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princesses.”
    Soon they both lay in a soft embrace, while each of them thought of the future when a child would bless their life. Joanna hoped their first child would be a boy. She thought of how patient Windhawk was with her brother. He would be a good father, teaching their child to face life as he did—with courage and hope for the future.
    Joanna felt his hands slide lingeringly over her stomach. Closing her eyes, she said a silent prayer that she would soon bear him a child.
    As the wildflowers lent their sweet fragrance to the air and the tall pine tree bowed its branches with the breeze, Windhawk made love to Joanna once more. This time she could feel the urgency in him. It was as if he was determined to impregnate her body with his child.
    “Who knows, my love?” she whispered. “Perhaps, soon, I will give you the child you want so badly.”
    Joanna watched him as he lay back and closed his eyes. She noticed the tiredness etched on his face. He had so many responsibilities that he never seemed to be at peace. She pulled him forward and rested his dark head against her silken breasts.
    “Sleep, my dearest one,” she whispered.

Chapter Four
    Captain Harland Thatcher stared disbelievingly at the tall, heavyset man who claimed to be Joanna and Taggart James’s uncle. The man’s mode of dress, while expensive, was appalling. The bright green waistcoat and loud yellow vest did not represent good taste. Harland was having a hard time associating Howard Landon with Joanna. It wasn’t that the man didn’t speak excellent English, it was more the fact that there was a certain coarseness about him. There was also something in his manner that Harland didn’t like, but he didn’t yet know what it was.
    Harland sat back in his chair, crossed his legs, and rested his hand on his booted foot. He thought back to the first time he had seen Joanna. She and her brother had been accompanied by two servants when they had joined the wagon train he had been in charge of. At that time, he had had the distinct impression that Joanna had been running away from something, though he had never learned what it was.
    Almost from the beginning, Harland had been drawn to Joanna. At one time he had even asked her to be his wife, but she had turned him down. The fact that she had chosen the legendary Blackfoot chief, Windhawk, over him, had done nothing to stem the love he still felt for her.
    “I’m afraid I can’t do much to help you find your niece and nephew, Mr. Landon. Joanna chose to go to this Windhawk of her own free will. The army had no jurisdiction over her or her brother.”
    Howard frowned at the captain’s manner. “I think what you mean is you won’t help me. Isn’t that right?”
    Harland shrugged his shoulders. “I have no power over what you think—believe what you will,” he replied with a certain amount of arrogance.
    “Both Taggart and Joanna are under age. I, as their legal guardian, feel it my duty to find them and take them back with me to Philadelphia, where they rightfully belong.”
    “When I first met Joanna and her brother, I got the distinct impression they were running away from something or someone they were afraid of. Joanna never told me what her trouble was, but I now believe what they were frightened of was you, Mr. Landon,” Harland said, eyeing the man closely.
    Howard snorted. “What they were running away from was the voice of authority. Neither one of them wanted to follow my direction. They were too headstrong and obstinate to know that I was acting in their best interests. Can you not see into their characters by now? You tell me what sane young lady of breeding would go off to some dirty Indian camp to live like a savage?” Howard’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I will find them, and when I do…I will take them home, with or without your help, Captain Thatcher!”
    “I am surprised you would take the trouble, Mr. Landon. Apparently Joanna and her brother didn’t want to stay