Savage Flames (15 page)

She accompanied him to his hut, and was soon asleep in her bed of blankets and pelts. Wolf Dancer sat beside her, marveling
at how the world had become a better place since he had met this woman.

She was all sweetness.

When she smiled or laughed, her joy reached right inside his soul, warming it as nothing had ever before been able to.

But there was still a problem: a certain man that Wolf Dancer knew must be dealt with to assure the continuing contentment
of this…his…woman. He knew that if Hiram Price ever discovered where she was, he would find his way to Mystic
Island, and perhaps bring the whole United States cavalry with him. Wolf Dancer could not allow that to happen.

As soon as Lavinia had the strength, he and she would do what they must to ensure her happiness on Mystic Island, and her
safety.

“That man will not be a danger to anyone much longer,” he whispered. “And soon, my woman, we will make love. How I need you,
and I feel that your needs match my own. Perhaps even tomorrow…?”

Chapter Twenty-seven

When love could teach a monarch to be wise,

And gospel-light first dawn’d from

Bullen’s eyes.

—Thomas Gray

Lavinia awakened feeling refreshed, even renewed, after her outing with Wolf Dancer the day before.

She would never forget how understanding and gentle he’d been when she told him how tired she was after hearing the Spirit
Talker’s stories.

She sat up on her bed of pelts and stretched her arms lazily above her head, yawned, then smiled as she recalled how gently
Wolf Dancer had tucked her in.

She knew he had sat beside her as she fell asleep. It was wonderful to know that she could trust him so much.

She had seen the need in his eyes yesterday as he gazed into hers. She had wondered if he had seen that she felt the same
needs.

But neither of them had made any motion to assuage those needs. They both knew it would happen sometime.

And the fact that they had made a commitmentto one another, to be married, made her heart swim with pure joy.

Although she had been married before, to a wonderful, gentle man, this love she felt for Wolf Dancer was brand new. She felt
a deep passion for Wolf Dancer, something she had never experienced before for any man.

And the knowledge that he loved her so much he wanted her to be his wife made tears of joy fill her eyes.

She had felt a connection between them from the moment they first made eye contact. At first she’d thought it might be her
imagination. But now she knew that his love for her was real. She wanted to shout her joy to the treetops.

This life with him would be so different from her life with Virgil. She and Wolf Dancer shared a true connection, and had
passionate feelings for one another.

To be fulfilled in this way was something she had never expected in her life. But now she would belong to the most wonderful,
gentle, caring, loving man in the world.

She glanced over at the basket of shells, remembering the special time spent with Wolf Dancer.

Then she noticed other things in the room that had not been there yesterday: a beautiful doeskin dress embellished with beads
on the front, and a pair of new moccasins on the floor mats.

Also there was a basin of fresh water and a cloth with which to bathe herself.

She had been told that Moon Beam would bringthese things for her. It seemed that the woman felt she owed Lavinia much because
her two sons had wronged Dorey.

Lavinia would correct this misconception, for the lovely woman owed Lavinia nothing except friendship, which Lavinia openly
welcomed. It would be good to have a special friend among these people. She hoped to live among them for the rest of her life.
She would enjoy learning the ways of the Seminole, not only from Wolf Dancer but also from this friend.

A mischievous glint appeared in Lavinia’s eyes as she looked at the lovely dress. She glanced out the window and saw that
it was barely dawn. Surely Wolf Dancer would still be asleep.

She wondered what he might think if he found her at his bedside when he awakened.

If she hurried, she could wash up, put on the dress, and get into his room before he woke up.

If he found her sitting there, surely he would understand why she had come so early in the morning to his bedside.

She felt wonderful today, without an ache in her body. Her wound was feeling much better. In fact, she couldn’t feel any pain
in it whatsoever.

Would Wolf Dancer think her a hussy if she approached him to make love for the first time? She didn’t think so.

“We love each other,” she whispered to herself as she rose from her bed. “It is time to share the magic wonder of our love.”

She hurried through her bath, slid the beautiful, soft dress over her head, then did the best she couldwith her long hair.
She had no brush so she moved her fingers through it until she finally got the witches’ knots out and the blond strands fell
gently across her shoulders and down her back.

Having never approached a man in such a way, she felt a strange knot in the pit of her stomach. She swallowed hard, closed
her eyes, and took a deep, nervous breath, then left her room.

She tiptoed down the hall, even though she knew no one else was there to hear her.

Dorey had spent the night with Twila and Joshua. The house was totally hers and Wolf Dancer’s, to do as they pleased with
their privacy!

Her pulse raced as she crept down the stairs. She could feel the heat of a blush rush to her cheeks.

She placed the palms of her hands there and tried to cool her flesh with them. She didn’t want Wolf Dancer to awaken and find
her blushing like a timid child.

She wanted him to see her love for him, her need. She hoped he would open his arms to her and welcome her into his bed.

She could even envision him removing the dress and moccasins as he gazed at her with those mystifying green eyes.

She could almost feel his lips where no man’s lips had been before—on her aching breasts. Her husband had been timid in his
own way and had never kissed her anywhere except her mouth. He had not even caressed her breasts, as she knew most men were
wont to do.

She had not hungered for any of those things, eventhough she knew it was a natural thing for a man to worship a woman’s body,
especially his wife’s.

But all that Virgil had wanted was the release her body provided. She had always lain there, almost lifeless, as he thrust
endlessly into her until he finally attained what he sought from her.

He had always spent only another moment in her bed, which he took to give her a quick peck on her cheek, and then he departed
for his own room. He would leave Lavinia feeling strangely used, and with a longing that she doubted would ever be fulfilled.
She had discovered shortly after they were married that her husband knew only what to do to find the release his body cried
out for.

Now it was Lavinia whose body cried out for release. For the first time in her life, she wanted to be with a man in every
way. And she did not think she was brazen for feeling such things. Wanting to be loved was not shameful!

Having bolstered her courage enough to proceed with her plan, Lavinia slowly approached Wolf Dancer’s bed.

The light was dim coming from the window, since it was still so early in the morning. But there was enough light to see across
the room where Wolf Dancer lay.

She hadn’t expected to find him sleeping in the nude, as she now saw he was. She could not stop another blush from rushing
to her cheeks, for she felt as though she had invaded his privacy. Surely Wolf Dancer did not expect a woman to come to his
bed unannounced, especially at this time of day.

She knew she should go back to her room, but the sight of him caused her to stand there frozen, her eyes taking in every inch
of his beautiful, bronzed body.

His long black hair was spread out beneath his head, framing his sculpted face. The muscles of his shoulders and arms bulged,
even relaxed in sleep.

She ached to run her hands over those muscles, and feel them against her own flesh!

She let her eyes roam slowly lower, marveling at his muscled chest, past his flat belly, to see something that made her knees
almost buckle. Her gaze froze on that part of him that God had been so generous with.

She had only seen one other man naked and that had been her husband.

Now that she saw this man in the nude, she understood the vast difference possible between two males.

And this man, whose bronzed body was so beautiful, was not even awake or aroused. When he was fully excited, surely he could
give a woman such loving that she would never want it to end.

“What am I thinking?” Lavinia whispered to herself, framing her face between her hands at the realization of where her mind
had shamefully taken her. But she couldn’t help herself. Her body was reacting in many strange, yet sensually exciting ways.
She now knew that she couldn’t leave this place without finding out what it was really like to be loved.

She knew just how much Wolf Dancer loved her; perhaps he would demonstrate it in ways that she had never known were possible.

Suddenly his eyes opened and he was staring at her with those beautiful green eyes. Gazing at her in wonder, he slowly leaned
up on an elbow.

“I’m sorry,” Lavinia murmured. Her pulse raced so hard, she was afraid he might hear her heart beating.

“I didn’t mean…” she quickly began, before he had the chance to speak. Then she halted, feeling too awkward to say anything
else, or even remember what she had planned to say.

Wolf Dancer was not really surprised to find her there. When they had parted last night, they had left something undone between
them.

It seemed that Lavinia had awakened feeling those needs that had been left unanswered when she had gone to bed without him.

“Come to me,” Wolf Dancer said, standing, the muscles of his legs flexing as he took a step toward her. “I was just dreaming
about you.”

“You were?” Lavinia asked, her voice sounding strange to her now in its huskiness. But everything about her body was suddenly
different.

She smiled sheepishly. “I had to come,” she murmured. “Was I wrong to?”

“In my dream I beckoned to you to come,” Wolf Dancer said huskily as his passion for her filled his very soul. “You heard
me calling for you. You answered my call.”

“When I awakened, you were the first thing I thought of. Last night when we parted, I was so tired I could not have…”
she began.

Yet she could not finish. It seemed too brazen. This man wasn’t her husband.

“You could not do what last night?” Wolf Dancer urged, smiling at her as he stepped closer. “Make love?”

“You must think me so brazen,” Lavinia murmured, lowering her eyes.

When she felt his hand beneath her chin, slowly raising it so that their eyes could meet, she knew he was now close enough
that she could reach out and embrace him.

She could even smell his clean scent and realized he was freshly bathed.

She now knew that he had been awake long before she had risen and had taken his usual early-morning swim in the creek that
bisected the island a short distance away.

She also knew that after that swim he made his morning prayers. She knew these things because he had told her.

“You knew that I would come, didn’t you?” Lavinia asked, searching his eyes. “You weren’t asleep at all when I stepped into
the room.”

“No, I was not asleep the moment you arrived, but only resting my eyes until you approached, as I beckoned you to do,” he
said. “You are here. And you are beautiful. The dress? Moon Beam placed it in your room for you last night before I left to
sleepin my own bed. She also put the moccasins there for you. She is trying hard to make up for what her sons did to your
daughter.”

“She shouldn’t feel angry at them for what they did, for I no longer do,” Lavinia said softly. “Do you not know that it was
Dorey’s disappearance that finally gave us a reason to meet and become acquainted? I shall never blame those boys for wanting
to talk to her, nor should anyone else. My daughter found her way here, where she belongs, just as you found me and brought
me here.”

“Yes, it was all in the Master of Breath’s plan,” Wolf Dancer said. He stepped back only far enough so he had room to slowly
undress her.

“Master of Breath?” Lavinia repeated, hardly able to think now that he was sliding her dress over her head. He tossed the
dress to the floor, leaving her as nude as he.

“Our people’s Master of Breath is the same as your God,” he said thickly. “Sometimes we call him the Great Spirit.”

“I am grateful to your Master of Breath for making you the man that you are,” Lavinia said.

She sucked in a breath of pure bliss when he leaned down and flicked his tongue across one of her breasts, and then the other.

It was something so wonderful, her knees almost buckled beneath her. But Wolf Dancer didn’t allow that to happen.

He lifted her in his arms and carried her to his bed of pelts. Then he knelt down at her feet, taking the time to remove her
moccasins.

When they were discarded, he lifted a foot to his lips, his tongue circling around her biggest toe. She inhaled a breath of
wonder, and then she couldn’t think at all. Just before he spread himself over her, she saw the true magnificence of his manhood
at its full length, now that he was ready to pleasure her.

“Let me love you,” Wolf Dancer whispered into her ear as he blanketed her with his body. She felt his fullness pressing in
where she was wet and ready for him. She was swamped by a feeling of desire and joy she had never known possible.

She was feverish with desire.

Her body was yearning for him.

She felt an urgency building inside her that was new to her, yet she knew what it was. It was her body crying out for him
and the wild, sensuous pleasure he would bring her.

“Please…please…do love me,” she found herself whispering as she twined her arms around his neck. “Make love to
me. I…shall…oh, so willingly return your love.”

She moaned throatily when she felt him push himself inside her, causing pleasurable sensations that she had never felt before
as he began his rhythmic thrusts.

His lips came down hard onto hers as he kissed her with a fierce, possessive heat.

She trembled and came further alive beneath his kisses and sweet caresses. He ran his hands over her body, lingering here
and there when he discovered that touching and caressing her at a certain place gave her more pleasure than the last.

Wolf Dancer slid his mouth from her lips and moved it over one of her nipples.

He could hear her gasp of pleasure as he swept his tongue around the nipple, then softly nipped it with his teeth, just hard
enough to arouse more pleasure in her.

With each of his thrusts in her, waves of liquid heat seemed to pulse through him, his body aching for completion since he
had hungered so long for her.