Oh, God. He was turning her down. Misery sank in her gut like a lead weight.
“It’s not a character reference I need, Gage.” She might as well come completely clean. What could it hurt at this point? “As I told you, one of the reasons the Council won’t let me have Lily is because I’m white. The other reason is because I’m single.”
Confusion knit his brow. Jenna bit back a frustrated sigh. He still wasn’t getting it. She was going to have to spell it out.
“What I need—” she spoke slowly and succinctly, “—is a husband.”
Chapter Two
Gage gaped at the woman standing before him. Staring was rude. His parents had taught him that long ago. But he couldn’t help it. The request Jenna Butler had made shocked the words right out of him and made him forget good manners.
“You’re looking at me like I’m nuts,” she said. “My idea isn’t all that crazy, you know.”
Nuts. Crazy. Perfect adjectives to describe her and her suggestion.
“For weeks, the Council has used my ethnicity as an excuse for why I can’t have Lily.”
Nervous agitation had her clenching and unclenching her fists. Gage could tell she wasn’t even aware she was doing it.
“I met with them last week. And that’s when they claimed that if I were to take her from Broken Bow,” she continued, “and raise her in the ‘white world,’ as they put it, that Lily would lose touch with her Native American heritage, that she’d forget who she is and where she came from. That she’d forget she was Delaware. I promised them I wouldn’t let that happen. But evidently, they don’t believe me.”
Gage’s gaze strayed over her lovely face. Her features were delicate—gracefully arched eyebrows, thick lashes framing almond-shaped eyes, a pert little nose. Her pale skin glowed with the iridescence of moonlight, fresh and shimmery. The noonday sun burnished her shoulder-length auburn hair, the ends curling softly and resting against the topmost part of her full, rounded breasts.
Awareness tightened deep in his belly and made his mouth go dry. Gage frowned. Admiring this woman’s body was the last thing he should be doing. He forced his gaze back to her face and immediately noticed that her eyes were doe-brown, soft and dewy. Shadowy half circles smudged the skin beneath them, evidence that she’d spent many a sleepless night wrestling with her problem.
“Finally, I became so frustrated that I lost my temper,” she continued. “I reminded them all that Lily was half white. I told them that it was wrong to keep me from raising my niece because of my race.”
His brows rose heavenward. Customarily, deeming what was right and wrong was the job of the Elders, not those who stood before them.
“I told them that I loved that baby, and that I would treat her as my own. Gage, she is my own. I was so angry. My tongue got away from me. I blurted out that if they didn’t give me custody of Lily, that it would be a sin. One that they would have to answer for.”
He imagined the Council receiving a good dressing-down from this woman and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Luckily, he wrestled it under control.
Jenna Butler was a fighter. That much was undeniable.
“How did the Elders respond?”
Fire sparked in her eyes. “They called a halt to the meeting, then and there. I phoned every day for nearly a week. I thought I’d lose my mind. Finally, they agreed to see me again. Just yesterday. That’s when I discovered their trumped-up concern that I was single and unable to give Lily a stable upbringing.”
She shook her head in aggravation, her hair brushing those luscious mounds of—
Gage cut his eyes to the ground, studying the toes of his dusty work boots.
“It’s not fair, Gage. And it’s not right! I’m not going to let them do this to me. Or to Lily.”
He couldn’t help but admire her determination and strength. She had a will of iron. That was good. Going head-to-head with the Council, she would certainly need it.
Her chin tipped upward. “I don’t want to lower myself to begging. But if that’s what it will take to get you to help me, then I will. Please, Gage, I need you.”
What the hell could he possibly say to this woman?
Reaching behind him, he pulled a kerchief from his back pocket and swiped it across his brow. Not that he was hot or perspiring. He was stalling for time. He needed to think. He needed to come up with some way to let Jenna Butler down easy.
“Gage.”
Something in the way she said his name eased the tension in him.
“Please.”
“Look,” he began, “there’s a big difference between asking for my help and asking me to—”
His throat caught, making it impossible for him to voice the words he never thought he’d utter again.
“Marry me,” she supplied. “I’m asking you to marry me, Gage, so that I can get custody of Lily. If you’ll do this for me, the Council can’t possibly refuse me. Their excuses will be worthless. For I’ll no longer be single, and my husband will be Delaware.”
Great Spirit above! She presented her plan as if it were a completely logical course of action.
“You’re asking me to deceive the Elders of my tribe.” He bunched the handkerchief in his palm. “If they discover that I’m helping you trick them, they could force me to leave Broken Bow.”
Such drastic action hadn’t been taken for generations, as far as he knew; however, the possibility remained.
Surprise momentarily slackened her jaw. “I hadn’t realized that.” Instantly, her resolve sparked anew. “But I won’t let that happen, Gage. I promise you, I won’t.”
Although he’d had his share of run-ins with the Council, he felt the need to speak up for his leaders now. “They’re not looking to torture you, Jenna. Their number one priority is your niece’s best interest. You have to understand that. Priority number two is the tribe. David Collins’s daughter is considered by the Elders to be Delaware. It doesn’t matter that her mother was white. The child is Indian. She is an important part of the tribal clan. Think of it as an extended family. The Delaware family. The child—”
“The child’s name—” ire tightened her facial muscles “—is Lily. And she’s got Butler blood running through her, too. She might be an important part of your tribe, but she’s the only family I have left.”
Anger evidently got the better of her, and with her fists balled, she dug her toe into the dirt. A tiny tuft of dust billowed and then settled over her white canvas sneaker.
“You’re spouting off the same hogwash that the Council has been giving me for weeks.”
The woman’s steel was to be admired, but she was also beginning to annoy him. “You have no idea just how serious the Elders are about their responsibilities to this tribe.”
Defeat rounded her shoulders. “I’m terribly sorry, Gage,” she said. “I never meant to…”
She didn’t finish her sentence. Tilting her chin sharply, she looked at the sky, exhaled and then swallowed. Gage couldn’t help but notice the elegant length of her throat. Again, he dragged his attention to her face, but found