Wild Desire

Troubled, he continued watching Stephanie. The sun was lowering in the sky. She seemed frantic to take as many photographs as she could before the light became too faint.

“There is always tomorrow,” he said, rising to his feet. He circled his hands around her waist and drew her back against him. “We will travel to new places tomorrow. I will watch you again. Watching you gives me much pleasure.” He leaned over and spoke against her lips. “I want to make love to you. Now.”

Their lips came together in a frenzied, heated kiss. Enveloping Stephanie within his arms, Runner lowered her to the ground. Still kissing, his hands lifted her skirt and swept away her lacy underwear. Her hands groped and lowered his breeches.

Stephanie’s heartbeat quickened as he made one maddening plunge and was inside her. She opened herself to him, whispering with bliss against his lips as their naked flesh seemed to fuse, their bodies sucking at each other, flesh against flesh in gentle pressure.

He lay above her, bracing himself with his elbows. His hands caught hers and held them slightly above her. He kissed her eyes, her nose, the silken flesh of the column of her throat.

Tremors cascaded down Stephanie’s back when one of his hands slid down and crept up inside her blouse. She shuddered with ecstasy as his fingers circled her nipple, causing her breast to strain into his hand with anticipation.

Then he pulled himself away from her and moved down her body. Stephanie was almost delirious from pleasure. Wide-eyed, she watched him bend low over her between her thighs. She flinched in pleasant shock when his fingers spread the silky frond of hair at the juncture of her thighs, his tongue soon titillating the core of her womanhood, the tip of his tongue swirling and moist against her.

Stephanie closed her eyes in sheer ecstasy and her insides tightened and grew warm as his lips and tongue continued paying homage to her where she ever so sweetly throbbed. Never had anything felt so wonderfully sinful. As the pleasure mounted, she tossed her head from side to side. She chewed her lower lip. She folded and unfolded her hands into tight fists at her sides.

When she did not think that she could last much longer without tumbling over the edge into total bliss, she placed her hands on each side of his face and urged him back over her.

Runner sculpted himself to her moist body, molding perfectly to the curved hollow of her hips, and pressed himself deeply within her again. He kissed her breasts one at a time and sucked the nipples.

Runner was feeling the tension mounting deeply within the chasm of his desire, the sensations searing. He drove into her more swiftly and surely. Their bodies strained together.

Feeling his body hardening and tightening, Runner knew that he was near to the point of no return. He paused, and then pushed himself endlessly deeper into her, then shuddered intensely, her body absorbing the bold thrusts, answering his need with her lifted hips.

Afterward, he held her within his arms with exquisite tenderness. “I don’t want to leave this lovely place,” Stephanie murmured. “Let’s stay, Runner, and pretend we are the only two people on the earth.”

At that moment her stomach growled with hunger, making her laugh. “I didn’t bring enough food for an evening meal,” she murmured, recalling their meager picnic lunch.

“One day I hope that we can stay together, forever,” Runner said, helping her from the ground. “But I guess now isn’t the time to discuss it.”

Stephanie gave him a wide-eyed, wondering stare. Her heart leapt at the thought of marriage. It was a wonderful idea, but it scared her. Their worlds were so different, and she knew that he would ask her to adjust to his. He would never return to the life of a white man.

She shook such thoughts from her mind. She did not want to think about choices again. But she knew that, in time, she would have to decide what her future would be, where, and with whom.

A warm thrill soared through her at the thought of never having to say another good-bye to Runner. Surely she could be content in just knowing that he was hers. Yet, what of her photography?

Solemn, she began putting her equipment away.

Runner sensed her mood. He took her by the wrists and pulled her to him. “You do belong to me, heart and soul,” he said huskily.

His mouth crushed down upon her lips in a heated kiss. She melted against him, knowing that what he had just said was true.

When he released her, she smiled sweetly up at him. “You are right, you know,” she murmured. “We do belong together. We will work it out. I’ll make sure of it.”

They placed all of the equipment on the mule, mounted their steeds, and headed back, the sun splashing its last golden light across the western horizon.

Stephanie sighed with pleasure. She threw her head back and allowed her hair to tumble down her back. “I’ve never been so happy,” she shouted, laughter bubbling from within her.

Runner had brought her

close enough to her private car to see her safely there, then beneath the bright light of a full moon, he wheeled his horse around and rode away.

Bone tired, Stephanie took her horse into the cattle car and saw that it was watered and fed. Then, stretching and yawning, and with a stomach so empty it ached, she strolled idly from the cattle car, unaware that someone else had arrived.

When she stepped to the ground, she cried out. Strong arms circled her waist, and she found herself suddenly stretched out on the ground.

When she was finally able to see who her assailant was, she was stunned to find Damon Stout sneering down at her in the moonlight. This time he was making sure that he was holding her wrists fast to the ground, even though she did not have her derringer holstered at her waist.

“I saw you with the injun,” Damon said in a husky growl. “Did you let him take a feel of you? Or did he do more than that? Did he give you a poke or two? How’s about givin’ some to me?”