Wild Thunder

“You say that I am different in your eyes than other women,” Hannah said, hoping that she was right to trust him. “How am I different from other women you have known? I find it hard to understand why you would even want to be with me. I am tall and lanky. I even find myself ugly when I look into the mirror.”

She paused, then her eyes wavered into his. “Do you pretend an attraction to me only to get closer to my brother?” she said, her voice breaking. “Is it to seal a bond between yourself and my brother so that you would be assured of no longer having cause to feel a strain between one another?”

Strong Wolf placed his hands to her waist and held her at arm’s length as his eyes devoured her. “Your mirror lies when you gaze into it,” he said huskily. “I have never seen anyone as lovely. And, no, I do not lie to you about my feelings. This is no game. This is not done purposely to gain tighter friendships and trust between myself and your brother. Those things I achieve on my own, in my own time. And I had achieved a closeness with your brother until the incident with the dam. But now I know that I was wrong to doubt him. I see Tiny as my problem. Not your brother.”

He drew her closer. “You and I could have so much together,” he said thickly. “So much is already there

to build upon. What are the depths of your feelings for me?”

Hannah’s heart swam in a rapturous sweetness to have him speak to her in such a way, to know that he could look past her shortcomings and love her. It did not seem real. It was like a fantasy, that which she had read about many times in novels.

He brushed her lips with a kiss, then held her close. “Speak to me, my woman, of your feelings,” Strong Wolf whispered.

Hannah sucked in a wild breath of rapture and closed her eyes. Her knees were weak. The excitement of the moment was so intense, her throat was dry.

But in her mind’s eye she was seeing her brother back at the ranch, almost helpless against Tiny Sharp. She was wrong not to hurry back to him, to warn him.

Although she could spend forever like this, in this man’s arms, she knew that there were more important issues now than giving in to her feelings that stole her senses away.

“How do I feel?” Hannah murmured, easing from his arms. “I dare not say just yet. Please give me time to think about us, about everything. For now, I must return home quickly to my brother. I know he heard the blast made from the dynamite. He has to know that Tiny disobeyed his orders. I need to be there to help stand up against that small creature, who in his mind, thinks he is a giant among men.”

Strong Wolf chuckled. “That is an amusing comparison,” he said, taking her hand. “Come. I will take you to your brother’s ranch.”

He led her back up the tangled path, toward his horse.

Before they got there, he stopped and held her hands. “I will look forward to our next time together,” he said. “Perhaps then you will be free to talk with me, to share with me.”

“I promise that I will,” Hannah said, then went on with him to his horse.

The ride was not long until the ranch house came into sight.

Strong Wolf reined in his horse.

“I will not take you the rest of the way,” he said thickly. “I have you close enough so that you will not have far to walk. Until you speak with your brother and clear up what has happened today, I will stay my distance.”

Hannah nodded. She slipped from the saddle and gazed up at him again.

She became breathless when he reached down, swept an arm around her waist again, and drew her back onto his lap and kissed her. He then released her again and placed her on the ground.

Dazzled by the kiss, Hannah was speechless as she gazed up at him. Their eyes locked for a moment, then he rode away.

Hannah sucked in a quavering breath. She was numb by the experience with Strong Wolf. Sweetly, deliciously numb.

Chapter 8

Oh, what a plague is love!

How shall I bear it?

She will inconstant prove,

I greatly fear it!

—ANONYMOUS, 19TH CENTURY

Breathlessly Hannah walked toward her brother’s house, admiring it. It was a large, one-story log ranch house, surrounded with elms, oaks, and maple trees.

Far back from the house stood a bunkhouse and other outbuildings. A great gate surrounded the house, giving the entrance to the grounds.