Savage Arrow

He smiled at her. “But I can be happy elsewhere,” he added. “You see, Jessie, we Sioux love pure water, pure air, and clean land on which to place our tepees. We will find another place to set up our lodges and be as happy as before, even if that place is one assigned to us by the United States government.”

He sighed, then said, “This was all ours until the white pony soldiers came and took most of the land. But the one man who did the most damage was Reginald Vineyard. He took white gold from the sacred resting place of my Fox band’s past chiefs.”

“I’m so sorry,” Jessie murmured.

“He is the sorry one now,” Thunder Horse said. “My people’s shaman went and asked the spirits of the cave to haunt Reginald forever and ever. That is vengeance enough. Now I wish only to stay here long enough to fulfill my promise to my father—that he will be placed in the sacred cave, after which the cave will be sealed forever.”

Jessie again remembered those ghastly screams and sobs of fear that came from Reginald when he was having his nightmares. She now understood why those nightmares had tormented him so. She could not help feeling a little unnerved over the power the Sioux actually had to put curses on people.

“I’m so glad that the government gave you permission to stay until you were able to fulfill your promise to your father,” she murmured. “It could have been so different.”

“It has been a struggle to stay, for the white soldier chief, whom you call the president, at first said we could not stay. He said we had sold our land to him and it was not ours anymore,” Thunder Horse said glumly. “But we had not sold it to him. Land is not owned by any one person. It has always been the land of our people. We took money for the use of the land. When the Sioux sold an acre, we thought of it as a temporary arrangement. We believed that when payment ceased, the land was to return to the tribe.”

He paused, then said, “To us, the land, the earth, is revered as our mother. Nothing can ever be done to diminish this land, nor to make it less for all those whose moccasins walked upon it, and for all those whose tracks are still to come. The White Soldier Chief listened, and in the end allowed us to stay, but for only as long as my father lives. We must leave immediately after my father is placed in the cave. In the meantime, we were warned not to cause trouble with whites.”

“Even my cousin,” Jessie said sadly.

“Yes, even your cousin,” Thunder Horse agreed. “But the form of revenge we have chosen is something he cannot prove even if he should try to explain what is causing his nightmares.” He smiled. “Should he tell, people would see him as a man whose mind has become warped, and they would laugh at him.”

He stopped and drew her into his arms. “Enough talk of such things,” he said. “My woman, all day I have thought of you. Even when I was stalking the deer to bring home to my father, I was thinking of you and wanting you.”

“I have thought of you all day, too,” Jessie murmured, sighing with passion as he swept her closer, his dark eyes searching hers. “I love you so.”

His lips came down upon hers in a heated kiss. His hands between them molded her breasts.

She leaned into his hands, everything within her melting as he now placed a thigh between her legs and pressed it up and against her throbbing center.

“I need you so,” he whispered huskily against her lips.

“As . . . I . . . need you,” she said, almost swooning when he reached a hand up inside her skirt, caressing her where she already felt tender from want of him.

Suddenly he swept her up into his arms and ran with her along the riverbank. He stopped when they were far enough from the village to have intimate moments together beneath the starry heavens.

Thunder Horse laid Jessie where the grass was thick and green. He quickly disrobed her, then stood and let her watch him remove his clothes until he stood nude over her, his eyes branding her as he slowly swept them over her.

Although it was dark, there was enough light from the moon to reveal the need visible on the face of each.

Thunder Horse’s own ferocious hunger for her was like nothing he had ever felt before. He knelt down over her, a knee spreading her legs apart so that he could rest his throbbing manhood against her where she awaited his entry.

She twined her arms around his neck and smiled into his eyes as she felt pleasure beginning to spread through her. His fingers stroked her womanhood, and she was soon aflame with burning need.

This time there was no hesitation, only pure pleasure, especially when he thrust himself deep within her and began his rhythmic strokes.

Her entire being throbbed with quickening desire as she clung to him. His lips were on hers, kissing her wildly as their bodies strained together hungrily.

Feeling her tightening around his manhood as he reached even further within her, Thunder Horse felt electrified by a bolt of pure lightning. Her tightness, her yielding to his needs, made him groan against her lips.

And then he slid his mouth downward until he found one of her rosy nipples.

She sucked in a wild breath of wonder when he licked the nipple, then nipped at it with his teeth.

She clung.

She moaned.

She tossed her head as the pleasure mounted within her.

And then he again gave her a fierce, feverish kiss, as his hands moved between them to curve over her breasts.