The Renegade's Woman (7 page)

"Will you go with me now?" he asked.

"Yes. " There was no hesitation. Not even a doubt.

Pleased, he looked deep into her eyes, searching. "Where will we go? For how long?"

"Anywhere you go, I will follow. For as long as you'll have me, I'll stay with you. "

His gaze caressed her. "Who is this woman I hold, so different from the one yesterday, who told me to leave her alone and in peace?"

"I am Pale As Moonlight, Standing Bear's woman. "

He tugged her close to his chest and held her tight. "Whatever happens, " he said, his voice low and unsteady, "I will spend the rest of my life striving to be worthy of your bravery. "

She pulled away and studied his expression carefully. "What do you mean, whatever happens? You are taking me away, aren't you?"

His somber smile scared her. But before she could question it, he steered her to his horse and jumped on. He reached down to swing her up behind him. "Come. I will show you my mountains. "

She wound her arms around his waist and held on. She felt a momentary pang of remorse at leaving behind her sister and her few worldly possessions. It had all happened so quickly. But Alyssa would be safe with the Thompkins', and their cousin in California would see to her sister's future. She loved Alyssa and would miss her desperately. But Standing Bear was right. A sister did not warm your nights, or keep you safe and give you children. And there was no possession in that wagon or destiny waiting for her in California that Sally couldn't live without. As unlikely as it sounded, she belonged with Standing Bear, and would never regret the choice she made this day.

The warm rays of the morning sun shone down on them as they rode up the slopes of the foothills and into the great Rocky Mountains. Swaying to the steady rhythm of the horse's gait, she buried her nose in Standing Bear's neck, resting her cheek on the long, black hair coursing down his back. His clean male scent surrounded her, and she wanted to wrap herself in his smell so it would cling to her always. So there would be no doubt to whom she belonged.

She kissed his shoulder, moving aside the sweetgrass rope he had coiled around it. The thick fibers felt scratchy against her palm, strongly woven. Its rich, tangy scent was so much a part of Standing Bear.

"Why do you always wear this?" she asked, curious. She'd never seen him without the strange rope that looped around his throat. Even last night, he'd worn it over his flannel shirt, and had only removed it when they'd made love for the second time.

He slowed the horse to a walk, traversing the length of a grass-filled meadow.

"It is a kind of sash. Worn by the Badger Men, " he answered after a pause. "A symbol of our willingness to fight for our people. "

She leaned back and stroked a finger down one of its coils. "A symbol, how?"

"We wear one end fastened around our necks, so it is always a part of us. Like the People of Our Kind -- the Arapaho, you call us. In battle, if it looks hopeless, we take our club--" He lifted the wooden sword-like object she'd seen hanging from a leather strap on the horse's withers "--and put it through the loop on the other end, then push it into the ground. There we stay and fight until we kill our enemy. Or die. "

She regarded the crude but effective apparatus, remembering the rope tether to be only about six or eight feet end to end. That wouldn't leave much room to maneuver. Death was the more likely outcome.

And he talked about her bravery.

"But I thought you said you were a Warrior of the Club Men?"

"I am. The Club Men is an ancient society. The Badger Men is new. We are younger Club Men braves who have vowed not to surrender to our enemy, whatever the cost. "

She bit her bottom lip. "Which enemy?" she asked, afraid of the answer.

She heard him swallow, then puff out a breath. "Your people. You are a woman of my enemy, which is why, according to our ways, I can take you. "

"To be your slave. "

He shrugged. "Most captives are adopted into the tribe and become one of us. A man would have to be very bitter to keep a captive slave for many years. "

She sensed something in his tone that spoke of just such bitterness. "Will you keep me a slave for many years?"

Silent glimpses of the scenery below flashed between the trees as they climbed higher and higher into the mountains.

Sighing, he looked over his shoulder and gave her a half smile, then placed a kiss on her lips. "My uncle fell in love with his white captive. He had to free her, give her to another family to adopt, so he could court and marry her. "

Joy bubbled up inside Sally. So it was possible to marry him. She hugged his back and kissed him on the neck below his ear. "That is so romantic. "

"Romantic?"

"You know, like when a man brings flowers to the woman he loves. Or a girl bakes a special pie for a boy she likes. "

"Bakes?"

She chuckled. "You know, to cook something in an oven. Like bread, or a pie. "

He turned and hiked an eyebrow.

She shook her head and laughed. "No, huh. Okay, how about she makes a special necklace for him from a bear she has killed?" She touched the bear claw necklace still hanging under her bodice.

He shot her an incredulous look. "You have killed a bear?"

"Of course not!" She playfully smacked his arm. "There weren't many bears where I lived. But give me time. There must be plenty of them out here. "

His derisive snort spoke volumes as to what he thought of that idea. Okay, so maybe things weren't so different between his people and hers after all. Indian men were just as jug-headed as white men. She'd have to enlighten this one a bit. In due course.

"So where is this place with no bears?" he asked.

"Virginia. "

"But there are buffalo, yes?"

"No. No buffalo either. Not where I lived. "

He grunted. "No wonder you left. "

She ran her hands down his bare torso, experiencing a flush of pleasure at the feel of his warm, solid flesh under her hands. "I left to find my own Bear, " she whispered softly.

She slid her hands down his horseman's thighs and up again, lingering wantonly at the edge of his loincloth. His fingers grasped her hand and slipped it under the soft leather, placing it firmly over his burgeoning manhood.

"You like your Bear standing... " He rubbed her hand over him so he grew even harder and thicker. "You couldn't get enough of this Standing Bear last night. "

She smiled against his back, heating at the memory of his hot domination, and the too-short hours of tender lovemaking that had followed her unconditional surrender. "I'll never get enough of you, " she murmured, wanting to feel him even now between her legs. Settling for between her fingers.

She squeezed, marveling at the steely hardness of his member, the silky softness of the skin covering him, the sheer, burning size of him filling her hand. No wonder she felt full to overflowing when he pounded into her. She shivered. She felt hot and achy, confined by the close bodice of her gown.

Using her free hand, she unfastened the row of buttons down the front of her dress. Releasing her breasts, she flipped the bear claw over her shoulder and pressed into his back, naked skin to naked skin.

A low sound rumbled through him. "Come here. "

Before she knew what was happening, he whipped her around so she straddled the horse, face to face in front of him. His mouth came down on hers, hard. His hands enveloped her breasts, sending raw need zinging through her blood. He peeled her dress up so it lay in a tangled wave around her waist, ripped aside his breechclout and, without missing a beat of the horse's hooves, lifted her up and slid her onto his waiting pike.

She let him claim her, swept away on the sizzling sensations that were still so new and exciting. Instantly her body quickened. It tightened around him -- her arms, her legs, her inner muscles -- and he ground into her as she rode his carnal saddle. The rhythm of the horse's slow gait frustrated her with its lazy back and forth, back and forth. She wanted Standing Bear like a steam locomotive driving into her over and over, hotter and hotter. Like last night. She moaned and twisted on her mount, seeking to persuade him to gallop.

Instead, the motion stopped altogether. She surfaced from her erotic haze. And gasped as she looked around.

"Oh, my God, it's beautiful!" she cried, temporarily forgetting her heady lust at the sight that surrounded them.

Standing Bear adjusted her legs around his waist and held her close. He surveyed the panoramic view that had appeared below as they crested the top of a wildflower-covered ridge. "Yes. It is beautiful. "

The horse lowered its head to munch on the succulent flowers and grass. Accompanied by slow caresses, Standing Bear told her the names of all the peaks and valleys, and about the different clans and tribes who claimed them as summer and winter hunting grounds. It felt indecently delicious to sit on his nickering horse, joined as one with her lover, his rhythmic voice in her ear, the fragrant breeze flowing over them as hot blood pulsed through their intimate union.

"I love it here. Just like this. It's like being on top of the whole world. "

He chuckled and swung his gaze from her body to the still-towering mountains ahead of them. "One day I will take you to the highest peak. Today we have other things to do. "

"Such as what?" she said, returning her full attention to the thickness piercing between her legs. She moved over him, eliciting a groan.

"I should not have touched you. I must be strong today, Pale As Moonlight, and not spill my seed. "

Surprised, she looked up into his face. She thought she would perish of want if he meant to stop now. Memories of his sensual mastery of the night before had her wet and needy, wriggling to sink deeper onto his magnificent length. "But why?"

"Tonight I will seek a vision. I must not loose myself in you today, or I will also lose the vision I seek. "

Ernie had told stories of how Indians would do barbaric things to themselves, mutilation and fasting, strange dances, all to induce some kind of mystical revelation of the future.

She squirmed in frustration and pouted at Standing Bear. He'd picked a hell of a time to tell her about his damned vision. "But why do you have to do it today?"

"I must find out what to do about you. "

"I can tell you what to do about me, " she muttered, determined not to let him escape so easily.

He laughed. "Tell me, my woman. Do not worry. The more I am tortured, the truer my vision will be. I cannot spill my seed, but I can still give you pleasure. "

A slow smile spread over her lips. "Oh, really? Well, in that case... "

She took her bunched-up gown from around her waist, lifted it over her head and let it drop behind her. She hadn't worn anything under it -- in deference to the day's heat, and in secret hopes that her lover would find a means to waylay her as he had -- so she was completely naked in an instant.

His reaction was immediate. He jutted inside her so she felt him nearly to her throat. She purred, and wound her arms around his neck. Her bare skin felt glorious, her back warmed by the dappled sun, her man branding her front with his burning body.

"Do not move, " he half ordered, half pleaded.

Standing Bear didn't know if he could last the flick of a bobcat's tail, let alone for a whole day of sex play with the wildcat in his lap. It would be a test worthy of only the most stalwart of warriors. Far worse than counting coup on the enemy or even battle itself.

He forced himself to turn his aching desire inward, to transform his throbbing, all-too-human cock into a weapon of flint -- unfeeling but capable of sparking fire in anything it touched. His swollen balls were squashed between Pale As Moonlight and his pony, which was good. The dull pain centered him. Helped him push away the talons of lust, till he was capable of taking a breath without fear he would spurt like one of the steaming geysers in the sacred lands to the north.

With new resolve, he gathered her breasts in his palms and rolled her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers until she shuddered and moaned. "Come, let us dismount. "

He lifted her off him and jumped to the ground, hauling her down into his arms. "I want you on your back, " he said, pulling the blanket from the pony and leading her down the slope of the ridge. "Here. " He pointed to a sunny patch of meadow beneath a small spring that bubbled out from the ridge wall.

He tossed the blanket on the ground and untied the leather thong holding his breechclout, medicine pouch and knife sheath. Pulling out his knife, he cut a hand's length from the thong and gave it to Pale As Moonlight.

"Bind me, " he said, bracing his legs apart.

She blinked at the bit of narrow thong, uncomprehending, then raised her eyes to his. "Where?"

He stood still as a lodge pole as he brought her hand between his legs and cupped his balls with it. "Here. "

He could see the shock and disbelief in her eyes. "But--"

"It will help me. " He wasn't up to explaining. He just wanted her to hurry, before he shamed them both.