Savage Skies

He was proud to call her not only Tiny Flames, but also his wife!

She shook her head, pale when she saw how wet he was. She had known that he planned to take a brief swim with his warrior friends, but she did not approve.

He had said it was customary for the men to take these icy swims at least twice during the winter. They would dive into a part of the river that had not yet gotten a layer of ice over the surface.

He had explained to her that the practice kept them strong against all things.

This was the first time she had seen him dive into the river when it was so icy cold outside, and she was horrified at the prospect of his getting ill from it.

Shirleen hurried to her feet.

She grabbed a towel, which she had traded for at the fort.

“Look at you,” she cried as she went to Blue Thunder and started drying him down. “How can you believe that you won’t get ill from that icy swim? I wish I could talk you out of doing it, but I know I would be wasting my breath.”

“It has made me feel invigorated after having to stay inside our lodge for so long a time,” Blue Thunder said, his eyes dancing as Shirleen continued to fuss over him. She finished drying his body, and then set to work on his long, black hair.

“It has taken several years off my life to sit by the fire, all warm and cozy, thinking about you being in that icy water,” Shirleen grumbled. “I still can’t believe you did this.”

“And I shall do it again when I feel my bones are getting too stiff from sitting idle by the fire during these winter months,” Blue Thunder said, giving her an amused smile as she stopped and put her fists on her hips, the towel slung over her shoulder. “I think you are prettier when you are mad, for I cannot take my eyes off you, my mitawin.”

“That kind of talk won’t get you anywhere,” Shirleen said stubbornly.

“I believe it will,” Blue Thunder replied, stepping out of his wet breechclout.

Now nude, his body warmed by the fire, he tossed the breechclout aside and reached for Shirleen, holding her hard against him.

The towel fluttered off her shoulder as she leaned closer to him.

“My husband, you are impossible,” Shirleen said, giggling as he twined his fingers through her hair, using his grip as a way to bring her lips closer to his.

“You are my everything,” Blue Thunder said huskily as his desire for her grew, the heat of his manhood pressing tightly against her. “My wife, I need you. Are our daughters at Aunt Bright Sun’s lodge for the rest of the day?”

“Yes, and for the rest of the night as well,” Shirleen said, breathless as he reached up inside her dress and began caressing her where she already ached for him.

She closed her eyes and sighed heavily, “My husband, oh, my husband . . .”

He quickly undressed her and tossed her clothes and moccasins aside, then picked her up and carried her to their bed of rich pelts.

He stretched her on her back beneath him as he blanketed her with his body, his eyes searching hers. His hands now moved slowly over her, causing her to draw quick breaths when he touched her more sensitive places.

“Perhaps this time we shall make a baby,” he whispered into her ear, now thrusting inside her that part of him that drove her wild.

“Yes, a baby,” Shirleen whispered, moving with him as his rhythmic strokes began within her. She could feel the heat of her cheeks and knew her face was flushed from the desire swelling inside her.

She tried hard not to show her disappointment each time they talked of how she had not yet become with child. They both wanted a child made from their special love for one another, and she was beginning to fear that maybe she would never be able to give him this child.

She had begun to think that the beatings Earl had given her might have somehow damaged her womb.

She hated to think he was still out there somewhere, hurting those weaker than himself. If he had taken another woman into his life, oh, how Shirleen pitied her. He was a man who seemed to take sadistic satisfaction from beating women.

When Blue Thunder had told her that Earl had disappeared without a trace, she had been horrified. She knew then that she would always have to watch closely when she was away from Blue Thunder’s side, for she was certain that sooner or later Earl would reappear in her life.

She would not feel entirely free or safe again until she knew that Earl had breathed his last.

But her misgivings about Earl had not stopped her from marrying Blue Thunder. Two days after his uncle’s burial they had exchanged vows. There had been three days and nights of celebrating, and then Shirleen and Blue Thunder were finally united as man and wife.

Ever since, they had shared the ultimate pleasure in lovemaking, neither of them seeming to be able to get enough of the other.