AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Well, I've had several lady friends in the past tell me that they loved their husbands, but they didn't like them a lot. I wondered about that at the time. But I can honestly say, I like you too. There are so many things I like about you."
He smiled, and sipped his coffee; still looking at her huddled in the blanket.
"Like what?" He encouraged her to share.
"Like your heart…to marry me you gave our horses away, and promised food for this tribe which does not belong to yours. You have a big heart. I like that."
He turned his head and smiled shyly.
"I like you being honest with me all the time. I respect you so much, that when you tell me to do something I automatically know it is for my own good. I trust you, and…the fact that you can love my children like your own…I cannot tell you what that means to me…they never really had a father. And they so needed one. To give them what you give, makes me so happy."
"Your children are good. They mind. They are respectful, and they know right from wrong. You have taught them these things. I see you in them. How could I not love them?"
"Your kind and sweet and good! All the things that a woman would naturally love in a man, but there is a question I'd like you to answer."
"Ask!"
"Why did you come to the ridge and stay for so long? You could have left any time. You were there a good six months before Harold died."
He smiled. "I had returned from hunting when I saw you and your family. I saw you with the children; how they played and you watched over them. I heard the screams from your lungs when your husband hurt you. I could not leave after that. At times I feared for your very life. I could not believe that a woman as strong as you would take that from a man. I wanted to kill him with my bare hands. After he died, I could not leave. I had fallen in love with you. I didn't realize it. I only felt it. Each time you came out of the house, I would watch, and each time you would look up at me, sometimes for a long time. It was as though your soul searched and found me. How could I leave you? I knew you were mine then. I knew…"
"Oh Hawk," she came to hug him.
He kissed her forehead. "Did you not know you were my woman?"
She pulled away to stare into his dark eyes. "I knew how I felt, I just wasn't sure because you didn't come to me when Harold died. Although, when you stayed…I was so overjoyed. I was afraid you would leave many times. Sometimes when you were gone for days, I missed you so badly. I feared I'd never see you again."
"I know." He said softly, staring into her face.
"You know?"
"I felt you pulling me back. Needing me."
"Yes, I did need you. I always will. I'm not as strong as you think. I am a female. And when the Comanche came…I prayed you'd come after me."
"I was afraid they might kill you."
"I'm glad they took me." She said with a slight smile.
"Why?" He frowned at her astounded by her comment.
"Because how long would it have been before you finally made me yours, if they hadn't taken me?" She asked with a chuckle. "How long would you have stayed on that ridge, just looking and not taking what was yours all along?"
He pulled her chin up, "You were mine the minute your husband died. Even I knew that."
"Oh Hawk…we've wasted some time…"
"No…it was not a waste. In that time, our souls searched us out. We grew to know each other, trust each other, and love each other. When I took you, I didn't want to just save you, but show you how much I loved you all that time."
She lay down once more, and opened her blanket to him, he snuggled against her. "Is everyone this happy that loves?"
"I do not know. Love is a strange thing. Like right now…I want you again."
She smiled sweetly, "You do?"
"I do!" He smiled back.
Then he kissed her. A sweet heartfelt kiss melted all over her like chocolate. It spoke of the gentleness of her man, it spoke of how much he cherished her, and it stole her heart completely.
