Reluctantly, he handed Cheyenne her pack. “Fire-thorn set up a camp for us farther on up the mountain. It is a small cave. I think you will like it.” He looked pensive. “But perhaps you had enough camping out on the journey here. I did not think of that.”
She giggled. “Nonsense. I am strong and I love the outdoors. When I was young I was always wondering what was over the next hill and then the next. Now I know. You have shown me.”
Wolf Runner could hardly swallow for the lump in his throat. His woman would match him step for step, and even go him one better.
Cheyenne’s heart softened when she looked into his glowing eyes and she wondered what he was thinking.
Taking her hand, he helped her over a wide boulder and paused to kiss her before setting her on her feet. He took her hand and assisted her up the steep trail, where he slid his arms around her waist, holding her against his body.
Touching her hair, he breathed against her ear. “If I continue like this, we will never reach camp.”
As they reached their destination, the sun was just going down and painted the sky in brilliant crimson.
Placing her pack on the ground, Cheyenne smiled, looking at the trail that led to a cave. “This is wonderful.”
Without pausing to think, Wolf Runner lifted her in his arms and carried her into the cave. Going down with her onto the soft fur Firethorn had left for them, he stared into her eyes. “How long I have suffered for being denied that which I wanted most in the world.” He swallowed deep. “Tonight, I will have you.”
She touched his face, then laced her fingers through his ebony hair, a tangle of emotions throbbing inside her. “You have that right.”
Wolf Runner buried his lips against hers, holding her so tightly she could scarcely breathe.
When he raised his head she saw smoldering flames in the shimmering depths. Her body trembled and so did his—she was glad she could move this strong, honorable warrior.
While kissing her, Wolf Runner methodically began removing Cheyenne’s clothing. At first he was gentle, but when she touched his bare chest, he grabbed her in his arms and ground his mouth against hers. Impatiently he disposed of her moccasins, wanting her completely naked. His own clothing quickly followed and naked flesh met naked flesh.
With his heart drumming in his ears, Wolf Runner gently brought his mouth to each tempting breast, suckling, nipping, and teasing until both nipples stood in erect peeks.
Cheyenne’s eyes were fever bright with passion, and he felt satisfaction that his woman wanted him as much as he wanted her. His heated gaze moved down her body, appreciating how perfect she was.
She felt shy at first, but could not long resist the temptation to look at him. His naked body was magnificent. Her eyes widened when she saw how large he had swelled.
Frowning, Cheyenne pulled back, knowing some of what was going to happen. She could not imagine how something that large could fit inside her.
As if Wolf Runner read her mind, he assured her, “There will be some pain, but it will not last. As my woman, you are built to receive me, just as I am made to join with you.”
Bringing her gently into his arms, his hand swept over her body, moving ever lower until he touched her between the legs. Like the petal of a flower opening to the sun, she spread her legs to him and he caressed her until she thought she would scream from want. Cheyenne gasped with pleasure when his finger slid inside her.
He paused, nuzzling her ear. “I am impatient to bury myself in you, but do not fear, I will not rush you.”
She felt as if her body had come alive as he buried his finger farther inside her. She groaned, thinking nothing could have prepared her for the wonderful feeling that washed over her, and it could not get any better.
But she was mistaken.
Wolf Runner smiled against her lips as her innocent body flowered under his touch. He moved between her legs, kissing her all the while.
Cheyenne’s eyes widened when she felt his swollen manhood against her. She closed her eyes as he slid into her and clawed at his back when he broke through her virginal barrier.
He waited until she accepted him, and then thrust deeper inside her.
Feeling her bow with pain and then cling to him in passion, he slowly withdrew and slid forward, setting a slow rhythm, when what he really wanted to do was drive deep. He had ached for her so long, he kept a tight rein on his thrusts, fighting against the need to bury even deeper inside her.
Cheyenne moaned and tossed her head as her body willingly met each of his thrusts. When he pulled back, she held her breath, waiting for the next onslaught as desire and need coursed through her body. She heard the beating of his heart and her body sung to his tune.
She cried out his name as his mouth settled on hers and her heart felt completely exposed. She loved him and he loved her; at last they were joined.
Cheyenne thought he was finished because he had paused, but she caught her breath when he surged forward again, filling her with pleasure, hot and wild.
Her body was his to do with as he chose. She felt tears dampen her eyes and knew she was crying from the beauty of their joining. Her hands slid down his back, pressing him toward her.
“My woman,” he whispered in a deep voice. “You are my heart.”
Afterward, they lay in each other’s arms until dark shadows encroached across the cave. “You filled me with joy,” he said, his lips on her brow.
“I have never been so happy. Will it last—will it always be this way between us?”
Laughter lurked in his green-flecked eyes because she delighted him. “It will only get better.” He rose up and started to leave. “What kind of husband would I be if I let my woman freeze from lack of a heat? I must build you a campfire.”
She pulled him back. “I am not cold.”
His hand sprayed out across her stomach and moved lower. “Are you sore?”
She shook her head, looking up at him. “Not at all.” She kissed his lips and they both drifted back upon the fur.
“I will warm you,” he said, taking her once more.
The next morning, as they continued their journey up the mountain, neither could keep from touching the other. Wolf Runner’s eyes followed her with a new feeling of possession, hers followed his with a new understanding that the more she knew the man she loved, the deeper that love became.
They stopped to rest, and Wolf Runner watched her lean against a boulder. “I love this mountain,” she said, staring at a pine forest in the distant valley.
“I hoped you would.”
She took a drink from the water skin he handed her. “Where did you say the wolves are?” she asked mischievously.
“My brother, Little Hawk, has promised to keep them in the village.”
Cheyenne laughed as she gazed back down the trail. “No one can keep Satanta where he does not want to be.”
As if talking about them caused them to appear, the pack came loping up the path. Satanta approached Cheyenne and looked at her as if scolding her for not bringing him with her.
Her laughter filled the air, and filled Wolf Runner’s heart.
Wolf Runner had been teaching Cheyenne how to tell what time of day it was by studying the shadows that reflected across the ground. At the moment she was standing in her own shadow. “It is the noon hour,” she said, glancing at her husband.
He laughed. “It is. I suppose you need feeding.”
“Of course. I can always eat.”
He tilted her chin up to him and his gaze swept over the face of the woman who had brought joy into his life. “I am amazed at how much you can eat and still remain so small.”
“If I grow fat, I suppose you will no longer want me,” she said, raising her eyebrow and giving him a laughing glance. “You do not want a fat wife, do you?”
Wolf Runner pulled her to him, bracing her backside against him, noticing how perfectly she fit against his body. While his hands swept to her stomach, he whispered, “I want you fat with m
y sons and daughters growing inside you.” He touched his mouth to her throat, smiling with satisfaction when she shivered. “I never thought much about children until I gave you my heart, but now I look forward to looking into the eyes of our child.”
“Am I with child already?” she asked innocently.
Turning her to face him, he rested his cheek against hers. “This I do not know. It is too soon to tell.” He grinned, clasping her to him. “But I have been inside you enough to sire many children.”
She curved to his body, content and happy. Moving a little away from him, she gazed down into a wide valley with a river running through it—the noon sun hit the valley, turning everything scarlet, and she held her breath.
Glancing at Wolf Runner, she found him watching her with softness in his eyes. She ran to him and swooped into his arms.
Laughing, he held her to him. “I wonder how I lived before I met you?”
“The same way I did,” she said, pressing her head against his chest and listening to the thudding of his heart. “I always yearned for something, but I never knew what it was.”
“I thought I was content with my life.” Fire leaped in Wolf Runner’s eyes. “I now know a deeper contentment than I thought possible.”
“When I think back on our first meeting, it was mere chance that brought us together.” She shook her head. “No, that cannot be right,” Cheyenne said, changing her mind. “It was my grandmother who brought us together.”
Wolf Runner’s mouth was only a hairsbreadth away from hers. “And I will be grateful to her every day for putting you in my path.”
They stood clasped in each other’s arms while the sounds of nature filled the air. The cry of a hawk echoed across the valley, and an eagle rode the wind currents.
“How long will we remain in the mountain encampment,” Cheyenne wanted to know.
“I want you all to myself, so we will remain here until the leaves start to take on the color of autumn.” He touched his mouth to hers. “It can be bitterly cold here in the winter season.”
Her heart swelled with happiness. “I would not mind the winter if you were with me.”
He knew in that moment his woman shared his love of the mountains—their spirits were as joined as their hearts were and warmth surged through him like hot honey. He raised his head to the sky, his arms tightening about her, feeling as if their minds were so alike. He had found the one woman who thought as he did.
“The weather is too bitter for you to stay here through the winter. I have spent but one winter here myself. It would be too much of a hardship for you to endure.”
“It was sometimes cold on our journey here,” she reasoned, smiling. “And now I can sleep in your arms to stay warm.”
Wolf Runner’s eyes seemed to blaze. “I now have the right to take you in my arms and keep you warm and safe.”
They stood there, unaware of anything but each other. Both went to their knees. His kiss almost stole her breath, and when he gently touched her breasts, she sighed and then groaned.
The golden days of spring spread over the lower elevations, but there in the mountain encampment, the crisp clear air still held a chill, not that the lovers noticed.
Cheyenne and Wolf Runner were unaware of the passing of time. Each day was filled with new and exciting discoveries in each other’s arms.
They laughed, they teased each other, and they grew more deeply in love.
For Cheyenne, her nightmare existence was over. Safe in the arms of the man she loved, Cheyenne knew she was home at last. There would be no more fear or uncertainty about where she belonged—she belonged with the legendary Blackfoot warrior with the green-flecked eyes.
Epilogue
The sun had barely risen atop the pine trees as Cheyenne stood near the river watching the water from the spring runoff flow swiftly by. There was peace and tranquility beside the Milk River.
A week ago Cullen had arrived in the village, stirring up excitement. He had brought Cheyenne a letter from Maria, which she had read over and over. In the letter, Maria explained that she had married Francisco, and they were expecting their first child.
Cheyenne missed her friend, but it was a comfort to know Maria had found happiness with her Francisco.
Cullen had also told her how Señor Mendoza had delivered a breakfront to the ranch, along with several crates that had been stored in the attic. He laughed as he told Cheyenne how Hattie had polished the piece of furniture and had the ranch hands place it in the dining room, where her grandmother’s green-and-white dishes were displayed.
It had taken several letters, and Cullen’s aid, to convince the Mendoza family that she was happy in her new life, and that she had found contentment in the Blackfoot village.
Cheyenne had gone from having no family at all to being a part of a large and loving family.
She glanced down at her infant daughter and her heart swelled with a mother’s love—Prairie Flower had her father’s features. Tiny fingers clasped around hers, and the child gave her a toothless grin.
Wolf Runner adored his daughter, and was laughed at by Firethorn because he made such a fuss over her. When Prairie Flower smiled at him, he could hardly contain his elation.
A shadow fell across Cheyenne’s face and she felt Wolf Runner’s hands slide around her to rest on her still-flat stomach, where his unborn baby lay. This time she hoped the child would be a boy, although Wolf Runner said it did not matter to him.
“Are you happy here, Cheyenne?”
“Entirely,” she told him.
“Do you greet the morning?” he asked in a whisper, laying his chin on the top of her head.
“I do each morning.”
“You are the joy of my life.”
She grinned up into his dark, green-flecked eyes, her own eyes filled with mischief. “Husband, there was a time when you thought of me as nothing more than a nuisance.”
His large hand moved over her stomach, and he arched his eyebrow, joining in her teasing. “That’s because you were a nuisance.”
Cheyenne shook with laughter. “And I thought you were arrogant…because you were.”
Wolf Runner walked around Cheyenne and lifted his daughter in his arms. Prairie Flower giggled at her father and he cuddled her close.
“Our daughter looks like you,” he observed.
“Not everyone would agree with you. Your father thinks Prairie Flower looks like you.”
Wolf Runner looked pleased as he nestled the tiny child in his sheltering arms. “She will be beautiful like you when she grows up.”
There was a mountain of love reflected in his wonderful eyes when he looked at Cheyenne, and it took her several tries before she could speak.
“If I find favor in your eyes, I am glad.”
Handing Cheyenne the child, Wolf Runner slid his arm about her waist. “My mother spoils her first grandchild.”
Cheyenne’s laughter was like music to his ears.
“And you do not?”
His dark eyes swept across the river and he raised his proud head. “No one will ever make Prairie Flower suffer the way you had to.”
She thought about that. “No. Here in the land of her father, she is accepted as a Blackfoot from a fine and noble family.” Cheyenne touched his arm. “But let us not dwell on the past—you have made up for all the unhappiness I felt then.”
“And you gave me a life I never imagined. We are so alike, you and I. It is as if we were cut from the same cloth and fit together perfectly.”
A birdcall stirred in the stillness. The village was coming to life, and the people were beginning to emerge from their tipis, ready to begin their daily chores.
Cheyenne breathed in the fresh air, thinking how wonderful life was here in the Blackfoot village.
“Do you mind so much that I cannot accompany you to the mountains this spring with the new baby coming?”
Wolf Runner shook his head. “I will not go into the mountains this year.”
“You
love it there.”
“I love you more. I will not leave you until our child is born. We will all go next spring when the baby is old enough to take to the mountains.”
It was a poignant moment, and Cheyenne could not speak.
Wolf Runner’s eyes rested on her mouth. “I like waking up with you beside me.”
She laughed. “Me, the baby, and Satanta,” she reminded him. “Soon there will be our new baby. Are you sure you will not grow weary of us and seek solitude in the mountains?”
“Not without you,” he said, touching her hair and allowing his hand to drift through the silken strands. “I want only to be where you are.”
RT Book Reviews Praises USA Today Bestselling Author Constance O’Banyon!
WIND WARRIOR
“O’Banyon’s attention to detail brings a Blackfoot Indian village and its inhabitants alive. The fast-paced plot takes readers on an emotional roller coaster through danger, suspense and passion, with a touch of the paranormal thrown in.”
COMANCHE MOON RISING
“O’Banyon has written another romantic tale of forbidden love, honor, bravery, revenge and passion. Readers will enjoy the rich attention to detail and the hair-raising action and suspense.”
DESERT PRINCE
“In the hands of O’Banyon, ancient history comes alive in this fourth book set in Egypt during the rule of the powerful Roman Caesars.”
DAUGHTER OF EGYPT
“The heroine is a smart, strong woman, a perfect match for the warrior hero. Their sexual tension permeates the novel, and the culmination of their love is hot and sweet.”
SWORD OF ROME
“O’Banyon continues the tale she began in Lord of the Nile by introducing Adhaniá. The historical facts are intriguing, and the effort of the characters to foil the plot against Caesar is heartwarming. The sensual scenes are sparse but tender and hot.”
LORD OF THE NILE
“Fans of Egyptian lore and facts will find O’Banyon’s historical right up their alley. She sprinkles political intrigue and love throughout the pages of this enjoyable book.”
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