Lakota Princess (27 page)

At length he sighed before saying, “Waste Ho Win, you know it is not safe for you to leave your room. Must I remind you of where we have just been?”

“I have to eat,” she said, “and I had wanted to visit with friends today. There are so many people staying in this house.”

Black Bear shook his head. “Why do you argue with me about this? Is it not for your own good? I do not understand you.”

“But I understand you, Black Bear. You think just because you have made love to me that you can control my life.” She placed her hands on her hips, the action emphasizing her next words. “Well, you can’t. You don’t own me.”

“I most certainly do.”

She gasped. “What do you mean?”

He smirked. “Did you not give me your favors, not once, but twice? Did I not find you to be a virgin? Am I not the only man who has known you? Did you not tell me you loved me?” He placed his arms, crisscrossed, in front of him and scoffed. “No, Waste Ho,” he said. “Make no mistake. You belong to me.”

“Oh!”

She turned her back on him.

They stood in her chambers, having just returned to Shelburne Hall. Black Bear had followed her to her room, was even now standing here, making demands; had started doing so as soon as they had entered.

What was even more frustrating was that it was still fairly early in the morning. There were only a few other people up and about, only a few people she could speak to at this hour. So why did he demand she stay here?

Besides, she felt safe within the house. After all, if she were truly in danger, couldn’t the stalker just as easily come to her room? Wasn’t she really safer among other people?

He might have his reasons for what he did, but it didn’t matter to her, not at this moment. His orders, without regard for her own opinion or her own feelings, wounded her. It was as though she were some imbecile who couldn’t think for herself. A degrading thought, a degrading feeling.

No, she would not do as he asked. She could not afford to submit to him.

She reacted instead.

“You do not own me,” she said it quietly, turning around toward him. Then she looked away, presenting him with her profile. “The only man who owns me is my husband. And that man is not you.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw him flinch.

“I disagree,” he said, his voice deep, with no expression whatsoever. “I did not notice your objecting to me. You are the one who performed the virgin ceremony, otherwise I would have…” He didn’t finish. “Who is this man?” Black Bear continued saying. “This man who marries you and then leaves you, who does not even touch you? I say he is no husband. I say you are not married.” His voice became more emphatic. “You are mine now.”

She turned her back on him. “I am not.”

Black Bear sighed. “We argue for nothing. It matters little to me what you say. You gave yourself to me. You belong to me. You will stay in your room.”

“No! And I…Black Bear.” She spun around. “What?” Her eyes rounded.

He stood before her, a sheet from her bed in his hands, his knife slashing at the material, making it into…

“No!”

He sighed. “I dislike doing this, but you give me no choice. I have told you that you will stay here. I have tried to reason with you. I have tried to warn you. You are too stubborn for your own good. I think I will change your name to Stubborn Woman for all the trouble you give me.” He gazed at her. “But I mean it when I say you will stay here.”

“You wouldn’t!”

Black Bear didn’t even deign to give her an answer.

Instead he moved with the silence and speed of a cat, catching her and lifting her off her feet.

“Oh! Stop this at once!”

For answer Black Bear threw her to the bed.

She scrambled away, but he was too quick for her. He’d caught her foot and he pulled her back toward him as she struggled.

“You can’t do this to me. I do not will it. You will cease this at once.”

She might have been talking to a stone wall for all the effect it had.

So she kicked out at him instead. She would have scratched him, too, but he deftly avoided her hands, grabbing her feet and tying them first.

“Anna will be here soon,” Estrela complained. “She will untie me.”

“She will,” he said, “but not until it’s too late. I will tell her you are troubled and didn’t sleep well and want to remain undisturbed.”

“And why would she believe you?”

He gave her an incredulous look, grabbing her hands as she struck out at him. “Do you think she doesn’t know that I have been with you every night, guarding you, since I first came to this land?”

“She never said anything to me.”

“There is nothing that escapes her notice. She is as deft within this household as an Indian is upon the plains. No, she will understand that I have been here, that I have seen to you and that you wish more rest. Only later will she discover you.”

“Oh!”

He laughed as he finished restraining her hands. He set about fastening the “rope”, tying her hands to the headboard, her feet to the footboard.

“How can you do this to me? Not only do you tie me hand and foot, but you strap me to the bed.”

“After all you have said to me, how can I trust you by yourself? If I don’t bind you, as soon as I leave you will find a knife and cut through these straps. And then you will parade yourself outside where you are an easy target. No, Waste Ho, you will stay in your room as I have ordered.”

“I’ll scream.”

He grinned. “I do not stop you.”

She gave him a curious glance.

“Of course they will find you naked.”

“You wouldn’t!”

His only answer to her was a leer.

His job finished, he looked down on his handiwork, and Estrela swore that he grinned over what he supposed was his own brilliance. She didn’t see the fire in his glance as he knelt next to her at the bed, his hands reaching for her.

He drew his knife, reaching for her clothing.

“No!”

“If I leave your clothes on, you will scream and escape and all my work will be for nothing.”

“Untie me then,” she said.

He shook his head. “You will leave,” he said, setting the knife toward her.

“No I won’t,” she said. “I will take my clothes off. It’s all I will do.”

He nodded then, sheathing his knife and leaning over to untie her hands.

She nodded toward her feet while she rubbed her wrists, but Black Bear shook his head, saying, “One thing at a time, only.”

She watched him closely before she ordered, “Turn your head.”

And Black Bear laughed. “I think Stubborn Woman forgets,” he said, “that I have already seen all she has to offer.”

“That’s different.”

He merely smiled. He didn’t say a word, he just looked.

But when she hesitated, he drew his knife, and she immediately set her hands to her coat and, taking it off, to her blouse.

“You could look away from time to time,” she complained. “You don’t
have
to watch me.”

“I think,” he said, “that Stubborn Woman forgets that I still have knife.”

“Oh!” was her only response as she stripped down to her chemise.

He motioned toward it.

“I have to take off my skirt.”

He waved to her then, saying, “Proceed.”

Estrela harrumphed before carefully pushing her riding skirt to her ankles, Black Bear removing the skirt completely and then retying her feet.

She sat then, in her chemise. It was her only remaining covering.

And he motioned toward it.

She removed it reluctantly, pulling the garment away from her in a lazy, slowed pace.

But at last the garment was off and as Estrela lay it aside, her gaze sought out Black Bear’s in one, shy glance.

She looked away and Black Bear, taking her hands, tied them back together, then fastened them to her headboard.

But Estrela averted her gaze.

That’s when it happened.

He started with her cheeks, caressing first one and then the other.

Estrela stiffened and tried to turn her head, but she couldn’t avoid his touch.

“Don’t,” she said.

“Shh…” was his only answer as he trailed his fingers over her lips, down over her chin, to her neck, finding each and every pulse point along the way.

“I don’t want this.”

“I know,” was all he said. “Please forgive me, Waste Ho. You are so beautiful, I cannot keep away.”

Estrela groaned. And try as she might to pretend indifference, she couldn’t stop the warmth that spread through her body at his touch, at his words.

He took his time. He stroked her, he fondled her, his fingertips tracing over her shoulders, her arms, her fingers, his palms coming close to but never quite reaching her breasts.

And everywhere he grazed, Estrela felt the lingering warmth of his touch.

“So beautiful,” he whispered as his fingers brushed the back of her neck.

“Please,” Estrela said, “don’t do this to me. This can’t be right. I feel so wicked.”

“Shh…” he said. “There is nothing wrong. Have I not said you belong to me? Is there anything wrong with giving what is mine a little…joy? Now, shh… Just feel.”

He stroked her then, his touch, his every fondle as a kiss upon her heated flesh. She wanted it. She’d deny it if he asked her, but he didn’t. And as she lay there, bound, unable to refuse him anything, she thought she would die if he didn’t soon start to feel her in much more intimate places. She whimpered, she twisted and despite herself, as he caressed her shoulders and chest, she arched her back to him in quiet invitation. Black Bear moaned then, his only reaction as his hands reached out toward those softened mounds she offered him and Estrela sucked in her breath as he molded first one and then the other velvety breast in his hands, his fingers circling their rosy tips. Then gradually, so slowly she barely even noticed, his fingers dipped lower and lower, but still he didn’t touch her in that special place at the junction of her legs.

Estrela almost screamed her frustration.

She wanted him. She wanted his touch. But, Lord, she didn’t want him to know it.

“Black Bear, please stop. I can’t let you…”

“I wish,” he said, “that I had tied your legs apart.”

“No!”

He smiled at her, the warm smile of a lover.

“I mean no offense, Waste Ho. I only wish to see all of the beauty of you. With your legs together as this, I cannot view…you.”

“Please,” she said. “I don’t want you to talk to me this way. I don’t wish you to…see me.”

“You do not?” he asked, his fingertips trailing over her skin to her knees, her feet. “Shall I prove you wrong?”

“Please.”

“Please what? Please yes? Or please no?”

“Black Bear, I can’t… You try my very patience.”

He smiled at her, and Estrela, despite herself, nearly swooned from the effect of it. This was not the smile of anger, of antagonism, or even a gesture of warmth. This was the look from one lover to another.

He kissed her then.

And although Estrela knew she shouldn’t, she surrendered.

His mouth explored her own. The touch of his fingers passed from one breast to the other, down, down farther and farther till he reached that spot between her legs.

She bucked against him, her only attempt at protest.

He smiled, his lips close to hers. “So beautiful,” he said. “I only hope that when I leave you, your perfume will remain with me, for I may never wish to wash again.”

And though his voice teased her, these were still heady sensations he was sending her, heady words, and Estrela was becoming a willing victim to them.

At last, his touch fell to that area of her anatomy that proclaimed her need.

Estrela moaned. “Black Bear,” she said, “this can’t be right. You have me tied. I can’t…”

“Shh…” he whispered. “If you were not mine, if you did not belong to me, I might agree with you. But there is much medicine between us.” He brushed a lock of hair away from her face. “Do not worry. What is between us is good.”

“No, I can’t let you.” She squeezed her thighs together, an attempt to thwart him. The result, however, was not the one expected and none was more stunned than she when a hungry desire began to build there between her legs.

Black Bear merely grinned at her.

“Just feel it, Ho,” he whispered. “Not many people can claim so much medicine when they love. What we have is special. Even I did not know there was so much between us when I came in search of you. It is a gift, Waste Ho. Enjoy it.”

His touch found her then, that exact spot that made her squirm with desire.

Still, she wasn’t ready to give in.

She twisted, little knowing that the more she resisted, the more avid a pleasure built within her. And it was this discovery that was as unexpected as it was unintended.

She stared at him as he leaned over her, watching her. She was caught in his trap, in her own trap of sensuality and desire—for him. The spreading heat betrayed her. And try as she might, she could think of no way out of it. No matter what she did, no matter how hard she protested, the result was the same. The pleasure built and built within her.

She might protest being tied, she might object to his method, but she was as much a part of it now as he was.

She gazed at him, her eyes pleading with him, but she knew she no longer pleaded with him to stop.

Instead she sighed.

He smiled at her, and Estrela noted that all the mockery in him was gone.

“You surprise me,” Black Bear said to her, his voice low, gravelly. “There is much more passion within you than I had ever hoped to discover. I am pleased. Come, Waste Ho, there is nothing wrong in what we do here. We are united, you and I. Let me give you one more pleasure before I leave you this morning.”

This said, he pressed his lips to hers again and all the while his fingers continued to create that special magic within her.

“Feel it
,
Waste Ho. Feel it,” he coaxed her as he lifted his head. He watched her, and Estrela could no more help moaning and twisting, groaning and bucking than she could stop him from wreaking this havoc upon her body. On and on it went, Estrela twisting back and forth, no longer caring to protest. At length, the pleasure built within her until she could stand it no more. And still it crescendoed and crescendoed until she screamed, Black Bear quieting the noise by placing his lips over hers. Her body shuddered in pleasant reaction while her heartbeat raced and Estrela sucked in air, quickly, deeply.