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Runner edged his stallion closer and closer. “Now!” he shouted. “Let . . . go . . . now!”
Stephanie sucked in a wild, frightened breath, then dropped the reins. She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer, then gasped as she was grabbed from the speeding horse and held safely on Runner’s lap.
Runner drew his mount to a quivering halt. He placed a finger to Stephanie’s chin and brought her eyes up to meet his. “Are you all right?” he said as Sage rode silently up beside them.
Stephanie sighed heavily, her breathing raspy. “I’m fine,” she finally managed to say. “Thanks to you. If you hadn’t come along, I’m not sure what would have happened. My horse just wouldn’t stop.”
Runner enveloped her within his hard, powerful arms and hugged her, then he leaned her away from him, a deep frown furrowing his brow. “What are you doing this far from the train?” he said, his voice drawn. “And alone? What are you thinking of?”
“I needed to be alone,” Stephanie said sullenly. “I . . . couldn’t . . . sleep.”
Thunder Hawk rode up, questioning her with his dark eyes, and she smiled shyly at him, then looked up at Runner again. “Why are you out this time of night, herding horses?” she murmured.
Runner and Sage exchanged quick glances, then Runner rode away with Stephanie to catch her horse, leaving Sage and Thunder Hawk staring after them.
“Father, it does not seem as though my brother heeds your warnings about the white woman,” Thunder Hawk said, wincing when he saw anger and pain in his father’s eyes.
“His heart makes him do strange things,” Sage said in a mumble. “And although this father hates to admit it, I do understand my older son’s behavior. Many moons ago, your father’s heart was stolen by a woman with white skin.”
He smiled over at Thunder Hawk, and tousled his son’s wiry, black hair. “You would not be here had I not allowed my heart to take control of my mind,” he said proudly.
“It is good to hear that you understand a son’s love for a particular woman,” Thunder Hawk said, reaching over to clasp a hand to his father’s shoulder. “I would hope that when love comes to me, you will understand.”
“Your education is important now,” Sage said, his eyes narrowing. “Not women.”
Thunder Hawk stared after his father as Sage rode away to join those who were still herding the horses toward his village.
“Soon you will see that this son also does not bear your words, nor follows your bidding,” Thunder Hawk said, scowling. He sank his moccasined heels into the flanks of his horse and rode away to join the other braves.
Stephanie’s horse was caught and tethered. Runner and Stephanie rested beside a small, winding stream, before taking the long ride back to her private car. The chase had taken them farther and farther into a canyon. There they were protected from the cooler breezes of night. There they sat beside a slow-burning fire, the warmth spreading to the stark, red walls on either side of them where the canyon walls reached high into tall buttes overhead.
Watching the slow-burning flames of the fire, Stephanie cuddled next to Runner. “You haven’t said yet why you were herding the horses at this time of night,” she murmured, turning to give him a slow, questioning look.
“That is nothing to concern yourself about,” Runner said, drawing her lips to his mouth. “It is Navaho business.”
He embraced her and lifted her onto his lap, threading several locks of her hair through his fingers. “Let’s not question each other about our separate reasons for riding through the darkness of night,” he breathed huskily against her lips. “Except for the moon and stars, we are alone. Let us show them the wonders of our love.”
His lips clinging to hers, he pressed her down onto the ground. His one hand ran down the length of her, then traced a heated path up her leg, beneath her skirt.
Stephanie moaned against his lips as he caressed her between her thighs. She lifted her hips to help him as he tugged her undergarments down.
Her hands shoved his fringed breeches over his hips. When his desire for her sprang into sight, she circled her fingers around him and led him to where she had opened her legs, to receive him inside her.
Runnner’s arms snaked around her waist and drew her pliant body against his as he thrust himself into her depths. As he drew his lips away, he smiled down at her, and watching her become enraptured by their lovemaking, he could see a hungry fire burning in her eyes and was aware of a sudden curling heat tightening within him.
“I love you so,” she whispered, and twined her fingers through his long, black hair, bringing his mouth to hers again. She pressed a warm kiss to his lips, then darted her tongue into his mouth.
Their bodies jolted and quivered as their passion reached the bursting point. They clung; they rocked; they moaned. And then their bodies subsided exhaustedly into one another’s.
Runner rolled away from her, but held her endearingly at his side.
“We should leave,” Runner said, reaching for her undergarments, bending over her to slip them up her tapered legs. “As it is, we may not arrive at your railroad car until dawn.”
“I don’t care if I go back there at all,” Stephanie murmured, giving him a pouting look as he smoothed her skirt. “When I am with you, everything is so simple. It is when we are separated that I find things so complicated and confusing.” She leaned into his embrace, placing her head on his chest. “Will we ever find a true, lasting peace in our relationship?”
“Since I was a child, I have never known the true meaning of peace,” Runner said somberly, covering the fire with dirt to smother it. “The Navaho have fought hard to retain a peaceful coexistence with the white man. But there are always those who try and take that from us.”
“When you say that, you are including Adam, aren’t you?” Stephanie said, pushing herself up from the ground.
