He gazed at her thoughtfully. Already her words and wisdom were sounding like his old Shalee. This perception warmed and calmed him. “As you say, wife. But I will not allow her to shame or to hurt you.”
She smiled. “Leah is no threat to our happiness; I will make sure of it. Ku-wa, waunyun tinkte.” She invited him to begin their tasty meal.
He called to Bright Arrow. He sat down, waiting to be served. “You learn much quickly, Shalee. My heart is filled with pride and love.”
Much later, they lay side by side upon the buffalo mat under the twinkling stars and quarter moon. She sighed contentedly as she snuggled into his arms. He murmured into her ear, “Lie still, woman, or I will forget our tepee does not surround us.”
She laughed as she whispered, “I wish it did.”
His hold tightened and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Istimna, Shalee; this moon has taken much from your strength.”
“Not that much… if we still had our tepee,” she seductively replied.
His senses flamed at the invitation in her voice. “Perhaps we should stroll in the forest on the new sun,” he slyly suggested.
She hugged him fiercely. “Perhaps we should,” she agreed, thrilling to the idea, vividly recalling their last day in the forest. Shalee lifted her head to look at the small boy sleeping deeply beside Gray Eagle. “He looks so much like you. It amazes me that we created such a perfect child.”
He chuckled. “When the fox and otter play in his mind, you do not think him so perfect,” he hinted mischievously.
“No matter what he does, he’s still perfect, just like his father.”
“I am not perfect, Shalee,” he solemnly corrected her.
She kissed him and vowed, “Yes, you are.”
“Your eyes are clouded with love, Grass Eyes. Only Wakantanka is perfect.”
“Then I pray my eyes and wits will always be clouded this way. I love you,” she tenderly declared, bringing an instant reaction to her words.
“Do my ears hear what my heart desires?” he asked.
“I love you,” she stated again.
His hands captured her face and kissed her thoroughly. “Waste cedake, Pi-Zi Ista,” he murmured time and time again between heady kisses.
Soon, he reluctantly halted this siege upon their senses. “Tomorrow,” he promised.
“Tomorrow, my love.” She readily accepted the intoxicating pledge.
By the time her chores were done, Bright Arrow was playing a game with several other restive boys. She observed them for a time, pleased by his manner. She tensed slightly, then relaxed against the towering body of her husband as he came up behind her and stole a kiss from her neck. “Soon, the others will rest,” he roguishly reminded her.
She turned to face him, her hands resting upon his narrow waist. She smiled and answered his unspoken question. “I have not forgotten.” Her expression revealed no lingering distress at the portentous word.
Later, Gray Eagle took Shalee’s hand in his and sensuously ventured, “Walk, Little One?”
Her reply was a tremor of anticipation. Gray Eagle waved to Shining Light to let her know they were leaving camp for a time. Shining Light surged with delight, having agreed to watch their son while the distance between her two friends steadily lessened.
For a time, they strolled hand in hand in peaceful silence. Not wanting to rush this precious moment, he halted to sit upon a large rock. Before he could place her upon his lap, she sat upon the grass between his spread legs. Resting her arms upon one muscled thigh, she placed her chin upon them. She felt so at ease in his company and at his touch, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to say or do as she wished.
He stroked her hair as he observed her lack of hesitation or modesty with him. As he began to loosen her braids, she glanced up and inquired, “What are you doing?”
He laughed and remarked nonchalantly, “Your hair shines like Wi and feels like the hide of a newborn fawn. My hands wish to play in it.”
He spread the auburn tresses around her shoulders, savoring the silky texture. He leaned over and kissed her. Her arms encircled his neck to hold him there for another one. As his lips left hers, he slid to the ground to lie upon his side facing her. She promptly reclined upon her back with only a few inches between them. He folded his elbow and placed his open palm against his head. She instantly moved upwards to rest her head upon his powerful biceps, so that there need be little distance or effort between them.
He grinned. His hand touseled her hair as his head came downward to lock their lips. Her hand moved slowly over his jawline, noting its planes. When he pulled back to pleasure his eyes with the sight before them, she ran a finger over his lips. The enticing finger eased over his chin, down his throat, and lingered upon his chest. He absently wondered why she didn’t question the two scars from the Sun Dance upon his bare flesh, and she never realized herself why she knew what they were and how he had gotten them. A look of pride and respect filled her gaze at this proof of his courage and stamina. But Gray Eagle merely thought she was responding to his strength and appeal of body.
He placed feathery kisses over her eyes and nose. She giggled at the tingly sensations his actions inspired. As her hand wandered over his brawny torso, she realized he was beautiful and exceptionally strong. His flesh was cool and healthy. Her smoldering gaze fused with his. “You are the most beautiful man alive,” she murmured.
He chuckled in good humor. “Does not the English word ‘beautiful’ speak of females?” he taunted devilishly.
She laughed mirthfully. “It applies to anything complex and unique. You are a work of art, my love.”
For the next few minutes, she hilariously attempted to explain her words and their meaning. He summed up her hazy explanation with, “To you, I am appealing and exciting?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” she elatedly answered, kissing him between each word.
“I please you?” he asked unnecessarily, but jovially.
“That you do, my love. More than I dreamed possible,” she added.
Without asking permission, he pulled her to a sitting position and unlaced her dress, then lifted it over her head. His gaze shifted to her breasts before she lay down again, placing her hands over her head upon the cool earth to permit his unhindered view of her. She smiled provocatively, inviting him to feast his eyes upon a sensual body clad only in a breechcloth.
He reclaimed his prior position, his smoldering gaze leisurely traveling her shapely frame from auburn head to bare feet. As if he was physically caressing her, each place his gaze lingered warmed and tingled. “Does this also please you?” he hinted, gently biting her lower lip.
She laughed. “Does this also please you?” he probed again, his moist tongue sharing its warmth with her breasts.
This time she moaned softly and murmured weakly, “Sha…”
Following several minutes of this stimulating sport, he questioned against her lips as their gazes fused, “Does this also please you?” He had deftly removed her breechcloth and was presently exploring the taut peak located there.
Her stomach tensed, then relaxed. Fires glittered brightly in her eyes. “Sha,” she agreed as her respiration grew swift and erratic.
“And this?” he further tested, a finger entering her with agonizingly exquisite skill.
As his lips sought the sweet nectar of her breasts and his hands masterfully explored her most fiery region, her head rolled from side to side as moans of pleasure answered for her. Her body taut with heady suspense and her pulse racing wildly with fierce cravings, she mutely pleaded for this intoxicating sport to continue. Enraptured, she willingly allowed him free rein upon her body.
A hard and fiery object touched her bare hip. She reached for it, pulling a moan from his lips at her breasts. She artfully fondled the torrid shaft, relishing the power and smoothness of it. She was sorely tempted to brazenly taste its sweetness as Leah had done. Soon, she would find the courage to sate that wanton desire. For now, s
he patiently and greedily surrendered herself to his tantalizing actions.
He moved between her parted and pleading thighs, gently driving his manhood into her receptive body. He halted but a moment as he mastered the urge to ride her wildly. Gradually he set a rhythm that provoked her to writhe beneath him. Tremors came to her as her tension and delight mounted.
The weight of his body left her as he knelt between her legs. He slightly lifted them, sealing his gaze upon the sight of his shaft seeking and finding its target many times in rapid succession. Her gaze followed his. She wondered at the intensity of her passion as she couldn’t remove her glazed eyes from that sensually erotic vision, which seared her body with pleasure, but she was too entrapped by her mesmerized state to question such a feeling. It was a beautiful and stirring sight to observe. She hypnotically watched the damp manhood disappear from sight, only to return and repeat the movement that enflamed and thrilled her heart and body.
Seeing the effect of his intoxicating skills mirrored upon her face, his manhood threatened to end this blissful torture. He quickly lay upon her and drove her mindless with his prowess. His mouth went from breast to breast as he plundered her womanhood. She cried out with pleasure as a liquid warmth caressed his throbbing shaft, telling him his restraint was no longer necessary. With her needs sated, he worked upon satisfying his own.
Spasm after spasm shook his body as he released his passion into her, his fluids mingling with hers. He continued his movements until every drop was expelled. His mouth left her softened mounds to kiss her with vivid love and tenderness. When he lifted his head, she wiped the sheen of perspiration from his upper lip and forehead. She smiled and vowed, “You are utterly magnificent, my love.”
He chuckled and advised, “Fill yourself this sun, Grass Eyes, for the journey will allow few feedings along the way. Once we enter the grasslands, there is no privacy for such unions.”
Her look of dismay touched him, as did her words: “How shall I endure many days without you? Perhaps I should have waited until we made our new camp to so brazenly tempt you in your weakened state.”
“Would you have missed what we just shared?” he taunted.
A look of blissful guilt told him so, as did her verbal answer. “You said our journey would take eight to ten days?” she inquired.
“Sha. But you will be so weary by the time Wi sleeps that you will also sleep easily and quickly.”
“With you lying beside me and being unable to touch you?” she playfully scoffed, then giggled at his feigned wounded expression.
“Then I will sleep with the other warriors to avoid such painful temptation,” he roguishly suggested.
“Oh, no, you won’t. At least I can enjoy your company if not…”
His hearty laughter halted her words. “Don’t laugh yet, my noble warrior; you will suffer right along with me,” she pertly reminded him.
He groaned dramatically at that statement. “Surely I will die of starvation.”
“Right beside me,” she saucily added, caressing his cheek.
“Perhaps if I feed before we leave….”
“Does food last for more than a few hours?” she taunted impishly.
“I fear it does not,” he murmured, sighing heavily.
“And fear is not good in a warrior.” She echoed words spoken many times in their past.
He looked at her strangely, then dismissed the twinge of hope that her innocent words had inspired. It was a common jest, no more, he decided.
In her own inexplicable state, she didn’t notice his reaction as those words curiously echoed through her mind several times, but in his stirring voice… strange…
The romantic setting and their imminent physical separation teasing at their minds, they made love again. This time, it was a leisurely and serene union. With much to do and the hour growing late, there was little time to savor the final aftermath to an afternoon of rapturous enjoyment.
“We must go, Grass Eyes,” he stated reluctantly.
“I know, Wanmdi Hota,” she acquiesced in that same mood.
They went to the stream and bathed before returning to camp. The others were now stirring about, picking up with their tasks where they had left off. When the travois was loaded with all except the last minute items, Shining Light came to invite them to share a delicious stew. Shalee and Gray Eagle thanked her, then completed their work and joined them for a relaxing and genial evening.
She watched the two men talk as the children played nearby. She helped Shining Light clear away the remains of their meal. They joined the two warriors at the small fire. Gray Eagle’s gaze passed over her warmly before turning back to continue his discussion with Moon Gazer.
Allowing her gaze to wander around this peaceful group, she smiled as she realized how different this day was from her first ones since regaining consciousness. Life was good here. She was happy, as happy as she could be with five years missing. As she permitted her softened gaze to linger upon her husband at the rock-enclosed fire, strange images flashed briefly before her mind’s eye.
For a flicker of an instant, he was doing something with his hands: He was winding a slender strip of rawhide around a strong shaft. A pointed white rock was being attached to the end; a bright yellow feather tinged with black decorated the other end. She shook her head and the curious illusion vanished.
What was happening to her? Why did these mysterious thoughts, images, and dreams flash before her mind’s eye, sometimes during sleep and sometimes while she was wide awake? Perhaps it was the rapid accumulation of sights and sounds converging to form illusions? Perhaps there was some injury inside her head that caused these uncanny fantasies? Was her mind damaged? Was she going crazy? For these reasons, she kept these dismaying and confusing episodes to herself.
Very early the next day, the packing finished, the columns were ordered into alignment, the warriors sent ahead to scout the approaching area, and the journey was a fact. At first, Shalee insisted on walking with Shining Light and their children beside the horses bearing the travois. By midmorning, she was fatigued beyond belief and her dress was soaked with perspiration. She hadn’t known it was possible to hurt everywhere at once. Her lungs fussed at the strain upon them as she struggled for fresh air during her exertions. Her face was flushed and exhibited a moist sheen. The pace was steady, but the walking seemed endless. She wondered how long she could keep up, but forced herself to take step after step.
She caught herself wishing the spring air was as cool as that of the fall. She laughed, knowing she couldn’t recall what autumn was like here. Riding in a covered wagon was a dream-come-true compared to this arduous footjourney. An annoying stitch in her right side caused her to halt for a moment.
Shining Light glanced over her shoulder and asked if she were ill. Having been asked that question many times since being here, she smiled in comprehension and shook her head. She pointed to her side and twisted her hands, signing a muscle cramp. She motioned for them to continue and she would catch up soon. Shining Light smiled and nodded her understanding of the accurate signing and Oglala words.…
Shalee leaned forward to remove the strain from her waist. She inhaled and exhaled several times. She ached in every spot of her slender frame. Even the bottoms of her feet argued against this demand of them. As she looked up, summoning the willpower and obstinance to press on, her gaze touched upon her husband. She went rigid as she stared at him.
She couldn’t move or take her eyes from the stunning vision. Was it real or imaginary? As the sun lifted itself into the heavens, the fingers of pink from sunrise had given way to rays of bold yellow, outlining the indomitable warrior against an azure skyline. Why weren’t the bunch and buffalo grass set aflame by the sun? Silly girl, they are newborn and vivid green! Where had the winds come from? It should be motionless and deathly still; why, she didn’t know. He sat before the advancing group like the leader he should be, and was. Odd, his face was not painted and Chula was unadorned. True, he sat proud and
erect upon the mottled horse, but something was wrong, different. He didn’t present the pagan God of War!
He motioned to her to come to him, guessing her exhaustion and reoccuring weakness. She remained still and silent. Why did she hesitate? Why did it seem she was waiting for someone or something to take her to him? Who was missing from her side? She trembled in fear and uncertainty, but she didn’t understand why. She shook her head to clear away this eerie and frightful vision. She sank to the ground upon her knees. She would not go to him! If he desired her return, he could come to her! The moment these resentful thoughts came to her, she rejected them. Why should she think such ridiculous things? Why was she suddenly cold when the day was daring to become hot and sultry?
Gray Eagle urged his horse forward as he witnessed her curious distress, something more than physical. He leaped off Chula’s back and raced toward her, panic filling him. Kiowa and Waubay had gone to her aid the moment she collapsed to the dry earth. Her senses spinning in confusion, she was trying to tell them she was all right. Kiowa offered her water, which she accepted to moisten her dry throat and lips. Waubay seized a piece of hide from his waist and wet it, offering it to her to freshen her ashen face. “Pidamaye, pidamaye,” she repeated her gratitude at each show of kindness and assistance.
“Shalee, are you ill?” Gray Eagle inquired anxiously as he dropped to his knees before her.
Distressed by her weird thoughts and feelings and weakened by her emotional stress and the physical demands of this trip, she burst into tears and flung herself into his protective embrace. “I’m sorry to be so much trouble, Wanmdi Hota,” she wailed in dismay. “I don’t mean to act like such a baby or a silly weakling.”
“Do not excite yourself, Shalee. You are still weak; you have done much work and walking. Come, you must ride with me,” he coaxed.
“The other women and children are walking. What will they think if your wife rides? Just let me rest a little while, then I’ll be fine. My side was hurting; now, my head aches. It must be the sun and the heat,” she offered apologetically.
Brazen Ecstasy Page 24
