“No, I can’t allow you to take such a chance,” Shirleen suddenly blurted out. “What you are suggesting might not only get you killed, but also Megan.”
Speckled Fawn put her hand gently on Shirleen’s shoulder. “You want Megan back, don’t you?” she asked, gazing intently into Shirleen’s eyes.
“You know I do,” Shirleen said, returning the gaze. “But what you suggest doing is so . . . dangerous. You might never be able to return to this village. It would be horrible if that happened. I would blame myself, always.”
“Forget everything but your daughter’s welfare,” Speckled Fawn said. She took Shirleen by the hand and urged her to sit beside her, while Blue Thunder sat on Shirleen’s other side. “We must give this plan a try. I won’t have it any other way.”
“Shirleen, do you understand the plan?” Blue Thunder asked, impressed by Speckled Fawn’s eagerness to help.
He was beginning to see her in a different light and felt that he had been wrong to ignore her as he always had.
“Not altogether,” Shirleen murmured.
“Then let us go over it again so that you do understand it,” Blue Thunder said. “Speckled Fawn, myself, and my warriors will go to the fort under the pretense of needing to trade at the post there. We recently had a good hunt, so the pony soldiers will not think we are there for any other purpose than to trade. While we are making an actual trade, we will make sure that the man who is waiting for the riverboat with his child goes by the name Earl Mingus, and if the child’s name is Megan. If so, we will set Speckled Fawn’s plan in motion. She will go to the fort alone after my warriors and I leave. She will be dressed in the clothes of a white woman and will pretend to be a woman in distress.”
He looked around Shirleen and nodded at Speckled Fawn. “Speckled Fawn, you tell the rest, since you will be the one living it,” he said.
Speckled Fawn nodded and began speaking in a low voice as she continued telling Shirleen the plan. “As Blue Thunder said, I will arrive at the fort as a woman in distress. I will say that I am the only survivor of a Comanche attack on my cabin. I will say that my husband and child are dead and that there are no bodies to retrieve. I will say that the renegades took the bodies with them to prevent anyone from the fort giving them a decent Christian burial. I will plead for safe asylum at Fort Dennison until the next riverboat arrives so that I can leave this godforsaken place forever.”
She paused, then said, “I know the fort commander will take me in and care for me; he will pity me as a woman who has lost everything. After earning the soldiers’ trust, I will ask for something that might raise a few eyebrows.”
“Whiskey?” Shirleen asked, remembering part of the plan as Speckled Fawn had outlined it to Blue Thunder.
“Yes, whiskey,” Speckled Fawn said, smiling almost wickedly.
“But, Speckled Fawn, surely most women don’t go to the fort requesting whiskey,” Shirleen said, her eyes filled with uncertainty.
“No, I’m sure they don’t, but I am a woman, remember, who has lost everything,” Speckled Fawn said. “They will think that having seen my family murdered might have caused me to lose some of my senses, making me ask for something that normally I would not ask for. But I expect them to give me anything I want because of how pitiful I will appear. I will explain that my reason for wanting the whiskey is to forget my woes . . . my losses. I will explain that I am not normally a drinking woman, but after what I have been through, I need something to numb my memories of how my family died so horribly. I will say that I need to drown the pain of my loss in whiskey.”
Speckled Fawn paused, then continued, “I will find Earl then, and get on his good side by showing him the whiskey. I will tell him I’ll share it with him if he wants some. Hopefully, he will agree, and will take me into his cabin with him. I’ll make sure that he drinks much more than I, until he is as drunk as a skunk.”
“But, Speckled Fawn,” Shirleen said, interrupting her. “If you do manage to get in his cabin with him, might he not take advantage of you sexually?”
“Surely he wouldn’t do that, not while his daughter is there,” Speckled Fawn said. “Anyway, what I plan to do is ply him with whiskey until he’s so drunk he won’t know what hit him. Hopefully, he’ll pass out from it. That’s when I will have the chance to get Megan away from him. I will wait until it is dark so that the sentries at the fort won’t be able to see my movements. I will then take Megan where Blue Thunder and his warriors will be waiting for me.”
“I still see many loopholes in the plan,” Shirleen said. “First, you told me you are a wanted woman whose likeness is on posters. Won’t the men at the fort recognize you and see right through your plan and arrest you?”
“Those posters were placed here and there five long years ago,” Speckled Fawn said. “My picture was only one little speck on the wall, surrounded by many of the worst criminals in the area. Surely by now the posters, which didn’t even look like me, have been yanked down and thrown away, replaced by pictures of other, more hardened criminals. Also, I have gained a lot of weight since those posters were put up, and my hair was dyed red back then. I am a natural blonde now. And I am confident that I am more likely to succeed than fail.”
“But, Speckled Fawn, when Earl sobers up and comes to realize what happened, when he finds Megan gone, all hell will break loose,” Shirleen said, her voice tight. “A search party will surely be sent out to look for you and Megan. I can’t see Earl just standing by and allowing a woman to get the best of him.”
“By then I will be safe back in the village. The men at the fort won’t have any reason to suspect that Indians had anything to do with this,” Speckled Fawn said in a tone of confidence. “To them, I will have disappeared from the face of the earth with the child.”
“I believe Speckled Fawn’s plan can work,” Blue Thunder said, drawing both women’s eyes to him. “It doesn’t matter how it is done, just as long as the child is brought safely back to her mother. Her father is evil, through and through. Our main focus here must be to get the child back to her mother.”
He reached over and placed a gentle hand on Shirleen’s cheek. “But it is up to you, whether or not you want to give this plan a try,” he said softly.
“Why are you doing this for me?” Shirleen wondered aloud. “I am still . . . no more than a stranger to you. You . . . truly . . . don’t know me.”
He moved closer to her and reached his arms around her to draw her close. “I do know you,” he said thickly. “I know your goodness. I know your sweetness. And I know that you are a devoted mother and how much you are missing your daughter.”
He placed his hands on her shoulders and gazed directly into her eyes. “You have suffered too much already in your life, especially at the hands of the evil white man who calls himself your husband,” he said tightly. “You have never deserved such inhumanity as that man showed you. You are a good woman.”
He paused, then said as he lowered his hands from her shoulders, “My daughter no longer has a mother,” he said softly. “I cannot allow yours to suffer in the same way as my daughter, never being able to see her mother again.”
He framed her face between his hands. Their gazes met and held. “Don’t you know, deep down inside yourself, that you are now way more than a stranger to me?” he said hoarsely. “You surely know how deeply I care for you.”
The heat of a blush rushed to Shirleen’s cheeks. “Yes, I know,” she murmured. “Now I do know that you care for me. I . . . I . . . guess I have known for sometime now.”
“Then trust that I will bring your child home to you, no matter what,” Blue Thunder said. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her into his gentle embrace.
She returned the hug, hating to let him go.
But she knew that this was not the time to think of herself and her need for Blue Thunder. It was time to focus fully on Megan. Only Megan.
She eased herself from Blue Thunder’s arms and turned to Speckled Fawn. “Why are
you risking so much for me? Until recently, I was only a stranger to you,” she said.
“Yes, perhaps a stranger, but I now see us as soul mates,” Speckled Fawn said, smiling into Shirleen’s eyes. “And know this, soul mate. I will help bring your daughter home to you. At any cost, Shirleen. At any cost.”
Shirleen reached over and embraced Speckled Fawn. “Please, oh, please, come home unharmed,” she said, her voice catching. “I have never met a woman such as you, a woman who gives of herself so unselfishly.”
“I only want to give back some of the kindness shown to me by the Wind Band,” Speckled Fawn said, tears filling her eyes. “Things could have been so different for us both. We were so fortunate to have been found and taken in by these wonderful people. I want your daughter to be a part of this life, too.”
“And she will be,” Blue Thunder said firmly as he managed to hug both women at once. “She will.”
Chapter Twenty
She was swayed in her suppleness to and fro,
By each gust of passion.
—Des Prez
Just as Speckled Fawn left through the entranceway, dropping the flap closed behind her, Blue Thunder turned to Shirleen. “Soon I must leave, but I feel a need to leave you with something that will help you pass the time more peacefully,” he said huskily.
He reached out and drew her into his embrace, all the while gazing down into her eyes. “I want to show you just how much I love you,” he said. “Will . . . you . . . allow it? I want you to see how a man can make gentle love to a woman. I want to be that man. I want you to be that woman.”
“I never wanted or needed my husband in a sexual way,” Shirleen said, on fire inside with needs she had never felt before.
But she had never been in love before.
She had thought she might be in love with Earl, but after their first time together in bed, she had known the horrible mistake she had made by marrying him.
She had been left cold by his hands, his lips, his brusqueness. He had taken her virginity and had not allowed her to feel anything but pain, then dread.
He had taken his pleasure from her body, giving nothing back.
Each time after the first, it had been so quick. He had shoved himself into her a few times, and then as soon as he received his pleasure had rolled away from her, not interested in whether or not she had felt anything.
It had always been one-sided.
All that he had cared about was himself.
She had grown to hate seeing the sun set, knowing what would ensue. She had been so glad when her monthly period arrived, for that would give her some reprieve . . . until Earl had not even taken that into consideration and had forced himself on her anyhow.
The first time she begged him not to, he had used his razor strap on her.
“You seem lost in thought,” Blue Thunder said. He placed a hand beneath her chin and lifted it so that they could look into each other’s eyes. She had lowered them as she became lost in sordid memories.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, near tears. “I . . . I . . . was wrong to allow my mind to wander at such a time as this, but there is such a difference between the way you treat me and the way I was treated by the man I married. And even though all of this has happened so quickly between you and me, I do love you so, Blue Thunder, and . . . I . . . do want you so badly.”
“I will never harm you in any way,” Blue Thunder said, brushing soft kisses across her brow. “My woman, oh, how I love you. I need you.”
“I am yours,” Shirleen said, smiling sweetly at him as the tears dried in her eyes. She was now only thinking of this wonderful man and the coming moments when she knew she would finally discover how wonderful lovemaking could be.
This man she loved with all her heart was so gentle, so caring, so loving!
She trembled with ecstasy as Blue Thunder slowly, almost meditatively, removed her clothes, bending to one knee to take off her moccasins, slowly, one at a time, while still gazing up into her eyes.
What he did then made Shirleen’s heart skip a beat. She was uncertain whether it was right or wrong; all she knew was the sheer bliss it was causing inside her. He placed his hands at her hips and drew her closer to him, his tongue flicking out and touching, then caressing, that part of her which had only now come alive.
She threw her head back in ecstasy, moaning with a pleasure she had never known existed, as he continued to caress her there with his tongue.
And then she was aware that he was kissing his way up her body, causing tremors across her belly as his lips touched the sensitive skin there.
And then she felt as though she might melt from sheer ecstasy as he stood and bent his head low, flicking his tongue across the nipple of one of her breasts. He transferred his attention to the other, his hands cupping her breasts, lovingly cradling them.
“What are you doing to me?” Shirleen said in whisper, arching her back in invitation. She reached up and twined her fingers through her hair, lifting it from her shoulders, then let it fall back down again.
“I have never felt anything like this,” she murmured.
“There is so much more to feel,” Blue Thunder said, fully standing now and slowly turning her so that her back was to him.
She gasped with the wonder of it when Blue Thunder began gently kissing her scars, first one and then another, making her feel something far different from the pain that had come when they were inflicted.
As Blue Thunder’s tongue licked each scar so lovingly, Shirleen could not help crying softly at the thought that this man could love her so much, even though she had been so terribly scarred by a madman.
And then he turned her to face him.
She brushed the tears away as she watched him slowly disrobe until his magnificently muscled body was revealed to her eyes in its total nude splendor!
She could not help herself.
She reached out and moved her hand over his muscled arms, his powerful shoulders, and then his hairless, muscled chest.
She saw how the touch of her fingers made his hard body tremble. When she came to that part of him that proved his sex, she blushed at how God had bestowed him with such power even there!
She had only seen one man nude.
Earl.
And he was nothing in comparison.
His manhood was small, sort of wrinkled and shriveled, whereas Blue Thunder’s was, oh, so much larger!
“Touch me there, too,” Blue Thunder said, reaching for her hand and placing it on his throbbing member. “Caress me there.”
Having never tried such a thing before, yet strangely tempted by the thought of doing it, Shirleen gazed bashfully into his eyes. As she slowly wrapped her fingers around him, his heat against her flesh made her eyes widen.
“Move your hand on me,” Blue Thunder encouraged. “For a moment, and then I want to be inside you. I want you to know the gentleness of a man, yet the full pleasure that a man who loves you can give to you.”
Feeling as though she were living a dream, hoping that someone would not suddenly awaken her, she began moving her hand on him. His body shuddered and his eyes closed, making her realize that she was giving him the same sort of pleasure his hands and tongue had given her.
She stroked him for another moment; then he reached down and took her hand away.
He drew her hard against him and enfolded her within his powerful arms. He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her passionately as he used his body to press her down onto the plush pelts and blankets on the lodge floor.
As she lay there on her back, she gazed up at him through a haze of sexual wanting.
He blanketed her with his body, and as he kissed her again, he thrust the magnificent length of his manhood deep within her. Each of his rhythmic strokes brought a newfound ecstasy to Shirleen’s pounding heart.
She sought his mouth with a wildness that was also new to her and kissed him as she twined her arms around his neck and clung to him, almost desperately, meeting each of hi
s thrusts with abandon.
She was clinging, floating, laughing, and crying all at the same time as he rained kisses on her lids and on her hair. His own pleasure was building inexorably within him as he drove into her swiftly, surely.
Shirleen was very aware now of the urgency of his mouth and hands as he again took her mouth by storm, his palms moving seductively over her.
“Please . . . please . . .” Shirleen heard herself say. She was not even sure what she was pleading for, because he was doing everything wonderfully right as far as she was concerned.
He was making certain that she was receiving pleasure, just as she was giving it back to him.
“My woman, how I do love you,” Blue Thunder whispered against her parted lips.
“As I do you,” Shirleen whispered back.
And then he kissed her again.
With a moan of ecstasy, she gave him back the kiss, clinging, moving as he moved, and opening herself more widely to him so that she could feel him even deeper within her.
Blue Thunder could hardly hold back the final throes of ecstasy, for his whole body was on fire with a passion he had never known possible.
But now? While he was with Shirleen? It seemed that everything that had lain dormant within him for so long had awoken. He felt like a true man!
He felt the passion mounting, cresting, and exploding, his body quivering hard into hers as her pleasure matched his. She clung, moaned, and moved in time with his pounding thrusts.
And then it was over.
They both lay breathing hard and clinging to one another.
Their yearnings, their hunger for each other, had been fed.
Blue Thunder felt that he was ready to go and conquer the world for this woman he would always love!
But he knew there was only one thing that needed to be achieved this day. He had to rescue his woman’s daughter.
Shirleen was suddenly aware of movement outside the tepee.
Horses.
She knew that the warriors were taking their steeds from their corrals and readying themselves for travel. She could envision Speckled Fawn on her steed, ready to help rescue Shirleen’s precious Megan.
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