Lakota Princess by Karen Kay Page B

way. This way, he will leave. And Anna, I’m afraid that if he were to stay, I would somehow try to keep him with me.”
    “And why should ye not?”
    “Anna, I am married.”
    “Forget it, I say. Ye kinnot even find t’ man ye supposedly married.”
    Estrela sighed and Anna, looking at her, shook her head.
    “T’ staff will be talking about yer Indian for years to come. ’Twas quite an escape from yer balcony.”
    “They know? But that only happened a few moments ago.”
    Anna smiled. “Somethin’ like this does not ’appen often, M’lady. Before t’ morning is gone, t’ whole of Mayfair will know of it. Yer Indian will be quite well known, M’lady. ’E will be well sought after. Be ye careful.”
    “I’m sorry, Anna. I know what you think I should do, but I can’t. I gave my word to the Earl of Langsford.”
    “Why does t’at make so much difference?”
    Estrela sighed. “Anna, until I met the Indians, the Earl was like a father to me, the only one I’d known. He raised me and he cared for me as though I were his own daughter. And this pledge I gave him, the commitment, was made on his deathbed. ’Tis not something I can ignore.”
    “But did ye not give yer vow to yer Indian, too?” Anna hesitated, and then continuing in a whisper, she added, “As I see it, ye must break one of yer vows. Why make it the one ye gave to yer Indian?”
    “Because I owed the Earl, Anna. I owe him even still. And these debts include my life and my loyalty. When I made my pledge to Black Bear, I didn’t know the Earl was coming back to take me away from the Indians. I was too young. I didn’t know anything of life outside the Indian camp. And I never dreamed at the time that my marrying Black Bear would cause the Earl pain. When I did learn of it, when I came to understand that my pledge to Black Bear would hurt the Earl, what could I do? No, Anna, perhaps you do not understand my commitment to the Earl, to the man who cared for me, and to his dying wish. No matter my own feelings in the matter, I cannot break that pledge.”
    “I see,” Anna said, breathing deeply. “I did not realize t’ extent of yer devotion and I kin only admire yer courage in remaining true to yer own ’onor. I kin see t’at ’tis this which makes ye what ye are. Still for yer own ’appiness, I wish ye could…”
    Anna let her words trail off, and as she stared at Estrela, she became cognizant of just what the indulged aristocracy would expect from Estrela, her budding innocence looked upon as a challenge to fight over and to take, rather than to nurture.
    And with a shudder, Anna helped Estrela prepare for breakfast. And if Anna, herself, were devising a plan to help her friend keep the Indian…well, who would know? It wasn’t as though any of Anna’s peers had ever sought counsel with her.
    Feeling a bit better, Anna slowly smiled.
     
     
    She wore the pink, transparent creation into the breakfast parlor after all, and was rewarded for her efforts by a frown from Black Bear. The gown’s lines trailed downward from an empire waist, and Estrela smoothed the outer filmy material down with a self-conscious gesture of her hand. She hadn’t wetted down the undergarments as was the current custom, it being thought by those who ruled fashion that if the material beneath looked wet, it would allude more to the feminine form; something which, it would appear, was most desirable.
    Her shoes of soft, pink satin peeked out beneath the hemline of the dress as Estrela paced forward and all at once, she felt the heat of Black Bear’s piercing scowl.
    She peered down at herself. It didn’t matter if she hadn’t wetted down the undergarments; the dress still made her look practically nude. She looked up then, and away, her cheeks awash with unbecoming warmth; she felt suddenly inadequate.
    It also didn’t help, she realized, when she looked at the other women seated around the breakfast table and found them to be dressed in a much more