Sage bobbed to the surface beside Leonida. He treaded water as he gazed questioningly up at Spotted Eagle, the trusted scout that he had sent back to keep an eye on the trail behind them.
“What is it?” Sage shouted, still treading water. “What have you found that is of so much importance you come to interfere in my private affairs of the morning?”
“Kit Carson and the white pony soldiers have left Fort Defiance in search of you and the captives,” the scout said, clamping a hand on a knife sheathed at his waist. The fringes of his buckskin breeches and shirt blew in the gentle breeze.
Sage swam to shore and climbed from the water. He turned and offered Leonida a hand which she refused.
“I won’t leave the water until the warrior leaves,” she said stubbornly, covering her breasts with her arms as she found a steady footing on the gravel bottom of the river.
Sage turned to Spotted Eagle. “Go to the camp and warn everyone that it is time to move onward,” he said. “I will soon be there to give direct orders.”
Spotted Eagle gave Leonida a lingering, questioning glance, then nodded to Sage and turned and left.
Her knees still trembling from the ecstasy that she had discovered within Sage’s arms, Leonida climbed from the water and bashfully, hurriedly, dressed.
Just as she turned to leave, Sage grabbed her by the wrist and swung her around to face him. “Do not forget our promises,” he said huskily. “Our bodies spoke of promises, as did our lips, and hearts. I love you, white woman. You love me. From this day forth, do not turn your eyes shyly away from me. What we shared is ours forever. And we will share much, much more. Nothing will stand in the way of our future happiness. Nothing.”
He paused, then added, “Not even Kit Carson. And especially not General Harold Porter.”
She flung herself into his arms and clung to him. She closed her eyes, trying to block out all thoughts of fears and doubts.
There was only now.
Chapter 11
The winds of heaven mix forever,
With a sweet emotion.
—SHELLEY
Traveling through the deep canyons that gashed the high plateau and the steep gullies that snaked along the mountainside, everyone was now on foot. The warriors were leading their horses in a fatiguing, scrambling climb in and out of ribbons of shadows, through the narrow, dark gorges, everyone following, the children crying as they clung to their mothers.
Having stopped seldom and eaten little once the steeper climb had begun, Leonida forced herself to move onward beside Sage. She was tired and stiff, in awe of his toughness, yet she reminded herself that he was an imperious warrior accustomed to all sorts of inconveniences in life, now even having to flee the wrath of the white man.
Her hair blowing in wisps around her face, Leonida brushed it aside and glanced over at Sage. Although she was constantly aware of what he was inflicting on these women and children who lagged along behind her, she could not help but sympathize with his plight. His whole future was in jeopardy. How could she not worry about him?
She was now a part of his future.
Her gaze swept up over the red rock that met a flawless, turquoise sky. Touched by the sunlight, the rock became dull orange and buff with flecks of gold. She jumped with a start when a protesting raven croaked at the passing entourage from her nest, close by on the side of the cliff.
They traveled onward through narrow passages of warm rock. The sun was fading in the sky. The shadows were lengthening. Fatigue was setting in on Leonida rapidly. She was glad when Sage stopped and turned to everyone as they reached a table of rock that stretched out into clumps of junipers and pinyon pines, and where dark, dusty-green grass reached to a cliff that overlooked a valley far below.
“We will stop for the night here,” Sage announced, giving Leonida a quick glance, knowing that she was worn out yet had not lodged even one complaint. “Tomorrow we will arrive at the Navaho stronghold. There we will await the decision of the white leaders, whether or not they will cooperate so that you can all return to your loved ones.”
Sage moved closer to Leonida. He smoothed some locks of hair from her eyes as she gazed over at him.
“Soon you all will be returned to your people,” he said, looking from woman to child. “It was never my intention to keep you as captives forever. I have not enjoyed inflicting suffering upon you. In time, I hope you will understand why I was forced to do this. As for tonight, try to rest. Tomorrow is the fiercest climb of all to reach the final destination of our journey.”
Sage paused, then added, “You will return to those who love and miss you,” he said more determinedly. “But first I must use you to ensure my own people’s future.”
There was a strained silence, and then the women sought the softest clusters of grass and sat down upon them. The children were soon lying in their laps, asleep in their arms.
Leonida gave Carole and Trevor a worried look. Carole was already fast asleep, her cheeks sunken and pale, her breathing shallow. Trevor was snuggled up next to her, unaware of his mother’s weakness, taking from her what he could, while he could. Perhaps he could sense that his mother did not have much longer on this earth.
As several warriors efficiently got a campfire going, others left the campsite to hunt for the evening meal.
Placing her hands at the small of her back, Leonida strolled away from everyone and went to the farthest edge of the cliff and sat down upon it. Out of everyone’s view, she leaned her knees against her chest. As she gazed below, something caught her attention. She gasped and leaned closer, to get a better look. There was enough evening light left to see something that awed her.
“And so you see that which belongs to my people that is so necessary for their survival?” Sage said as he came to sit down beside her.
Leonida looked up quickly. She had not heard his approach. She had been too caught up in looking at the vast fields of peach trees in the valley far below her, as well as fields of corn, beans and squash, and many merino sheep with their thick, curly wool.
Also, she had seen a small hogan, apparently for the man who saw to the sheep and the fields of fruit and vegetables.
“I could hardly believe my eyes when I first looked down and saw all of those things in the valley,” Leonida said, her eyes wide. “Why, Sage, it’s like a miracle that you can have all of that way out here where there is more rock than grass. And peaches? My Lord, it’s like some sort of miracle that you could grow peaches at all, much less in such abundance.”
“It took much time to get this land prepared for planting, and to get it cultivated enough to grow the necessities of my people,” he said. “I regret that it cannot be closer to my stronghold. Much is left to chance to leave it so vulnerable to those who might discover it and realize its importance to my people. Without it my people would perish. Far up in the mountain, at my stronghold, there is no way to grow the foods of my people. It is gathered below and carried up the mountain trails.”
“And no one knows it is there?” Leonida asked as she once again gazed at the vastness of the crops and the great flock of sheep.
“Besides the Navaho, there is one tribe of Indians who know,” Sage said, frowning. “A small band of Kiowa. They know, also of the stronghold. But they find trade with my people too valuable ever to tell any of my enemies of these secrets.”
“If Kit Carson ever found out . . .” Leonida said, her words trailing off.
“Yes, it would be a quick way to exterminate my people without ever firing a shot against them,” Sage mumbled. He leaned closer to Leonida. “It is good that you care so deeply about the welfare of Sage and his people. And I know that you do. It is in your eyes and your voice. My woman, tonight we will sleep here, away from everyone. Tonight we will love again. All cares and fears will be cast aside within our hearts and minds, at least for that moment we will be within each other’s arms. My woman, tell me you anxiously await that moment to be with your Navaho chief again? Tell me now, Leonid
a. Whisper it into my ear. Let me carry your voice within my heart until we are together again after the others are asleep.”
Leonida moved to her knees and leaned into his embrace, her lips brushing his right ear. “I love you,” she whispered. “I can hardly wait to show you how much. My heart is pounding now with the thought of it. My entire being is crying out for you, my handsome Navaho chief. Kiss me now, Sage.”
Sage placed his hands at Leonida’s waist. He lifted her up until her legs straddled his waist and her dress was hiked up past her thighs, then sat down again. His pulse was racing as he placed the bulge in his breeches where she was spread open to the hardness of his touch. He thrust himself more tightly against her and could feel a shiver of passion soar through her.
Leonida lowered her mouth to his lips. She twined her fingers through his shoulder-length hair and drew his lips more firmly against hers. Her whole body tremored as they kissed passionately.
So breathless with the kiss and with the ecstasy flowing through her veins, she wasn’t sure if she could wait until the darkness gave them cover.
* * *
The evening fled quickly by, baths in a nearby stream and eating taking up the time. Leonida became more worried about Carole, making her hesitate for a moment before accompanying Sage away from the campsite, to their own little lovers’ nest on the cliff that seemingly overlooked the world. She helped Carole bathe Trevor and get him ready for bed. She helped Carole with her own bath, having found that Carole was even weaker than she had realized. Every movement seemed an effort for her now.
Leonida fussed over being afraid to leave Carole, but she encouraged it. She had even whispered to Leonida that she understood and approved of her feelings for the handsome chief. She herself now understood Sage’s reasons for having taken the captives.
Carole even went as far as asking Leonida not to blame Sage should she not make it back to the fort alive. Perhaps Sage had even done her a favor, for Trevor and Leonida had formed a special bond while on this journey to the Navaho’s mountain stronghold. Carole said that she could now die in peace, since Leonida would be there for Trevor.
Smelling fresh and clean from her bath in the cool stream, her hair finally dry after being washed in the shallow depths of the water, Leonida walked beside Sage toward the cliff. She did not feel awkward that everyone had seen their departure together. She felt no shame, though she realized that they must know why she and Sage sought refuge away from the others. At this moment in time, the love she felt for Sage pressed so sweetly against her heart, she felt dizzied by it.
Being with him, anticipating what they would soon share, was making her forget her worries for Carole and her concerns for Trevor should anything happen to his mother. Although Leonida had promised to care for him, she was not his mother. She was not so sure he could adapt that easily.
“You are so quiet,” Sage said, reaching down to take Leonida’s hand in his. “What troubles you?”
His flesh against hers made Leonida tingle from head to toe. She was engulfed with gloriously passionate feelings that made her reluctant to talk about anything that troubled her. For the moment there was only Sage. He was the center of her universe, now and forevermore. She wanted nothing to enter this precious center, to spoil their private moments together.
“It’s nothing,” Leonida said quickly, smiling softly up at him. “Truly, it’s nothing.”
“It is good to see you smile,” Sage said, leaning down to brush a kiss across her lips as they stopped within an arm’s length of the cliff. “Your smile encompasses the stars, the moon, the wind. I feel the touch of your smile deeply within my soul. It stirs me into needing you. My woman, I need you now.”
Leonida’s heart pounded as he stepped away from her and spread a luxurious sheepskin across the ground. Gently he placed an arm around her waist and laid her down. As he knelt over her, Leonida reached up and twined her arms around his neck, bringing him down closer to her. She flicked her tongue across his lips, sighing when his tongue came out and met hers.
“Remove my clothes,” he said huskily, moving to his knees before her.
Leonida rose to her knees and while her heart thumped wildly, she removed his bright-red velveteen headband and laid it aside.
Sage held his arms out as Leonida began unbuttoning his shirt. When it was completely opened, Leonida reached her trembling hands to his smooth, hairless chest and ran her fingers over the mounds of his muscles, reveling in the mere touch of him.
Recalling how wonderful it felt for him to touch the nipples of her breasts, Leonida leaned closer and flicked her tongue around one of his, eliciting a moan of pleasure from him as she then nipped one of the hard peaks with her teeth.
When he twined his fingers through her hair and urged her head lower, she ran her tongue along his flesh, loving the taste of him. His stomach quivered as she moved her tongue over it.
Moving ahead of her tongue, she unfastened his breeches and began lowering them over his hips. Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat when his manhood sprang into sight. He was well aroused, and when Sage urged her mouth toward him, her breath seemed to catch in her throat, not knowing for sure if what he asked of her was right. She was not educated in ways of making love. But the strange sort of thrill that she was getting at just the mere thought of touching her tongue to him made her think that this was surely all right.
“It is something a woman does for a man if she loves him enough,” Sage said huskily at the thought of the pleasure that awaited him. “It is something beautiful between a man and a woman. You love Sage in this way. Sage will then return the love to you in the same way.”
Leonida’s eyebrows raised, unsure of how a man could give her pleasure in this sort of way. Yet just the thought of something seemingly so forbidden made her knees grow weak and her heart soar with anticipation.
Closing her eyes, she placed her fingers on each side of his hardness. Then slowly, in a testing fashion, she flicked her tongue over the very tip of him. When he placed his fingers at her shoulders and sank them into her flesh as he groaned with deep pleasure, she thought no more of whether or not she should be doing this. She was happy to do something that gave her beloved such pleasure. She wanted to prove to him in many ways the extent of her love for him.
Leonida loved him in this fashion until he urged her away from him, his breathing harsh and guarded. She let his hands guide her in what to do next. First he tossed his breeches aside, and then quickly disrobed her.
“Lie down,” Sage said, gently urging her down on the sheepskin again, the moon silvering her body. “The pleasure will be so intense, you will feel as though you are flying on wings of an eagle.”
Leonida lay as though in a dream beneath Sage as he knelt over her, his hands and tongue moving, touching, and caressing her every secret place. She tossed her head from side to side, biting her lower lip to keep herself from crying out with pleasure as his tongue flicked over the center of her passion, making wonderful splashes of pleasure swim through her.
“Sage,” she murmured, reaching down to urge his head away. “It is too wonderful. Please stop. I want you to make love to me in . . . the other way. I want you to fill me with your hardness. I want to feel it. I want to give back to you, as you give to me. Please? Let us fly on wings together.”
Sage leaned down over her. He took her wrists and put them above her head and held them there. His lips moved from breast to breast, inflicting more pleasure. His mouth rose to her lips and he kissed her long and hard, while below he thrust his throbbing manhood within her.
Experiencing the wonders of how he did fill her, Leonida sighed against his lips. Lifting her legs, she wrapped them around him and moved with him, meeting everyone of his thrusts with a bold upthrust of her hips, not wanting to miss an inch of him as he pushed himself into her, over and over again.
Again he moved his lips from her mouth. This time he pressed his cheek against one of her breasts and closed his eyes as his pleasu
re mounted. Each stroke promised more. The air was heavy with the inevitability of pleasure. He made sure that his thickness brushed rhythmically against her throbbing center, wanting her to feel all of the miracles of love, from moment to moment. He could feel the white heat building within him, traveling in flashes through his body. He held her fingers tightly above her head. He kissed the hollow of her throat as she held her head back, sighing.
Leonida gave herself up to the wild splendor of the moment. She could feel it growing within her, building to something beautiful again. Desire raged and washed over her, and when he began trembling inside her, she felt the same surge of splendor as he, her entire body warming with it as she went over the edge into bliss with him.
Afterward, they lay in one another’s arms. His hands moved slowly over her body, stopping to cup one of her breasts. “You are my woman,” he whispered huskily. “Never again the white man’s.”
“I never was his, not ever,” Leonida whispered back, her hand moving caressingly down his back, stopping at his powerful buttocks. “The marriage had been arranged by my father. I will never understand why I allowed it. I never loved Harold Porter. Never.”
“That is good to know,” Sage said, rolling away from her. He stroked her breast, then rolled his fingers around its nipple, causing it to harden into an even harder peak. “He was not a man I would think any woman could love. He is not a likable man. He is hogay-gahn, bad.”
“I doubt if he ever finds a woman who was as tolerant of him as I was,” Leonida murmured, sighing with pleasure as his tongue took the place of his fingers on her nipple. “Sage, what you are doing to me.”
“Daltso-hozhoni, all is beautiful when I am with you,” he whispered, then once again showed her exactly why she had made the right choice of men. He sent her soaring again with splendor as his tongue skillfully awakened her to many special ways of being loved.
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