Bittersweet Ecstasy (39 page)

“Are you sure it is me you desire, or only the chief’s bonnet?”

Anguish flooded his eyes. “If you must ask such a question, you do not know me or trust me. It is wrong to battle for our union.”

“You are right. It is only that such fear lives within me. I have waited for you since I was born; now, I might lose you to evil. It clouds my mind and controls my tongue. I love and desire only you. Why must our laws bind us more to them than to each other?”

“We are bound by men’s interpretation of them, but that changes nothing. We will win this battle, my love.”

“Will we, Sun Cloud? Will we?” she asked frantically.

“If the vision is true, you are to join the Oglala chief. Do not agree to join Bright Arrow until he is chief, for it will not come to pass.” His eyes roamed her face; then he smiled into her worried gaze. His hands left her shoulders to push her hair aside and to stroke it, relishing its texture. Unable to halt himself, he pulled her into his arms. He sighed happily when she cuddled against him, knowing she was there with eagerness and trust. He had longed for this moment since their meeting by the pond. He could feel her heart beating rapidly and he could feel her tremors, or were they his? This was perilous before everything was straightened out, but he could not help himself.

With Sun Cloud touching her and declaring his love for her, she could think of nothing except how much she loved him and wanted him. She knew how much they were risking, being together like this, but she could not resist this stolen moment. His smell tantalized her nose, and her hands wandered over his dark and sleek torso. He was so unique, so splendid, so perfect, so intoxicating.

He lifted her and carried her into the concealment of the trees and laid her upon the damp grass. Hungering to feel her flesh beneath his starving hands, he claimed her body, caressing here and there. He nibbled at her ears and shoulders, and teased his tongue over his favorite spot on her throat. His mouth took hers possessively, exploring and heightening their desires. His hands grew bolder as his passions burned brighter. His hot breath made her quiver and cling to him as his lips traveled down her neck and to her breasts.

Singing Wind dreamily trailed her fingers over his
hairless frame. Her respiration had quickened with his movements, and she was tense with anticipation as she recalled their last and first union. Her entire body seemed to glow with the heat of his actions. He was enticing; he was stimulating; he was hers. No man could compare to him in looks or appeal. He was more important to her than her own life and honor. She was more alive in his arms than anywhere. He could take full control of her being, for she did not care and she yielded her all eagerly. Her body reacted to each touch, to each kiss, and seemingly pleaded for more and more. That day by the pond had been marvelous; but tonight, their contact was sheer ecstasy.

Sun Cloud’s hand drifted down her taut stomach and across her sleek thighs, covered the dark domain which it located there. He could feel the heat radiating from it like a roaring fire. Bittersweet ecstasy filled him, for he wanted her instantly and urgently, but leisurely and gently. He called on all he knew and had heard to bring her to an almost unbearable height of arousal. His fingers invaded her secret domain and claimed it blissfully, causing her to moan and writhe as his mouth added further rapturous torment to her breasts and lips. He wished they had forever to make love, but they did not. The longer they lingered here in passion’s fiery embrace, the more likely they were to be discovered. He worked swiftly and greedily to prepare her to accept his entrance, but she had been ready for him long ago.

Singing Wind’s body and mind were ensnared by the delightful sensations which he was creating and stimulating. She wanted to relax and enjoy them, but she was too tense and ravenous to stall her feeding much longer. Each action brought bliss and sated one need, while tormenting her and inspiring a deeper need which demanded appeasement. She could lie there forever, allowing him to have his way with her.

Sun Cloud moved between her parted thighs and very slowly entered her, staggering both of them with the heady contact. As he set his pattern, she joined him. Their bodies moved to and fro in a magical dance of love. When he began to tease her sensuously by nearly withdrawing between each stroke, she wrapped her legs around him and captured him tightly against her womanhood. Their mouths fused feverishly as they performed their own magical dance of love. Soon, neither could contain their hunger and they demanded to feast on delectable passion. Their bodies worked in unison as they sought the ultimate peak of pleasure, and found it together.

He murmured over and over in her ear, “I love you, I love you, I love you, Singing Wind. You are mine forever and beyond as with my mother and father. One day our love and passion will rival theirs.”

Singing Wind kissed him and hugged him fiercely while the stunning release to her tension struck her forcefully, as did his words. “I love you, Sun Cloud. I will never give myself to another, for I am yours,” she vowed as she began her downward spiral into a tranquil state.

Still, they kissed and pressed close together, knowing how long it would be until they were together this way again. Their hearts drummed heavily and they were wet with love’s laborious perspiration. It was difficult to breathe after their passionate task and between kisses, but they did not mind.

Sun Cloud finally leaned away from her and gazed into her lovely face. Moonlight played over her naked and damp flesh with its rosy glow. Sated passion caused her eyes to darken and soften. She was a mixture of innocence and earthy sensuality. His hands caressed her cheeks and teased over her glistening skin. She was powerful magic; she was irresistible allure; she
was heady enchantment; she was his.

Her fingertips lovingly and appreciatively grazed his jawline and traced over his shadowed features. “If this is the last time you have me, you will never be able to forget me or to replace me,” she teased provocatively, then mischievously seized his hair to pull his mouth back to hers. Her mouth meshed with his and tasted his response.

When their lips parted, his teeth playfully grasped her lower lip and tugged on it. His eyes were filled with devilish mirth, but she could barely read it, for he was still above her in the shadows, and still within her body. He did not move aside or withdraw, for his manhood was growing large and hot with renewed desire. As he began to move seductively, he saw her smile knowingly, then lift her arms to encircle his neck. He heard her moan in rising desire and felt her arch to meet him. Soon, they were making love again.

Later, he lifted her as before, this time returning her to the water. He sat in the chest high section and placed her on his lap. As his lips worked upon hers, his hands sensuously bathed her.

When he lingered too long and too enticingly in her private domain, she laughed against his lips and murmured, “Do you have such hunger and stamina that you can make love three times each night?”

His merry gaze met hers as he replied, “I have never done so before, but you inspire me and arouse me as no woman ever has before. I cannot seem to have my fill of you, even though each feeding seems matchless. I am like the earth in the hottest summer; each time you rain love on me, I savor it, only to dry quickly and demand more of love’s refreshing and enlivening liquid. If you are near, I crave you.” He nuzzled her ear as he added, “When you are not, I pain for you.”

“Then quickly prove our brother’s visions are false
or wrong, so we will not suffer apart. My body needs love’s rain each sun and moon.”

“Love’s rain? Or mine?” he taunted, nibbling at her earlobe.

Her gaze locked with his as she vowed, “Only yours, my love, only yours.” Their lips sealed in another blazing kiss.

It was difficult, but he pulled her arms from his neck. “We must go, my love, for we tempt danger by remaining here too long.”

“It is so hard to leave you, to return to our pretenses.”

“I know, my love. Swear you will not be angry at my next words.”

She stiffened slightly and gazed at him as if to mutely say, please do not spoil this time together. “I swear,” she hesitantly replied.

He suggested in a strained voice, “Watch over Medicine Bear. With his sons dead and Silver Hawk standing one step from the Blackfeet chief’s bonnet, I fear for his life. If your brother’s vision is true, your chief and father must die for it to come to pass.”

Singing Wind shifted her position from his lap to between his legs, her knees sinking in the soft mud on the river bottom. She gazed into his entreating eyes and placed her hands upon his shoulders. “You are still suspicious of him, are you not?” she probed.

He did not want to reply, at least not honestly, but did. “Yes.”

She smiled and caressed his cheek, for he had trusted her and their love enough to be honest. “He left camp while you were eating with Dull Knife and did not return until it was eating time again. He was tense and angry, at more than Tashina’s absence,” she confessed painfully. “I do not wish to accept it or to speak it, but there is a bad spirit in him, one I have viewed and
denied too long. He causes stirrings of doubt and fear within me, and your words tell me why. Perhaps it is wrong, but I will watch over Medicine Bear, and I will watch my brother. I do not believe his vision is true, but I cannot explain Bright Arrow’s, for he is not like Silver Hawk and would not lie about the Great Spirit’s message. Silver Hawk desires Tashina and the chiefs bonnet, and I fear he will do anything to win them.” She related her past talks with her brother, especially those involving him and her and Bright Arrow. “You trick him, for you are not his friend.”

“I am sorry he is your brother and the son of Brave Bear, but I must not allow him to join his evil and greed to those of the white man. If he is wrong, I must do all I can to expose him and punish him. Will you still love me and join me if I must…destroy him for his evil?”

She realized how confident he was about their relationship to speak so openly. “You must do what is best for our people. If he is bad, you must punish him. If he is evil, you must…destroy him. I beg you, my love, be sure you are right before you take either action against him, for others might be as blind as I was and may side with him.”

He hugged her so fiercely that she could hardly breathe. Love and gratitude shone brightly in his eyes. “I was right to choose you, Singing Wind, for you stand above all other women, as my mother did. No other woman could have won my heart. One day our love and passion will rival those of Gray Eagle and Shalee. You have her same mixture of strength and gentleness. You have her same courage and cunning. You have her same wisdom and pride. You take much and you give much, as it should be. You are mine forever and beyond.”

As she had done earlier, Singing Wind’s fingertips traced his proud chin and full lips, then trailed over his
nose and across his forehead. She wanted to know, to touch, to admire, to kiss every inch of him. As before, she playfully seized his hair on either side of his arresting face and pulled his mouth to hers, fusing their lips as she straddled his lap and brought their private domains into intimate contact. She spread kisses over his face, then the top of his wet head as his mouth searched for and found her taut breasts and lavished attention on them.

He gazed into her serene eyes and revealed, “Shalee knew of my love and desire for you, and they pleased her. When I tried to speak of you to her, she laughed and said she had seen the signs for a long time. She guessed I had not discovered this truth long before I spoke to her. I told her of how I had tried to resist you, but could not. She said, ‘Such is the way of love, my son.’ She asked if you felt the same about me, and I joked about you resisting my magic as I had resisted yours. She said no female could resist me for I was my father’s image in looks and ways. Their love is powerful and endless; even death cannot destroy it, as it will be with us. She said we would speak of you and of my taking the chiefs bonnet after the war council, and my father agreed, for he knew he was no longer a top warrior and it was time for me to take his place. They did not live to see that sun.”

His hands grasped her face and pulled it close to his. “I must have you and the chief’s bonnet, my love; it is my destiny and my duty.”

“With all my heart, I know your words and feelings are true. We will expose my brother’s evil. We will prove his vision is false, and we will be free to join each other. I will stick to him as a feather to a greased hand. He will do and see nothing which I do not.”

He cautioned worriedly, “Take no risks, Singing Wind. Do not return to your stubborn and daring
ways. He is your brother, but he is dangerous. He would not hesitate to slay you or me to get his desires. Watch him, but do nothing more. Do not follow him or ask him questions. He will become suspicious; then all is lost. Promise to obey me, for I could not bear to see you harmed or to lose you forever. Please,” he urged her, showing his inner emotions to her.

“You are right again. I would risk my life to expose such evil, but I will not risk yours, my love. We will wait and watch, for surely Grandfather will expose such evil. When can we be together again?”

“I do not know, my love. We must be careful until this mistake is corrected. I will try to find a time and place which are safe.”

“If we tell Tashina, she could help us meet when her father is away.”

“Tashina is young and in love. She is afraid. If trouble arises, she could tell all to free herself from her own trap. No one must know.”

“I am still impulsive and selfish, for my mind is cloudy.”

“Return to camp, and I will remain here for a time. Make sure you avoid me, or the truth will be as clear as spring water.”

“I can sleep now, and calm my fears, for you will be mine,” she stated confidently. “Be sure to avoid other women as you avoid me.”

“Who could even stand in your shadow, Singing Wind? No one.”

“As no one can stand in yours, Sun Cloud, no one.” She kissed him and, after pulling on her garments, returned to camp.