"Our…first time…should be long and sweet. Take…all night."
"Why?" she asked.
He laughed. "Have we here…little shelter. You are…injured. No wish hurt you more. What if war party finds us? Have I…no defense. Weapons be apart from me…if we make love."
"Thou could be keepin' them close."
"Do you forget you…injured?" he asked, his breath like a warm caress at her neck.
"But, earlier today thou could see me own self when thou be not even close to me. Can thou do the same now? See if there be war parties close?"
"I can, but—"
"Good, then—"
"Forget you…have deep injury in shoulder and thigh?" He brought his fingers up to touch her injury close to her private spot. "Might…hurt you. My needs…wait. You need…get well."
She leaned farther back into his embrace and murmured, "I be well enough."
She heard his deep indrawn breath. Was he considering it? Could she influence him into making love to her now?
Didn't he know how important it was to her to commit the deed which would make him her own husband? She was well aware that to the Pikuni Indians the action of making love would cause them to become man and wife. Later, they could say their marriage vows to a man of the cloth.
Unless… Did he have reservations about her? Or was his every loving thought still of his lost love…Tsistsaki?
She inhaled deeply, then, taking courage, she said, "Makin' love to thee be important to me, right enough. But, I be understandin' that thou might still have Tsistsaki on thy mind."
"Saa," he murmured at once. "Not true. Only you…on my mind." He followed up his words with hot kisses on the back of her neck. "It is as…I say it. Only you…on my mind."
His muffled voice, there along the backside of her neck, sent yearnings through her she had never before experienced…not even with Ernest. She whispered, "Please? It be important to me."
In answer to her plea, he moved a little, his hard desire there at her buttocks echoing her own need. He asked softly, "Certain…you are?"
She merely nodded.
"I try…be gentle."
"Do not. I be wishin' to have it all."
He groaned and rearranged their positions so he could more easily pick her up. Then, holding her within his arms, along with his saddle blanket, he arose into a standing position. He said, "We go…into shrubs…where…difficult for others…follow." And, slowly, grasping her to him as she lay in his arms, he stepped into the brush of perhaps hundreds of low-to-the-ground willows, shrubs and high dry grass.
Throwing his blanket down onto a section of moss and ground-hugging vines, he changed her position so she could stand to her feet. Then he spread the blanket out upon the comfort of Nature's soft handiwork, perfect for a couple who wished to come to know one another in the age-old way of love.
Bringing her down with him, they knelt before one another and within the breath of a moment, he showered her with one kiss after another, his tongue easily finding her own as they began the dance of love with little more than the deep kisses she so needed.
His lips ranged farther out, extending to her cheeks, her eyes—gently around her right eye—her ears; then downward he caressed her neck with both his lips and tongue, ranging farther down toward the opening of her blouse. While kissing her there, he fumbled with the buttons on her clothes while she fell in toward him, her need of him a real impassioned requirement.
She whispered, "Need we to undress fully?"
"Good…it be," he answered, his voice husky, clearly under the influence of his own passion. "White woman's clothes…not easy for me…remove."
"Thou undressed me the day before this."
"Not easy then, either."
Liliann solved the problem by reaching up to remove her own blouse, ignoring the pain of her injury, and because a corset had been too difficult to maneuver around her bandages, she wore only a chemise beneath her blouse; quickly, she removed it, too. She was intent on doing the same with her skirt, but he stilled her hands.
Hurriedly taking off his own shirt, he began to rub his bare chest against the uninjured part of her breast, and, oh, how good it felt. She moaned. And, he groaned.
