His tone dropped a little. “Not much. I’ll tell you what they said when we’re riding again.”
He turned to the two men and spoke as he signed. “Thank you for sharing your campfire.”
The other men answered with a few sounds and hand gestures.
Riley nodded, then turned toward the opening between the lodges as he waved for her and her sisters to follow. She sent a farewell smile to their host and the women who had gathered behind her, then moved in behind Riley.
She could only pray he’d learned something useful, for she had a feeling not every visit to an Indian camp would be so friendly as this one.
Ten
When Juniper and her sisters followed Riley outside of the circle of lodges, their horses were waiting there with the two lads, just as they’d left them. After they’d reclaimed their mounts and swung up into their saddles, Riley turned back the way they’d come.
She nudged her mare up alongside his horse, and Rosie came up on her other side. Rosie spoke before Juniper had a chance to. “What did they say?”
Riley kept his voice low, but loud enough the four of them could hear. “I met the Peigan woman who lives with them. She’s young, too young to be Steps Right. She thinks she’s eighteen winters old but isn’t certain because she was captured from the Peigan eight winters ago and has been raised as Gros Ventre since then.”
Disappointment pressed in her chest. An image of the young woman who’d touched her hair slipped in. Those blue beads...
She studied Riley. “You met her? What did she look like?”
He shrugged. “Like a young woman from one of thesetribes. She wore the same kind of dress the others did. Long black hair in braids.”
Leave it to a man not to notice any details. “Two braids? Or one?”
He frowned. “Two, I think. Why?”
“Did she have any ornament on the tie that held her braids? Like feathers or beads?” Perhaps it didn’t matter if the young Peigan woman was the one with the blue beads. Perhaps there was nothing significant about the color among that tribe. But it was the only possible connection so far.
“I...” Riley dragged out the word like he was searching his memory for images. “...think she had beads.” He turned to face her. “Now will you tell me why it matters? Did you meet her? Did the women tell you anything?”
“Maybe it doesn’t matter. We met lots of women, though none of them spoke English, so we couldn’t communicate at all. But one girl about eighteen years old was bolder than the rest. She had a strand of blue beads hanging from one of her braids.” She caught herself in time to keep from commenting about them being the same color as the strand they were returning to Steps Right. They weren’t telling anyone about the necklace so they didn’t risk it being stolen.
Riley nodded. “That was probably her. She was standing behind the chief when we left?”
“She’s the one.” Maybe she could ask about the beads as a casual question. “Are those beads special to the Peigan? Blue ones, I mean. Or beads in general, I suppose. I didn’t see the Gros Ventre women wearing them.” Though she hadn’t really been looking for beads on the others. That blue strand had simply stood out.
He shook his head. “Women from all the tribes lovebeads. And for some reason, the blue ones in particular. It’s not specific to the Peigan. I don’t know why the other women weren’t wearing any. Maybe these people don’t do much trading with whites, or maybe they simply didn’t want to reveal them while you were visiting.”
Their horses were climbing the hill now, and she leaned forward to help her mare balance on the slope.
Riley did the same, and when he finally sat up, he cleared his throat. “Anyway, the men told me something else that might be worth pursuing. They said there’s a small band of Peigan camped a few hours north of here, on the other side of a Crow village.”
“Then why are we riding south?” Frustration laced Rosie’s tone.
Riley shot her a look, but he kept his voice measured. “I thought it best we follow our trail until we get over this hill, then we can circle around and ride north if we choose to.”
That made sense, but Rosie still seemed of a mind to argue. “Why wouldn’t we choose to? It took us a half day to reach this point. We should push on now instead of wasting a full day of travel going back to the rendezvous camp.”
Riley raised his brows at her. “I’m willing to ride north now if that’s what you wish, but I wanted to give you the choice of going back to the main camp before dark. I’m sure tongues will wag if you’re gone with me overnight. I’ve been removed from civilization for a while, but I’ve not forgotten a woman’s reputation is important.” He spoke that last bit with a hint of censure in his tone.
Rosie waved the words away. “You think tongues didn’t start wagging the moment we were spotted with the supply wagons? I’m not worried about what a bunch of hairy-facedtrappers think. As long as you know how to keep an appropriate distance”—she pinned him with a look—“we’d rather make efficient use of every day.”
Riley started to nod, but Rosie appeared not quite finished. “But you can be warned, Riley Turner. If you so much as touch one of my sisters, your life will end that very hour. I give you my word.”
His brows rose again. He took a moment to speak, hopefully weighing his answer. Rosie wouldn’t look the other way if he said the wrong thing now. “I understand, Miss Collins. I’ve no intention of touching any of you, as you say. I’m here to be your guide and protect you. I giveyoumy word.” That last bit was an exact copy of Rosie’s comment, and it looked almost as if his mouth played with a smile as he said it. Thankfully, it was not enough to rile her sister.
Rosemary nodded. “Make sure it stays that way.”
