Savage Courage

“As I will you,” Storm said from behind her, startling Shoshana so much she leapt to her feet.

She turned to him. “I . . . I . . . didn’t hear you come in,” she said, blushing as she remembered exactly what she had just said.

Ah, but he had heard; he knew now how she felt about him.

And had she heard right? Had he just confessed to loving her?

Could it be true? Did . . . he . . . love her?

“I wanted to come and see how your mother was faring after the excitement of finding her daughter,” Storm said.

He gazed down at Fawn and saw how soundly, how peacefully, she slept. He could even see a slight smile on her lips.

The reason she had lived this long, despite her weakness and illness these past months, was there. Her daughter had come to her!

He turned back to Shoshana and took her hands. “Nuest-chee-shee, come with me,” he said thickly. “Your Ina will be asleep for a while. Come to my lodge and sit with me beside my fire as you wait for her to awaken.”

“Yes, I would love to,” Shoshana murmured, the touch of his flesh against hers so warm, so wonderful.

She thought over what he had heard her confess, and again recalled how he had responded.

Had he really said he would always love her? Could any of this truly be happening?

She felt as though she were floating on clouds as, hand in hand, she walked with Storm from her mother’s lodge to his. And once they were inside and out of the view of his people, it seemed almost magical to Shoshana how they were drawn into one another’s arms.

When he brought his lips down to hers and gave her a soft, yet passionate kiss, everything within Shoshana melted. She was scarcely aware as he swept her fully into his arms and carried her to his bed of plush pelts and laid her there.

As he knelt down beside her, the look in his eyes awakening a need she had never known before, she reached her hands out for him.

Boldly she spoke what was in her heart.

“I need you,” she murmured, her eyes searching his. “I . . . want . . . you.”

She had never wanted a man before.

She had never met a man like him before.

She had never made love before.

Did he want her as much?

He swept his arms around her and drew her against his muscled chest. His powerful kiss was his response to her question.

As they kissed, they hurriedly undressed each other.

His heart throbbing, the heat in his loins intense, Storm spread himself over Shoshana.

As they continued to kiss, and to touch, and to feel the wonder of each other’s bodies, Shoshana’s head spun with a rapture she knew she would never be able to describe. She clung to him as for a moment his dark, stormy eyes gazed into hers. It was as though he still questioned whether this was what she truly wanted. He seemed to know that she was a virgin.

“Yes, yes,” she murmured, without his actually saying anything. “I can hardly stand the waiting, Storm. Please, oh, please do make love to me.”

“With, not to,” he said huskily. “When we make love, it will be both of us who will enjoy it.”

She smiled, nodded, then drew a ragged breath and closed her eyes when she felt the strength of his manhood against her thigh, and then at her private place where no man had ever been before.

She had heard tales of how it hurt the first time.

She was prepared, for she had also heard that after the hurt came exquisite pleasure.