In fact, his eyes were blurring from the lack of food in his body. And although he did not like to think of eating during his time of mourning, he knew that he must. He must stay strong for his people, in order to lead them.
Sage allowed Leonida to guide him down onto a cushion of blankets beside the fire and the food. He gladly accepted a tray that she fixed for him, eyeing it hungrily. He waited for her to fill her own wooden plate with food for herself. When she finally sat down next to him, with corn fritters. sliced peaches, pine-needle tea, and various other offerings, and started plucking the different morsels up with her fingers, he dove in. Soon his plate was empty, almost without even a blink of his eyes.
Leonida giggled at how quickly he had emptied his plate. She set her own plate aside and refilled his. “Your people are wonderful cooks,” she murmured. “I hope one day to learn all of the secrets of Navaho wives, so that I can always have a delicious meal waiting for you.”
Sage put a hand on her wrist, urging her to set the plate down on the floor of the wigwam. “My wife, my stomach has been warmed by food,” he said huskily. “But now my heart needs the same sort of nourishment.” He drew her into his embrace, his mouth moving toward hers. “My wife, love me tonight. Help lift my burdens at least for a while.”
“I’m always here for you, darling,” she whispered, twining her arms around his neck. She glanced toward the closed entrance flap. “But what about Runner? He should be coming home anytime now. We can’t allow him to find us making love. He will learn soon enough the desires of the heart.”
“Runner is staying with Adam tonight,” he said, combing his fingers through her long and flowing hair. “When he asked, I thought it best. I thought perhaps I might not be able to sleep, with the sadness of tomorrow pressing down on my heart.”
“Darling,” Leonida whispered, taking nibbles of his lower lip, “let our lovemaking be a potion for your grief. Let it heal you. Pure Blossom would not want you to grieve so over her death. She wanted nothing more of life than to see that you were happy. Darling, you were her life, her reason for getting up in the morning. You were her every heartbeat. Through you, my love, she still lives.”
“You speak with the wise heart of a Navaho elder,” Sage said, smiling down at her as he framed her face between his hands. “Your words have touched my very soul. I love you. Oh, how I love you.”
His mouth bore down upon hers. He gently took her wrists and pulled her away from the fire and food, spreading her out beneath him, where blankets and soft pelts were laid across the floor.
He kissed her for a moment longer, then slowly, almost meditatively, removed her clothes. After she was splendidly naked before him, Sage stood up and began undressing, but stopped when she came to him and moved his hands away. She removed his clothes herself, her eyes locked with his.
“Forget everything tonight, my darling, except our passion for each other,” Leonida murmured, tossing the last of his garments aside. “Tonight, my darling, give yourself up to the pleasure. I love you. Let me show you how much.”
Smiling up at Sage, she took his hands and led him down over her as she lay down on her back. Their lips met in a frenzied kiss, and when she opened her legs to him, locking them around his waist, he began his eager thrusts within her.
“I love you,” she whispered as he slipped down to suckle one of her breasts. She twined her fingers through his thick black hair as pleasure spread through her body.
“Darling, darling . . .” she whispered in a husky voice she did not recognize as hers.
Once again his steel arms enfolded her, and with one insistent thrust he was in her again, magnificently filling her. She rolled her head back and forth, her body seeming to be one massive heartbeat, throbbing from her head to her toes with building excitement and anticipation.
Sage buried his fingers in Leonida’s hair and held her face still, his lips finding hers in a gentle kiss. He felt her hunger in the hard, seeking pressure of her lips. He was almost beyond coherent thought as the wild splendor spread its fire through him, the flames licking at his insides.
The passion was cresting.
He was soaring, flying higher and higher.
He moved himself more slowly within her, then faster, with quick and demanding thrusts.
Soon his body turned to liquid fire, and he grew dizzy with the passions exploding within him. He clung to Leonida as his body spasmed into hers.
She cried out against his lips as she gave herself over to the bliss of the moment, feeling him pressing endlessly deeper as he plunged again and again into her.
And then they lay cuddled together, breathless. Sage stroked her back. “Tonight we perhaps made a child?” he whispered against her cheeks.
Leonida’s eyes widened and her breath slowed. “Darling, the way you said that makes me think you would wish it to be so,” she said, leaning away from him so that she could see him clearly. “A short while ago you spoke against having a child. What has changed your mind?”
“My wife,” Sage said, brushing a kiss across her lips. “You are the reason. You should never be denied anything as precious as having a child. And, my beautiful Leonida, you have ways of convincing your husband that the future is not all that bleak after all. Perhaps a child would heal many of my deep-seeded wounds, caused by the injustices of the world. A child is an innocent thing. A newborn child gives one the feeling of a rebirth for all things. Our child, Leonida. Our child would do this for this Navaho chieftain.”
“Then I pray that I can tell you soon that I am with child,” Leonida whispered, her lips trembling against his as she kissed him.
“I would wish for a daughter first,” Sage whispered against her lips. “She will be called Pure Blossom. My sister would be alive, always, in our child.”
“That is such a beautiful thought,” Leonida sighed. “I shall whisper it to Pure Blossom tomorrow while I help prepare her for her burial.”
Sage hugged her tightly to him. “You are so very special,” he said, his voice breaking. “So very, very special.”
Cha
pter 28