Wild Desire (8 page)

So quickly taken with her, he felt awkward in her presence. He held her hand for only a moment, then slid it away and gripped the saucer and took another sip of coffee from the cup. Yet his eyes were still on Pure Blossom.

Hers were drawn away when her mother spoke to her.

“And, Pure Blossom, this is Stephanie,” Leonida said, nodding and smiling over to Stephanie.

Pure Blossom and Stephanie smiled cordially at one another.

“Our son, Thunder Hawk, attends school each day,” Stephanie said. She settled down at the foot of Sage's chair and rested an elbow on one of his knees. “I'm sorry he wasn't here to meet you. But in time, you will make his acquaintance.”

“Leonida, they have not come solely to make acquaintances,” Sage said dryly. “Adam, Runner did not get the opportunity to question you yet about this private spur that is planned to reach Fort Defiance. You tell us now. What are your connections with this new railroad line? Why is it being laid except for purposes of exploiting my people?”

Adam was momentarily at a loss for words. He had not expected to be thrown into such troubled waters so soon. In fact, he had not planned to get into this discussion at all today with Sage. He had yet to get Runner alone first, to encourage him to be his ally. He cursed the very idea now of having come to the village today.

Yet would it be any different tomorrow, or the day after?
he despaired to himself.

He now realized that it wouldn't be. He had to face the music today, and perhaps it
was
best to get it over with, after all.

Runner eased to his feet and loomed over Adam, his eyes narrowing at him. At this moment, Stephanie was the farthest thing from his mind. Her brother, Runner's boyhood friend, was the main concern now. Runner doubted that Adam had any answers that would please him, or his father. Too much pointed to Adam being guilty of having come to Arizona Territory for all of the wrong reasons.

“I truly came today only out of friendship,” Adam said. He set his cup and saucer aside and slowly rose to his feet. He edged away from Runner and went and stood behind Stephanie. “But if you insist, I do have things that need to be said.”

“Continue,” Sage said, nodding.

Runner folded his arms across his chest. “But be warned that you best carefully guard what you say,” he said. “The private spur. It
is
yours, is it not?” He ignored Stephanie's steady gaze and that his sister was showing too much interest in Adam. He gave Adam a steady, unnerving stare, as though daring him to continue.

“In part, yes,” Adam stammered.

“Either it is, or it isn't,” Runner said stiffly. “Which is it?”

“If you put it that way, it belongs entirely to the Santa Fe Railroad,” Adam said, his jaw tightening.

“Then explain your connections to the railroad,” Runner said, taking a step closer to Adam. “Stephanie once referred to the private spur being yours. Explain how it can be yours one day, and it is not the next?”

“It's too complicated to explain in detail,” Adam said. He shuffled his feet nervously when all eyes became intent on him. “To make it short, the spur is being built at my request, but at the expense of the Santa Fe Railroad.”

“And why would they agree to such an exorbitant, wasteful expense?” Runner prodded.

Sage allowed his son to continue with the questions, since he was succeeding at putting Adam at a disadvantage. He smiled smugly as Adam noticeably became more uneasy.

“If you must know,” Adam said tightly, “the private spur will go past Fort Defiance and farther still into Navaho land, for the development of a town for tourists. This town would be run by me. It would bear my name.”

“That cannot be allowed to happen,” Sage said, unable to keep quiet. He stood to his full height, towering over Adam. “The Santa Fe Railroad right-of-way closes off further Navaho advance.”

“Sage, you know that a series of presidential executive orders have added expanse after expanse of land to the Navaho Treaty Reservation,” Adam defended. “I will go further to say that it seems to me that you are too greedy with this land.”

Sage was fighting to control his anger. He glared at Adam. “The reservation is not all good pasture land,” he grumbled. “There are great barren stretches far from water.”

“Yes, I am sure that is true,” Adam said. He purposely softened his tone, afraid to anger Sage too much. He did not want to have to watch his back every time he rode away from the safe confines of his train. “But there are countless new horizons that still exist for not only the Navaho but the white man. Surely you can feel it. Whenever you hear the whistle of a train you should be proud. There is room for everyone's expansion.”

“The black iron fiend has already brought a new evil to this land,” Sage grumbled. “The Navaho never had much to do with liquor before the train brought drunken white men to our land. The new railroad towns have saloons. The men who frequent them are tough, hard drinkers. These men offer alcohol to our innocent youth. They become shameful in the eyes of their people when they come staggering into town, stinking and drunk.”

“In moderation, alcohol doesn't hurt anyone,” Adam defended.

“It is a new, cheap way to happiness and security,” Sage said somberly. “Those Navaho who have become discouraged in life are those who are lured into drinking the firewater. The train will bring more and more liquor to our young men. The trains are worthless. I can
never
approve.”

“Sage, locomotives are a national obsession,” Adam said. “It is only natural that there are differing views of their value.”

“I also do not approve of a town that will scar our beloved land and bring more saloons to our land,” Sage stated. “Our native culture holds the earth as sacred and inviolate. It is not to be torn up, but to be lived in, in a state of grace and harmony with the beneficent power emanating from the rhythm of nature.”

“Sage? Runner? Please listen to reason,” Adam pleaded. “The railroad is a vehicle in the quest for a sense of belonging to this vast country,” he said slowly. “The railway is the artery of the nation's life. As it will become to the Navaho nation. My town? It will be a place for white people to come and see your people as they are. They will soon see that you are wrongly labeled ‘savage.'”

Stephanie was quiet. She became more tense as the debate wore on. She looked up at Runner and flinched at the bitter expression on his face, then grimaced when she looked over at Sage. She felt surrounded by hate. Her brother may have just ruined all chances of her ever becoming closer to Runner.

Not wanting anyone to see the shine of tears in her eyes, she lowered them.

“Adam, you have said enough,” Sage said, angrily folding his arms across his chest. “I will hear no more talk of railroads or towns that will bear your name.” He stomped out of the hogan. After him went Adam.

Stephanie scarcely breathed. She feared that Adam and Sage might come to blows outside the hogan. Instead, she heard a horse galloping away, leaving an eerie silence in its wake.

Runner went to the door of the hogan and peered outside. “Adam is gone,” he said over his shoulder. “Father is now sitting among the elders.”

Stephanie scrambled to her feet and went to Runner. She placed a gentle hand on his arm. “I'm sorry about my brother's behavior,” she said, not only stunned by how heatedly Adam had dared to argue with Sage and Runner, but his having left her behind.

“Your brother speaks hastily and with no respect for those of his past,” Runner said. He turned to Stephanie. “But none of this is your fault. You will not be blamed for your brother's rudeness.”

“But still, I guess I'd better go,” Stephanie murmured. “I think I have overstayed my welcome.”

Leonida went to Stephanie. “My dear, stay as long as you wish,” she said. “Would you stay for supper? That would please me so much.”

Stephanie smiled awkwardly over at Runner, then into Leonida's warm eyes. “I can think of someone who would not enjoy seeing me share supper with you,” she said. “But thank you, anyhow.”

“I shall escort you home,” Runner said, already ushering her outside by her elbow. “It is not safe for women to ride alone so far.”

She caught him glancing down at her firearm, then smiled up at him. “As you see, I am prepared for being alone,” she said, laughing softly.

“Yet still, it never hurts to have a man at your side,” Runner said.

She stiffened when she looked over at her pack mule and the camera equipment secured on its back. She was afraid that Runner would ask about it. She couldn't chance angering the Navaho any more today with talk of cameras, especially Runner.

She was glad when he didn't seem to notice, his interest drawn to his horse as a young lad brought it to them.

“I accept your offer,” Stephanie said. She mounted her horse, thrilled at the thought of being with him, away from the traumas of moments ago. She was glad that he did not cast blame on her for Adam's behavior.

Perhaps, she and Runner could be closer because of it. He seemed to feel protective of her, possibly to the extent of even wanting to protect her from her own brother.

Again she stiffened when Runner looked at the mule as he swung himself into his saddle. She breathed out a deep sigh of relief when he said nothing, instead nodded for her to follow as he sank his heels into the flanks of the stallion and rode away.

Remembering Adam's handsomeness, Pure Blossom stood at the hogan door. He was the first man that had caused her to feel like a woman, and he was a man that she feared. He did not seem the sort to be true friends to the Navaho, or to his word. For certain, he was not a man to whom she could trust her feelings and heart.

Trying to forget him, she walked away, toward her own private hogan.

Leonida watched her daughter. She had seen Pure Blossom's behavior while Adam had been there. Pure Blossom had not been able to take her eyes off the man.

Leonida sighed and went back inside her hogan and began making flatbread from wheat flour, sickened over today's turn of events. Hardly ever did she see her husband so adamant about anything, or as bitter.

She feared what was going to transpire these next few weeks due to his inability to accept changes to his homeland. But she knew that he would soon realize he had no choice but to again accept what he could not control, as he had learned to accept being forced onto a reservation all those years ago and so many other injustices that had been forced upon him and his people.

She saw these changes as never-ending. She knew that Sage also saw this, and feared that could make him grow old before his time.

Feeling so utterly helpless to do anything in her husband's defense, tears splashed from Leonida's eyes. She suddenly felt old, herself. So very, very old.

Chapter 10

Stephanie savored the last light of the fading sun as her horse clattered along beside Runner's into a narrow, shale-strewn floor of a box canyon, its one entrance almost clogged by a rubble of boulders. She was in awe of the unbelievable beauty that surrounded her. She drew a tight rein, Runner soon following her lead.

“I do understand why your people are against the railroad,” she said, turning to him. “Truly I do. Undisturbed, this land is so beautiful . . . so serene. I can imagine how you must feel when you hear the screaming of the train as the whistle echoes across the virgin land of your people.”

“Yes, I see in your eyes that you have an understanding most white people don't have,” Runner said. He edged his horse closer to hers. “It is evident that you and Adam do not share the same blood. You are nothing at all like him.”

“Since our parents married, we have shared much in our lifetime,” Stephanie said. Her pulse raced at the mere closeness of Runner. “We have shared excitement about many things. I was even excited for him and his plans for this private railroad spur and the town that he has dreamed of since he was twelve.”

“He remembered the land as it was when he was here as a captive of my father.” Runner scowled. “Its seduction began even then.”

“I imagine so,” Stephanie said, nodding.

Runner motioned with a hand toward a bluff that was only a short ride away. “Come,” he urged softly. “Share a place with me where I have come often to watch the moon replace the sun in the sky. It is a place of quiet. It is a place that shows off the wonders of this land.”

“I would love to see it,” Stephanie said, her heart racing. She felt as though there wasn't, nor ever could be, any animosity between them. It did not seem at all like he held her responsible for anything that Adam was planning.

Yet, there was her love of photography. Somehow that had been lost in the shuffle of conversation and heated arguments about the private spur line, and Adam's town. But she knew that she could not elude the talk of cameras and what she wanted to do with them for much longer. Her photography equipment was there, so close. All that Runner had to do was lift the leather drop cloth and look inside her saddlebags.

She wheeled her horse around and rode with him in this twilight hour, grasping tightly to her reins and straining to keep in the saddle as he led her up a steep incline.

They finally reached the summit where the land leveled off, and where the panorama from this vantage point was well worth waiting for. The sky was all pinks and shadowed blues, darkening along the horizon where a velvet moon was just barely visible.

She rode to the very edge with Runner and looked out across the great expanse of land that was notched about by canyon openings, shadowed and dark, their craggy floors rising steeply to the rocky passes. Miles upon miles of beautiful, arid landscape lay before her, and off in the distance the mountains were the crowning glory.

There was already some snow on their peaks, glistening orange against the final, last splashes of the sunlight as it slid from view. With sundown, the wall of shadows moved slowly down from the heights. A hazy stillness was over the valley below.

“It is so peaceful,” Stephanie said, turning to Runner. She was surprised to find that he had dismounted and was at the side of her horse, offering her his arms.

Runner gazed at her loveliness, her face blushed with evening's quiet pink. “Stay here with me for a while?” he said. His heart raced when she gave him a nod and allowed him to help her from her horse.

She slipped slowly to the ground and went with him as they tethered their horses and the pack mule under a rim of rock. She turned to him and eased into his arms as though it were a natural thing to do.

“You are so beautiful,” Runner whispered, weaving his fingers through her lustrous, long hair, drawing her lips closer to his. “It is easy to forget everything at this moment but you.”

“There
is
nothing but you and I,” Stephanie whispered back, sliding closer to him. She trembled as he leaned himself into the curve of her body, yet feared the torrents of feelings that were swimming through her. She feared giving herself to him as easily as she felt inclined to. She had never made love with a man before. She had never even seen a man undressed.

But until now, she had never been in love before. It was easy to forget the differences that might come between them. Now was all that mattered. She was heady with desire. She was breathless.

Stephanie closed her eyes as Runner pressed his mouth into her lips, making her go instantly weak and dizzy. She wove her arms around his neck, not questioning when he began lowering her to the ground, where the grass made a soft bed upon which to lie.

Her heart pounded when he rose over her and nudged her legs apart with one of his knees. Although their clothes were a barrier between them, Stephanie felt the heat of his need through both his fringed buckskin breeches and her travel skirt as he began pressing his hardness where she throbbed unmercifully with a need that she had never known before.

She could feel the shape of him, the long, thick pulsing of his shaft as he moved rhythmically against her.

She was mindless with passion.

As though practiced in the skills of being with a man, she worked her hands up the front of his shirt and frantically spread her fingers over his broad chest. Wantonly, she moved her fingers lower and unfastened his breeches in front and swept a hand down to touch that part of him that was sending her blood into a quickening she knew might be dangerous, yet was deliciously sweet.

Runner gasped with pleasure when he felt the heat of her hand surround his throbbing shaft. He turned his mouth from her lips and burrowed his nose against the long column of her throat. He scarcely breathed when her fingers explored this tender, hot part of his anatomy. He held his eyes tightly closed. He gritted his teeth.

Unable to stand anymore, he drew her hand away.

Standing, he reached a hand to Stephanie.

Completely under his spell, Stephanie took his hand and rose slowly to her feet. They stood for a moment while only looking deeply into one another's eyes, and then Runner placed a hand to her cheek.

“I want you,” he said huskily.

“I need you,” Stephanie said, her voice sounding strange to her.

“I want to fight my feelings for you, but my heart will not allow it,” Runner said, his dark eyes showing a hidden torment in their depths. “I do not know how it is possible, but I know that I have loved you
ka-biki-hozhoni-bi
, forever. A love this intense cannot be born of only a few days . . . of only a few hours.”

“I shall always love you,” Stephanie said, flinging herself into his arms. “No matter how long I have known you, I know that what I feel is real and true. Make love to me, Runner. Please? I never knew the meaning of want until I met you. Please show me why, Runner. Now?”

Runner leaned her away from him and framed her face between his fingers. “I will be the first man for you?” he said thickly.

Stephanie's eyes widened as she looked up at him. “How . . . did . . . you know?” she murmured.

“There are many ways a man can tell,” Runner said, his fingers lowering to undo her blouse. “Do not ask how.”

Stephanie willingly lifted her arms so that he could remove her blouse and undergarment. Her heart raced as she watched him drop the clothes to the ground, his eyes on her breasts.

And then his hands were on them.

She closed her eyes and sucked in a quavering breath as his hands kneaded her breasts, his thumbs circling her nipples.

When he fully cupped them in his hands and lowered his lips to one of them, to flick his tongue over the taut tip of the nipple, Stephanie's knees almost buckled beneath her from the pure ecstasy of the moment.

And then his hands were at her skirt. After it was unfastened, he slowly pushed it down, over her hips and away from her. He continued undressing her until she was standing abashedly nude before him.

Unflinchingly, Stephanie could hardly stand the rapture that she was feeling when Runner began moving his hands over her body. When he came to that soft patch of hair between her legs, and he cupped it within the palm of his hand, Stephanie had to bite her lower lip to keep herself from crying out from the exquisite sweetness that it caused within her.

She tilted her head back and sighed when he began to rub his fingers where she throbbed. The more he caressed her, the more she felt a strange sort of wondrous bliss floating through her. She moaned with pleasure, then opened her eyes slowly when she felt nothing more.

As she opened her eyes, she found Runner stepping out of his final garment. Her gaze swept over him, seeing how much more tall and lithe and muscled he was without clothes.

She could feel the pulse of her desire quickening when her searching eyes stopped on that part of a man's anatomy that, until tonight, had been a mystery to her. She stared at his thick shaft, standing out away from him.

Suddenly she was afraid. “I don't know,” Stephanie said. She took a step away from him, her eyes glued to the part of him that seemed to get larger by the minute.

“Do not fear anything,” Runner said, reaching out for her hands, taking them. “You will know nothing except passion when our bodies intertwine. We will become one body, one soul, one heartbeat. You will know nothing but sheer pleasure.”

And she believed him when she became enraptured by the sure strength of his arms as he embraced her. He leaned over her with burning eyes and kissed her feverishly and hungrily, his body leaning against hers, urging her once again to the ground.

While his knee nudged her legs apart, his mouth forced her lips open. He gathered her into his arms, their kiss growing more and more passionate.

Stephanie was filled with a strange, wild desire, her urgent hands discovering the contours of his back, moving down to feel the hardness of his buttocks.

It was then that her breath was stolen away, for it was at this instant that he thrust himself into her, breaking the barrier that had been untouched since birth.

Stephanie's eyes flew open wide and she jerked her lips from him. Tears streaming from her eyes, she gazed up at him.

Knowing what she must be thinking, the fear in her eyes revealing all, Runner did not venture to thrust deeply inside her. He placed his hands gently on her cheeks.

“The pain you felt was natural.” He gave her a soft, reassuring smile. “Do not fear it. It will go away. Relax. Allow your body to become acquainted with pleasure.”

Stephanie wiped tears from her eyes and nodded eagerly. “I'm not afraid,” she whispered. “Please go on. Just being with you is wonderful.”

“But that is not the pleasure I am talking about.” His hips began to move slowly, moving farther into her, a fraction of an inch at a time. “Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. Kiss me. And allow yourself to feel the wonders of our bodies locked together.”

Stephanie nodded and closed her eyes. She sucked in a wild breath when she felt his lips and tongue on her breasts. She could feel herself relaxing as she felt him filling her, deeper and deeper. She lifted her hips to him and opened herself to him, now feeling the rapture spreading.

Runner pressed his cheek against one of her breasts and closed his eyes. He reached his hands around her and splayed his fingers across the soft, round mounds of her buttocks and lifted her higher against him as he pressed endlessly deeper into her. His heart was pounding. His loins were on fire. He could feel white lightning spread through his veins.

Once again he kissed her. Their moans mingled. Their hands clasped and unclasped. Their bodies lurched, rose, and fell.

And then came their climax. It was shattering, violent.

As though practiced, Stephanie arched upward to him, sucking him deeply inside her as she felt spasms rocking her.

They shuddered and cried out against one another's lips, then lay still, their wet bodies clinging together.

Runner pressed his lips against Stephanie's throat and kissed her, then rolled away from her and lay on his back and stared at the star-speckled heavens.

Stephanie moved close to him, her skin tingling at the touch of his hand on her thigh. “I never knew it could be this wonderful,” she said, marveling over him. “I love you, Runner. I adore you.”

Runner turned to her. His fingers reached up to entwine in Stephanie's hair. He drew her lips to his. “Believe me when I tell you that there has never been anyone that has touched my heart as deeply as you,” he said huskily against her lips. “I could never feel this way again about anyone.”

He paused, then leaned up on an elbow. “And what are we to do about Adam?” he blurted out. “I dislike everything that Adam stands for. So does my father. And as far as my father is concerned, his dislike might include you, because you are Adam's sister.”

“In so many ways, yes, I
am
his sister, yet not in the ways that are important,” Stephanie said, smoothing Runner's dark hair back from his face. “Darling, let's not allow Adam or your father to interfere in how we feel for one another. Let us live in our own little private world. Can we? Is that possible? We can place ourselves above everything and everyone. We can pretend that we are the only two people in the world. Anyhow, at this moment, that is how I
feel
.”