He expanded his massage up and down her back, cherishing each gentle curve of her figure, and when her high-pitched sigh reached his ears, he couldn't help himself: he pulled her back into his arms.
Immediately, he found the pressure point on her neck and kissed it, then made a trail up to her ear, massaging it with his lips. She squirmed and tried to turn around so she was facing him, but he knew if he let her do this, he would make love to her despite the others, despite war parties and despite even himself.
Instead, he kissed his way across her back to the other side of her neck where he caressed her from the top of her collarbone up to her other ear. She sighed again, and he knew he had best stop now while he still could.
But, she didn't appear to be in any hurry to let the embrace end, and, reaching her arms up, she brought them together around his neck and leaned back against him. But, it was her question which alarmed him when she asked, "Do you love me?"
"I wish to make love to you," he responded easily.
"You know, of course, that's not an answer to my question."
"All right," he said. "Then, let me ask you the same question: do you love me?"
"I do, Mr. Stands Strong. Even on such short acquaintance, I can honestly tell you I love you very much. I just can't marry you."
He almost surrendered to her right then. But, caution caused him to hesitate. If he made love to her now, not only would amarriage between them be unlikely, but he would also, in the eyes of his people as well in his own eyes, ruin her. He whispered, "Ah, but this isn't bad, is it? To not marry me? After all, don't you look upon the union of a man and a woman as loveless?"
"I do."
"Then," he responded, "I would rather we engage in a love affair and cease to discuss marriage at all."
"Oh, yes. Then, you agree to my suggestion?"
He laughed. "I am not so lacking in wisdom as to be quick in leaving my thumbprint on your white man's truce paper. We will see how much trouble it will be to properly show you how to love a man."
"Hmmmm," was all she replied. "But, Mr. Stands Strong, wouldn't it be worth your time? After all, what if I might possess some quality about me to add to your knowledge of lovemaking?"
He laughed. Truly, his reaction was honest, if only because she had surprised him. He had never imagined she might be privy to a bit of wisdom concerning lovemaking, perhaps bringing with her a form of knowledge over and above what he already knew concerning the topic.
After a moment, he kissed her neck once more and sat back on his heels, though he kept his arms around her, resting his head against the back of hers, aware that even the scent of her hair enticed him to do more. He murmured, "Come, awaken the others. I have started a fire and have two of your kettles filled with warm water for your women's bathing. Then, we will begin our journey. But, our time on the trail will be short. We are in a part of this country and at a time of year when many war parties are out upon the prairie. And, we have little defense against them. In truth, if a war party should discover us, they would kill both me and your brother. And, since you and your sister—"
"Liliann is not my sister. She is my maid."
"Sister." He emphasized the word. "In this country, she would be considered your almost-sister, since the two of you mustremain together for the safety of you both. Now, a war party, if they were to come upon us, would take you captive, and since the both of you are beautiful, one, maybe two of them, would take you both as a wife."
"Do you really think Liliann is beautiful?"
He laughed aloud and heartily. Leave it to a woman to single out this detail from all the other cautions he had told her.
He asked, "Do I have eyes to see?"
"Then, you do?"
"Of course she is beautiful. But, I am not wishing to make love to her, nor is she as pretty as you."
"Then, you think I am prettier than she?"
"I do."
"But, you still think she is pretty?"
He smiled and murmured in Czanna's ear, "When a man desires a woman, it is she and only she who is in his thoughts. Besides, your almost-sister is young and not yet a woman. I desire to have a woman in my arms, and this she is not."
"Then, you do not desire her?"
"I do not," he confessed. "Only you."
She sighed. "I guess this is good enough. And so, you are in love with me?"
