When another lurid flash of lightning lit everything around them, he caught sight of a cave not that far from where he and Elizabeth stood.
“Come,” he said, taking her by the elbow with one hand, and grabbing both horses’ reins with his other. “Over there. We shall seek shelter in the cave. The spirits are kind to us. They have lit the sky enough so that I could see the protective sheltering of the cave.”
Trembling from the cold of the rain, her buckskin dress clinging wetly to her skin, Elizabeth walked briskly beside Strong Heart as the horses followed. She sighed with relief when they stepped into the cave.
Hugging herself, her teeth chattering, Elizabeth watched Strong Heart quickly unsaddle the horses, tossing the saddlebags toward her.
“There is another blanket inside my bag,” he said, running his hands down the flanks of his roan, settling him down as another crash of thunder echoed into the cave. It was as if someone had pounded a giant drum within the close confines.
“There is a change of clothing for you in your saddlebag,” Strong Heart called, above the sound of the thunder. “Many Stars packed not only one clean buckskin dress in your bag, but two. Change into one. As soon as I get the horses settled down, I shall search for wood inside the cave, then build a fire.”
Elizabeth was too cold to answer him. She fell to her knees on the damp ground of the cave. With trembling fingers, she opened his saddlebag and grabbed a blanket from inside it. She wrapped it around her shoulders, savoring its warmth.
She then reached inside her own bag and felt the softness of the buckskin dress and also some moccasins that Many Stars had been thoughtful enough to provide.
Elizabeth clutched the moccasins to her chest, and smiled, filled with such gratitude and love for a friend as kind as Many Stars.
Her smile wavered. She hoped that she would be able to see her again. This journey back to Seattle had many risks for Elizabeth—and her future with the Suquamish.
Before she was able to change into the dry dress, Elizabeth was amazed to see that Strong Heart had found enough wood and had a fire going. Its warmth touched her flesh like a soft hand.
She drew the wet dress over her head and lay it aside. Again she quickly drew the blanket around her shoulders to warm her nakedness.
While slipping her wet moccasins off, she peered up at Strong Heart as he hurriedly yanked his wet clothes off. Then he stood close to the fire, absorbing the warmth into his gleaming, copper body, his back to her.
Elizabeth felt wanton when her heart began to beat at the mere sight of his nudity. Never before in her life had she hungered after a man as she now hungered for Strong Heart.
It was a fact that he was in her blood. Her very soul cried out for him at this moment.
She looked at the planes of his shoulders, his straight back, slim hips, and muscled buttocks, recalling the rapture she had felt when she had explored every inch of his body with her fingers.
Her gaze caressed him now.
As Strong Heart turned to place his back to the fire, to warm it as well, the muscles moved down the length of his lean body, and his eyes caught Elizabeth’s.
Elizabeth blushed. She was afraid that he could read her mind—her thoughts of wanting to go to him and run her hands down the full length of him, and then gather his manhood within her hands, to stroke it. She felt strangely lightheaded.
Strong Heart reached a hand out toward her, beckoning her to come to him. She hesitated for a moment, then rose slowly to her feet and went.
When she reached him, she blinked her eyes nervously. Her heartbeat almost swallowed her whole as his hands went to the blanket around her shoulders and tugged at it.
He began pulling on both corners of the blanket, drawing her with it against his hard body. Both of them were enfolded within the warmth of the blanket. Elizabeth closed her eyes in pleasure. Never had anything felt as wonderful as to be with him in such a way, the blanket and their fiery need for each other warming them.
As he held the blanket in place, Elizabeth snuggled against him. Her arms wrapped around him, hugging him tightly.
Standing on tiptoe, she pressed her lips to his. He answered her silent invitation by crushing his mouth down upon hers, his tongue surging between her teeth, exploring the depths of her mouth. She melted into him, grinding her body against his, her breasts pressed hard into his chest.
Not even knowing how the transition had been made, just knowing that her back was now pressed hard against the cave floor, the blanket beneath her, his body warm against her as he nudged her legs apart with his knee, she welcomed the floating sensation as his hands stroked her sensitive flesh.
Breathless, longing to have him inside her, to fill her with his magnificent strength, Elizabeth opened her legs willingly to him and arched her hips. She moaned with pleasure against his mouth as he entered her with one, quick thrust.
Strong Heart began his even strokes within her. Her body moved with his, rising and falling as he plunged deeply in and out.
Elizabeth’s hands thrilled at the mere touch of him. She reached down and touched his manhood as he withdrew it from her, circling the shaft as he paused before his next thrust, allowing her to give him this sort of pleasure for a moment.
As Elizabeth moved her hand on him more quickly, more determinedly, Strong Heart slipped his mouth down to the hollow of her throat and moaned against it.