Page 37 of Native Hawk
Chapter 11
“Shut up!” Sheriff Jasper Brown snapped at Harvey as they rode away from the Hupa village. He was trying to think, and his son’s yammering wasn’t helping.
At first, they’d gotten nothing out of the Injuns. He wasn’t surprised. He expected they stuck together like flies on a bloody carcass.
But then he glimpsed the white woman. At least, hethoughtshe was white. She was decked out in the same deerskin and beads as the rest of the squaws. But there were strands of blonde hair among the gray, and she had light-colored eyes.
When he asked the chiefs about her, they claimed her name was Mati and that she and her husband, Sakote, had come to them years ago from the Konkow people.
He’d never seen an Injun with pale eyes and fair hair. So he interrogated her.
It turned out if shehadbeen white, she’d been taken by Injuns so long ago she could hardly remember how to speak English. She answered him in broken sentences with her husband glowering on. She must have been damaged in more ways than one. The pitiful woman couldn’t seem to remember anything about her folks or where she’d come from.
Jasper shook his head. If a daughter of his had been kidnapped by Injuns, he’d hope she’d have the sense to kill herself.
He asked to see the woman’s children. She brought them out. They ranged from fully-grown young squaws to boys who still clung to her skirts. None of them were the poker player.
But now that the sheriff had time to think, he realized the woman just might have an older son who no longer lived in Hupa.
The chiefs had said her husband was originally a member of the Konkow tribe. Most of the natives of that area had been rounded up and marched to Round Valley twenty years ago. If the gambling half-breed knew the law was on his tail and needed to hide out somewhere, his father’s reservation was a likely place to go.
It was a good week’s ride to Round Valley. It was an even longer trip for the half-breed, traveling on foot. Jasper might be able to catch his quarry before he ever got there. He dug his heels into his horse’s flanks and picked up the pace.
“Come on, boys,” he said. “We’re headin’ south.”
Catalina had finally convinced Anne and Emily that she hadn’t had relations with Drew Hawk. But persuading them wasn’t easy, especially once they got a look at him. They couldn’t believe a man so young and handsome and virile wouldn’t be interested in sex.
She said he’d been interested, but promised he wouldn’t touch her.
They arched their brows at her, telling her without words what they thought of men’s promises.
After her humiliation this morning, she avoided the salon. She didn’t want men staring at her as if she were a two-headed calf. But she couldn’t go outdoors. It was raining heavily. So instead, she spent most of the day working in her room.
Jenny, who’d spilled wine one too many times, was relieved of her duties by Miss Hattie. But since the girl was desperate for work, she pleaded with the madam to let her stay on. She planned to try her luck at entertaining gentlemen like the rest of the ladies.
So Catalina was tasked with altering Jenny’s yellow silk dress to make it more revealing, more enticing.
Though the work was slow without a sewing machine, it kept her engaged. She salvaged some violet ribbon from one of Miss Hattie’s old frocks. This she tacked onto the inside and outside of Jenny’s dress in two places so the ruffles could be gathered up and tied in front to reveal her knees. Then she lowered the neckline, sewing a rose crafted of more violet ribbon at the spot between her breasts. She cut off the sleeves at the shoulder and used the extra fabric to make a double flounce, which she attached as a bustle to the back of the dress. Then she sewed the buttons from the sleeves in a cluster onto the last piece of violet ribbon that Jenny could tie around her neck as a choker.
By the time she was done, most of the daylight was gone. But she was happy with the results. Jenny would be the prettiest of the painted ladies.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
It was Emily. “He’s still here. I thought you’d want to know.”
“Who?”
“Your gentleman caller.”
A silly rush of joy flooded her veins. Drew was still here? Then she frowned. “He’s notmygentleman caller.”
“What if he asks for you again tonight?”
Again, her foolish heart leaped at the thought. “He will not.”
“Why else would he still be here?”
