“His name is Jimmy?” Runner said, gazing down at the child, whose wide, blue eyes studied him. “That is a nice name. But when he grows older, I would hope though that you would allow him to take on a Navaho name.”
“A Navaho name?” Sharon said softly. Her eyes studied the child’s face.
“I was born with the name Trevor,” Runner said, slowly rocking the child back and forth in his arms. “When my mother died and I was taken in by the Navaho, to be raised as one with them, the name Runner was given to me.” He smiled over at Stephanie, then at Sharon as he gave her the child. “The name Runner was chosen by my adopted father Sage because of my ability to outrun the rest of the boys in the village while we played games.”
“I’ve never thought much about Indians,” Sharon said, closely scrutinizing Runner. “But you’re a white man, and it looks to me like they’ve treated you kind enough. I guess they will treat me and my Jimmy with the same kindness.”
She smiled over at Stephanie as she came to her side. “Leastways, I’ll be safe, won’t I?” she murmured.
“Very,” Stephanie said, returning the smile. “Now, let’s go and get you that hotel room.”
They left the shack and went to the hotel. Runner didn’t know about the room awaiting him and Stephanie, and she didn’t see the need in telling him. If they were going to wait for Sharon and the child to have a full night’s rest in a warm, comfortable hotel room, she could just suggest they sleep there themselves, so they could be there to take her to Runner’s village tomorrow.
She smiled to herself. Things were working out for everyone, it seemed.
Runner took a guarded step into the hotel room with Stephanie. It was on the same floor and only a few doors from where Sharon and Jimmy were being seen to.
Stephanie was thinking about Sharon. She would never forget the tenderness in the woman’s eyes as she had carried her child into the clean room. That was enough payment, in itself, for Stephanie. The theft had been forgotten as quickly. To be sure, though, that no one else had the opportunity to steal her camera equipment, she had it safely in her arms now, while Runner carried the tripod.
She gave a wicked smile to Runner as he moved farther into the room that was aglow with the soft light from two kerosene lanterns on tables flanking the large, luxurious four-poster bed. She had put more than equipment in her saddlebags: she had slipped something thin, lacy, and pretty into one of them.
“I have not seen such a room since Mother died,” Runner said, leaving the tripod leaning against a wall. He looked down at the plush carpet, soft as silk beneath his moccasined feet. Laughing softly, he walked gingerly in circles over it.
Then he walked over to the bed and pushed a hand against the mattress, finding it softer than the down from beneath an eagle’s wing. He stroked the red satin sheets, finding them sleek and wonderful.
Then he cast a suspicious look over his shoulder when he spied a bottle of champagne and two long-stemmed glasses on the table beside the bed, as though someone had planned it all to be this way.
“Champagne?” he said in a slow drawl. “If I did not know better, I would suspect that my woman had planned ahead of time to lure me to this room.”
Stephanie lay the saddlebags aside and went to Runner. “And what if I did?” she said in a soft purr. Her hands crept up inside his shirt. She ran them over his broad, muscled chest. “Of course I had no idea our arrival here would be delayed. But I don’t mind. It was wonderful to see the delight in Sharon’s eyes. By now, she has probably taken a long, leisurely bath. I imagine Jimmy is spotless.” She frowned. “It might take awhile for the sores on his head to heal, though. Poor, dear child.”
“My woman’s compassion runs deep,” Runner said, lifting his arms as Stephanie drew his fringed shirt over his head.
“No more deeply than yours,” Stephanie said, tossing his shi
rt aside. She smiled sweetly up at Runner as her fingers moved to the waist of his breeches. She unfastened them and began slowly, seductively pulling them over his lean, narrow hips. “But let’s not talk of compassion. Let’s only concentrate on the moment. I have all sorts of ideas. Care to share yours with me?”
“I do not plan to tell you,” Runner said, stepping out of his breeches. “I will show you.”
“You don’t care that I planned this room of seduction without your knowledge?” Stephanie said, as his fingers began unbuttoning her blouse.
His breath caught in his throat as Stephanie reached one of her hands to his manhood and stroked it. He closed his eyes, smoldering passion spreading through him.
“I love you so,” Stephanie whispered, then moved her hand away and finished undressing him.
Runner opened his eyes. They were ablaze with need. He started to pick Stephanie up, to carry her to the bed. But she shook her head and stepped away from him.
“Not yet,” she murmured, her eyelids heavy as rapture began to claim her. “I’ve got something to do first.”
Runner questioned her with his eyes when she turned from him and grabbed her saddlebags and took them with her behind a folding screen.
“I won’t be long,” she said.
Runner watched as one by one Stephanie’s clothes were laid across the top of the screen. He was puzzled as to why she would need such privacy to undress. His heart raced with anticipation at the thought of running his hands again over her silken soft body.
Finally, totally nude, Stephanie slipped into her slinky, clinging, black, lacy silk nightgown. She ran her hands down her body, causing the gown to cling to her flesh, her nipples firm and erect beneath the black fabric.
Lifting her hair so that it tumbled from her shoulders and down her back in rivulets, Stephanie stepped from behind the screen and smiled at Runner’s expression as he stared at her, his eyes and mouth wide.