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The singing ceased and the warriors began eating and talking. An elderly gentleman served some of the warriors boiled mutton from a large black pot, and corn, with a chunk of tough white bread. Others were reaching into clay bowls which rested on the ground before them, for handfuls of mush made of wild seeds.
As they ate leisurely, all eyes became drawn to Sage as he began talking. Although Leonida felt as though she were intruding on their private affairs, she could not help but stay there and listen. Sage’s voice always mesmerized her.
At first she listened mainly to be hearing his voice, cherishing the sound of it, as though he were talking to her, touching her heart with his words. And at first she saw nothing troublesome in what he was saying, but as he spoke with a more cold and angry tone, this coldness seemed to touch her with a warning.
Anger soon replaced all her other feelings as Sage said what seemed to be the opposite of all that he had promised her. He began ordering many sentries to their posts in the canyon. Then he chose a warrior to send word to those soldiers who were searching for their stronghold that if they wanted the women and children returned to them alive, they must return to Fort Defiance and leave Sage and his people in peace.
Otherwise, one by one, the captives would die.
Leonida covered her mouth with a hand to stifle a gasp. Sage had promised the captives that no harm would come to them. And now he was saying that they would die if Kit Carson and the other white leaders did not cooperate with his demands. She had to wonder what other lies he had told her.
She felt betrayed.
Completely drained of feeling, Leonida turned to flee back inside the hogan. As she turned, her feet got tangled in the rabbit fur blanket, causing her to fall clumsily to the ground. When she landed, she cried out with pain, then stiffened when she realized that suddenly there was silence behind her. She had been discovered.
The blanket had shifted in the fall and now lay spread over only part of her body. Leonida blushed and quickly reached for it, gathering it around her as she got slowly to her feet. When she lifted her eyes, she gasped; Sage was gazing down at her questioningly.
Leonida felt a tremor in the pit of her stomach, and not from the feelings that had forced her to flee back inside the hogan. Again her strong passion for Sage replaced all other feelings, which should make her hate him.
She fought her passion with all of her might. She gave Sage a last lingering stare of defiance, then turned and fled from him, panting hard when she found momentary refuge inside the hogan.
But it was only a brief reprieve from the confrontation that she knew she must have with Sage.
How could she even think of forgiving him? she despaired to herself.
Why did her body also betray her?
Her heart pounded like claps of thunder as he entered the hogan and came to her, his fingers brushing the rabbit fur wrap away from her.
His dark eyes burned along her flesh as his gaze raked over her. “You came to listen at the council?” he grumbled. “Why did you feel it necessary to listen to what was being said? Most women are now warming the blankets for their men. I expected no less from you.”
“Ha, I would guess not,” Leonida said, lifting her chin haughtily. She reached down and pulled the fur around her again. “Just like you expect so much more from me, like me believing the lies that you have fed me from the moment we first met. I heard what you said tonight about killing the women and children. Sage, earlier, more than once, you promised they would be set free. You promised! Everyone believed you, including me. I feel betrayed. So will the others.”
She glanced toward the room where Trevor slept so trustingly, then looked back at Sage. “And what of Trevor?” she said, her voice breaking. “Was all that you did for him pretense? Has this all been a game with you? You said that you loved me. Was that also a part of your ploy to, in the end, get what you wanted from Kit Carson and the other white leaders?”
She lowered her eyes. “I feel used,” she said, almost choking on the words.
Firm fingers closed on Leonida’s shoulders, causing her to wince and look up quickly.
“Your trust in Sage is too weak,” he said, gripping her tightly, the fur blanket the only thing that saved her tender flesh from the full pressure of his fingers. “How can that be? Did you not understand that my warnings and threats were a strategy only, to get what I must to save the future of my people? It is sad that you chose to see only what you wanted to see, and to hear only what you wanted to hear. What Sage says to you, Sage means. What Sage promised the women and children, he meant! Now tell me, my woman, that you do not believe me. Tell me that you do not feel shame for doubting this man who loves you with every heartbeat.”
Tears welled up in Leonida’s eyes. She was engulfed by shame, knowing that she had been wrong to doubt him. She wished that she could withdraw all that she had said to him and start anew.
Wrenching herself free from his grip, she flung herself into his arms. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, clinging tightly to him, oblivious of the fur blanket having slipped away from her body again. She closed her eyes and hugged him tightly. “Tell me you forgive me. Truly, I’m so very, very sorry for all that I said.”
His hands trembling, Sage wrapped her in his muscular arms, his fingers splayed across her bare buttocks as he drew her even closer. “There is no need for forgiveness,” he said, burying his nose into the sweet depths of her hair. “It is enough that you now accept that when Sage gives his word it is kept. I will release the children and women at my first opportunity, hopefully after Kit Carson and the other white leaders have righted everything for my Navaho people. And never fret again over their welfare. They will never be harmed at the hands of the Navaho.”
He drew his face away from her hair. “The women and children will become as one with my people while they are here,” he said, smiling softly down at her. Then he frowned. “Now you see that it is not wise to stand and listen to those who are in council. Words can be misinterpreted. It is best to leave the counciling to the men.” He glanced over at the door that led into his bedroom, then smiled slowly at Leonida. “You have not warmed my blankets. Do you not realize that the hastening hours of night in the mountains bring with them cold temperatures?”
Leonida gave him a soft, teasing smile. “Perhaps we could warm the blankets together?” she murmured, shivering sensually when he began moving one of his hands slowly over her bare flesh, stopping to cup, then knead a breast. She sucked in a wild bre
ath of pleasure when his other hand moved across her tummy, stopping at the flowering of the golden, curly tendrils at the juncture of her thighs, slowly yet knowingly caressing her there.
She closed her eyes and threw her head back. His lips kissed their way down from the hollow of her throat and soon suckled the stiff peak of the breast that he had just kneaded into a soft, throbbing nub of pleasure. The pit of her stomach grew queasy with rapture as he then kissed his way farther down, stopping where his fingers had so aroused her. When he bent on a knee before her and she realized what he was about to do, she opened her eyes wide and gazed over at the door to the room where Trevor slept.
“We’re not alone,” she whispered, nodding toward Trevor’s bedroom. “Remember?”
Sage rose to his feet and swept her up into his arms. “You will not put me off that easily,” he said, chuckling. He floated a kiss across her lips, then carried her into his bedroom. “Moments ago you doubted my love for you. After tonight, never will you doubt anything I say or do again.”
