Wild Desire (12 page)

Stephanie's heartbeat quickened as he made one maddening plunge and was inside her. She opened herself to him, whispering with bliss against his lips as their naked flesh seemed to fuse, their bodies sucking at each other, flesh against flesh in gentle pressure.

He lay above her, bracing himself with his elbows. His hands caught hers and held them slightly above her. He kissed her eyes, her nose, the silken flesh of the column of her throat.

Tremors cascaded down Stephanie's back when one of his hands slid down and crept up inside her blouse. She shuddered with ecstasy as his fingers circled her nipple, causing her breast to strain into his hand with anticipation.

Then he pulled himself away from her and moved down her body. Stephanie was almost delirious from pleasure. Wide-eyed, she watched him bend low over her between her thighs. She flinched in pleasant shock when his fingers spread the silky frond of hair at the juncture of her thighs, his tongue soon titillating the core of her womanhood, the tip of his tongue swirling and moist against her.

Stephanie closed her eyes in sheer ecstasy and her insides tightened and grew warm as his lips and tongue continued paying homage to her where she ever so sweetly throbbed. Never had anything felt so wonderfully sinful. As the pleasure mounted, she tossed her head from side to side. She chewed her lower lip. She folded and unfolded her hands into tight fists at her sides.

When she did not think that she could last much longer without tumbling over the edge into total bliss, she placed her hands on each side of his face and urged him back over her.

Runner sculpted himself to her moist body, molding perfectly to the curved hollow of her hips, and pressed himself deeply within her again. He kissed her breasts one at a time and sucked the nipples.

Runner was feeling the tension mounting deeply within the chasm of his desire, the sensations searing. He drove into her more swiftly and surely. Their bodies strained together.

Feeling his body hardening and tightening, Runner knew that he was near to the point of no return. He paused, and then pushed himself endlessly deeper into her, then shuddered intensely, her body absorbing the bold thrusts, answering his need with her lifted hips.

Afterward, he held her within his arms with exquisite tenderness. “I don't want to leave this lovely place,” Stephanie murmured. “Let's stay, Runner, and pretend we are the only two people on the earth.”

At that moment her stomach growled with hunger, making her laugh. “I didn't bring enough food for an evening meal,” she murmured, recalling their meager picnic lunch.

“One day I hope that we
can
stay together, forever,” Runner said, helping her from the ground. “But I guess now isn't the time to discuss it.”

Stephanie gave him a wide-eyed, wondering stare. Her heart leapt at the thought of marriage. It was a wonderful idea, but it scared her. Their worlds were so different, and she knew that he would ask her to adjust to his. He would never return to the life of a white man.

She shook such thoughts from her mind. She did not want to think about choices again. But she knew that, in time, she would have to decide what her future would be, where, and with whom.

A warm thrill soared through her at the thought of never having to say another good-bye to Runner. Surely she could be content in just knowing that he was hers. Yet, what of her photography?

Solemn, she began putting her equipment away.

Runner sensed her mood. He took her by the wrists and pulled her to him. “You
do
belong to me, heart and soul,” he said huskily.

His mouth crushed down upon her lips in a heated kiss. She melted against him, knowing that what he had just said was true.

When he released her, she smiled sweetly up at him. “You are right, you know,” she murmured. “We do belong together. We
will
work it out. I'll make sure of it.”

They placed all of the equipment on the mule, mounted their steeds, and headed back, the sun splashing its last golden light across the western horizon.

Stephanie sighed with pleasure. She threw her head back and allowed her hair to tumble down her back. “I've never been so happy,” she shouted, laughter bubbling from within her.

 

 

Runner had brought her close enough to her private car to see her safely there, then beneath the bright light of a full moon, he wheeled his horse around and rode away.

Bone tired, Stephanie took her horse into the cattle car and saw that it was watered and fed. Then, stretching and yawning, and with a stomach so empty it ached, she strolled idly from the cattle car, unaware that someone else had arrived.

When she stepped to the ground, she cried out. Strong arms circled her waist, and she found herself suddenly stretched out on the ground.

When she was finally able to see who her assailant was, she was stunned to find Damon Stout sneering down at her in the moonlight. This time he was making sure that he was holding her wrists fast to the ground, even though she did not have her derringer holstered at her waist.

“I saw you with the injun,” Damon said in a husky growl. “Did you let him take a feel of you? Or did he do more than that? Did he give you a poke or two? How's about givin' some to me?”

“You disgust me,” Stephanie said, shuddering with distaste as he attempted to raise her skirt with one of his knees. “I'll kill you this time. I swear I'll kill you if you so much as touch me.”

“I doubt that,” Damon said, chuckling.

Stephanie tried to squirm free, but found that her fatigue from the long day had weakened her too much. For the life of her, she couldn't get away.

She turned her head sideways when Damon tried to kiss her. “Adam!” she screamed. “Lord, Adam, come and get this filthy man off me!”

Damon clamped a hand over her mouth, holding her in place, his other hand loosening his hardness from his breeches.

Adam ran from his private car. Aghast at what he saw, he hesitated for a moment, then went to Damon and grabbed him by the shirt collar, dragging him away from Stephanie.

“You stupid fool!” Adam cried. “Can't you put your priorities in order? I asked you here to discuss matters besides my sister. Must you always treat her as though she is no more than a dog in heat?”

“She shouldn't be so damn pretty,” Damon growled, yanking himself away from Adam. He covered himself with one hand, while he rebuttoned his breeches.

“You're vile,” Stephanie said, scrambling to her feet. She smoothed her skirt down, then wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand.

She then stamped over and grabbed Adam's pistol from its holster and thrust it into Damon's stomach. “I would learn to control my lusts, if I were you,” she warned, her eyes flashing heatedly into his. “The next time you look at me, I won't give you an opportunity to climb atop me again. I'll just shoot you and get it over with.”

Adam chuckled. “That's tellin' him, sis,” he said, then his laughter faded as Damon glared at him.

“If you know what's best for you, you'll tell this sister of yours to back off,” Damon said in a feral snarl. “I could blow this whole deal sky high with the Navaho, and you'd see the last of your private spur and the town that you're hankerin' for. I could let them in on our little secrets. They'd skin you alive, Adam, if they knew how you're schemin' against them.”

“You . . . wouldn't . . .” Adam said, paling.

“Want to put it to the test?” Damon said, chuckling. “Do it.”

Stephanie looked from one to the other. “What are you talking about?” she said, lowering the pistol. “What plans? What are you going to do to the Navaho?”

“Nothing, sis,” Adam said thinly. “Damon's got too vivid an imagination for his own good.”

“Adam, you know that I'm willin' to do anything to get rid of the Navaho,” Damon snarled. “With me on your side, we'll both come out winners.” He shrugged. “I don't care what you do or don't tell your sister. You've got my word that I won't be causin' her any more trouble. As I see it, she ain't worth it, anyhow.”

Stephanie's blood was boiling mad. Knowing that she wasn't going to get any answers from her brother, she stamped away and went inside her private car. She stared out the window as Adam and Damon continued speaking. She hated to see Adam with the likes of Damon. Her brother was easily swayed. He could become like Damon in the wink of an eye and there was nothing she could do about it.

Except perhaps warn Runner.

Yet she feared doing that. Runner was quickly angered, and so was Sage. She felt that it was best to let sleeping dogs lie, until they had to be awakened.

She went to her kitchenette and washed her hands, then put together a quick bite to eat.

Outside, Adam leaned close to Damon. “It's best if you don't go near my sister again,” he said, his voice low. “Damn it, Damon, what she is doing, by sidetracking Runner, is the best way to eventually ruin not only Runner and Sage, but the whole Navaho people. It might enable me and you to buy up the whole damn Arizona Territory.”

“Sounds good to me,” Damon said, shrugging.

Adam looked past him at the distant mountains crowned by the bright moon's glow. He had a fleeting thought of Pure Blossom and how all of this might affect her, then brushed it aside as Damon began talking about the new town and the gambling halls, women, and hell-raising men that would frequent it.

“I know
I'm
anxious to become a steady customer at the saloons,” Damon said, slapping Adam on the shoulder.

They both laughed raucously.

Chapter 15

With her hands on her hips, Stephanie was waiting for Adam when he entered her private car. He had to have known that she would need explanations after what Damon had said about the Navaho.

And by the wavering of his eyes as he shut the door behind him and stood there, silently looking at Stephanie, she knew that she had been right.

“Adam, what's going on between you and Damon?” she asked, her jaw tight.

Adam shrugged. “We're friends,” he said. “That's all.”

“How could you be friends with that beast?” Stephanie replied. “Twice now he has assaulted me. You should hate him, Adam. Instead, you continue to ally yourself with him. What is it that you are planning with Damon against the Navaho? Is that why you agreed to his friendship so readily? Because he has an axe to grind against the Indians?”

Adam raked his fingers through his hair and lowered his eyes. “I don't know how to answer that,” he mumbled.

“Your refusal to answer me is proof enough,” Stephanie said.

She went over to Adam and forced him to look her straight in the eyes.

“Adam, how can you forget your past friendship with Runner so easily?” she murmured. “And Sage and Leonida. You surely can't be seriously thinking about taking advantage of them. You came to get their approval, not to take
from
them that which is precious. Adam, you are wanting more land than is already allotted you. Isn't that so?”

“And if I do?” Adam said, slapping her hand away. He turned to leave, but Stephanie stepped quickly between him and the door.

“If you do anything else to cause the Navaho problems, Adam, so help me I shall disown you as my brother,” she said in a low, warning hiss. “Do you hear me, Adam? I will no longer be your sister. And I will do everything within my power to see that you don't get your way, even if that means getting a court order to stop you. If I have to travel to Washington and speak with the president about what you are doing, I shall.”

“You can't be serious,” Adam gasped, paling. “You would ruin me.”

“Exactly,” Stephanie said, smiling smugly up at him.

“Stephanie, how could the Navaho mean so much to you that you would go against your own brother?” Adam said, his eyes suddenly angry. He clasped her shoulders with his hands, causing her to wince with pain. “We've meant everything to each other. You can't go against me now.”

“Try me,” she said.

Adam dropped his hands to his sides, walked to the window, and stared out of it. “I believe you would,” he grumbled.

Anger was seething inside him. His careful plans were backfiring. When he had wanted Stephanie to ally herself with Runner, it had not been for her to forget her brother. It was only meant for her to sway the Navaho into approving all of his plans. Now it seemed that she was ready to do anything she could for the Navaho because of her feelings for the “White Indian.”

He turned slowly around and glared at Stephanie. “It's because of Runner, isn't it?” he said, his voice drawn. “You love him more than you ever loved me.”

“I do love him, but that is not entirely why I am so set against what you're trying to do,” Stephanie said, torn by her feelings toward her brother. She loved him, yet at this moment, it was very close to becoming hate. “I just don't like to see this change in you. Runner said that you are someone he no longer knows. I am beginning to feel the same way, Adam.”

She crossed the room to him, framing his face between her hands. “Adam, please stop your friendship with Damon,” she pleaded. “Make a solid friendship with the Navaho again. Tell them that you want nothing more than the land you have already been allotted by the government. If you go in peace, I am sure they will accept your private spur and new town because it is with an old friend that they will be giving their alliance.”

She paused, then added, “And Damon be damned.”

Adam took her hands and kissed their palms, then drew her into his arms. “Sis, I love you so much, and I understand what you are saying. But Damon's a man I don't think I want to cross. You have seen his true self. He is a shifty, crafty man who would do anything to rid his life of the Navaho. Who is to say what he would do if he realized that I was friends with the Navaho again?”

“There are ways to protect ourselves against him,” Stephanie said, easing from his arms. She lifted her derringer from its holster, where she had left it hanging on the back of a chair. She caressed the gun as she stared down at it. “I know that he'd better not try anything with me again. I
will
shoot him, Adam. He won't get the chance to touch me with his filthy hands again.”

Adam watched her smoothing her hand over the firearm for a moment, feeling trapped by her demands. There was no way he was going to give up the idea of taking more land, now that he saw it within his grasp. And to do that, he needed Damon.

No. He could not actually do everything his sister was asking, but he could put on a danm good act. He would go to the Navaho and offer apologies. Perhaps, this would also give him the freedom to be with Pure Blossom for a while longer.

Then, after Damon performed his role in framing the Navaho, there would be no one who could cast any of the blame on Adam. In the end, Damon would be the one who would be swinging from a hangman's noose.

Adam smiled cynically. His sister was no longer his trump card. Damon was. And Damon would have no idea that he was being tricked all the way to the gallows.

“I'll go to the Navaho and apologize,” he said quickly. He drew her closer to him. “Pretty sister, does that make you happy?”

Stephanie was slow to respond. She studied his eyes, hoping to be able to see if he was sincere or not, but she had learned long ago that her brother was a master at disguising his true feelings. As before, she would just have to take him at his word and pray that things would be put right with the Navaho.

“You are serious, aren't you?” she finally said.

“I've never been more serious in my life.” The lie slipped across his lips way more easily than he would have thought possible. “In fact, Stephanie, I'll go first thing tomorrow. I'll take council with Sage and Runner. You can go with me, if you wish.”

Stephanie laughed nervously and walked away from him. She went to her liquor cabinet and poured some wine in two long-stemmed glasses. “No. I think not. I'll let you do your own apologizing. But let's drink to your success,” she said, holding a glass out for Adam. “And to much happiness.”

Adam sauntered over and took the glass from her. “Yes, to much happiness,” he said, clinking his glass against hers. “Especially ours.”

They emptied their glasses and set them aside. “Adam, today, when you rode past me and Runner, without your shirt and boots on, where on earth had you been? And from whom were you escaping?” she asked.

Adam absently raked his fingers through his hair. “Sis, it's obvious that you are in love with Runner,” he said. “
I've
fallen in love with his sister, Pure Blossom. I had spent the night with her in her hogan. Sage found me there. He ordered me from the village. I have never been so humiliated.”

“You . . . and . . . Pure Blossom?” Stephanie said, stunned. “You slept with her? And . . . you . . . were chased from the village?”

Adam nodded.

“You just told me that you were going to go to the Navaho village and offer apologies and friendship,” Stephanie said solemnly. “How on earth can you do that, especially in light of what you have just told me?”

“Sis, that's exactly why it is so important to go there,” he said softly. “Not only for you and me, but for Pure Blossom. I don't think I can live without her.”

“Incredible,” Stephanie said, her eyes wide.

“Magnificent,” Adam teased back, then took her into his arms and swung her around, laughing happily.

 

 

Runner arrived back at his hogan just as the sky was brightening into soft pinks along the eastern horizon. Exhausted, he slung himself across his bed and fell instantly asleep. In what seemed only a few short minutes, a hand on his shoulder awakened him with a start.

When he found his father standing over him, his arms folded angrily across his chest, he sat up quickly.

“What is it, Father?” he asked, smoothing his hair back from his eyes.

“You have been gone a day and a night,” Sage said, eyeing Runner suspiciously. “What has taken you so long from your people?”

Runner rose to his feet and eluded his father's eyes by going and stacking some fresh firewood into his fireplace. “I am sure that you have already guessed why,” he said, watching the flames take hold. “But I will tell you anyway, since you have asked. I was with the white woman.”

“After my warnings, you still go to her,” Sage said, disappointment in his tone. “She means that much to you?”

Runner looked up at his father, then slowly rose to his full height. “Yes, she means everything to me,” he said smoothly.

“Where did you go with her that took so long?”

“I took her and her camera many places.”

“You know the evil of the camera, yet you still gave the white woman assistance?”

“I understand your feelings, Father. I led her to locations of less value to our people, where there were no sacred meanings. I kept her interest away from our people while doing this.”

Sage kneaded his chin. “Yes, I see that what you did was, indeed, clever,” he said. Then he stepped closer to Runner. “You did this for the People. But also you did it for yourself.”

“That is so,” Runner said, nodding. “She has filled my life with something special. Father, I cannot help but love her.”

“I told you more than once why you should not allow this to happen,” Sage said, shaking his head slowly. “But my words fell on deaf ears.”

“I am sorry that you cannot accept the side of me that is drawn to this white woman,” Runner said, going to embrace his father. “Father, inside, where my heart beats soundly, it beats as a Navaho, instead of white. So will it be until the day I leave this earth to walk that long path in the Hereafter. Loving a white woman will not change that, ever.”

Sage patted his son's back, then eased away from him.

“Many of our horses were stolen while you were gone,” Sage said, his eyes dark. “As you know, I have always spoken out against horse stealing. I have always urged our braves to remember that by treaties we made promises: no fighting, no raiding. If the People need something, do not steal, instead trade. But Damon Stout has caused me to go back on my teachings. We must steal back that which is ours.”

The thought of such a raid against Damon Stout filled Runner's veins with excitement. He had waited a long time for his father to decide to retaliate against the wrong that was being done them at the hands of the white rancher.

“When do we go?” he asked, his eyes dancing.

“We will wait for some time, until Damon and his men are off their guard. At least a week,” Sage said. “We will leave under the cover of darkness. We will take as many horses from Damon as have been taken from us.”

There was a sudden commotion outside the hogan. There were many loud, angry shouts. Sage and Runner exchanged looks, then left the building in a rush.

Just as they stepped outside, they saw Adam. He was being half dragged between two Navaho braves, his eyes flashing angrily as he tried to pull himself free.

Sage turned cold when he saw Adam again, recalling how Adam had been in Pure Blossom's hogan as though he belonged there. It had sickened him then; it repelled him now.

When Runner saw Adam being treated in such a way, he was stunned speechless. He did not want Adam in the village any more than anyone else, but it did seem that this was going a bit too far.

He stepped forward. “Let him go,” he said, finding it strange to defend this man whom he now considered an enemy. “Why are you treating him this way?”

“I forbid Adam ever to enter our village again,” Sage said, stepping up beside Runner. “And it is not because of what he is proposing to do on Navaho land. It is because of your sister, Runner. He shamed Pure Blossom by taking her to her bed.”

Runner paled and turned to face his father. “What are you saying?” he managed out in a gasp.

Pure Blossom stepped forward, her exquisitely long hair blowing in the gentle breeze.

“He went to my bed at my invitation,” she boldly announced, lifting her chin when everyone grew silent and stared at her.

“When he was discovered there, I sent him away,” Sage mumbled.

Runner recalled seeing Adam on his horse without his boots and shirt. Now he understood why.

He turned to Adam, scowling. “You do this to my sister?” he snarled. “For your own selfish gains you do this?” He slapped Adam across the face, the snapping sound like a vast echo across the land.

Adam turned with the blow, then he stroked the stinging flesh of his cheek as he frowned over at Runner. “If anyone else did that, I would challenge him to a duel,” he said, his voice cold and angry. “As it is you, I shall pass on the suggestion. I have come to apologize, not to fight.”

“Apologize?” Sage said, raising an eyebrow.

“You do not know the meaning of the word,” Runner said from between clenched teeth.

“Please hear him out,” Pure Blossom begged, grabbing her father's arm. “Please?”