“Ah! You think your husband assumes otherwise.”
“I know so.”
Sloan was quiet for a minute. “He loved his father, you know. In a way you may not even be able to understand. Hawk judged David wrongly for a very long time. When a man has done that, he owes a great deal to the man he has misjudged. In David’s final years, they were very close. If he judges you harshly,it’s most probably because of the pain he feels himself. Then again…”
“What?”
“Well, what is your story, Lady Douglas?”
She smiled because he could so charming. He was a hard man, almost ruthless at times, yet he could be so kind when the occasion demanded it.
And damned persistent and cunning when he chose as well.
“Long and complicated,” she said simply. “Let it suffice to say for the moment that I meant Lord Douglas no harm, that he was my dear friend, and that I cared for him deeply.” She felt herself blushing. “Not in that way,” she amended.
Sloan laughed. “I imagine David took one look at you and knew that you’d be just right for his son.”
“But I’m not, am I?”
Sloan reined in his horse suddenly, facing her squarely.
“More right than you may ever realize. You haven’t passed out on us once yet, have you?”
“Well, once.”
“And when was that?”
“When Hawk told me that he was Lord Douglas.”
Sloan laughed, then laughed harder. He nudged his horse, cantering on ahead of her. When he had gone, she rode a few steps in puzzlement until she realized that Hawk had come from behind to ride with her.
Sloan, apparently, meant to keep his laughter to himself.
“Well,” Hawk commented, moving Tor along next to Nutmeg, “at least you seem to get along well enough with my friends. Enjoying the ride?”
There was a slight edge to his voice. For the moment, she decided she’d enjoy it. She smiled. “It’s very beautiful here.”
“Wakan Tanka lives here.”
“The Great Mystery?”
He nodded.
“Do you believe that? You gave your father a Christian burial.”
He shrugged. “My father was a Christian.”
“And you?”
“Among the whites, I’m a Christian. I believe in a power greater than man. You may call him God or Wakan Tanka. And all men are his creatures, no matter what their color may be. When you see this kind of beauty on earth, then you must believe in a god. Do you?”
She nodded. “Definitely. And in all the powers of good—and evil.”
“Heaven and hell?” he inquired.
She nodded.
“Evil spirits?”
