AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She knew the dangers of setting out on her own in this untamed land, yet deep down inside herself she realized that there was someone who had not missed her escape from the campsite.
Spotted Eagle.
She even suspected that he was following her.
She smiled to herself, pretending not to hear his moccasins stepping on a twig, creating a crackling sound that broke the silence.
The river sparkled through a break in the trees up just ahead of her, and Jolena hurried her pace, a towel thrown over her left arm and a bar of soap in the front right pocket of her skirt. The pistol was heavy in her left hand and she now felt foolish for having brought it. She had known that Spotted Eagle would follow her. She had made sure that he had seen her path of escape from the campsite.
Her smile faltered as she thought of Two Ridges. She had looked for him, too, before leaving the campsite, but he had been nowhere in sight. Somehow, she just could not find it in herself to trust him.
A strange foreboding filled her. All the while she had been confident that Spotted Eagle was following her. Could it have been, instead, Two Ridges? Spotted Eagle could have had other reasons for entering the forest behind her. Perhaps he hadn't even seen her.
Fearing this possibility, Jolena stopped short and swung around, her eyes searching the deepening shadows behind her, praying that the man she loved would be therenot Two Ridges!
As she waited for the person who was following her to show his face, her pulse raced. Her forefinger sought out the trigger on the pistol. The longer she had to wait, the more nervous she became.
She found herself slowly lifting the pistol, holding it up as a man might do, taking steady aim. She pulled back the lock with a flick of her thumb, her knees weak.
When Spotted Eagle finally came into sight, Jolena sighed with relief and slowly lowered the firearm.
Spotted Eagle eyed the pistol warily, then shot his gaze up, locking his eyes with Jolena's. "And who did you think was following you besides Spotted Eagle?" he asked. "I have never seen you carry a firearm before."
"That is because I found that I was not only foolish, but trusted too easily," Jolena said, her heart hammering within her chest as Spotted Eagle came closer.
She wondered if this strong desire for him would ever lessen. Just looking at him dizzied her.
Spotted Eagle stepped up to her and reached slowly for the pistol, then gingerly took it out of her hand. "It is good that you are learning to be cautious," he said, nodding. "But still you did not answer me about who you thought was following you. You were ready to shoot whoever it was. Tell me. Who has made you feel threatened?"
Jolena felt awkward, knowing that her fear of Two Ridges was thus far unfounded. Except for eyeing her in that strange way, he had not actually given her cause to be afraid of him.
Not wanting to cast blame until she had just cause, Jolena cast her eyes downward. "At first I thought it was you," she said, slowly moving her eyes upward again. "But when you did not make yourself known to me, I began to worry. That's why I decided to ready my gun, in case I was being stalked by someone who might harm me."
Spot
ted Eagle gazed down at her with frowning eyes for a moment longer, feeling that she was not being altogether truthful with him. Then he shrugged. There was no reason for her to evade the truth. There was no one near in this forest except those of the expedition. He did not see any of them as a threat to her. If so, Jolena's white father would not have chanced allowing such a person to accompany his daughter on such a journey.
"Say something," Jolena said, smiling weakly up at him. "Did I do something so terribly wrong?"
Spotted Eagle placed a hand on her cheek, his doubts melting away as he smiled slowly down at her. ''No," he said tenderly. "You did everything right. It was wise to carry a firearm while you were away from the others. I cannot condemn you for thinking ahead to what might happen while you are taking a bath in the river."
"How did you know what I was planning to do?" Jolena asked, laughing softly. "Are you not only handsome and intriguing, but also a mind reader?"
He nodded down at the towel. "That is how I read your mind," he said, chuckling low. His gaze shifted. "And I do not believe my sense of smell fails me. Is that not also a bar of perfumed soap in your skirt?"
Jolena glanced down at the bulge in her pocket. "You are right on all counts," she said, lifting smiling eyes up at Spotted Eagle again. "But now that you are here, I don't have the need for the pistol. You will keep watch for me while I bathe, won't you?"
"Spotted Eagle has his own reasons for coming to the river," he said, reaching one of his hands to her hair and letting it drift through his spread fingers. "This warrior needs a bath, also. Do you think the river is large enough for both of us?"
"I think so," Jolena giggled. "But who will stand guard if we are both swimming and bathing?"
"Old Man, the chief god of the Blackfoot, looks out for the Blackfoot warrior, and now his woman, always," Spotted Eagle said, leaning down and laying the pistol on the grass on the river embankment. " Ok-yi, come. A-wah-heh, take courage. Enter the water with me. Let me rub the perfumed soap all over you. Let my fingers awaken you again to feelings of a woman."
Seeing the heat of his desire for her in the depths of his eyes, Jolena felt her fingers trembling as she began unbuttoning her blouse.
As Spotted Eagle began undressing, Jolena's eyes followed his fingers, watching as each new inch of flesh was revealed to her feasting eyes. Her pulse raced as he tossed his shirt to the ground.
She finally stepped out of the last of her garments, then kicked her shoes aside and stood feasting her eyes on the sight of himhis muscles, his tight, firm buttocks, his flat belly that led to that valley between his hips where his passion for her was evident in the way his manhood stood out from his body ready, thick, its purple tip shedding a tiny droplet of white, creamy liquid that he nonchalantly swept away between his thumb and his forefinger.
