Hannah’s lips turned into a smile as she reached her hand out for the doll. “I would love to have your pretty doll,” she murmured, taking it. “And when I have a pretty little girl like you, can she also play with it?”
The girl’s eyes lit up. She nodded. Then, her long braids bouncing, she turned and ran back to her parents and stood between them, holding their hands.
More and more people, children and adults alike, came to Hannah and placed gifts at her feet. Her jaws began to ache from smiling so much as she thanked them.
When everyone turned and returned to their evening chores, the sky darkening, changing to the color of dark grape jelly, Hannah bent to her knees and began gathering the gifts into her arms.
“There is so much,” she said, “I am so very touched by the generosity of your people.”
Strong Wolf knelt beside her and hel
ped her,
“Their acceptance of you touches my very soul,” Strong Wolf said, walking into the lodge with Hannah.
“I hope to never disappoint them,” Hannah said, placing the items on the floor against the wall opposite the fireplace.
“And you never shall,” Strong Wolf said, emptying his own arms.
They left the lodge for the river. The moon was now bright and made a path of light through the thick brush as Strong Wolf and Hannah went farther and farther away from his village, to assure their full privacy while bathing.
When they reached a place of overhung rock, and where a sandy shore reached down into the water, Strong Wolf took Hannah’s hand and stopped her.
Her heart pounding, Hannah gazed up at him as he dropped the clothes and soap to the ground and turned to her, his eyes dark with a longing that she recognized.
She felt the same longing deep within her soul. It had been too long since they had been alone in ways that sent her heart into a slow, sensual melting.
And she knew that they would do more than bathe when they got into the water. They would come together as one heartbeat, their bodies locked in passionate embraces.
“Is this truly happening?” she whispered as he drew her dress over her head. “Are those horrible days finally behind us? Are we really together again?”
His pulse racing, the excitement building in his heart, Strong Wolf cupped her breasts within the palms of his hands, his thumbs rubbing sensually over her nipples. “It is real,” he said huskily. “And let us not look back at what was. We have now. We have a future together.”
Hannah suddenly recalled something else. “Clara!” she said, eyes wide. “She is going to teach your children. Isn’t that wonderful?”
“If she is as good at heart as you are, yes, it will be a right decision made on my part to bring her here in the capacity of teacher,” Strong Wolf said, bending to his knees, removing her shoes.
“I remember now that my father said that Clara would care for Chuck after school hours, while hired help would care for him through the day,” Hannah said, closing her eyes in ecstasy as Strong Wolf ran his hands slowly up her legs, across her belly, and then cupped her breasts again. “She will make sure that Tiny doesn’t make wrong entries in the journals anymore. In fact, she might even be able to point out the discrepancies to Chuck. I’m certain they are there.”
“Tiny has left your father’s ranch.” Strong Wolf said, stepping away from her, removing his clothes.
Hannah’s eyes widened. “What?” she gasped.
“Tiny left after your brother caught him in the act of deceit,” Strong Wolf said, tossing his fringed buckskin shirt aside. “As far as I know, he has left the country.”
“Finally he is gone,” Hannah said. She ran her fingers over Strong Wolf’s muscled chest, relishing the touch of his smooth, copper skin against her fingertips. She sucked in a wild breath when she moved her fingers lower, just barely grazing the tip of Strong Wolf’s manhood.
She went limp with desire when Strong Wolf swept her into his arms and carried her into the water. He held the bar of soap in one hand as with his free hand he turned her to face him, her breasts pressed against his chest as she locked her legs around his waist.
He carried her until the water was lapping at his waist, then stopped and kissed her.
They kissed for a moment, then he placed her feet to the rocky bottom of the stream.
He washed her hair with the soap, then rinsed it and lay it over her shoulders, where it lay like spirals of golden, spun silk.
Their eyes locked as Strong Wolf began rubbing the soap over her body, lathering her breasts, slowly, first one, and then the other, causing her nipples to grow hard and taut with a pleasurable ache.
Strong Wolf caressed her breasts, then moved the soap lower across the slimness of her body below her breasts, down to the supple broadening into the hips, with its golden, central muff of hair.