Savage Arrow

“He is already well enough prepared to become our Historian should fate require it before he grows into full maturity,” he said thickly. “One never knows what tomorrow may bring, especially in these days when so much has been taken from my people.”

“And I am blood kin to one of those who took so much from you and your people,” Jessie murmured, lowering her eyes.

She looked quickly up at Thunder Horse again, her heart skipping a beat when she found that he had come around the fire and was now sitting beside her on the pallet of blankets.

She felt a blush heat her cheeks. He was so close she could reach out and touch him, and she was so tempted to do it.

She loved touching his smooth copper skin. She loved everything about him.

“Ho, Reginald Vineyard is one of those who took much from my band of people,” Thunder Horse said, nodding. He gazed into the flames of the fire. “But he is paying for it. Every night he pays.”

“What do you mean?” Jessie asked, suddenly picturing Reginald crying out as he ran down the corridor after having a frightful nightmare.

“Your cousin is visited by the spirits of my people’s sacred cave,” Thunder Horse said, slowly turning his eyes back to Jessie. “Does he not experience the dreams that whites call nightmares?”

“Yes, he has nightmares,” Jessie said breathlessly, her heart pounding in her chest. “How would you know that?”

“Because that was what was necessary to make him realize the evil he did by entering my people’s sacred burial cave and disturbing the dead. He took white gold from the walls where the stories of my people were drawn long ago,” Thunder Horse said thickly.

“The cave where he found the silver was—”

“A sacred burial place for the chiefs of my people,” Thunder Horse said, interrupting her. “It is the cave where my own father will be placed when he finds peace in death.”

“Then it is a curse that causes Reginald’s nightmares,” Jessie said, now recalling Jade telling her something about an Indian’s curse.

“Let me tell you everything,” Thunder Horse said, reaching over and taking her hands in his.

“Yes, please tell me,” she murmured.

She swallowed hard as his eyes searched hers. Then he began the tale that explained Reginald’s nightmares.

“The curse is having the effect you wished it would have on Reginald,” Jessie said once Thunder Horse came to the end of the tale.

“And you?” Thunder Horse asked, gazing deeply into her eyes. “How do you feel about it?”

“I hate to say it, because of what Reginald once was to me, but he has become an evil man, deserving of what you have chosen to do to torment him,” Jessie replied.

“Tomorrow a hunt is planned,” Thunder Horse said, suddenly changing the subject. “I do not want to leave you here at the village without me. Will you join me on the hunt?”

“I thought it was taboo for women to join in the hunt,” Jessie murmured.

“Not if the chief requests her company,” Thunder Horse said, placing his arms around her waist and drawing her closer to him. “And I am requesting it of you. Will you come?”

“Won’t I be in the way?” she asked, feeling his breath hot against her lips.

“Do you truly think I would ever see you as someone ‘in the way,’ as you call it?” he asked, then brought his lips down upon hers in a fiery kiss.

With an effort, Jessie forced herself back to reality. She was not yet ready to give herself to him completely, especially since she had the child to consider. She eased from his arms.

She gazed into his eyes. “It . . . is . . . too soon,” she murmured.

“I understand,” he said. “It is enough for me just to have you with me, where you are safe.”

“Yes, I feel very, very safe,” Jessie said as she snuggled against him when he placed an arm around her waist and drew her close to him. “Never have I felt as safe as I do when I am with you.”

“You have brought more into my world than you can know,” Thunder

Horse said thickly. He left it at that, for he did not want to reveal everything he felt for her just yet.