Brave the Wild Wind by Johanna Lindsey Page B

waited to be invited to sit. White Thunder let him wait for a moment, looking at Jessie to see if she understood the meaning of this visit. Finally he sighed and bade Little Hawk welcome, speaking in the Sioux tongue. Jessie watched them talking, growing impatient as the conversation continued without her understanding a word of it. She had thought Little Hawk was there to talk to her. She was becoming annoyed.
    At last Little Hawk turned to her, and White Thunder said, “He asks permission to speak to you.”
    Jessie replied, “But I have already agreed to speak to him. Isn’t that why he’s here?”
    “He is asking formally now.”
    Jessie repressed a grin at the absurdity of it. “Then I agree, formally.”
    White Thunder continued solemnly, “He has also asked that I interpret for him.”
    “But why? He speaks English.”
    “He disdains to use it when it is not necessary,” White Thunder explained.
    Jessie was irritated. “Then why did he learn it to begin with?”
    “You wish me to ask him?”
    “ I can ask him,” she said curtly.
    “Do not speak with him directly,” White Thunder warned quietly. “Do not look at him so boldly, either, or reveal what you are thinking.”
    She laughed. “Do you know you sound just like your mother?”
    “Be serious, woman.” White Thunder frowned at her. “ He is serious. Besides, for what he intends, it is customary for him to speak through a third person.” He raised a questioning brow at her. “Do you understand now?”
    Jessie’s forehead crinkled in a frown. What was he trying to tell her? She had never known White Thunder to be so cryptic.
    “Perhaps if we just got on with it,” Jessie suggested, glancing apprehensively at Little Hawk.
    The two men spoke at length, and Jessie’s apprehension grew when it became obvious that they were arguing. If she only had some inkling of what the meeting was all about.
    The men fell silent, and Jessie found she’d been holding her breath. When neither man spoke again, she prompted, “Well?”
    “It is as I guessed,” White Thunder told her shortly. “He wants you to be his woman.”
    Jessie was speechless. She told herself she ought not to be surprised, but she was.
    She turned to Little Hawk then, and their eyes locked for a moment before she lookedaway. Yes, he did want her. Suddenly she was flattered. This was soothing balm after the despicable way Chase had treated her.
    “Just his woman, or his wife?” she asked hurriedly.
    “His wife.”
    “I see…” Jessie gazed up toward the top of the tepee, musing.
    White Thunder was taken aback. “You are not considering accepting?”
    “What did he offer for me?”
    “Seven horses,” he answered.
    “Seven?” Jessie was impressed. “Why so many? Is he rich?”
    “Simply determined, I think. One horse would be for me, for agreeing to speak for him, since he has no close friend here to do so. Two horses would be given to Runs with the Wolf, since it is his tepee you occupy. The other four are for you, and will remain yours, along with all your own possessions.”
    “And the tepee,” she prompted, knowing that a tepee was considered the wife’s property.
    “No, not the tepee,” White Thunder confessed gently. “This was the main reason I told him it would not work. He already has a first wife.”
    “He does?”
    “Yes.”
    “I see,” Jessie said stiffly.
    Why she was suddenly so angry she didn’t know. Perhaps because it had been nice to feel wanted, to forget about her troubles at the ranch. A fairy tale, however.
    “Tell Little Hawk I am flattered,” Jessie said,“but I cannot possibly accept. Tell him white women do not share their husbands. I will not be a second wife.”
    To Jessie’s relief Little Hawk accepted her refusal gracefully. He had a few more words with White Thunder, then left the tepee.
    “He said he expected your refusal this first time,” White Thunder told her gravely. “He seems to think you will get used to the idea and