Amelia pressed a hand to her heart and let out a breathless laugh. "Oh stars on high!" She exclaimed in relief, "I thought you were a cougar or frightening beast!" Her observation skills out in the plains were probably not what they should be. But then again she was close to home. Didn't everyone let down their guard some when they were close to home?

She smiled warmly and set her gather of flowers to the side. Examining the native that had come to water his horse, like many did during the trading season, she wondered just what the tribes fed their men to make them get as tall as this one. He was a sight that would make even a grown man faint. Tall and broad-shouldered, his skin was bronzed by the sun and his eyes were as deep shadows. Long straight hair let to fall about loosely around his shoulders and arms, he was worlds different than any man of Rolling Hills.

While most men were built like stout strong barns, this man had the appearance of both power and agility. Someone who could leap onto a bare-back horse with ease and grace. Grace was most certainly not a word she would use to describe Zachary... But the difference between the two men was as different as water and fire.

She pushed a stray strand of curling copper hair behind her ear and picked up the rations she had taken from the pantry that morning. With a breezy smile, she patted the basket and gestured to him from across the pond. "You came into town to trade, right? Is there any meat I can barter from you?"