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Tears filled Mariah’s eyes again, but this time they were of pure joy. She crept into Echohawk’s arms. “My darling, handsome Chippewa chief,” she said, her heart soaring. “Oh, how I adore you.”
They kissed. They embraced feverishly. And then Echohawk drew his lips away only a fraction. “One thing,” he said thickly. “You cannot go alone to Saint Louis on the white man’s large canoe. My people are at peace and safe with Chief Silver Wing. I will send him a message that my return will be delayed. Our return will be delayed. Together, you and I, we will go in search of Colonel Snelling. You will have that opportunity to speak words of love to your true father.”
“You would do that for me?” Mariah said, breathless at the thought of traveling on the riverboat, the thrill now doubled at the thought of being with Echohawk on such an adventure.
“For you, anything,” Echohawk said, smoothing his hands through her hair. “My woman, you have been without a happy heart for too long. It is my duty to see that your heart has cause to sing all the days of the rest of your life.”
“Only moments ago I was filled with such despair,” Mariah said, gazing into his fathomless dark eyes. “But now? I feel as though I am floating. And all because of you, Echohawk. You are so understanding. So kind.”
“And I am sorry for having caused you despair,” Echohawk said, gazing lovingly at her. “You have forgiven me my moment of stubbornness?”
“Ay-uh,” Mariah said, smiling softly up at him. “How could I not forgive, when you are giving me the world? And how could I not, when I love you so much? You are my life, Echohawk. When I thought that I had lost you because of a misunderstanding, I could hardly bear it. I . . . I felt completely hollow. Thank you for giving me back my reason for living, darling.”
She frowned as a sudden thought came to her. “You say that you will send word to Chief Silver Wing about your decision to travel with me to Saint Louis,” she said. “Darling, whom would you trust to do this? You do not want the location of your village known to anyone but the Chippewa.”
“It is no longer a secret,” Echohawk said, his voice strained. “Do you forget the pony soldiers who accompanied William Joseph there?”
“How could I have forgotten?” Mariah said, paling slightly at the thought.
“I will question William Joseph about those who rode with him,” Echohawk said, his fingers busy working Mariah’s dress over her shoulders. “I will ask him to assign his most trusted scout to go to my people—to speak with Silver Wing. He will do this for us, No-din. William Joseph is a man who cares, not only for his own welfare but also for yours—and mine—for everyone who deserves his kindnesses.”
“Yes, he is a most special man,” Mariah said, again filled with sadness over not being able to share her secret with William Joseph. “My brother is a very, very special man.”
“Enough talk,” Echohawk said, smoothing Mariah’s dress on down her body, revealing her silken pink flesh to his feasting eyes. “We are alone. We are in love. Let us make love.”
Mariah sucked in a wild breath of ecstasy as he moved his lips to one of her taut nipples, taking it in his mouth, his tongue swirling slowly around it. Her heart pounding, she busied her fingers disrobing him.
When he was also nude, she ran her fingers down the smoothness of his copper skin, stopping one of her hands where his velvety shaft lay against her thigh, hard and heavy. As though having done this thousands of times before, in truth having only recently learned such skills, Mariah curled her fingers around his hardness and began moving her hand on him. When he threw hi
s head back in a throaty groan, she knew that she was giving him pleasure— the same as he then gave her as his hands cupped her breasts, kneading them.
And then he urged her hand away from him and moved over her with his body. Gently nudging her knees apart, he pressed himself into her and began his rhythmic strokes.
Her body quivered with the wondrous rapture his movements created inside her. She locked her legs around his hips and rode him, her hips moving with him. She closed her eyes and moaned against his lips as he kissed her, the feelings awash throughout her a mixture of agony and bliss.
When he paused in his loving her, drawing his body away from her, she beckoned for him with outstretched arms, her heart on fire with need.
Echohawk smiled down at her as he moved to kneel beside her, his lips moving close to her again. Her blood quickened when his lips burned a trail down her neck, teasingly brushing them against her breast in only a slight touch, and lower still, across her abdomen.
When he moved his body again, this time positioning himself between her outstretched legs, she felt as though she was soaring above herself when he began loving her gently with his mouth and tongue where she so unmercifully throbbed.
She felt uneasy about this way of loving, yet she abandoned herself to the torrent of feelings that overwhelmed her, her excitement rising with this different, exquisite fashion of loving.
When Echohawk began to bring her to that ultimate of sensations, she gripped his shoulders lightly and urged him up and over her again.
His eyes dark and knowing, Echohawk twined his fingers through her hair and brought her lips to his. He kissed her long and hard, darting his tongue into her mouth, causing new sensations to awaken within her.
When he entered her again with his pulsating hardness, she shuddered and lifted her hips to meet his every thrust. His mouth moved from her lips, brushing the glossy skin of her breasts. Her head rolled and she bit her lower lip to stifle a cry of sweet agony when he began sucking her nipple. His mouth was hot and demanding on her breast. His movements within her were becoming more intense. She opened herself more widely to him, absorbing each of his bold thrusts.
And then she could feel his body stiffen and could hear his breath coming in short raspy sounds. He paused loving her for a moment, stopping to gaze at her with hot passion in his eyes. Then he brought his mouth to her lips with a savage kiss as once again he plunged into her, over and over again.
The euphoric moment they had been seeking suddenly claimed them. Their bodies jolted and quaked into each other, their moans of pleasure mingling as their lips met in an even more heated kiss.
Then at last they lay clinging, sweat glistening on their bodies like small pearls shining beneath the sunshine. Mariah ran her fingers through Echohawk’s thick hair and kissed his wet brow. “Will we truly have a lifetime of such moments as these together?” she whispered, her body still slightly trembling from the intensity of the lovemaking. “It is like a dream, Echohawk—being able to share such wondrous bliss with you.”
A sob rose from deep within her and she hugged him tightly. “I adore you so,” she whispered. “Please always, always love me as much as you do now.”
“Our lives are now intertwined, as one entity,” Echohawk whispered back, softly kneading her buttocks with his hands. “Your heartbeat is mine. Mine is yours. Our souls are the same. Ah-pah-nay, forever, No-din. Until the Great Spirit decides to take us from this earth.” He leaned away from her, smiling. “Even then we will be together. We shall walk hand in hand, always, in the Land of the Hereafter.”
