Ah, that fish had tasted good that night along with corn on the cob, her mother’s canned green beans, and sliced tomatoes fresh from their garden.
“That was so long ago,” Joylynn whispered as she sat beside the lodge fire. She gazed up through the smoke hole and saw the orange glow of sunset as the day waned.
The sound of horses arriving outside made Joylynn’s heart skip a beat. “High Hawk,” she whispered, relieved that he had returned home.
“I hope it is he,” she whispered, jumping to her feet.
Breathing hard, her hair loose and long down her back, she ran outside barefoot just as High Hawk came into sight with several of his warriors.
When he saw her standing there, the sunset casting dancing shadows on her, he smiled and waved, then rode up to her and dismounted.
The smile had given her some hope that perhaps he had found the scoundrel, but soon she knew that the smile was meant only for her and conveyed how happy he was to see her.
High Hawk swept Joylynn into his arms and hugged her as a young brave came and took his horse’s reins, then led it to the corral.
“Did you . . . ?” she asked, not finishing the question, for he was already answering it.
“He still eludes our search,” High Hawk said, his smile fading. “But he cannot hide forever. One day, ho, one day he will be mine!”
“And mine,” Joylynn said, reminding him that she wanted a role in Mole’s comeuppance.
“Ho, and yours,” High Hawk said, sliding an arm around her waist and walking with her into the tepee.
Joylynn stepped away from him and gazed into his eyes. “High Hawk, I am strong enough now to ride my horse,” she said. “I want to ride with you the next time you leave to continue your search. Please let me go with you. Please?”
“No woman should do this,” he said, placing a gentle hand on her cheek. “And I have never seen anyone more womanly than you.”
Joylynn found herself blushing, a rarity for her.
She smiled, then spoke with determination. “Must I remind you how I made my living before Mole interfered with it?” she said softly. “I did the work of a man, not a mere woman. I rode many miles a day on my steed to deliver the mail. Doesn’t that prove that I am strong enough to go with you?”
High Hawk saw her determination, and he knew she was stronger than most women, not only in body, but also in mind. He had never met such a strong-willed woman as Joylynn. She even surpassed his mother in that capacity!
But his mother could not even saddle a horse, much less ride one.
“All right,” he said, nodding. “I will let you ride with me tomorrow. I have returned home to rest and to pray. I must leave you for now, to tend to something, but I will return later. By then you should be asleep.”
He brushed a kiss across her brow, gave her a lengthy hug, then left, leaving Joylynn as alone as before.
Remembering the hug, and the feel of his lips as he brushed kisses across her brow, Joylynn hungered to have his lips elsewhere, on hers. She sat down beside the fire.
She wanted more now than ever to be his wife.
She had never thought she would find a man who would make her want to give up her life of freedom, but High Hawk did.
A part of her still hankered to return to the world of the Pony Express rider. Yet a bigger part wanted to act like a woman now . . . a woman who wanted a man, not dust on her face and mud on her clothes after riding all day on her horse.
She wished that Mole could be found, for while he was out there, wreaking havoc on other innocent people, High Hawk’s thoughts were mainly centered on him. And Joylynn wanted to talk with him about something besides Mole.
She wanted to talk to High Hawk about their feelings—hers and High Hawk’s—for one another!
“And I will,” she whispered to herself. “Soon.”
In fact, she was determined to wait up for him tonight, even if she was awake into the wee hours of the morning, to finally tell him her truest, deepest feelings about life, about him.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Joylynn decided to take a swim in the river to pass away some time while waiting for High Hawk to return.