Wild Thunder (22 page)

To fondle and caress a joy,
Yet hold it tightly;
Lest it become necessity,
And cling too tightly.

—A
NONYMOUS

 

 

 

As Hannah slowly awakened, she was aware of being held in muscled arms. Blinking her eyes, she gazed up at Strong Wolf.

“Strong Wolf?” she murmured, reaching a trembling, weak hand to his face. “You came to the boat? Oh, Lord, Strong Wolf, I asked you not to. Now you might get ill with cholera. Your people! You might even take the disease back to them!”

She tried to move from his arms, but he insistently held her there, then placed a gentle kiss to her brow.

“We are not on the boat,” he said, gazing warmly into her eyes. “Look around you. You will see where you are, and where you are going to stay,”

Hannah was stunned to find herself in Strong Wolf's lodge. The fireplace sent out a golden glow of light and warmth. Everything was so quiet; so peaceful.

She turned anxious eyes up at him then. “Clara!” she cried. “Did she die? Did I contract cholera? Strong Wolf, I don't remember anything!”

“Your sister is at your brother's ranch now, recuperating,” Strong Wolf said thickly. “And you? No. You have not been ill. You just fainted from exhaustion.”

“Mother? Father?” she murmured, stunned to know that she was so lapse in memory about everything.

“They are with your sister at your brother's ranch,” Strong Wolf said, brushing her hair back from her eyes. “The boat has left. The crisis is over. We may now resume our lives. We will be married.”

Hannah sucked in a quivering air of breath. “I remember it all now,” she said. “It was like a nightmare, Strong Wolf.” She flung herself into his arms again. “Hold me. Please just hold me.”

“A beautiful maid of nineteen winters lies on my bed of sweet grass,” he said in almost a whisper as he caressed her back through the thin fabric of her dress. “And I love her more than life itself.”

“And I love you,” Hannah said, clinging. “I missed you so while away from you.” She visibly shivered. “At times, it was almost unbearable. Those who died? It was as though I lost someone of my very own kin. I tried so hard to help keep them alive.”

She leaned somewhat away from him and gazed into his eyes. “Father badgered me constantly about becoming a doctor,” she murmured. “Perhaps in time I would have considered it had I not met you, and had I not been introduced to the ways of doctoring while on that death boat. Now that I have seen suffering and death, firsthand, I wonder how anyone can be a doctor?”

“You are too compassionate to face death and illness each day,” Strong Wolf said, smiling at her. “You see, I am certain it was like a small part of your heart was torn away each time someone died.”

“That
is
how it felt,” Hannah said, eyes wide.

“Then it is wise that you are leaving the doctoring to your father,” Strong Wolf said, again drawing her into his embrace. “This is where you belong. Only
here
.”

Hannah paled. She leaned back and looked up at Strong Wolf. “My parents,” she gasped. “Surely they don't approve of my being here. How
did
I get here?”

“It seems that while you were with your parents during that ordeal on the riverboat, you managed to persuade them that your future was with me,” he said softly. “When the crisis was over on the boat, and you fainted from exhaustion, your parents had you brought to me.”

“So that when I awakened, I would find myself in your arms?” Hannah said, her eyebrows raising. “I had not known that I was
that
persuasive when I talked to my father about my feelings.”

Strong Wolf saw no reason to allow her to know that it was only her mother whose mind had been changed toward Strong Wolf, not her father. It would only cause her pain to know that her father still had deep, negative feelings about Hannah's choice of a husband. For now, Strong Wolf would just give her information that would not cause her added grief.

“Your parents love you,” he said, leaning a soft kiss to her brow. “They want you to be happy.”

“I had no idea that my words were sinking at
all
into my father's consciousness,” Hannah said, laughing softly. “He is such a stubborn man. And usually, he gets his way about everything.”

Now completely awake and aware of things, Hannah could smell the unpleasantness of her armpits, and her hair was so dirty it felt as though tiny bugs were crawling around on her scalp.

She eased from Strong Wolf's arms, her face red with embarrassment. “How can you stand for me to be near you?” she said, inching farther away from him on the bed. “I smell horrible.” She ran her fingers through her hair and cringed. “And my
hair
. It hasn't been washed in days. How horrible I must look to you!”

“You could never look anything but beautiful to this man who will soon be your husband,” Strong Wolf said, then rose from the bed. He took her hands and led her up from the bed. “Are you strong enough to stand?”

“Now that I have rested, yes, my strength has somewhat returned,” she murmured, testing her legs as she stood up before Strong Wolf. She laughed softly. “My knees no longer feel like rubber.”

“Then, we shall go to the river and bathe,” Strong Wolf said.

He left her long enough to gather up some fresh, clean clothes from the back of the lodge. He placed two pairs of breeches and two shirts over his arms. He grabbed a piece of soap from the basin.

“Come,” he said, reaching his hand out for her. “We shall bathe together.”

So relieved that she was no longer on the boat, and so glad to be with Strong Wolf, Hannah took Strong Wolf's hand and left the lodge with him.

When she got outside she stopped with a start, in awe of how many of Strong Wolf's people were there, their eyes seeming to brighten as they gazed at her.

Hannah sidled over closer to Strong Wolf. “Why are they here?” she asked softly.

“They know of my love for you,” Strong Wolf said, smiling into the crowd. “They came to see if you were going to be all right.”

A small girl came to Hannah. She held out a cornhusk doll toward her.

Hannah turned questioning eyes up at Strong Wolf.

“Talks Softly is offering you a gift,” Strong Wolf said. He placed a gentle hand to the child's elbow and led her closer. “This is her way to show her happiness over you being all right. The doll? She made it. She has always loved it.”

“If it is so special to her, does she truly wish to part with it?” Hannah asked, hesitating.

“She offers her special doll to you to prove how much she wishes to be your friend,” Strong Wolf said. “If you do not take it, you will humiliate her.”

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 helped 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.

Hannah held her legs apart as Strong Wolf moved the bar of soap in a slow circle on her throbbing center. She closed her eyes and held her head back with a sigh as he slipped one finger inside her, and then two as he dropped the soap.

She clung to him as he continued the thrusts with his fingers, then she felt something else. Something more wonderful. Something warm and thick was sliding inside her, magnificently filling her.

She opened her eyes and smiled at Strong Wolf, then twined her fingers through his hair and drew his lips to hers. Their tongues met as their lips parted in a frenzied kiss.

The moon played on their naked bodies as Strong Wolf carried Hannah to dry land and spread her beneath him on the soft sand. He slid himself inside her again as she opened her soft, full thighs to him.

Strong Wolf's hands moved frantically over her, not able to get enough of her. His tongue left a wet path as he moved his mouth from her lips and went to her breasts. He gently squeezed a breast between his hands, leaving the nipple taut and free for the tip of his tongue.

Swirling and moist, he lapped at the nipple with his tongue, then nipped it with his teeth, causing Hannah to moan with rapture.

Strong Wolf swept his hands along her body, then reached around where her buttocks were soft and sweet as she pressed her body into his as he continued to send quick thrusts into her.

He could hardly hold his feelings at bay. Each touch, each thrust brought him closer to that point of ecstasy that he sought.

But wanting to delay it, not wanting to give her up to the night just yet, where they would return from their paradise on wings, Strong Wolf moved slightly away from Hannah and slipped his throbbing manhood from inside her.

“Why did you stop?” Hannah asked, looking at him in a drugged fashion. “Please go on, Strong Wolf. Take me where there is nothing but you and I.”

“There is more,” Strong Wolf said huskily. He knelt on his knees beside her.