Blue Moon Read Free Page B

the coals in the fireplace and then poured her a cup of steaming coffee, she tried to remain alert. Her condition prevented her from making any kind of swift exit. Not that she would relish going back out into the swamp anyway. For now, though she found herself alone with a complete stranger, she was happy to be out of the dark, high and dry above the watery wilderness.
    When the potato was cooked, he left her alone while she ate it, sipped strong coffee, and nibbled on jerked venison. She decided he must have been watching her from the porch while she ate, for as soon as she took the last bite, he immediately appeared, collected the trencher and mug, and set them on the crude sideboard. Then he turned to her again, took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.
    “Just out of curiosity, what were you doing out there in the swamp alone?”
    “I’d rather not talk about it right now.”
    Half expecting him to question her further, Olivia waited, but all Noah LeCroix did was nod. He appeared terribly uneasy as his gaze scanned the small interior of his tidy cabin. The pained expression on his face gave her pause. Because he was unlike any of the men she had dealt with lately, she did not know what to make of Noah LeCroix and no idea what to expect. That in itself made her feel vulnerable.
    “I’m sorry to have to impose upon you like this, but—”
    “No need to be sorry. There is no way you can leave tonight.”
    Olivia glanced around the room and wondered if she should make some effort to vacate the only bed.
    As if he could read her tumultuous thoughts, he shifted his stance, cleared his throat and volunteered, “I’ll bed down on the porch.”
    “Thank you. That would be kind of you.”
    An awkward stillness lengthened between them.
    “If you don’t need anything else, I’ll put out the lamp,” he said, reminding her that he was still there, still watching her.
    She could not face the dark. “If … if you could just turn the lamp low, but leave it burning?”
    Noah nodded and did as she had asked. As the darkness slowly thickened, he once again became the illusive, mysterious figure she had first glimpsed upon awakening. The glow from the fire expanded his shadow until the elongated black shape wavered over the log walls, following Noah as he walked out and was quickly swallowed by the night.

Chapter 2
    It was late in the season, too warm to snow, but there was a heaviness and a damp chill in the air. The stars appeared faded and thin, indicating rain before morning. Noah closed the front of his buckskin jacket and sat down on the floor of the covered porch. With his back pressed to the outside wall, he was impervious to the cool air.
    He could hear the dried moss in the mattress rustle each time the girl moved restlessly in his bed. Strange, he thought, so strange having someone else here, in his house. Strange to listen to the sounds of another person moving about where a few hours ago only his own footsteps and the pulse of the swamp marked the passing of time. Intrigued by her, knowing she was lying there awake, he found himself holding his breath, listening for the slightest sound.
    His mother had passed on when he was fourteen, and for sixteen years now Noah had lived alone. Not long before his mother died, his father had come to them and said he was too old to endure the rigors of the life of a fur trapper any longer. Gerard LeCroix told them he was leaving forever to return to his legal wife and family in Canada. His white family.
    Because it was his father’s habit to disappear for months at a time on hunting forays into the western territories and Canada, they missed his infrequent involvement in their lives very little. The son of a recluse, Noah was used to the solitude of the forest, to living off the land and dwelling in isolation. His mother, a mystic who claimed she heard voices in the wind, had segregated herself from her own people and brought him up outside the tribal community because the