Free Night Thunder's Bride: Blackfoot Warriors, Book 3 by Karen Kay Page A

throughout the day without the least amount of food?”
    “ Aa ,”he answered her, “tomorrow you must take care to eat more in the morning and to eat well.”
    “Aye,” she said, “that I will.”
    The day was a warm one, the air clear, fresh, invigorating. Scents of wild sage and buffalo grass filled the air while the occasional squawk of a hawk could be heard from high above them. She looked upward, her hand shielding her eyes from the brightened sun. The hawk circled once, twice, his movements reminding her of a miniature ballet.
    She smiled. It was an odd feeling, this sensation of contentment which began to sweep over her. What had caused her change of viewpoint? The environment? The plains? Or was it simply the presence of this man, Night Thunder, beside her? No matter, she began to understand why it is said of the adventurer that once he begins, he will never again be content with a more sedate life.
    They set up camp that evening on a high butte overlooking the prairie. With no fire lit, they ate a supper of dried meat and stale bread. It seemed an unusual place to make camp, Rebecca thought. Gazing down from her spectacular view, she could see a deep valley far below them, the coulee seeming to beckon her with a lazy shelter beneath its shady willows and cottonwoods. There were groves of these huge trees, all standing tall beside a clear stream of pure running water.
    She mentioned her thoughts to Night Thunder.
    “Humph,” he responded, “our scouts spotted a Cree war party today. They are not too close to us, but we do not want to put ourselves into a position that would be hard to defend. If we were to camp in the valley down there, an enemy could more easily surround us and render an escape impossible. Here on this butte, it is safer; we can spot the approach of an enemy and have a better chance of getting beyond his reach, if he were even to see us. But because we light no fire, and the party is distant from us, the chances of that happening are not very good.”
    She had simply nodded to him and had glanced again into the coulee and the surrounding plains. She had once heard that the plains should be likened to a place of desolation. But seeing this place, she disagreed. Life teemed here, everywhere. Over to the left and in the distance grazed several buffalo; over to the south several antelope romped; on a distant bluff a wolf and its mate moved; and in the valley stood a herd of elk. She had never witnessed such abundance.
    Material gain might be the only thing missing here. But if one had little use for the riches of the world, this place stood as a sort of haven for freedom, for the wandering soul. Perhaps it was the environment which began to disabuse her of the idea that fear and apprehension reigned the plains.
    The evening passed quickly into night, the sun setting with a foray of pinks and golds, casting a reddish glow over the brown plains, making it appear as though the land and hills were nothing more than a reflector for the magnificence in the sky. Stars began to appear one by one; first in the west and soon more overhead.
    It was dark by the time Night Thunder set out their sleeping robes, reminding Rebecca of what was yet to come. She had hoped to somehow avoid it, but she became more and more aware, as she watched him, that eluding their sleeping arrangements would be impossible.
    She stood by nervously, watching him set up their place on the ground, far away from the others. Was she really going to have to sleep next to him again—throughout the entire night? She wasn’t sure she could do it and still keep hold of her dignity.
    If she were to be honest with herself, losing her dignity was not all that she feared. She wasn’t certain she could sleep next to the man without becoming…aroused. She blushed at the thought.
    The man made her feel all soft and warm inside. And something else…
    He set the buffalo robe on the ground, and giving her a speculative glance, he commented