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“I could hardly believe my eyes when I first looked down and saw all of those things in the valley,” Leonida said, her eyes wide. “Why, Sage, it’s like a miracle that you can have all of that way out here where there is more rock than grass. And peaches? My Lord, it’s like some sort of miracle that you could grow peaches at all, much less in such abundance.”
“It took much time to get this land prepared for planting, and to get it cultivated enough to grow the necessities of my people,” he said. “I regret that it cannot be closer to my stronghold. Much is left to chance to leave it so vulnerable to those who might discover it and realize its importance to my people. Without it my people would perish. Far up in the mountain, at my stronghold, there is no way to grow the foods of my people. It is gathered below and carried up the mountain trails.”
“And no one knows it is there?” Leonida asked as she once again gazed at the vastness of the crops and the great flock of sheep.
“Besides the Navaho, there is one tribe of Indians who know,” Sage said, frowning. “A small band of Kiowa. They know, also of the stronghold. But they find trade with my people too valuable ever to tell any of my enemies of these secrets.”
“If Kit Carson ever found out . . .” Leonida said, her words trailing off.
“Yes, it would be a quick way to exterminate my people without ever firing a shot against them,” Sage mumbled. He leaned closer to Leonida. “It is good that you care so deeply about the welfare of Sage and his people. And I know that you do. It is in your eyes and your voice. My woman, tonight we will sleep here, away from everyone. Tonight we will love again. All cares and fears will be cast aside within our hearts and minds, at least for that moment we will be within each other’s arms. My woman, tell me you anxiously await that moment to be with your Navaho chief again? Tell me now, Leonid
a. Whisper it into my ear. Let me carry your voice within my heart until we are together again after the others are asleep.”
Leonida moved to her knees and leaned into his embrace, her lips brushing his right ear. “I love you,” she whispered. “I can hardly wait to show you how much. My heart is pounding now with the thought of it. My entire being is crying out for you, my handsome Navaho chief. Kiss me now, Sage.”
Sage placed his hands at Leonida’s waist. He lifted her up until her legs straddled his waist and her dress was hiked up past her thighs, then sat down again. His pulse was racing as he placed the bulge in his breeches where she was spread open to the hardness of his touch. He thrust himself more tightly against her and could feel a shiver of passion soar through her.
Leonida lowered her mouth to his lips. She twined her fingers through his shoulder-length hair and drew his lips more firmly against hers. Her whole body tremored as they kissed passionately.
So breathless with the kiss and with the ecstasy flowing through her veins, she wasn’t sure if she could wait until the darkness gave them cover.
* * *
The evening fled quickly by, baths in a nearby stream and eating taking up the time. Leonida became more worried about Carole, making her hesitate for a moment before accompanying Sage away from the campsite, to their own little lovers’ nest on the cliff that seemingly overlooked the world. She helped Carole bathe Trevor and get him ready for bed. She helped Carole with her own bath, having found that Carole was even weaker than she had realized. Every movement seemed an effort for her now.
Leonida fussed over being afraid to leave Carole, but she encouraged it. She had even whispered to Leonida that she understood and approved of her feelings for the handsome chief. She herself now understood Sage’s reasons for having taken the captives.
Carole even went as far as asking Leonida not to blame Sage should she not make it back to the fort alive. Perhaps Sage had even done her a favor, for Trevor and Leonida had formed a special bond while on this journey to the Navaho’s mountain stronghold. Carole said that she could now die in peace, since Leonida would be there for Trevor.
Smelling fresh and clean from her bath in the cool stream, her hair finally dry after being washed in the shallow depths of the water, Leonida walked beside Sage toward the cliff. She did not feel awkward that everyone had seen their departure together. She felt no shame, though she realized that they must know why she and Sage sought refuge away from the others. At this moment in time, the love she felt for Sage pressed so sweetly against her heart, she felt dizzied by it.
Being with him, anticipating what they would soon share, was making her forget her worries for Carole and her concerns for Trevor should anything happen to his mother. Although Leonida had promised to care for him, she was not his mother. She was not so sure he could adapt that easily.
“You are so quiet,” Sage said, reaching down to take Leonida’s hand in his. “What troubles you?”
His flesh against hers made Leonida tingle from head to toe. She was engulfed with gloriously passionate feelings that made her reluctant to talk about anything that troubled her. For the moment there was only Sage. He was the center of her universe, now and forevermore. She wanted nothing to enter this precious center, to spoil their private moments together.
“It’s nothing,” Leonida said quickly, smiling softly up at him. “Truly, it’s nothing.”
“It is good to see you smile,” Sage said, leaning down to brush a kiss across her lips as they stopped within an arm’s length of the cliff. “Your smile encompasses the stars, the moon, the wind. I feel the touch of your smile deeply within my soul. It stirs me into needing you. My woman, I need you now.”
Leonida’s heart pounded as he stepped away from her and spread a luxurious sheepskin across the ground. Gently he placed an arm around her waist and laid her down. As he knelt over her, Leonida reached up and twined her arms around his neck, bringing him down closer to her. She flicked her tongue across his lips, sighing when his tongue came out and met hers.
“Remove my clothes,” he said huskily, moving to his knees before her.
Leonida rose to her knees and while her heart thumped wildly, she removed his bright-red velveteen headband and laid it aside.
Sage held his arms out as Leonida began unbuttoning his shirt. When it was completely opened, Leonida reached her trembling hands to his smooth, hairless chest and ran her fingers over the mounds of his muscles, reveling in the mere touch of him.
Recalling how wonderful it felt for him to touch the nipples of her breasts, Leonida leaned closer and flicked her tongue around one of his, eliciting a moan of pleasure from him as she then nipped one of the hard peaks with her teeth.
When he twined his fingers through her hair and urged her head lower, she ran her tongue along his flesh, loving the taste of him. His stomach quivered as she moved her tongue over it.
Moving ahead of her tongue, she unfastened his breeches and began lowering them over his hips. Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat when his manhood sprang into sight. He was well aroused, and when Sage urged her mouth toward him, her breath seemed to catch in her throat, not knowing for sure if what he asked of her was right. She was not educated in ways of making love. But the strange sort of thrill that she was getting at just the mere thought of touching her tongue to him made her think that this was surely all right.
“It is something a woman does for a man if she loves him enough,” Sage said huskily at the thought of the pleasure that awaited him. “It is something beautiful between a man and a woman. You love Sage in this way. Sage will then return the love to you in the same way.”
Leonida’s eyebrows raised, unsure of how a man could give her pleasure in this sort of way. Yet just the thought of something seemingly so forbidden made her knees grow weak and her heart soar with anticipation.
