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.“You’re wrong, Alice.We both lost face with the Abenaki by fighting in front of the whole tribe.I regained their respect by giving you an order any one of them would have given to his own wife.You shouldered that pack without a word of protest.They saw you carry that load out of the village while I rode.You will be remembered by the villagers as the white woman who was as good as any squaw.Had we simply mounted up to ride out, we would have both left in shame.”She was still rubbing her shoulders.“I’m not sure I believe you.I think you were just being mean.”Chris reached out and gently moved her hands aside, taking over the job of massaging her neck and back.“Let’s not fight anymore.I’m sorry I tried to deceive you last night.It was a stupid thing to do.I should have known all the time that I couldn’t fool you.”Alice tried a smile.It felt good.“You told me yourself that Indians don’t kiss when they make love.”Chris laughed.“I outfoxed myself this time.”“Yes, you did, darling.”Hearing the endearment, Chris knelt beside Alice and took her hands in his.“You aren’t mad with me any longer?”“Just a little bit,” she whispered.“But I’ll get over it in time.”“How much time, love?”Alice glanced overhead at the lacy canopy of limbs and leaves above them as if trying to decide.“Hmmm, that depends,” she answered at length.“On what?”“On how you treat me from now on.”Chris laid his head in Alice’s lap.“I plan to treat you like a lady.Always.”“Oh?” she murmured, disappointment in the word.“You don’t have to always, Chris.Sometimes it’s rather nice being your squaw instead of your lady.” She leaned down and brushed his forehead with her lips.“Like last night.”He closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of her cool lips on his brow.“Ummm,” he sighed, “that was nice, wasn’t it?”“Actually, last night was rather wonderful, darling.Do you believe in the Indians’ fertility rites? You know Mathilde is expecting.Maybe last night you and I…”Chris opened his eyes and grinned up at her.“We could make camp here for the night and try again, just to be on the safe side.”She smiled and hugged him.“I would like to stop here for the night.The sun’s going down already and I didn’t get much sleep last night.There was this great savage in my tent.”Chris sprang to his feet, a boyish gleam in his green eyes.“Let’s catch some fish for supper.What do you say?”Alice laughed.“I’ve never caught a fish in my life.”“I’ll teach you how—the Indian way.”A few minutes later they crept along the edge of a clear, cold stream.Chris had sharpened sticks to use for spears.“Careful now,” he whispered, “don’t make any noise and don’t let your shadow fall over the water.They’re mighty smart, these critters.”Alice tiptoed along the bank, her sharp eyes searching the smooth pebbles of the stream’s bottom.Suddenly she spied a fat green and black pike lazing in the shallows.Without a word she motioned for Chris.He nudged her out of the way and stabbed at the water.The pike swam slowly away.“You missed!” Alice cried.“I should have gone for him myself.”“You scared him,” Chris accused.“I did not.”“Did, too.”Not watching his step as he playfully argued with Alice, Chris slipped off the bank’s edge and tumbled backward into the stream.Alice howled with laughter, threatening to spear him for supper.“Stop that, woman, you’ll run me through,” he bellowed.“Oh, Chris, you look so silly, lying there all wet.”“Quit your giggling and give me a hand,” he ordered gruffly.Alice stood at the very edge of the bank and reached out as far as she could.Their fingers touched and a moment later she felt herself plummeting in after him, helped along by a mighty tug.“It’s cold!” she shrieked.“You devil, you did that on purpose.”“Of course I did.I won’t be laughed at and called silly-looking by my own squaw, woman.”Alice clung to him, shivering, but soon she began to grow accustomed to the temperature, and it felt good after the day’s hot trek.Deciding a bath was in order, she began shedding her wet clothes.“What the hell are you doing?” Chris demanded, more pleased than he sounded at the sight of her naked body emerging before his eyes.“Washing the dust off,” Alice replied.“Join me?”Soon they were both tossing their clothes toward the bank.A short time later they swam naked, side by side, through the clear stream.“Ah, I feel wonderful,” Alice said.Chris reached out a hand and smoothed it over her white buttocks.“You certainly do, darling.”A moment later he closed his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.The stream was shallow.Chris sat on the bottom, drawing Alice down to sit in his lap.He nuzzled her ear and whispered, “Let’s forget supper.I want to love you.”“It’s too cold,” Alice said, shivering.“I’ll make you warm.” He slid one hand between her thighs, and sure enough her temperature rose.Alice leaned close, pressing her lips to his while her hands played over his chest.She was warming up quickly.Chris smoothed more water over her breasts, then leaned down to lick it away.Alice shivered again, but not from the cold this time.Chris looked up and whispered, “Hold very still.Don’t say a word.”Alice froze, alerted to some danger nearby.She watched as Chris reached out to the bank and gripped his sharpened spear.A moment later Alice tumbled out of his lap and under the water as he lunged.She came up sputtering and freezing once more.Her husband stood over her, grinning, a fat fish flopping on the end of his stick.“You!” she cried.“You dumped me for a fish?”“Not just any fish, our supper, darling.I’ll warm you and feed you, then I’ll love you.”She smiled up at him shyly.“Will you pretend to be an Abenaki warrior again?”He helped her up and kissed her hand.“Only if you’ll pretend to be a titled white woman I’ve taken in a raid.”A little shiver ran through Alice’s whole body.“Your captive?”“My prisoner of love,” he answered in a husky whisper, drawing her trembling form close to his own naked body.Together, they dashed back up the bank.They wrapped themselves in warm blankets, then Alice laid a fire while Chris cleaned the fish.Soon they were snuggled close by the blaze as they watched their supper sizzle and brown on the spit.Alice inhaled deeply.“Smells wonderful.I’m famished.”“It won’t be long now,” Chris assured her.“Darling, why didn’t you let me know you were coming for me?” Alice asked seriously.“Castin had told me it would be better if I just showed up.He wasn’t sure what you’d do if you found out I was coming.He said you were bound and determined to stay with the tribe, that you refused to come back to me.I didn’t understand why—I still don’t.”Alice poked at the fire with a stick.“I’m not sure I do, either.The night I was kidnapped, I wanted nothing more than to be with you.But Scarappi told me terrible things.He said you’d left me alone so that he could sneak in and take me [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]