Chapter 7 #2
It made her realize that someone must have requested a slow waltz. She loved the waltz, had always done so, and the music pulled at her, inviting her to dance. She moved this way and that, keeping time to the music.
“Do you like this kind of dance?” asked Swift Hawk.
“Yes. Very much. It reminds me of my youth. My father used to forbid me to dance, although secretly I would watch the others, and I would practice alone, until one day my brother caught me. From then on my brother and I practiced together.”
Swift Hawk slanted her a scowl. “Your father forbade you to dance?”
“Yes. He thought it would lead to other desires of the flesh, and so he forbade it to us.”
“To the Indian, to dance is to live.”
She smiled at him. “You are lucky to have been raised that way.”
Swift Hawk’s glance at her was long and hard. “But you danced nonetheless?”
“Yes, I did. Alone. At least until I discovered that my brother loved to dance as much as I did.”
Swift Hawk paused, as though uncertain what to say. “You and your brother must be very close.”
“Yes. That we are. We’ve had to be. We grew up traveling from town to town with our father. And because we were never in any one place for very long, neither one of us made many friends. So we became a friend to each other.” She smiled. “My brother, you see, is my dearest friend.”
“He is a fortunate man to have you. Perhaps I was wrong to judge you so hastily.”
“Perhaps.”
Slowly, as though he were doing something that went against his better judgment, Swift Hawk held out his hand to her. “Would you like to dance?”
She gasped. “What? Here?”
He nodded.
Angelia frowned up at him. “But do you know how to do this dance?”
The Indian gave her a half-cocked smile. “I have often seen this dance done at Bent’s Fort. I have even danced it with my cousin, Yellow Woman.”
“Have you, now?” Angelia placed her hand in his. “Then by all means, let us dance.”
He held her at arm’s length, his hand barely touching her waist. And then as easily as that, they were gliding around and around that woodland paradise, the fragrant grasses of the prairie scenting an already balmy night.
For a moment, no one else existed but the two of them, as they spun around the clearing. With the moon bathing them in a silvery mist, Angelia felt as though she might have been floating, so lightly did her feet touch the ground.
“You are a good dancer,” she said rather dreamily to Swift Hawk.
“As are you,” he responded.
Angelia smiled up at him. Hardly aware of what she did, her body drew in closer to him.
His hand tightened on her waist. He stared down at her, she up at him.
He leaned down toward her, closer and closer, until his handsome features were swimming before her. She parted her lips in anticipation, barely knowing what she was doing. All she felt was that she wanted this man to be near to her.
She shut her eyes, and then…
She was free. He had let her go.
Not only that, he had turned and was striding away from her at a rather fast clip.
What had happened? Why was he leaving?
Rational thought seemed to have deserted her, and acting on impulse, she spurred herself to hurry after him.
“Mr. Swift Hawk?” she called. “Please wait for me. Mr. Swift Hawk?”
He paused as she came toward him, and said, “You should not follow me.”
“Shouldn’t I?” She shook her head, as though such an action would make her mind stop functioning in a haze. “Oh, yes, yes, of course I shouldn’t follow you. But I…”
He didn’t swing around to look at her, but he didn’t step another foot forward either. Nor did he utter a sound.
“I…I…” Angelia stumbled over her words. Gulping quickly, she stated, “I wish to thank you for the dance.”
He sighed. “That is all?”
“I…ah…I enjoyed the dance. Perhaps in the future, if you decide to help us, we might have another…”
She left the rest blank, realizing that she had best stop speaking altogether. She was aware she was acting oddly, fumbling about as if she were under a spell. To her mortification, the words seemed to tumble out of her mouth without any forethought.
But if he noticed, he didn’t show it. In truth, he didn’t answer her for the longest time.
At last he spun back toward her. “Do not seek out my company, and do not lie to me with your body.”
“Lie to you? With my body?”
“Do not flirt with me, do not smile at me, using your body language to hint that you might welcome me in your life, and do not tell me you enjoy my company, no matter how much you wish my help. I am but a man, and I would not be male if these things did not put ideas in my head.”
“But—”
“You know you were flirting with me.”
“Yes, but I have not lied to you.”
For a fleeting moment, there was a look within his gaze that she would have been hard-pressed to explain.
But too quickly, it was gone. “Perhaps you do not lie with words, but your body says things I know you do not intend. I warn you. Do not play with me. Though I am curious to know if you can truly help me, I am aware of how you ply your beauty to gain those things you desire. Know that I am unaffected by your looks, and by you. Do not be deceived by me again. I am not a white man, and I will not bend to your wishes simply because you smile at me.”
“But I—I have not meant to—”
He waved away her protest. “If we are to be in one another’s company, as you want us to be, you must contain your flirtations. Otherwise…” He shuddered. “Do you understand?”
Slowly she nodded. “I do.”
He turned away from her then, staring straight forward, out onto the empty prairie. “I will hold you to that promise.”
So saying, he strode away from her, his long legs carrying him far into the distance in a matter of a relatively short time.
It left Angelia dumbstruck, hardly knowing what to think, and she gazed after the man for a very long time indeed.