Lakota Princess by Karen Kay

Author:Karen Kay [Kay, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Western
ISBN: 9780380779963
Google: h0PMPQAACAAJ
Amazon: 038077996X
Goodreads: 2745729
Publisher: Avon Books
Published: 1995-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Shelburne Hall’s ballroom could have rivaled one of Almack’s Assembly Rooms—its splendor was so great. Although unlike Almack’s, the Duchess of Colchester imposed little or no rules of behavior upon her guests, which caused the party-goers to sense a certain feeling of freedom.

Laughter and music filled the hall, no one noticing that the polished, hardwood floors gleamed with a deep luster under several coats of beeswax, shining as though cast under a spell from the light overhead where hung at least a dozen crystal and gold-trimmed chandeliers. Likewise no one seemed to note the Grecian statues that stood beside each entrance, nor the elaborately framed eight-foot paintings that guarded each wall. In the paintings, had one observed them, were various pictures of balls, of people dancing, of men and women in each others’ arms. But no one seemed to take much notice of this at all. Attention was focused men upon the women, women upon the men and all, of course, upon the wine.

The orchestra was situated on the minstrel’s gallery at the top of the room, hidden by the balcony on which they sat, only the strains of the musicians’ melodies a reminder of their presence within the room.

At the east end of the ballroom stood floor-to-ceiling windows, each draped with curtains. Interspersed among them were three different sets of doors which, opening inward, led out onto balconies overlooking the lush, carefully manicured gardens of Shelburne Hall.

It was on one of those balconies now that Black Bear stood, facing into the ballroom, pensive, silent, observant.

And he saw everything, from the tight, tight black trousers of the men to the long, white or pale gowns of the ladies, with only the toes of their shoes poking out beneath the flimsy materials of their dresses. Everyone, he observed, wore gloves and the women had adorned themselves in jewelry that gleamed and glittered under the shimmering lights. No beads, no wampum he’d ever seen shone such as this.

He watched as that drink he called spirit water passed from one person to another; he watched as men promenaded the room with their women after each dance; he observed the couples dancing in the middle of the floor. But most of all, he scanned every corner of the room, his gaze inspecting the people, the servants, even the orchestra members above for signs of weapons, of ambush, of possible danger.

He could find none. And while this should have comforted him, it had the opposite effect, Black Bear worried.

Waste Ho seemed to take ho heed of her situation. He looked at her now as she stood inside the room, a circle of men surrounding her.

Someone had shot at her. Twice. Someone had reason to desire her death. Twice. That someone could be here and though Black Bear had memorized the looks of those two men in Hyde Park so many days ago, he had never seen them again. It worried Black Bear. He felt he was no closer to solving the mystery surrounding these attempts upon Estrela’s life than he had been that first day he’d saved her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.