Arline Chase by Ghost Dancer (epub)

Author:Ghost Dancer (epub)
Language: eng
Format: epub

Unknown

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Rowan returned to consciousness to hear a soft muffled sound, a catch in Christy's breath. She lay only inches from him. Her skirts tumbled around her legs and her chest, beneath the unbuttoned shirtwaist, was moving in jerks. One forearm covered her eyes. Tears escaped from under her arm. She was trembling and looked to him like a woman ashamed of something. Shame. Yes, shame and sorrow. He could feel her emotions like the wind on his skin.

Jim's advice that Christy would be dishonored among her people if they mated crossed Rowan's mind. He rolled over and reached for her hand. “I expect Graybeard will shoot me now.”

“S-shoot you?” Christy took a long ragged breath and looked at him.

“He said that he would shoot me if I mated with you.” Seeing the expression on Christy's face, Rowan laughed. “To lie with you is worth the pain.”

Christy pulled away and sat up. Turning away, she stared off into the distance. “He won't know about it unless you tell him. Even if you do, I'll swear nothing happened.”

“I thought you vowed to give up lying. Pah! You are a terrible-lying woman. In truth, I have been shot before. It is not so bad.”

“You're demented, Rowan Cameron!” Christy turned her back, her breathing still ragged with tears. “Jim has had little enough use for you lately. And besides, it's bad manners to mention what--what happened....”

“Christy? Beloved, don't cry....”

“I'm not crying. I just....” A sob stole her breath.

Rowan turned her toward him so he could look into her soft eyes with their tear-spiked lashes. Christy closed her eyes and turned away again. Not an angry turn. A hide-the-pain turn. From her actions, Christy regretted mating with him. Yet he knew he had pleased her when they lay together. Rowan was no callow inexperienced boy who couldn't recognize a woman's responses. At the final moment they had almost achieved the oneness they had felt before when their souls had lived within the same body. Perhaps Alexander still stood between them. Whatever Christy might believe, the man had a strong hold on her.

Rowan knew he must be very careful, or all the joy between them would be lost. He prayed to Sun Chief to warm her feelings for him and asked his totem, the wolf, for cunning. Still, he had never felt so powerless in his life as he did when he spoke. “Did he tell?”

“Who?”

“Alexander?”

Christy made a sound of disgust.

“A man knows when he is not a woman's first lover....”

Christy's mouth opened, but she didn't speak. Instead she looked horrified and tried to pull away. Rowan kept hold of her hand, praying to Sun Chief above to help him choose the right words. “Forget Alexander. He was not a good man, for he taught you little of love. I will teach you more.”

Christy snatched her hand away. She doubled up, hugged her knees to her chest, and rocked back and forth. Her breath came in tatters and her voice, when she spoke, shook. “You think I -- with Alexander? No! Rowan, you were the first.

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