Distant Fires Read Free Page B

sense of excitement welled within her, caught by the spell of those eyes, whose mystery and colour matched the forest depths.  
    “Well, I will tell you then...” He began, unaware of this arousal and its effect upon the listener.  
     
    “Long ago when the earth was young, the porcupine was chosen to be leader of all of the animals. On the first day that he met with them, he posed this question, ‘Shall we have eternal night and remain in darkness, or forever day and the light of the sun?’  
     “As was expected, there was much talk among the animals over this very important question, but before long, anger rose up between them, dividing them into two groups. While they argued, the air became shrill with the song of a chipmunk. ‘The light will come; we must have light,’ it sang over and over again, until the forest resounded.    
    “Not to be outdone, the leader of the second group, the bear, began to sing, ‘Everyone knows that night is best; we must have darkness.’  
     “As it happened, the chipmunk was singing when daylight suddenly dawned. The bear saw this as a sign that he was losing and became enraged. In his fury, he chased the chipmunk and reached out to grab him, but the creature but so fast that he only managed to graze its back with his huge paw, leaving a stripe along its back, as it escaped to a hole in a hollow tree.”  
    Salgan paused, grinning like a clever owl as he stretched his arms behind his head.  
    “So what does the lesson teach us? Since that time, he has worn the stripe. The bear thought that he had won, but who was truly the victor? We have both daylight and darkness. The chipmunk was forced to bear the mark of his aggressor but his song did not go unheeded, and the bear discovered that for every victory, there is a loss.”  
    He closed his eyes at the return of the sun and remained quietly beside her. It was a learning story, like the many others she had heard, but on this occasion she found herself drawn from the tale to the teller, watching him with an indefinable, mystical sense of longing.    
    During the early weeks of their marriage, she had felt so wonderfully alive and content just being in his presence, but somehow even in that, something was missing.  
    Again, she found herself looking at him more, studying, as she now did, the line of his nose, his square jaw, full lips, lean, strong arms... This time, for reasons against her will, her eyes roamed further, and with greater curiosity, to the firm, smooth skin of his upper body, the rippling muscle across his stomach, sweeping down to the deerskin mound, rising up below that...  
    Strangely, an impulsive and compelling need took hold within her, enflaming her mind and body. She had a need to touch and be touched, in a manner at once unfamiliar, yet inherently known.  
    Trembling in hesitancy, she suspended her hand above his cheek. The shadow crossed his lid and his eyes opened, locking upon hers in an astonishment that readily warmed to one of realisation. She froze, but before she could draw back, he caught her hand and, smiling tenderly, brought her slender fingertips to his lips.    
    Wordlessly, with mature deliberation, he touched her skin, smoothing his hands the length of her, whilst divesting her of the wet skin clothing. It happened so quickly, like she was in a dream...  
    The excitement was so new to her, as his eyes roamed her soft, womanly contours... firm breasts...narrow hips. The heat of his gaze washed over her, lingering, admiringly...  
    All at once, she felt the trembling in his hands as they began to explore, with compelling need and intense wonder.  
    His breath tightened as his mouth hesitantly sought hers, setting off a thrill of incomparable pleasure which rose within her, igniting a blistering heat as his kisses became deeper, more urgent, boring his undeclared love into the depth of her, and she was alive with the hunger of her body giving way to the intensity of his need.