Read Online Yellowstone Heart Song (Yellowstone Romance Series Book 1) by Peggy L Henderson - Free Book Online Page B

the sky.”
    Daniel recalled Aimee’s words from the day before. “I sort of dropped into the area.” He shrugged it off as ridiculous.
    “Someone must have concealed their tracks,” Daniel pondered.
    “Does she say where she comes from?”
    “She claims to be from a white man’s city in the east, and she is running away from the man she is promised to marry,” Daniel said. “But it is difficult enough for a woman to travel from the east to St. Louis, and impossible up the Missouri to this area.”
    “But yet she is here,” Elk Runner remarked. “Your own mother must have made the same journey.”
    Daniel shook his head even though Elk Runner had a point. “My father accompanied her,” he argued.
    “There are ways to make someone tell the truth,” Elk Runner suggested after a moment’s pause.
    “No,” Daniel said quickly. “She has her reasons, and I will wait for her to tell me the truth when she is ready.”
    Elk Runner grinned. “If she is promised to another man, how long will you wait to see if he comes for her?”
    “I have no intention of keeping her,” Daniel said in exasperation.
    Elk Runner gave a hearty laugh.  “Your eyes betray you, White Wolf. As sure as the sun comes up every morning, you want this woman.”
    Daniel ignored his brother’s remark. “If I have to, I’ll wait until my father returns, then I will take her back to St. Louis myself before the first snow.”
    “You will not be able to stay out of her sleeping blankets that long,” Elk Runner predicted with confidence. “This woman has you bewitched. It is like I said before. Perhaps the spirits brought her to you because they know a man should not live without a woman.”
    Daniel threw a stick in the fire, sending glowing embers into the air. Elk Runner tore a piece of meat from his skewer, and laughed.
    ****
     
    Aimee stood by the cabin door. Daniel and his Indian friend seemed to be engaged in a heated discussion. They spoke in the Indian’s language, which made it impossible for her to understand. The man seemed quite amused by some things, and whatever made him laugh visibly aggravated Daniel. She’d clearly been dismissed when the Indian showed up. Daniel hadn’t given her a second look. Tearing her eyes away from the men, she headed into the cabin. She might as well call it a day. With a heavy sigh, she removed her pants, and crawled under the soft, warm furs. 
    Aimee’s eyes focused on the dark ceiling above her as she lay on her back.  Her thoughts strayed to the man outside who was such an enigma, and the intense feelings he evoked disturbed her. She had only known him for two days, but her attraction to him had been instant. His intense stare had sent her pulse racing, and the memory caused delicious tingling feelings in her gut. The entire room seemed to have shrunk earlier from his large and imposing frame. The purely masculine scent of him had enveloped her senses. He smelled of the forest - pine and clean earth, mixed with the scent of buckskin and wood smoke.
    Her heart sped up at the memory, and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Jeez! She’d never been affected like this in the presence of a man. She didn’t recall ever having such exhilarating, electrifying feelings before. Brad had definitely never evoked such an intense reaction from her. That he’d been all wrong for her suddenly became crystal clear.
    Brad Bigsby was a surgical resident, a city boy through and through, who wanted nothing to do with camping and the great outdoors. They had met shortly after she and her lifelong friend, Jana Evans, moved from New York to California after graduating nursing school together. He had pursued her relentlessly until she finally agreed to go out with him. His controlling ways hadn’t been immediately obvious.
    After Brad’s marriage proposal three months ago, his overbearing attitude had gotten so bad, it bordered on abuse. Recalling their last heated argument a little over a week ago, she