Worry filled Hawke as Lily's scream reached his ears. He urged Trigger into his fastest gallop. All sorts of scenarios played through his mind. From grizzly bears to mountain lions to trappers… Each threat was more dangerous than the next.

"Hawke! Hawke help me!" Hawke felt his heart do something funny at the sound of her voice calling his name. He knew he had to save her from whatever was threatening her. She trusted him enough to believe he would protect her and he would not let her down.

When he finally caught sight of her he felt all his worry vanish. She was as safe as she could possibly be. She was sitting on the ground with her back against a tree and Wolf was standing guard over her. No doubt she was screaming because she thought one hundred and fifty pound beast was going to kill her.

Her eyes fell on him and he saw her relief in their brown depths.

"Hawke help me." she said in a tear filled voice. Hawke nodded and jumped down from Trigger.

"Wolf, come." he said and Wolf happily walked over to him and Hawke patted his head.

"He listened to you?" Lily gasped, her eyes wide with disbelief. Hawke nodded.

"I saved him as a pup. He sees me as a friend." he replied as Lily stood up and dusted herself off. She raised her hand to the back of her head and winced when pain shot through the lump she felt there. Hawke was at her side in an instant and she felt her breath catch in her chest at his closeness.

Hawke turned her head and parted her hair and bit back a curse at the bloody lump he found.

"What happened?" he asked. "Where is your horse?" Lily couldn't seem to speak so she pointed instead and Hawke's eyes fell on the fallen beast. His eyes narrowed as he walked over to it and realized that it was winded and its leg was broken. Without a word he pulled his rifle off his back and Lily barely managed to cover her ears before a single shot filled the air.

"How did that happen?" Hawke demanded in his deep voice as he looked at Lily and pointed down at the horse.

"She tripped over that limb." Lily replied as she backed up against the tree. The intensity in Hawke's eyes as he looked at her was filling her with fear. He looked angry.

"You killed this horse." he said. "Your foolishness killed her."

"I am not foolish!" Lily argued although even she realized that her actions had indeed been foolish.

"Why did you run from me?" Hawke asked as he walked toward her. Lily wished she could become a ghost and pass through the tree behind her and escape him. Her fear of him was being replaced by a raging desire that she couldn't explain. She could already feel his heat and power as he stopped a foot away from her and looked down at her. The anger was gone from his eyes and had been replaced with something else. Though she did not recognize the look it made her blood pump faster.. Hotter.

Hawke saw the flush in her cheeks and the darkness of her eyes and knew that she felt the same passion that he did. There was something about this woman that set his body on fire. Every part of him was yearning to touch her, taste her, feel her. Hawke had never been a weak man but she made him feel weak. He barely managed to hold onto his self control and stop himself from taking her into his arms.

"Answer me. Why did you run from me?" he asked again.

"I was afraid." she replied and then she licked her lips and she noticed that Hawke's green eyes followed the movement.

"Why do you fear me? I would never hurt you." Hawke replied and he knew it was the truth. Hawke had never believed in hurting a woman. Only a coward of a man would take pleasure in harming someone so much weaker than himself.

"I don't know you." Lily countered, trying to rein in her emotions. She had always prided herself on being level headed and strong. Being married to Nathan the last six months had made her realize just how weak she was and meeting this dark skinned, green eyed rock of a man had tested her level headedness as proven by her run through the woods on horseback. She was determined to claim her strength of both mind and body back.

"In your soul, you know you can trust me." Hawke said with passion. He pressed his hand against his own heart, which was beating alarmingly fast. "Look here and you will see you don't have to be afraid of me."

"I can't trust you." Lily replied, looking away from him and hoping to break the spell that his green eyes had her in. Hawke let out a long breath and nodded. He would not beg for her trust. Words did not mean anything to someone who had been abused and he could tell by the fading bruise on her cheek and the fear in her eyes whenever Nathan was mentioned that she was abused…. He would have to prove to her with his actions that he could be trusted.

"I will take you into town." he said. He whistled and Trigger walked over. Lily wondered how he seemed to communicate with all these animals. She supposed that came from being half Indian.

As she settled into the saddle in front of him she knew that she was in trouble. She could feel his body pressed against hers and his heat quickly made her skin flush. She fought to keep her breathing normal so that he would not notice the reaction she was having to his closeness.

"Is it your mother or father that was an Indian?" she asked, hoping that conversation would help her body forget about the situation it was in. She knew it was pointless however as her backside rubbed between his legs.

"My mother." Hawke replied as he tried to scoot back away from her an inch or two. Already his body was responding to her backside rubbing against him and he did not want to make her fear him any more than she already did.

"What kind of Indian was she?"

"Blackfoot." he said. He did not normally like to talk about himself but if this is what he needed to do to earn her trust then he would. "I never knew my mother or her people. She left the tribe to marry my father and then she died shortly after I was born."

"I'm sorry." Lily said and she thought about her own family. As horrible as her own parents were, she could not imagine how she would feel if they were to die. She felt Hawke shrug and it made her realize the she was completely enclosed in his arms as he held the reins. His power and heat was surrounding her and with shock she realized that for the first time in a long time, she felt safe. There was no doubt in her mind that this man could protect her against anything in these woods.

"I do not miss her or her people. I never knew them and it's hard to miss something you never really had. Though I was raised white, most people say I am more of an Indian than I am a white man. I hate crowds and will never live in town. I hate white mans clothes and I prefer wearing buckskin and furs."

"And then of course there's the whole issue with you talking to a wolf… That could be seen as something a savage would do." The words were out of Lily's mouth before she could stop them and she gasped and threw her hand over her mouth when she realized what she had just called him.

"Are you very familiar with what savages do?" Hawke asked, his voice full of steel.

"I'm sorry." Lily gasped as she waited for the pain he was sure to inflict on her. Nathan would have beaten her soundly if she had insulted him. Hawke could hear the hint of panic in her apology. He could feel her shaking in front of him.

"Many people think I'm a savage." he replied as gently as he could. Gentleness was not a trait he had spent much time learning.

"I don't think that… It was a slip of the tongue." she promised.

"Calm down, Lily. I am not angry. I have already told you that you have no reason to fear me." Lily breathed out a small sigh of relief. At least he wasn't going to punish her.

They rode in silence for a long while. Lily did not know what to say to him and she was afraid of the way her heart responded to the sound of his voice. Hawke had never been much of a talker and preferred silence to meaningless conversation. He would rather communicate with looks and touches then with words that meant nothing.

Only when Lily heard the sound of the blacksmiths hammer pounding did she speak again.

"Hawke stop." she said quickly. Hawke did not question her. He pulled back on the reins and brought Trigger to a stop.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Lily bit her lip and buried her fingers in the horses thick black mane.

"Can I ask you to do something for me?"

"You can ask." he replied. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Will you do it?"

"That depends." Hawke said raising an eyebrow. He couldn't see her face but he could tell she was annoyed. Obviously her husband had not beaten all the spirit out of her.

"No one in town can know that I rode on your horse with you. If Nathan found out…." Lily couldn't finish her sentence and Hawke felt her tremble with fear. Without a word he slid from the saddle and dropped to the ground. Lily scooted back in the saddle.

"I will walk beside." Hawke said grabbing the reins and starting back toward town.

"Thank you." Lily said quietly and he simply nodded. Lily saw the stares and heard whispers as they walked through town toward the hotel. She realized they probably made quite a scene. Her in her dress sitting astride the large black horse and Hawke looking more like an Indian than a white man in his fringed buckskin clothing with Wolf at his side.

Lily refused his outstretched hand once they arrived at the hotel and jumped from the horse on her own.

"Thank you for bringing me to town." she said smoothing out her dress and keeping a few feet of distance between them. Hawke's body ached to close the distance but she was a married woman and there were a lot of nosey eyes watching them.

"Please don't tell Nathan that we rode that horse together… If he ever finds out…" she shivered again and Wolf walked toward her and pressed his nose against her skirt. She reached out a shaking hand and patted his head. Hawke was surprised by Wolf's actions toward Lily. Wolf was normally either very standoffish or completely indifferent to anyone other than him.

"If Nathan finds out it will not be because I told him." he promised. "I had better get those nails and head back to your cabin. You might want to let the doctor look at your head."

"I'll be fine." Lily replied. She had taken harder hits than this one from her husbands angry fists. Hawke nodded and then walked away without another word. Lily watched him for several long moments before turning back toward the hotel. Miranda Wallace, the head maid at the hotel stopped her as she walked in.

"You be careful around that one miss. More savage than he is man and dangerous to be around." she warned. Lily nodded and then continued up to her room. She did not think she had anything to fear from Hawke except perhaps the fact that she seemed to lose control of her own body when he was around. She knew better than anyone that you could not judge a persons heart or soul by what their outward appearances were.