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“If you will set me free now, before this goes any further, I won’t tell anyone about your plan to abduct me,” Hannah cried. “I promise, Strong Wolf. I won’t tell anyone. Not even my brother. I just want to return home so that I can tell him that Tiny disobeyed him!”
The more she spoke, the more she pleaded with him, Hannah’s words reached inside Strong Wolf’s heart. He knew that she spoke the truth about her brother, having been saddened himself when he had noticed how Chuck’s eyesight was responsible for him being awkward and unsure of his movements.
He knew that it was possible that Tiny Sharp had taken advantage of Hannah’s brother. Strong Wolf so badly wanted to trust Chuck, and believe the woman.
Deciding to trust and believe, Strong Wolf released Hannah. He had just been given another reason to admire, to fall in love with, this woman. Her loyalty to her brother touched him deeply. Strong Wolf knew now that she was someone he could not deny himself of loving, as he had all other women he had ever known before her.
He wheeled his horse to a sudden stop.
Hannah gazed in wonder at Strong Wolf. She scarcely breathed as she waited for him to speak, to explain why he had stopped. Her pulse raced as his eyes met and held with hers. She could not stop this crazy, rapturous spinning within her when he looked at her in such a way, so penetrating, as though he was looking into her very soul!
“You are free to go,” Strong Wolf said, his own heart pounding at the way her eyes talked to him. “I will take you home. Hopefully your horse will find its way back to your brother’s ranch on its own.”
“Oh, thank you,” Hannah said softly, having to hold herself back when she so badly wanted to fling herself into his arms and hug him. “And I understand your feelings toward such men as Tiny. You have surely been faced with many of the same type of men throughout your life.”
She knew that there had been many injustices performed against the red man. She had just never been in the position of having seen it face-to-face before.
“But, please don’t put my brother in the same category as such men as Tiny,” she blurted out. “He is kind, gentle, and most times way too generous.”
She gulped hard. “I’m even afraid that he won’t fire Tiny,” she said, a bitter edge recognizable in her voice. “He’ll see some good about keeping him on, even after I tell him the ugly truth about him.”
“Being your brother’s eyes, perhaps you can make him see the wrong in allying himself with the tiny white man,” Strong Wolf said.
He held her closer as he rode off. He fought off the need that was rising within his heart, to kiss her again, to hold her.
So aware of his hard, lean body so close to hers, snuggled against her backside, Hannah became breathless. Her heart pounding fiercely, her face became hot with a blush as his arm grazed against her breasts. She could almost feel the heat of his flesh through the thin fabric of her white calico blouse.
They rode awhile, then Hannah’s breath caught with surprise when Strong Wolf suddenly wheeled his horse to the side and rode in another direction. Fearing that he had changed his mind, and that he had decided to take her captive after all, she pulled at his arm, but he held her too tightly. She had no choice but to see what he had planned for her now. She had to wonder at what point he had changed his mind?
And, why?
With a wariness that she had never felt before with anyone, Hannah watched all around her as Strong Wolf continued taking her farther and farther away from her brother’s ranch. Her brain was a mass of confusion as Strong Wolf rode through a forest of thick, tangled greenery, where things were heavy with shade. Ages of decayed leaves scented the air with their earthy smell as the quiet life of the forest kept its secrets.
Suddenly Strong Wolf wheeled his horse to a stop. He helped Hannah to the ground, and then slid from the saddle and tethered his reins to a low-hanging limb.
Hannah didn’t attempt to escape from him. She had no idea where she was. She did know that she was many miles from civilization. She was at his mercy. She had no choice but to follow beside him as he gripped her by the arm and led her down a narrow path beneath the trees.
Suddenly before her was a misty smoke hanging over a body of water, surrounded by an impassable sinking mire. Through the smoky mist she could see a cave that had been sealed up with great boulders of rock.
She was glad when Strong Wolf stopped, even though this place of mystery somewhat terrified her.
When he turned to her, she took a step away from him.
Unable to hold back his feelings any longer for this woman, Strong Wolf reached for Hannah and snaked his arms around her waist.
His heart racing, he yanked her against him and kissed her. He held her tightly within his embrace as he could feel her shoving against his chest, in an attempt to get free.
Then he loosened his grip when he felt her grow limp in his arms and willingly return his kiss with wild abandon. He wove his fingers through her hair and held her closer. He gyrated his body into hers, overwhelmed by the raging heat that was building within him, stunned by how she responded as she clung and melted against him.
Stunned by her feelings, so carried away by his kiss that she had momentarily forgotten that she was still his captive, Hannah wrenched herself free and ran away from him, up the tangled path.
“Hannah, do not be afraid,” Strong Wolf cried after her. “I meant you no harm. Stop. I will willingly return you to your brother’s ranch.”
His words, the sincerity in which he said them to her, and the promise of ecstasy that she had found while within his arms, that which she had never found while with any other man, made Hannah stop and turn slowly around to face him.
When he stepped up to her and took her hands within his, she found herself helpless beneath his passion-filled, midnight eyes.
“I want to know everything about you,” Strong Wolf said thickly. “I want to be with you so that I can know what makes me feel this bonding with you. You have affected me differently than any other woman. You are different. It is this difference that has led me into behavior that is quite unlike me, a powerful leader, who will one day be chief of my people.”
