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Moving over her, Sage’s eyes burned with passion as he looked down at her. “Darling, I’ve missed you so these past several days,” she murmured. She framed his face with her hands and drew his lips to hers. “But it was worth it, to see you so at peace with yourself.”
Sage’s mouth seared hers, her lips quivering and passionate against his. Her breasts strained against his fingers as he cupped them within the palms of his hands. Desire gripped her when he thrust himself into her softly yielding folds. She felt a tremor from deep within, and she moaned against his lips as he began his rhythmic strokes, her hips rising to meet his quickening thrusts.
Leonida’s throat arched backward as he slipped his mouth down from her lips, across the vulnerable hollow of her throat, and then fastened gently on her breast, yet still not suckling from it. He kneaded them gently, feeling how warm and full they were. When a droplet of milk spilled from one of the nipples, Sage stilled his movements within her and gazed from the milk up into Leonida’s eyes.
Aware of what had happened, Leonida shifted her gaze downward and swept the milk droplet onto the tip of her finger, then smiled up at Sage as she moved the finger towards his mouth.
“Taste of my milk,” she murmured. When he hesitated, she placed the finger against his lower lip, the milk rolling onto it. “It’s all right, darling. Please? Tell me how it tastes?”
Sage ran his tongue over his bottom lip and tasted the milk, then smiled down at her. “Sweet,” he said softly. “It tastes as sweet as my wife smells.”
In a blaze of urgency he claimed her lips again with his mouth, emitting a thick, husky groan as Leonida lifted her legs and locked them around him, drawing him even more deeply into her. Wrapping her within his powerful arms, he pressed deeper and deeper. It was as though a great fire was burning within, agony and bliss as his passion spread through his whole body, now fluid with the burning, fierce heat of wild splendor.
Leonida clung to him, overcome by the almost unbearable sweet pain of bliss, the excitement building within her like the deep rumblings of a volcano shortly before it erupts.
When she reached that ultimate splendor, she drew in her breath sharply and gave a little cry. Sage’s head now rested on her bosom as he groaned in pleasure and his hips moved in a frenzy, thrusting over and over again into her.
Too soon it was over. Breathing hard, Sage rolled away from Leonida. He turned on his side toward her and gently cupped her cheek. “You are even more beautiful now that you have carried two children in your womb,” he said. “And that seems impossible, for that day I first saw you I felt as though you were perhaps a vision of my imagination, yet never in my midnight dreams had I seen anyone as lovely or as sweet. My wife, you are what my midnight dreams are now made of. So you see? I never part from you even when I sleep.”
“In my early teens I tried to envision the man of my dreams,” Leonida murmured. “I could never find in my mind’s eye exactly what I wanted in
a man. It always seemed a blur. Now I know why. I was meant to fall in love with an Indian, and as you know, in my culture that is something that is not accepted. To most, it is even forbidden. So I could not envision marrying a man that would be forbidden to me.”
She locked her arms around his neck and drew him close. “My darling, you are far more than what I could have ever envisioned in my childhood fantasies,” she whispered. “You are not only handsome, but your heart is good toward everyone. Kit Carson knew that to be so. That is why, in the end, he tried to compensate for the wrong he did you, by giving your people the goats and sheep. He knew that they would soon multiply.”
“The pathfinder was a great man,” Sage said, leaning away from Leonida. He twined his fingers through his dark hair and pushed it farther back from his brow. “It is unfortunate that somewhere along the way he listened more to the white leaders than to his heart.”
Loud, excited squeals from the outer room drew Sage and Leonida from their bed. Dressing quickly and breathlessly, they had just fastened their last buttons when both of their sons burst into the room.
“Chips is back,” Runner said, holding the tiny chipmunk out for Sage and Leonida to see. “See? She has returned to me after all these years. She remembers me.”
“But one of her legs is gone,” Thunder Hawk said gloomily, pointing to where the missing limb should be. “A hawk, it is responsible.”
Leonida sighed sadly when she took the chipmunk into her hands and examined it. “She has surely taken a beating while gone from you,” she murmured. She held the chipmunk to her bosom. “You poor thing.”
“It is unfortunate that the chipmunk has been injured,” Sage said, picking up a son in each of his arms and carrying them to the outer room, with Leonida at his side petting the chipmunk on her brown crown of a head. “But you should feel blessed that she was able to return at all, if that was what she wanted to do.”
“Her babies are all grown up and gone,” Runner said sadly.
“As one day you will grow up and go out on your own away from your parents,” Leonida said, dreading the thought of his ever leaving her.
Sage set both boys on blankets close to the fire. He patted them each on the head, then went and put an arm around Leonida as she bent to set Chips free. She smiled down at Runner as the chipmunk scampered quickly onto Runner’s lap, as though afraid ever to leave his protection again.
“Seems she won’t be leaving you,” Leonida said, laughing softly.
Sage took Leonida by the hand. “I think it’s time to join the celebration again,” he said, walking her toward the door. “The aroma of the food is drawing me to it. Come and show me the food that was prepared over our fire. It will be the best of all.”
Leonida looked over her shoulder before going on outside. “Come on, boys,” she said. “Let’s sit together as a family while we eat.”
“What about Pure Blossom?” Thunder Hawk said as he came bouncing toward Leonida. “She is family. Should she not join us also? It seems to be taking her so long to grow up enough to be like me and Runner.”
Sage laughed throatily as he swept Thunder Hawk into his arms and left the hogan. “She will never be like you and Runner,” he said, balancing Thunder Hawk on his shoulder as they walked toward the tantalizing smell of the food. “In many ways she will be different.”
“But she will join us soon to eat with us,” Leonida interjected. “Perhaps in a month or two.”
She gazed down at Runner as he came to her side, serious as he still petted his chipmunk. He had so many qualities of his father, all good. He was compassionate, brave, and intelligent. She had to believe that one day he would make as great a leader as Sage.
Then she cast a worried glance at Thunder Hawk. She could not fear the future in that her two children might end up competing for leadership, causing brothers to become enemies.
