Nor could she stop herself from swaying slowly back and forth and crying out Fire Thunder’s name before blacking out.
The crowd gasped. The music ceased.
Fire Thunder bent over Kaylene. His heart ached when he saw her helplessly sprawled on the platform of soft pelts.
He had to push Little Sparrow and Running Fawn aside as they rushed to Kaylene, crying her name.
He lifted Kaylene into his arms and pushed his way through the crowd as everyone stood and pressed forward to stare at her.
When he was finally outside, Fire Thunder broke into a run. He gazed down at Kaylene’s flushed face. He saw her dry lips. He saw the rapid beat of her pulse at the base of her throat and knew that although the ceremony had been a success, she had not been strong enough to endure it any longer.
“I ask too much of you always,” Fire Thunder whispered, his eyes taking in Kaylene’s gentle loveliness, her innocence.
When Fire Thunder got Kaylene inside his lodge and into his bedroom, he ignored how seeing Kaylene lying so limply in his arms affected her panther. Midnight growled and strained at his leash as he stared with his luminous green eyes at Kaylene.
Fire Thunder placed Kaylene on the bed and sat down beside her. He caressed her hot brow, now knowing for almost certain what had caused her to faint.
The council house had been hot and they had sat too close to the fire.
The heat had doubled her weakness. She had not warned anyone that she had begun feeling faint.
And he saw that as brave, for he felt that she had kept it to herself so that she would not disrupt the ceremonies.
As he continued to gently caress Kaylene’s brow, he took advantage of this moment of privacy to again devour her loveliness, for he knew that she was not harmed and that she would soon awaken.
Her night-black hair spilled over her shoulders in wavy strands over her breasts. She had flawless features. Her body was sinuous, with a slim, exquisite waist, and slender legs with long and tapering calves.
He knew without even touching them that her thighs must have the feel of silk.
The blouse that she wore revealed slightly the tantalizing cleavage of her full breasts. He had only chanced touching them through her blouse that one time and had found them perfectly rounded and full.
His heart thudding like the drums he had left behind, his thumbs lightly caressed her flushed cheeks. He bent low over her, his lips a feather’s touch from hers.
Tracing the line of her jaw with his fingers, his pulse racing, he pressed his lips softly against hers and kissed her. The dark droop of her lashes on her cheeks fluttered ever so slightly.
Cradling her face in his hands, his kiss deepened, his hunger, his desire mounting within him.
But voices outside his lodge made him draw quickly away from Kaylene.
He tried to gain control of his erratic breathing. He swallowed hard as he started to push himself up from the bed.
But when he turned his eyes back to Kaylene again, he flinched as though he had been shot when he found her gazing up at him with wonder.
Kaylene’s heart raced within her. It was his kiss that had awakened her. She had felt the sensuous stirrings within her as the kiss had deepened.
She so badly wished to reach her arms out to him, to beckon him to come again to her, to kiss her, to caress her.
But Running Fawn and Little Sparrow were suddenly there at the archway of the bedroom, gazing questioningly from Fire Thunder to Kaylene.
“She is awake now,” Fire Thunder said, his eyes locking momentarily with Kaylene’s.
He cleared his throat, gave Kaylene a knowing smile, then turned and brushed past Running Fawn and Little Sparrow and hurriedly left the lodge.
Running Fawn and Little Sparrow went to Kaylene’s bedside.
“I was so worried about you,” Running Fawn said, gently touching Kaylene on the cheek.
Little Sparrow loosened Midnight’s rope and released him so that he could leap onto the bed beside Kaylene.