Eagle’s Song Read Free Page A

the wind in her face, her breath coming in little pants from excitement.
    “See what I mean about riding bareback?”
    Arianne thought he was even better looking up close. Never before had any boy given her feelings like this. “Yes. Thank you, Hawk.”
    Suddenly Hawk found himself doing the unthinkable, unable to stop it from happening. He leaned closer and pressed his lips against her full mouth, feeling a strange, new fire rip through his blood at the touch. The fire roared hotter when she returned the kiss with surprising fervor. He had thought she might object, be offended; but she threw her arms around his neck and let out a little whimper. He could not resist taking his arm from about her waist and moving his hand over her ribs, carefully inching up to touch, with great curiosity one of those breasts he’d noticed. Again she made no objection. She only whimpered again and kissed him even harder. He squeezed the breast, could feel her nipple through the material. He heard a whistle then and quickly let go of her, turning to see his father at a distance, riding toward them.
    “We’d better go back,” he told Arianne, meeting her eyes again.
    “I don’t want you to go away, Hawk.”
    “This is a very important thing to my whole family.I have no choice. We will see each other again. We will write, and you will come back.”
    “I think I love you, Hawk. Is that a silly thing to say? Does it make you angry?”
    He grinned nervously, looking down at her breasts. He never dreamed it could feel so good to touch and kiss a girl. He wanted to do more, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. He’d been around a few older girls, white and Indian, who seemed willing enough to teach him things. But he’d never been interested, until now. Maybe he’d accept one of their offers and learn a few things. Then, when Arianne was a full woman …
    “No, it doesn’t make me angry,” he answered. “I thought
you’d
be upset, for my … touching you.”
    She reddened deeply, turning around. “I hope you don’t think less of me.”
    He reached around her waist again, kissing her hair, smelling it again. “I would never think less of you for anything.” He turned the horse, and realized his father was coming closer. He must have seen him ride off with her, had come out to make sure his son didn’t do something foolish … which Hawk already had done. He turned Lone Eagle and headed back toward the ranch, and Arianne kept her eyes averted when Wolf’s Blood caught up with them.
    “There are many chores to be done before we leave in the morning,” the man told his son.
    “Yes, Father.”
    “Arianne can go and visit with Iris. We will be gone at least two months.”
    Hawk met his father’s dark eyes, wondering if he would ever be as strong and honorable as this man who had once ridden with Cheyenne Dog Soldiers. He could see a warning look in his father’s dark eyes, felt embarrassed that the man surely knew what he’d been up to, probably had seen him kiss Arianne. They saidlittle as they rode back, and Hawk held on to Arianne when she slid off the horse, his hand trailing over her breasts as she did so. She turned and looked up at him, tears in her eyes.
    “Good-bye, Hawk.” She turned and ran toward the house.
    Hawk jumped down from his horse, and just as quickly his father was dismounted and facing him. Hawk looked up into the man’s dark eyes, still standing a few inches shorter than his father. “I know. I should not have ridden off with her.”
    Wolf’s Blood grinned. “Believe it or not, I was your age once, my son. I remember the feeling. But it was only Indian girls I looked at.”
    Hawk knew the story about his father’s first love, a Cheyenne girl. He’d been only seventeen, and she was sixteen. She was killed at Sand Creek back in ’64, when Colorado volunteers had massacred several hundred peaceful Indians there, including women and little children. That was what had turned his father toward making