“Did you enjoy your outing?” Fire Thunder asked, giving Kaylene a half glance as he shoved his empty bowl aside.
“Very much,” Kaylene said, turning to gaze at him. His eyes locked with hers and held.
“Until you came and scolded me for taking the walk,” she quickly added.
“I was only thinking of your welfare,” Fire Thunder said, lifting a log and placing it on those that had burned low on the grate.
“I’ve been wondering about something,” Kaylene said, wanting to lead them away from their strained conversation.
“And that is?” Fire Thunder asked, settling down beside her again. His eyes could not help but stray, raking over her, taken anew by her loveliness.
Ah, her tiny waist. Her tempting breasts that pressed against the inside of her cotton blouse. The gentle taper of her slender ankles.
Oh, how he wished to place his fingers at her ankles and slowly move them up her leg, venturing up past her knees, to the inside, tender flesh of her thighs.
His loins burned with a fierce fire to think of what lay beyond, where her secrets were hid behind tendrils of hair.
He did not doubt that no man’s hands had roamed there yet. She was surely virginal in every way.
He had thought that just perhaps he had been the first to kiss her. She had seemed so unpracticed in how to react to the kiss, except that he had heard the sharp intake of her breath. He knew by that, that his kiss had given her pleasure.
Kaylene became unnerved by the way he was looking at her. The way his gaze traveled over her, it was as though she might be some sweet morsel, food for his hungers to feed upon!
She cleared her throat nervously and placed the empty bowl beside her. “Where are you originally from?” she blurted out. “Few Indians are welcome in Mexico. Why are you here? Why did they allow it?”
She knew some of the answers to her questions, but she needed to speak of something, anything, to help calm herself.
“My people first lived in Wisconsin,” Fire Thunder said, turning his gaze to watch the fire lick the logs on the grate. “Many are still there.”
“But why then did you choose to live here in a land so different from your native Wisconsin?” Kaylene asked, seeing that she had touched a delicate chord within his heart by the way he gazed longingly into the fire, and spoke so emotionally.
“My Thunder clan of Kickapoo left there long ago,” Fire Thunder said, turning a wistful gaze her way. “We tired of broken treaties, of the white man’s constant intrusions on our lives. We are a private people. To find a measure of peace and privacy, we traveled to Indiana, Illinois, Texas, and then the Mexicans gave us much land and our freedom to do as we wished. We are happy here. We plan to stay.”
“I’m happy for you,” Kaylene said. “I’m glad the Mexicans have been kind to you.”
“We have thanked the Mexicans time and time again so that they know for certain that we appreciate this that they have done for us,” Fire Thunder said, amazed to see how Kaylene seemed so sincere in what she was saying, and in how she was acting.
He had thought that she had adapted to this change in her life. Now he knew for certain that she had.
It made his heart race to know that they were closer now than ever before to being able to embrace without antagonisms interfering.
“But,” he quickly interjected, “we Kickapoo never forget who is truly responsible for our blessings. Kitzihiat, our Great Spirit, has guided us here, where life is finally good to my people. The Kickapoo, in appreciation for the bounty of Kitzihiat, dedicate their dances and ceremonial food to him and his familiares, relatives, to bring them pleasure.”
“I only know of God, yet I have been kept from worshipping him,” Kaylene said, her voice drawn. “My father never allowed me to enter a church. Not even once. I have hungered to know about God and His Goodness. Perhaps I can learn about your Great Spirit. Would you teach me?”
Stunned that Kaylene was this open and receptive to him tonight, Fire Thunder was for a moment· at a loss for words.
Then he willingly told her what she seemed eager to know. “Religion is the principal force integrating all Kickapoo society,” he said. “And although we Kickapoo guard religious information with the utmost secrecy, I shall share some of it with you because you are sincere in asking . . . and because you are now a part of our lives.”
He moved in front of her. As he sat on his haunches before her, their eyes locked, their breaths mingling, he explained the mystery of his people to her.
“You have already seen that the manitous or spirits are the central force in our religion. My people believe that everything in nature has a manitou—the fire, the wind, the buffalo—and each has its own power. In order to keep our lives peaceful and productive, a certain order must be maintained among them. At the top is Kitzihiat, who created everything except the world itself, which was made by Wisaka.”
“I truly love knowing these things,” Kaylene said softly, her pulse racing as Fire Thunder reached and placed his hands at her waist.
She sucked in a wild breath of surprise when he lifted her on his lap and urged her legs to straddle him around his waist.
Wearing no underthings, she was very aware of his hard body pressed up against her thighs and . . . and of that part of her that sensually throbbed as he kissed her endearingly.