Chieftain (Historical Romance) by Nan Ryan

the prey. And she fully intended to snare him in her trap. Once he was caught, they could change places. She’d be his helpless captive, he her vengeful captor. What exciting possibilities that fantasy conjured up.
    Lois grew moreimpatient with each passing day. Shanaco had been at the fort for more than two weeks and she had yet to meet him. Apparently it wasn’t going to be as easy to instigate an affair with the Comanche chieftain as it had been with Lieutenant Wilde. Wilde was right there under her nose and all she’d had to do was reach out and take him.
    But how, she wondered, could she possibly gain access to Shanaco? She knew they intended to provide him with a private cabin, but the last she had heard he was still billeted in a barracks with the troopers. As far as she knew he slept there every night.
    In the daytime he was out on the reservation with his People. Or with Double Jimmy and her father.
    Or in the civilian village.
    Impatient to get her hands on him, Lois decided to start spending her afternoons in the village. Perhaps she would run into him. She could do that without arousing suspicions. Should anyone ask, she could claim she was shopping.
    Lois dressed in her finest and sauntered up and down the wooden sidewalks. No luck on the first day. Or the second. But her heart began to pound when finally, after three fruitless afternoons, the object of her desire walked out of Jake’s card parlor and headed down the wooden sidewalk. Coming in her direction.
    Lois drew a shallow breath, reached out and grabbed the colorful barber pole for support. She stood there waiting, her blond hair gleaming in the sunlight, her pretty face glowing with good health. She was totally confident of her feminine allure. Certain that Shanaco would take one look and instantly desire her.
    She saw thattoday he was dressed as a white man in a cotton shirt and snug twill trousers. But he looked just as handsome, just as menacing as he had when he’d worn nothing but a skimpy breechcloth. He moved with an easy, fluid grace and effortlessly exuded a strong masculine self-confidence. Just looking at him made Lois tingle from head to toe.
    He was almost to her. She wet her lips, thrust out her chest and bent a knee forward. Shanaco glanced at her. She smiled coquettishly and lowered her lashes. Then blinked in surprise when he dismissed her with a cold, impersonal nod. He never slowed. Walked right past her.
    Lois was stunned. Absolutely incredulous. She couldn’t believe it. Was the Comanche blind? Did Indians have a different standard of beauty than their white counterparts? Did he not yearn to hold her in his arms? Such an obvious snub from a male had never happened to her before.
    Shaken, Lois stared after him, wanting him more than ever, insulted but fascinated. She was intrigued by the catlike way he moved. And by the way his white shirt stretched across his wide, powerful shoulders. And especially with the way his tight twill trousers hung so appealingly on his slim hips.
    Lois sighedand bit her lip in disappointment. She had assumed that the minute he saw her he’d want her. Well, he would want her, she was determined that he would. She had only to get him alone. Once she’d accomplished that she knew what to do with him. To him. She’d let him feel her burning touch on his nakedness and arouse him so completely she would take his breath away.
    But damn him, she hated to wait. She wanted him now. This afternoon.
    Seething, Lois angrily headed back to the quarters she shared with her father. In her room, she shed her saucy hat, kid gloves and light woolen wrap, tossing all on the floor. She climbed onto the feather bed, stretched out on her stomach and beat the mattress with her small fists, cursing the indifferent Shanaco.
    She had to come up with a foolproof scheme wherein she and the imperious half-breed would be thrown together and…and…Lois began to smile like the cat that got the cream. The annual officers’