He nodded down at the towel. "That is how I read your mind," he said, chuckling low. His gaze shifted. "And I do not believe my sense of smell fails me. Is that not also a bar of perfumed soap in your skirt?"
Jolena glanced down at the bulge in her pocket. "You are right on all counts," she said, lifting smiling eyes up at Spotted Eagle again. "But now that you are here, I don't have the need for the pistol. You will keep watch for me while I bathe, won't you?"
"Spotted Eagle has his own reasons for coming to the river," he said, reaching one of his hands to her hair and letting it drift through his spread fingers. "This warrior needs a bath, also. Do you think the river is large enough for both of us?"
"I think so," Jolena giggled. "But who will stand guard if we are both swimming and bathing?"
"Old Man, the chief god of the Blackfoot, looks out for the Blackfoot warrior, and now his woman, always," Spotted Eagle said, leaning down and laying the pistol on the grass on the river embankment. " Ok-yi, come. A-wah-heh, take courage. Enter the water with me. Let me rub the perfumed soap all over you. Let my fingers awaken you again to feelings of a woman."
Seeing the heat of his desire for her in the depths of his eyes, Jolena felt her fingers trembling as she began unbuttoning her blouse.
As Spotted Eagle began undressing, Jolena's eyes followed his fingers, watching as each new inch of flesh was revealed to her feasting eyes. Her pulse raced as he tossed his shirt to the ground.
She finally stepped out of the last of her garments, then kicked her shoes aside and stood feasting her eyes on the sight of himhis muscles, his tight, firm buttocks, his flat belly that led to that valley between his hips where his passion for her was evident in the way his manhood stood out from his body ready, thick, its purple tip shedding a tiny droplet of white, creamy liquid that he nonchalantly swept away between his thumb and his forefinger.
This simple, yet sensual act caused Jolena to sway somewhat and swallow hard, having grown wet herself where the center of her desire throbbed with want of him inside her.
Then she felt his eyes on her and stood as still as a statue might, allowing him to touch her everywhere with his dark eyes, enjoying it as though it were his fingers or his tongue pleasuring her.
Spotted Eagle stood with his legs spread wide, feeling the heat of his manhood as it throbbed unmercifully with need of being cradled within her, taking comfort from her warmth and tightness as he took his rhythmic strokes within her. He gazed at length into her eyes, feeling as though he was reaching clean into her soul, discovering again her true thoughts and love for him.
He swept his eyes slowly downward to where the swell of her breasts gave way in a smooth descent to her flat, firm belly and the triangle of soft, feathering black hair that gave him much pleasure.
Hardly able to stand any further waiting, Spotted Eagle went to her and nestled her breasts within his hands, finding them again so warm and oh, so supple.
Bending, he flicked his tongue over one and then the other, hearing her gasp of pleasure kindling his own fires.
Waiting not even to kiss her, he swept her up into his arms and began walking her into the river, her head against his chest, one arm twined around his neck. He could hear her uneven, anxious breathing, which matched his own.
And then he was startled as she lurched and leaned away from him, peering wide-eyed up at him. "The soap," she murmured. "It's still in the pocket of my skirt."
"Now do you truly believe that soap is necessary?" Spotted Eagle said, not hesitating even one moment as he continued walking into deeper water. "My woman, when have you ever truly needed soap? I have never been near you when you have not smelled like wild roses of the forest. Even now, if I kiss your breast, it will taste no less like a rose than after you cover your body with the false aromas of soap."
He shifted his arms and hands, bringing her next to him again, relishing the touch of her flesh against his, especially where her breast rested against his chest. "And, my woman, when you become a part of my village, living as the Blackfoot women live, rarely will you have soap that is scented for bathing," he said. "Will you be able to accept a life that does not allow such pampering as that? Will you accept that which your Blackfoot husband would supply you? As my wife, there would not be too many ways to spoil you, except that I would offer my loving to you both day and night and even sometimes in between, should time and circumstance allow. Would that be enough?"
Jolena's breath was stolen and her eyes were wide with wonder as he continued talking about how it would be were she his wife, when he had not actually asked her to marry him!
Perhaps this was the way it was done by the Indians.
It did not matter how, or even if, a proposal was ever offered her. The fact that he was speaking to her as though it were assumed that she would be his wife amazed her, yet she knew deeply within herself, where her hopes and desires were formed, that she did not have to be asked!
She wanted to be his wife, now and forevermore. She wanted the dreams that she had of him so often to cease being a savage illusion, but instead be very, very real.
At this moment in her life, her loyalty to the only father she had ever known was dimming within her heart. She knew now that if she had to choose whether to return to be a devoted daughter to Bryce Edmonds, or stay in the Montana Territory and be a dutiful wife to Spotted Eagle, there would be no quarrel within her.
Spotted Eagle was her destiny, mapped out from the beginning of time, even before she had snuggled in the womb of her mother, taking breath and life from her.
It had been God's plan to bring her and Spotted Eagle together, and she would let no man or thing stop this bonding.
Not even Bryce Edmonds, whose life now seemed centered on a daughter whom he had perhaps feared losing from the very day he had taken her from the arms of her dead mother.
Spotted Eagle stopped where the water was just brushing against Jolena's breasts. He eased her to her feet, onto the pebbled floor of the river, then encircled her within his arms and drew her close. He gazed down at her intensely.
"You have not answered my questions," he said, his voice drawn. "Are they too much of a challenge? Were they untimely spoken? Had they been asked later, after you have been able to test the strength of your love for me, would you then have given me a quick response?"
Jolena reached her hands to his hair and stroked it away from his brow, then placed her hands on each side of his face. "My darling, I need no more time to know the strength of my love for you," she murmured. "The reason you did not get quick answers was because you stunned me with what you were sayingnot so much with the questions as the way you talked so matter-of-factly of how it will be when we are married."
"My lodge is good, my parfleches are never empty," Spotted Eagle said softly, yet with much meaning and emotion. "There are always
plenty of tanned robes and soft furs for winters in my lodge. These will be yours."
She traced his lips with her fingertips, then leaned up and softly kissed him. "I love you so much," she then whispered against his lips. "I'm so happy that you want me to be your wife. I want to be with you, my handsome warrior, forever. When you talk of all tomorrows, please always include me, for I want to be there even when we are old and feeble. I want to grow old with you, my darling. I want to feel the joy of being a grandparent with you."
She gazed through a haze of joyous tears up at him. "Make love to me, darling," she murmured. "Oh, how I want you."
Spotted Eagle framed her face between his hands and kissed her passionately, trembling with pleasure as her hands sought out that part of him that had become delicately tender in its waiting for such caresses.
When her fingers began moving on him, the water warm and caressing in itself, a keen euphoria began claiming him. Slipping his hands down her body, finding the soft curves of her buttocks, he splayed his fingers against her and lifted her up, soon thrusting his thick shaft within her.
Jolena reached around and sank her fingers into the flesh of his buttocks, urging him more deeply into her as she gave him a gentle shove. Then she twined her arms around his neck and placed her legs around his waist, locking her legs together at her ankles.
She closed her eyes as the ecstasy began swimming through her.
Spotted Eagle groaned as he felt the pleasure rising… rising… spreading… spreading, this time much more quickly than the others. He thrust himself over and over again inside her, the heat scorching his insides, his desire a sharp, hot pain in his loins.
As the final rays of a magnificent sunset flamed across the sky, rapture welled up inside Spotted Eagle and Jolena, filling them, spilling over, drenching them with warmth and deep feelings of fulfillment.
Afterwards, Jolena clung to Spotted Eagle, her cheek on his shoulder. She caught her breath, daring not to breathe, afraid that if she did, she would discover that this was just another illusion, one that she would awaken from with empty longings.
She was soon aware that this was no illusion. She sighed leisurely and tremors cascaded down her back when Spotted Eagle began stroking her legs, his fingers moving slowly upward, the sureness of his caress lighting her with desire again.
When his fingers teased circles around her belly, up to her breasts, just missing the nipples each time so that they strained with added anticipation, Jolena felt as though she might melt right into the water.
The air heavy with the inevitability of added pleasure, Spotted Eagle took Jolena from the river and lay her down on a soft bed of moss. She closed her eyes and bit her lower lip to keep from crying out with rapture when he began making his way down her body with his lips and tongue, awakening anew her every secret place with fresh desire.
When he began caressing her tender mound of pleasure with his tongue, she sucked in a wild breath and closed her eyes. The feelings were so wonderfully sweet, she felt as though she might be floating high in the sky, a bird with wide-spread wings, soaring higher and higher and higher…
Then Spotted Eagle moved over her and filled her once again with his thick shaft. He held her hands above her head as he kissed her, his body thrusting maddeningly fast within her.
Surges of warmth flooded Jolena's body once again and she knew that Spotted Eagle was finding as keen a pleasure as she by the way he groaned and continued plunging himself into her, continuing at this speed until his seed splashed against the walls of her womanhood. Jolena lay perfectly still when Spotted Eagle rolled away from her.
"I've never been so content," Jolena finally said, her eyes still closed, feeling at peace with herself and the world. "I'm so very, very happy."
There was a pause when neither of them said anything, then Spotted Eagle leaned on one elbow and gazed over at Jolena. "I know your true father," he said suddenly, without warning.
Jolena's eyes flew open and she looked up at Spotted Eagle, her eyes wide and imploring.
Chapter Sixteen
Stunned, Jolena gazed into Spotted Eagle's eyes, then suddenly came to her senses. Instead of reacting with curiosity to his statement, anger was suddenly her main emotion. He had surely known from the very beginning who her father was, and he had chosen not to tell her!
She wanted nothing more at this moment than to know who her father was and where she could find him, but her anger with Spotted Eagle seemed to blind her to all logic. She felt as though he had played a game with her, by knowing all along something that would make her heart sing, and yet not telling her.
She wondered now if all words that he had said to her were just part of a game!
Heatedly, she gathered her clothes up from the ground and moved quickly to her feet, turn- ing her back to Spotted Eagle. She could feel his eyes on her as she hurriedly dressed, surely as stunned by her attitude as she had been by his sudden decision to tell her secrets about herself, her family, and her past.
Her heart cried out to turn to him and plead with him to tell her everything. But the stubborn side of her made her remain quiet, knowing that if Spotted Eagle knew these answers, so would someone else.
Perhaps even Two Ridges!
Surely that was the reason he always stared at her!
Yet if he knew, why would he, also, not share these wonderful things with her?
She had the right to know!
Sudden, tight fingers on her shoulders made Jolena's insides stiffen. Her lips parted and her eyes widened as Spotted Eagle quickly spun her around to face him, his eyes two dark, angry pits as he glared down at her.
''I was wrong to tell you that I know your true father?" he said, his voice drawn. "That I even knew your mother?"
Jolena winced as his grip on her shoulders tightened, yet she soon forgot the pain when she absorbed his wordshe had even known her true mother! It was hard not to blurt out all sorts of questions to him, yet still she could not get over being upset with him over having not told her these truths as soon as he realized who she was.
"It is not what you told me, or profess to tell me," she finally said, her throat dry. "It is when you chose to tell me. Why did you wait so long? I find that very hard to understand. Did you enjoy keeping secrets from me?"
She paused and peered more intensely up at him. "How do you even know who my true parents are?" she said, her fingers trembling, her voice breaking with emotion.
Spotted Eagle eased his fingers from her shoulders. He touched her cheek gently with a hand.
"The moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew you must be the daughter of Sweet Dove and Brown Elk," he said, his thumb caressing the flesh beneath her chin. "Yet do you not also see this as perhaps too much coincidence? I wanted to study you and be certain before I told you."
Deep down inside himself, he knew that was not totally true. The truth had more to do with Sweet Dove than an
ything else. If Jolena ever discovered his boyhood feelings for Sweet Dove and that Jolena was the mirror image of her mother, would she believe that it was she he loved, instead of a memoryperhaps the spirit of a woman who had come back to him?
He doubted it.
"You… knew my mother…?" Jolena asked, her voice trembling at the thought. Perhaps Spotted Eagle had even spoken to her mother from time to time when he was a young boy.
For a moment, Spotted Eagle felt trapped between memories and reality.
To delay responding to Jolena's answer, he reached for his clothes and began dressing. "Spotted Eagle, please tell me," Jolena pleaded, frustration gripping her. "I want to know everything. I have wanted to know these things since I first discovered that my childhood playmates' skin coloring differed from mine and I forced answers from my parentsanswers that revealed to me that I am Indian, not white!"
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