Tales of Western Romance (31 page)

“
Lynnie?”

“
I don’t want you to go.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“
I don’t want you to go back to your
own time,” she said, her voice so quiet he could hardly hear her.
“I want you to stay. Here. With me.”

Dropping to his knees beside her, Blue Hawk
put his hand beneath her chin and lifted her head. She refused to
meet his gaze.

“
Lynnie, look at me.”

She shook her head, the color rising in her
cheeks.

“
Lynnie, I don’t want to leave you,
either. I know we just met a little while ago and…” He raked a hand
through his hair. “I don’t know, maybe you’re the reason I’m here.
All I know is I can’t stop thinking about you, or wanting
you.”

“
Daniel…” She looked up at him, her
eyes wide and shining with unshed tears.

“
Hey, don’t cry.” Sitting cross-legged
beside her, he put his arms around her and drew her close. “We’ll
work something out, somehow.”

“
Tell me about your people. About your
parents. How did they meet?”

“
My folks met when they were young. My
mother was just eight or nine, as I recall, out picking flowers,
when she met my dad. He was twelve or so at the time. They grew up
together, fell in love. They went through a lot of rough times
together. It wasn’t easy for the two of them, her being white and
him Cheyenne. But they made it work. As for my people…” He
shrugged. “Before the whites came, they had a good life. They
followed the buffalo in the summer and the sun in the
winter.”

“
I don’t think I’d like that, always
being on the move,” Lynnie said, snuggling against him. “I like
having a home, a place to put down roots.”

“
The Indians don’t believe you can own
the land.”

“
No? How odd. Do they believe in
God?”

“
They believe in many gods.”

“
Really? How many?”

Blue Hawk laughed softly. “
Heammawihio
is the supreme being, the creator of all life. Those who die, good
or bad, go to live with Him, except for those who commit suicide.
To reach the Place of the Dead, a man’s spirit follows
E kut si
him mi yo
, the Hanging Road, what your people call the Milky
Way, where they live pretty much the same way they lived on
Earth.”

“
That doesn’t sound too different from
what I believe,” Lynnie said, “although I’m not sure about the
Milky Way part. But there’s only one God.”

“
Perhaps for the white man. For the
Cheyenne, there are many. There are the gods of the four
directions, and
Ahk tun o’wihio,
god of the underworld, and
many others. Our people believe that every living thing has a
spirit of its own. Rocks, trees, mountains, grass, animals,
everything.”

“
Rocks?” Lynnie asked with a grin.
“Really?”

Blue Hawk nodded.

“
Do you believe all that?”

“
I do. The Cheyenne revere the land and
everything on it.” He stroked her hair, then brushed his lips
across her cheek. “Lynnie…”

She turned in his arms, lifting her face for
his kiss, her eyelids fluttering down as he covered her mouth with
his.

Blue Hawk crushed her body to his, all
thought of right and wrong, red and white, forgotten as he fell
back on the furs, drawing her with him.

He had meant only to hold her, to comfort
her, but thoughts of solace fled in the weight of her body pressing
down on his, the softness of her breasts against his chest, the
warmth of her lips as she kissed him.

He had never been intimate with a woman. The
full extent of his sexual knowledge came from a few hugs and kisses
he had shared with some of the girls back in Bear Valley, and
playing doctor with one of Jeremy Brown’s daughters when he was six
and she was five. All his inexperience aside, his body knew
instinctively what to do.

“
Lynnie?” He cupped her face in his
hands, his throat tight, his body throbbing with need.

She gazed down at him, her eyes smoky with
desire. “Daniel.” She swallowed hard. “I’ve never…”

“
Me, either.” Clearing his throat, he
said, “We could find our way together.”

Turning her head, she kissed his palm.

“
I’ll take that for a yes,” he said,
and rolled over so that he was now on top.

He kissed her then, all uncertainty erased
when she twined her arms around his neck and drew him closer.

“
There’s no lock on the tipi door,” she
said, breathless. “What if someone comes in?”

“
The flap is closed,” he replied. “No
one will come in.”

Grinning, she slipped her hands under his
shirt, her fingertips running over his chest, his shoulders, his
belly.

Blue Hawk sucked in a breath, and then he
began a slow exploration of his own, marveling at the softness of
her skin, her lush curves, the way she trembled in his arms.

They undressed each other slowly, taking time
to look and touch and taste, remarking on and admiring the
differences between them. There was a moment when he paused, his
gaze moving over her, as if to memorize every inch of her from top
to bottom. Impatient for his touch, she drew him closer, lifting
her hips to receive him, moaning softly as his body merged
effortlessly with hers.

Blue Hawk sank into her, oblivious to
everything but the silky heat that surrounded him, the overpowering
need that drove him. Lynnie’s nails dug into the flesh of his
shoulders, her moans of pleasure driving him on, until, at last,
she shuddered beneath him. His own climax came quickly after that
and then he held her close in a heated tangle of arms and legs,
while their breathing returned to normal and the sweat cooled on
their bodies.

Chapter 10

I stood outside the corral, my arms resting
on the rail, watching the clouds move slowly across the night sky,
blinking back my tears as I wondered where my baby was. Daniel had
been gone for days.
Gone into the past,
I wondered bleakly?
Or just gone?
Maybe he was in limbo, lost somewhere between
this world and the next, never to return. If he never came back to
us, I would never know his fate. How could I live with that?

I closed my eyes as Shadow came up behind me.
Slipping his arms around my waist, he drew me back against him.

“
I can’t stand it,” I said. “Not
knowing.”

He leaned forward, his lips brushing my
cheek. “It is late. Come to bed.”

I spent a restless night and woke to find
Shadow’s side of the bed empty. Grabbing my robe, I went
outside.

As I had many times before, I found Shadow
standing near the lodge behind our house. A small fire burned at
his feet. Though the morning was chilly, he wore only a
breechclout. Seeing him sent a thrill of feminine appreciation
through me. Though he was no longer a young warrior, age had not
diminished him. He was still tall and strong. Still a man to be
reckoned with.

As I watched, he lifted his arms above his
head, his face turned up to the sky. How many times had I seen him
standing like that?

He tossed a pinch of tobacco into the fire,
then offered tobacco to the gods of the four directions, to Mother
Earth, and to the sky above.

Chanting softly, he drew a knife from his
belt. It was the same one he had carried for years. Knowing what
was coming next, I bit down on my lower lip, then wrapped my arms
around my waist as he dragged the blade across his chest.

“
Hear me, Man Above, my woman grieves
for our son, who has traveled the spirit road.” He dragged the
blade down his left arm. “Her pain is mine.
Maheo,
give me a
sign. Let me know that our son is well.” He raked the blade down
his right arm, then tossed a handful of white sage into the fire.
Sparks exploded from the flames.

I watched, speechless, as the image of a blue
hawk rose up from the center of the fire. It hovered in the air for
a timeless moment, then rose up, up, disappearing into the glare of
the rising sun. I blinked, and it was gone, and a pair of
red-tailed hawks appeared in its place.

Tears ran, unchecked, down my cheeks as I
watched the hawks soar upward.

Shadow wiped the blood from his arms and
chest with a bit of old toweling before taking me into his
arms.

“
All is well, Hannah,” he said, his
voice husky.

I nodded. The red-tailed hawks had appeared
to us many times. Always, they were a sign of peace and
happiness.

Blinking back my tears, I pressed my cheek to
Shadow’s chest. There was nothing to worry about. Our son was all
right.

Chapter 11

Lynnie stretched her arms over her head.
Opening her eyes, she stared at the patch of light blue sky visible
through the hole in the roof. She frowned, wondering why there was
a hole in the roof, and why the roof was pointy. She smiled as it
all came back to her. She was in a Cheyenne tipi with Daniel.
Daniel, who was sleeping peacefully beside her, one arm thrown over
his eyes. Daniel, who had made love to her yesterday afternoon, and
again before they went to bed last night.

Turning on her side, she let her gaze move
over him. Tall, dark, and incredibly handsome. She curled her hands
into fists to keep from reaching for him, from running her fingers
over his chest, along his lower lip. Was it wrong of her to want
him to make love to her again?

The thought sobered her and she sat up. He
had told her about his parents, the bad times they’d had because
his father was an Indian and his mother was a white woman. Lynnie
chewed on her thumbnail. She lived in a small town; if she married
Daniel, she would face the same censure as his mother. Was what she
felt for Daniel strong enough to ignore what her friends and
neighbors would think? What they would say about her behind closed
doors? To her face?

Of course, Daniel had said nothing of
marriage. Had she been foolish to give away her virginity to a man
she hardly knew? And yet, deep down, she felt as if she had known
him forever, as if she had been waiting for him all her life.

Excitement fluttered in the pit of her
stomach when he reached for her. Drawing her down beside him, he
murmured, “Good morning, Lynnie girl,” and kissed her, soft and
sweet, making her heart race and her toes curl with pleasure.

He was kissing her again when there was a
sharp rap on the flap of the tipi.

“
That’ll be Ho’neeho’esta’s wife,
bringing us breakfast,” he said. Rising, he went to the door of the
lodge.

Lynnie sat up, listening as he spoke to the
Indian woman. He returned a moment later carrying two bowls of what
looked like beef broth.

He handed her one of the bowls, then drank
from the one in his hand. “It’s buffalo stew.”

It was, she thought, surprisingly good, or
maybe she was just hungry.

After breakfast, they went for a walk through
the village. Lynnie’s gaze moved from side to side as they strolled
along. She had always thought of the Cheyenne as savages, yet that
didn’t seem to be the case. True, they dressed differently than she
did and they didn’t have any book learning, and yet they were just
people. Women chatted as they watched their children at play. She
saw women sewing and cooking, some were shaking out blankets,
others were hanging long strips of meat on wooden racks. Across the
river, young boys watched over the horse herd. Men strolled through
the camp, pausing to talk to their friends. Some sat outside their
lodges repairing weapons or fletching arrows, or simply enjoying
the early morning sun. Little girls played with dolls fashioned
from cornhusks or strips of buckskin, the boys played with small
bows and arrows or spears made of wood.

When they reached the far end of the village,
Blue Hawk turned downriver.

“
It’s so peaceful here,” Lynnie
remarked. “Nothing like I expected.”

“
What did you expect?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. All I know about
Indians is what I’ve read in the newspaper or heard from other
people.”

Blue Hawk grunted softly. “I guess you’ve
heard they’re all blood-thirsty savages.”

The pink that rose in her cheeks told him he
was right.

“
They’re just people, trying to get
along as best they can,” he said quietly. “Sure, they’ve done some
terrible things, but nothing worse than what’s been done to them.
In a few years, their way of life will be gone. Children will be
taken from their parents and sent away to boarding schools. Boys
and girls alike will have their hair shorn off. They’ll be
forbidden to speak their own language.”

“
That’s terrible!”

“
Yeah.”

They walked in silence for a while. When they
rounded a bend in the river, Lynnie lost sight of the village.
Cottonwoods and aspens grew thick here. Wildflowers dotted the
landscape. She came to an abrupt halt when she saw a bear standing
in the midst of a tangle of berry bushes across the river.

“
It’s all right,” Blue Hawk said,
following her gaze. “He’s too busy eating to bother us.”

Lynnie nodded, but she kept glancing back at
the bear until he was out of sight.

She had just started to relax when Daniel
stopped walking.

“
What is it?” She glanced over her
shoulder, wondering if the bear had decided to come after
them.

“
We’re being followed.”

“
By who?”

“
I’m not sure.”