Savage Flames (17 page)

Chapter Twenty-nine

If you remember’st not the slightest

Folly that ever love did make thee run into,

Thou hast not lov’d.

—William Shakespeare

It was so wonderful to awaken in your arms,” Lavinia said as she sat with Wolf Dancer beside the fire, eating their morning
meal. “And soon I shall do that every morning. It is so hard to believe that we are actually going to be married. The first
time I saw you, I thought you were a figment of my imagination as you sat there looking so handsome in the tree. It is strange
how seeing you didn’t frighten me. I think deep down inside I knew even then that you were my destiny.”

“And that you are mine,” Wolf Dancer said.

His gaze roamed slowly over Lavinia, finding her beautiful in another new dress that Moon Beam had brought for her.

There were no beaded designs on it. It was just the brightest white doeskin he had ever seen.

It seemed to have been meant for a woman of such beautiful pale skin. The color of the dress blended with her skin tone, creating
a vision of loveliness.

Lavinia gazed at the food spread before her on awooden platter. Everything looked delicious. Moon Beam had brought not only
the lovely dress that Lavinia wore today so proudly but also a tray of assorted meats and orange slices.

Since she had moved to Florida, Lavinia had grown to love the fact that she could just reach up and pluck an orange from a
tree. It was so special to enjoy the sweet fruit that way.

“There is enough food here for an army,” Lavinia said, laughing softly when she saw how that comment made Wolf Dancer’s eyebrows
lift. “That’s what my father often said about what my mother put on our breakfast table. Although we had servants and cooks,
my mother always insisted on making our breakfast. And what a breakfast it was! I shall never forget her pancakes.”

“My father called them flapjacks,” she went on, giggling.

“I am not familiar with those words…pancakes and flapjacks,” Wolf Dancer said, taking a bite of turtle meat and chewing
it.

“I shall make you some one day soon,” Lavinia replied, glad that she had learned how to make pancakes from her mother.

“How do you eat this…pancake?” Wolf Dancer asked, shoving his empty plate aside.

He leaned back on an elbow, stretching his bare, muscled legs out before him. Today he was again wearing only a breechclout.

“With maple syrup or also with honey,” Lavinia murmured, reminded how Dorey had always enjoyed that particular breakfast.

Her daughter had come early this morning just as Lavinia was getting dressed, and asked to spend another day with Twila and
the “boys,” as she now referred to the two brothers. Dorey had also asked permission to go on a search for a honey tree with
her three friends.

Lavinia had hesitated, uneasy at the idea of Dorey leaving the village. She would never forget her own close call with the
snake, and also knew how quickly an alligator could appear out of nowhere.

Also she could never forget about the white panther that people said guarded the island. She hadn’t seen the white panther
for quite a while now.

Perhaps she never would again.

Something told her that neither she nor the children had anything to worry about as far as that panther was concerned.

But Hiram was another matter. He was a true concern, one that wouldn’t go away, at least not until the Sun God’s prophecy
was fulfilled. Until then, she could not help being uneasy at the possibility that he was searching for her.

She wondered if he would have the courage to come this far into the Everglades to find her. Or had he given up on having her?

She prayed each morning and night for the latter.

“My people depend on honey as a quick source of energy,” Wolf Dancer said as Lavinia pushed her empty wooden plate aside.
“I am certain the two young braves know exactly where a honey tree can be found.”

“Didn’t I hear you say earlier that some warriorshave gone out this morning on a hunt?” Lavinia asked, suddenly concerned.
What if the children got in the way of an arrow?

“Both young braves know where the hunters usually go, so they will not venture anywhere near,” Wolf Dancer said. He gazed
into the flames of the fire, and then into Lavinia’s eyes. “In our village, the men bring to me all the game they catch. I
will then divide it among the families according to their needs. Moon Beam will be one of those who gets the most, for she
no longer has a husband to hunt for her and her children.”

He smiled. “The chief is privileged to keep all hides, unless he wishes to give them to someone needy,” he said. “I have enough
hides, so I shall give them to those who do not.”

“You prove over and over again how kind and generous you are,” Lavinia murmured. She moved over to Wolf Dancer and slowly
ran her hands across his bare, muscled chest. “Can you be as generous with me this morning?”

“And what can I give to you?” Wolf Dancer asked, reaching out for Lavinia and bringing her down atop him as he stretched out
on his back on the rich pelts beside the fire. “This?”

He framed her face between his hands and brought her lips down onto his. He gave her a heated kiss, then put his hands at
her waist and moved her beneath him.

He did not bother undressing her. He just smoothed his hands up under the skirt of her dressand began caressing her where
she was already wet with want.

“Your breechclout,” she whispered against his lips as he moved his mouth to her cheek. She was breathless with the passion
building inside her as he moved his fingers skillfully over her love mound. “My dress.”

He said nothing. Only sat up and pulled her dress up and over her, then tossed it aside.

He stood up long enough to remove his breechclout, revealing how ready he was to make love with her. His manhood was at its
fullest.

Lavinia reached out a hand and filled it with his flesh, moving her fingers on him. She was soon very aware of how she was
making him feel.

He was breathing hard. His head was thrown back in ecstasy, his long black hair hanging down to his waist behind him.

She saw his jaw tighten as the pleasure built within him, and then suddenly he took her hand away and surprised her by placing
her hand on herself, where his fingers had been only moments ago. He moved her hand over her mound.

She blushed with the wantonness of what she was doing, for she felt a pleasure from her own caresses that usually only came
with Wolf Dancer’s touch.

“How…?” she said, searching his eyes.

“It is just one other way to receive pleasure,” Wolf Dancer said, easing her hand away, then stretching himself over her and
gently shoving his manhood into her.

“While the children are gathering sweetness in the forest, we shall gather our own in the privacy of my home,” Wolf Dancer
whispered into her ear. Lavinia’s breath caught with rapture as he delved even deeper inside her. “I love you. How did I ever
live without you?”

“I wasn’t truly alive until that day I first saw you,” Lavinia whispered back to him. “It was as though a magic wand had been
waved between us, causing us to love one another at once.”

“And it is forever,” Wolf Dancer said huskily.

He gave her another meltingly hot kiss as his body continued moving within her. He was very aware of how she was writhing
in response.

Her soft moans came rapidly, making him sure that this time it would not take long for both of them to reach that place of
pleasure that only those who were truly in love ever found.

“Oh, how I need you,” Lavinia said as his lips fell upon one of her breasts, even as he continued to stroke within her.

She gasped when he nipped at the tip of her breast, then swirled his tongue around it.

She drew a ragged breath. “My love, oh, my love,” she cried as the heat of passion spread within her, her body growing even
more feverish with this passion.

He paused for only a moment, so that he could look into her eyes. “My woman, you are so beautiful,” he said huskily. “Your
body was made for loving.”

“And you are a master at loving,” Lavinia said ina flood of emotion. “You have awakened many pleasure points on my body that
I never knew existed.”

“There are many, many more, but I will awaken only a few at a time,” he said, chuckling teasingly.

He kissed her again, his arms wrapped around her to draw her even more snugly into his embrace. And then he reached the peak
of his pleasure. The euphoria that filled his entire being was almost more than he could bear.

He thrust into her one more time and she clung harder to him, moaning as she found her own paradise in her lover’s arms.

She watched him roll away from her, his body so beautiful she wanted to kiss him all over.

But she knew they should not stay undressed for long, for he had chieftain duties to tend to, and the children could arrive
at any moment with their prize. And his warriors could arrive home with their own catch of the day!

“Will it always be like this?” Lavinia asked, pulling the lovely dress over her head.

She reached for a brush that Moon Beam had given to her. It was nothing like any she had ever seen before. It was made from
the stiff bristles of some animal. She didn’t want to know which, or she might not want to use it.

As it was, she didn’t have her own brush, or anything else, for that matter. She hoped to get a few of her belongings when
she went with Wolf Dancer to the mansion tonight.

This was the time that the Sun God had told them about.

Tonight they would go and see that Hiram got his comeuppance.

How?

She didn’t want to know. She just wanted it over with, and quickly.

She watched Wolf Dancer pull his breechclout on, covering that part of him that awakened so many luscious feelings within
her.

She felt shameful for thinking such things, yet this was a new life, with new awakenings each day, it seemed!

“I’m a bit uneasy about what we are going to do tonight,” Lavinia said, her hair hanging neatly down her back.

“You do not have to go if you would feel better staying at home while I see to things,” Wolf Dancer said. He took her hands
and gently pulled her up before him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and gazed into her eyes. “Would you rather stay
here?”

“No, I’d better go with you. I need to see what happens with my own eyes, and also I would like to get some things from the
house,” she said. “Dorey loves storybooks. I want to get some for her. She will enjoy reading to your people’s children. She
can even teach them how to read. She taught Twila. Now Twila enjoys the books the same as Dorey.”

She paused, lowered her eyes, then gazed back up at Wolf Dancer. “And then there is mymother’s Bible,” she said, her voice
breaking with emotion. “I brought it with me after my parents died. I feel she is with me when I hold it in my hands.”

“We shall get everything you want,” Wolf Dancer said, then stepped away from her and stood over the fire, gazing into its
flames. “And then we will burn everything.”

Lavinia gasped. “Burn…everything…?” she asked, the sound of her voice bringing Wolf Dancer around to look into
her eyes.

“That is what must be done to fulfill the command of the Sun God,” he said. “I talked with Shining Soul after you went to
bed last night. He told me things that he did not share with you, for fear that you would not want to see it done.”

“But…to burn…?” she said, searching his eyes.

“Yes, burn,” he said thickly.

“The house is so big,” she said, swallowing hard. “There will be…. such savage flames.”

He nodded.

“What about the slaves?” she asked.

“Those who wish to come with us, can, and those who wish to go elsewhere, can also do that,” Wolf Dancer said. He went to
her and framed her face between his hands. “Will all of this be acceptable to you?”

“You will not tell me what you plan to do with Hiram,” she said hesitantly.

Her husband had loved the mansion. She hadnever felt the same. To her, it was just a home, a place for her to raise Dorey
with much love.

“It is up to Hiram,” Wolf Dancer said. Then he looked toward the closed door as he heard the laughter of the children approaching.

“They are home,” Wolf Dancer said. He again looked into her eyes. “Are you going to be alright with everything?”

“I will be fine,” Lavinia said. She smiled weakly at him. “It is…just so much…to accept so quickly.” “Once we
are back home, after doing what must be done you will forget all that happened at the place where you never found true happiness,”
he said. He touched her cheek. “You were never happy there, were you?”

“No,” she said, smiling slowly at him.

“Then let us go outside and see what the children have brought home from their venture this morning,” he said, taking her
hand.

They walked outside together, hand in hand.

“Mama, see?” Dorey cried excitedly, running up to her. “We have brought home a deerskin full of honey.” She giggled. “And
there was only one bee sting.” She nodded over at Twila. “Twila, show them your bee sting.”

Twila held out her hand.

“I removed the stinger myself,” Dorey said, smiling proudly.

“Does it hurt, Twila?” Lavinia asked. She stepped away from Wolf Dancer and took the child’s hand in hers. There was only
a small bump.

“Running Bear found medicine in the forest,” Twila said, glancing over at him. “It was some sort of plant. He rubbed the sting
with it, and suddenly the hurt was gone.”

“How kind,” Lavinia said, glancing at Running Bear, and then at Dorey, who was standing near him.

Lavinia felt it was good that the children had become friends, and that Dorey had forgiven the young braves so quickly. But
she was aware that her daughter and Running Bear seemed to have formed a special bond. She knew that her daughter was infatuated
with this young boy.

Lavinia’s eyes met Running Bear’s. She smiled at him gently, hoping that he wouldn’t take advantage of her daughter, then
reminded herself that he, too, was only a child.