Read Online A Love Forbidden by Kathleen Morgan - Free Book Online Page A

were on their way back to the Agency. Though he and Shiloh had been able to visit with Captain Jack and his family, sharing a meal of fry bread made from some of their annuity flour and a pot of rich venison stew from which they all ate with horn spoons, the Ute chief refused to allow her to meet any of the others. He accepted the trinkets she offered, promising to distribute them and credit her as the gift giver, all the while denying her even that small way of making contact with his people.
    Jesse knew Shiloh was frustrated, but he had repeatedly warned her that her overtures would be rejected. That was exactly what had happened, and likely would continue to happen. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. She meant well. Her concern for the People was heartfelt and genuine.
    He just couldn’t seem to get it through her head that the problem was far bigger and more complex than a simple need to educate the poor, ignorant savages. She was, in actuality, a helpless pawn in the ever-widening catastrophe that was the annihilation of the Indian way of life. And he, too, felt more helpless with each passing day. Helpless and caught up in it nonetheless, as if he were trying to swim against a raging torrent. A torrent that would soon sweep him—and all that he held dear—away.
    The difference between them, however, was that he knew the fate that ultimately awaited the Utes, and had still chosen to remain, to stand with his people no matter what the outcome. The people who had always accepted him just as he was, welcoming him with open arms. What Jesse didn’t want was for Shiloh to get entangled in it all. She had tried to protect him once. In return, he owed her that much at the very least.
    Problem was, how to get the stubborn little redhead to admit defeat and go back to where she belonged, where she’d be safe. As they rode along, he shot her a covert glance.
    She was paying him no mind, and instead gazed at the snow-covered peaks, the dark green pines piercing the bright blue, cloud-strewn sky, and the ice-clogged river on their left. Her expression was one of delight and wonderment. It was obvious to anyone who cared to observe that Shiloh loved this land the Utes called the Shining Mountains.
    Her cheeks and tip of her nose were pink with the cold, but it only made her seem prettier. Her deep auburn hair, where it peeked out from the scarf she had wrapped around her head, glinted with many shades in the sunlight. And her form, even bundled up against the chill weather, was most appealingly female.
    Jesse marveled at what an attractive woman the coltish, almost homely tomboy had grown into. He had once thought her sister the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. But her beauty, he soon learned, only touched the surface. Shiloh’s beauty went far deeper.
    Her face had glowed with pleasure as she’d met and talked briefly with Captain Jack’s children. When she’d explained how to use the little top she’d given to Jack’s son, Jesse caught a glimpse of her love of teaching. And she was still as plucky as she’d been all those years ago. That was more than evident in the way she’d stood up to Jack. Though she may not have realized it, she had already won the Ute chief’s respect. Jesse suspected, given enough time, Shiloh would achieve the same results tomorrow with the other two chiefs who lived even closer to the Agency.
    Had it been more than a coincidence that they, after all these years and separated by hundreds of miles, had crossed paths again? Had the Creator willed it that Jesse should repay his debt and free himself, once and for all, from the final link binding him to his white blood? For Shiloh and their youthful friendship were surely the last pleasant memory he had of his ill-fated interactions with his father’s people.
    His first instincts had been right. He needed to get her to leave the White River Agency. And the sooner the better.

     
    “So, how did it really go?” Josie