So,” he continued, “I fail to see why I cannot seek to persuade you into my life, into my sleeping robes.”
    Black Bear couldn’t have had more effect on her had he speared her heart with his lance. And Estrela wondered, as her heartbeat picked up speed, if he knew about her, about her secret.
    He couldn’t.
    And yet…
    “Black Bear,” she could barely whisper.