Gray Hawk's Lady: Blackfoot Warriors, Book 1 by Karen Kay

Author:Karen Kay
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2012-03-20T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

“We will have to marry. It is the only way.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Do not be upset because of what has happened to us. I will do the honorable thing; I will marry you.”

Genevieve gulped. “But why?”

He gave her an annoyed looked. “Must I teach you everything? How is it that you do not know that when a woman submits to a man as you have to me, there are only two choices left to her? If she is lucky, the man will marry her. If she is not, then she will have to live with the disgrace of what she has done all her life. I am offering to marry you. I will ensure your reputation.”

“I see,” she said. “And what happens to the man?”

“What do you mean?” He gazed at her, puzzled.

“The man who ‘disgraces’ her. Does he, too, live a life of humiliation thereafter?”

“Of course not.”

“Well, why not? He was a party to the action too.”

“Haiya, you are a difficult woman.”

“But truthful.”

“I do not make the rules that my people follow. I have not caused these things to be. I only know it is the way of things. The woman will be disgraced if she submits; the man will brag. Perhaps it is not how it should be,” he conceded, “but it is the way things are.

“In my camp,” he continued, “the man is not a man if he does not try to make a conquest of a woman. If he succeeds with her, her reputation will be tainted for the rest of her life.”

Genevieve gasped. “Even a young girl who does not yet understand the way of life?”

He nodded. “Young girls, after reaching a certain age, are taught never to be alone with a boy. It is also understood that there are sometimes mistakes and that a man will try to mislead a woman. It is also why a woman is never alone with a man.”

“Never?”

He nodded his head. “Not if she wishes to safeguard her reputation.”

“And a man?”

Gray Hawk chuckled. “He will have a better reputation if he succeeds.”

“Why, that’s terrible.”

He shrugged. “For the woman, perhaps.”

“I don’t understand. Have you done this? You seem to have an extensive knowledge of…” She felt blood rush to her face. “…of things of a carnal nature. Have you, then, taken advantage of a young woman?”

He shook his head. “It has not been my interest. Some young boys make a habit of trying to ruin young maidens. I have not had that desire. There are too many widows in our camp only too eager to please a man. And these widows, I am told, know many more ways in which to enjoy the act of lovemaking.”

“Gray Hawk!”

He smiled and tilted his head toward her. “Why court trouble when I have wished to remain unmarried? It has happened that a man is sometimes caught by the maiden’s relatives—and that he is forced to marry her. I have not wished this to happen to me, nor has there been a girl with whom I might want to take a chance.

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