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“You fell asleep,” Blue Thunder said, gently pushing a fallen lock of her hair back from her puzzled eyes. “I did not think it wise to spend the full night away from my home with the renegades about. They are always a threat, often roaming the darkness in search of horses to steal, so I rode back to my village with you.”
“But . . . if I was asleep . . .” Shirleen said softly. “Blue Thunder, I still don’t recall anything past sitting by the campfire. I surely would remember riding on my horse.”
“You did not ride on your steed,” Blue Thunder said, bringing even more confusion into Shirleen’s eyes. “I led your horse while you rode on mine with me.”
“But . . . why don’t I even remember that?” she asked, getting more confused by the minute. “What are you not telling me?”
“I carried you on my horse while you lay in my arms, asleep,” Blue Thunder said, smiling softly at her.
Utterly stunned by what he had just revealed, that she had been held in this wonderfully handsome warrior’s arms while she slept, Shirleen was rendered speechless.
Seeing that she was perplexed by what he had told her, Blue Thunder reached over and gently touched her cheek. “You are in my personal lodge,” he said. “As you can see, it is much larger and has more comforts than the one that was assigned to you. While you slept I brought your clothes from the other tepee, as well as those of your daughter.”
Shirleen found it hard to think while he held his hand on her cheek, his dark eyes gazing into hers.
He had to know just how mesmerized she was by him.
But the fact that she was now going to be staying in his lodge made her feel suddenly apprehensive.
Had he brought her there out of kindness, or lust? Did he believe that she was totally his now, to do with as he pleased?
She wanted so badly to trust his motives, to believe he was helping her out of kindness. Now that she would be in such close proximity to him, she would surely discover the truth very soon.
Whatever happened, she would be eternally grateful that Blue Thunder had rescued her, that she was not wandering alone, or a captive of the renegade Comanche.
She was also very happy that she had not come to this village as a captive.
One thing was certain: She could not feel any more enamored of a man than she was of Blue Thunder.
She prayed that his intentions toward her were as pure and honorable as they seemed to be. Most of all, she prayed he would be able to find Megan.
The fact that her daughter was still nowhere to be found made everything else in her life seem empty and worthless. Feelings for a man, her own welfare, came second to her daughter, and there was not one thing that she, personally, could do to find Megan!
“I will be leaving soon with my warriors to make another search for your daughter today,” Blue Thunder said, as though he had read her thoughts.
In reality, he had read the emotion in her eyes. They changed, it seemed, by the minute.
He knew that her worry for her daughter was uppermost in her mind now. He hoped to remedy that.
“I just can’t thank you enough for your kindness,” Shirleen said, her voice breaking. “My daughter Megan means the world to me. Without her, I feel a strange sort of cold death inside me.”
“I hope to take away that terrible feeling,” he said, taking his hand from her cheek. “I hope to fill your heart with sheer joy when I hand your daughter Megan over to you.”
“It would be a joyous moment,” Shirleen said, smiling at him. “Again, thank you.”
“When I leave, there is someone who would like to talk with you,” Blue Thunder said, rising to his feet.
“Who?” Shirleen asked, glancing past him at the closed entrance flap.
“Speckled Fawn,” Blue Thunder said, walking to the doorway. He stopped and gave her a questioning look. “Can I tell her that you have said it is alright for her to come in for a while?”
“Yes, please do,” Shirleen said.
She rose from the pelts, and had at least gotten her hair straightened with her fingers when the white woman arrived. Shirleen smiled at Speckled Fawn, who came in and actually gently embraced her. As she stepped away, there was true sympathy in her eyes.
“I am so sorry that you didn’t find your daughter,” Speckled Fawn said. “If I had a child out there alone, I would feel the same heartbreak as you. As it is, I never had a child, and it now seems that I never shall. My husband is elderly, and I would not even think to marry again once he is gone. He is the only decent man to have held me in his arms. There surely is no other.”
Shirleen could think of one man whose arms were so comfortable and sweet.
