"You belong to me, little one. From now on you will leave Thunder alone. If you make a fool of yourself over another man again I will beat you. Do you hear me!"

Mutely, Laughing Brook nodded, shocked and enthralled by the change in Soars-Like-An-Eagle. Her eyes grew round as saucers as he swept her up in his arms and carried her to an empty stall, where they would be hidden from view. She gasped aloud when he lowered her to the mound of sweet-smelling hay he had placed there just this morning and dropped to his knees beside her.

Chapter Nineteen.

Grady left the stable in a rage, his expression thunderous. How dare Storm keep something as important as having a child from him! he fumed angrily. She'd had plenty of time to tell him he was going to be a father since his arrival. What made his anger even more profound was the fact that she had said nothing when he asked her pointedly if she wanted children. Her silence had led him to believe she didn't want his children. He tried to bring his temper under control before he entered the house, but his jerky steps and murderous expression gave him away.

Shannon took one look at him as he strode through the parlor and felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. She hurried after him.

"Grady, wait! Has something upset you?"

"Where's Storm, Mother?"

"I sent her upstairs to rest a few minutes ago. Can't it wait?"

"I think not." His face was set in grim lines, his mouth taut.

"Has Storm done something to displease you?"

"You could say that, Mother. Why am I the last to know my wife is carrying my child? You did know, did you not? And I imagine Father knows too."

Shannon blanched. She knew it was wrong of Storm to keep her state of impending motherhood from Grady, but she had expected Storm to inform Grady in her own good time. Obviously Grady had stumbled across the information on his own and was in a rage over being kept deliberately uninformed.

"We knew, son, and Storm would have told you very soon, I'm sure of it. Don't go to her now. Give yourself time to calm down before confronting her."

"I'm sorry, Mother. This can't wait." Turning on his heel, he mounted the stairs.

"If you hurt Storm, I'll never forgive you," Shannon called after him.

Suddenly Grady went still. He turned slowly and faced his mother. "I've given you little reason to be proud of me these last few years, Mother, but I would never stoop to abusing a woman." Then he turned and continued up the stairs.

Alone in her room, Storm had taken off her dress and petticoat and stretched out on the bed. She did seem to tire more easily these days, and the afternoon heat was oppressive. The sheets were cool against her cheek and she closed her eyes. But no matter how hard she tried to drift off to sleep, thoughts of Grady kept intruding. If he continued to avoid her, she would have to track him down and tell him about their child. Soon no one would be able to mistake her condition.

Her stomach was no longer flat. A little bulge protruded where once she had been slightly concave. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were larger than she could ever remember them being, and somewhat tender to the touch. But it was her narrow waist where the most noticeable difference lay. It was at least two inches thicker than it had been before her pregnancy, and she had already let out the seams in her dresses. She knew if she and Grady had been on intimate terms these past days he would have noticed the changes immediately.

As if just thinking of him had conjured him up, the door flew open and Grady stepped into the room. She didn't notice his glowering expression as she cried out his name in joyful welcome. It wasn't until he slammed the door behind him and stomped toward the bed that she knew something was amiss.

"What is it, Grady? Are you angry about something?"

"You could say that."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"Oh, I'll tell you, all right. But first, take off your clothes."

"What?"

"You heard me. Take off your clothes-all of them."

Storm's mouth went dry. "If you want to make love, you have only to ask. What's wrong? I've never seen you like this before."

"I've never been this angry before. Are you going to take off your clothes or must I do it for you?"

A tremor of fear snaked down Storm's spine. She had a good idea what had angered Grady. She took her time removing her underwear, stockings, and shift. When she lay naked and vulnerable to his penetrating gaze she glanced up at Grady, taking heart when she saw something flicker in his eyes. But it quickly pa.s.sed, replaced by simmering anger. She started violently when he bent down and placed a large callused hand on the swelling beneath her ribcage.

"Why didn't you tell me? Hearing that I'm to become a father in a roundabout way makes me furious."

"I wanted to tell you. I truly intended to tell you."

"When? After I discovered it for myself?"

"If you hadn't been avoiding me, I would have told you days ago." Her voice was rising steadily. How dare he direct his anger at her when she was guilty of nothing. She would have told him in her own good time.

"When am I to be a father?" he asked in a voice far too calm for her liking. She feared his icy contempt more than she feared his anger.

"In six months."

"I see. And what would you have done if I had gone back to Oklahoma alone as you insisted?"

Storm's chin jutted out at a stubborn angle. "I would have survived." Suddenly she flung his hand aside and jerked upright. "And get your hands off me. I won't let you intimidate me. You might frighten big bad gunslingers, but you don't frighten me."

Grady rocked back on his heels, shaken by Storm's words. Good Lord, had he sunken so low that he resorted to intimidating pregnant women? "I'm not trying to frighten you, Storm," he said more reasonably. "I just want to know why you saw fit to keep your pregnancy a secret from me. Did you think I wouldn't want our child?"

"I didn't know what to think," Storm admitted shakily. "I told you before, I thought you no longer wanted me in your life. When you showed up at Peaceful Valley with Laughing Brook I a.s.sumed you preferred her to me. Telling you about our baby would have only complicated matters."

"For the last time, I never told you to leave. What you thought you heard wasn't what I said. I was wounded and helpless when you left. Laughing Brook stayed to care for me and Tim. I've always wanted you, Storm. Grandfather Spirit predicted long before I knew you that I must meet and conquer the Storm before I would find peace. I believe the Storm he spoke of was you. He also said Thunder can exist only in the bosom of Storm."

"I don't understand," Storm said softly. A glimmer of hope soared in her heart, but she desperately wanted to hear Grady say the words. She had waited so long.

"I think you do, lady," Grady admitted in a rare moment of confidence. He dropped to the bed beside her, his voice harsh with emotion. "I know I can never take the place of Buddy, but dammit, Storm, I love you. I know your first husband was special to you, just as Summer Sky was special to me. But since I met you I've come to realize that Summer Sky was the love of my youth. You're the love of my life."

Storm was so shocked by Grady's admission, her voice froze in her throat. Grady loved her! Truly loved her.

"You don't know how sorry I am that I had a hand in Buddy's death. If I could bring him back I would."

"Stop!" Getting to her knees, Storm threw herself at Grady. He opened his arms and brought her against his heart. "What's done is done. Of course I loved Buddy. He was the only man I ever really knew, the friend and companion of my childhood. But we had such a short time together as man and wife that I never really had a chance to know him as a lover."

"I want to be everything to you, lady. Husband, friend, lover."

"Are you sure, Grady, absolutely certain it's me you want and not the baby I carry?"

"I've never been more certain of anything in my life."

"What about the violence? Can you give up the violence you've lived with these past years? I couldn't bear to lose you, Grady. I love you too much."

Grady's heart nearly burst with happiness. It was the first time Storm had admitted she loved him. "If I wanted a life filled with violence, I wouldn't have made the run for land in Guthrie. I can't help what other men do, but I promise I'll not instigate another violent act. Just tell me you're happy about the baby."

Looping her arms around his neck, she kissed his nose, his chin, his mouth, anyplace her lips could reach. "I love the babe you put inside me, almost as much as I love his father-or her father." Storm giggled. "I hope you're planning on a daughter or two."

Grady grinned in genuine pleasure. "At least. And I want to get you home before travel becomes difficult for you. But don't think I'm letting you off the hook. From now on there will be only truth between us. I'm still unhappy about finding out about your pregnancy from someone other than my own wife." He tried to sound stern, but it was extremely difficult with Storm sitting on his lap naked as the day she was born.

"Grady, about Laughing Brook-"

"I don't want to talk about Laughing Brook. I'm taking her back to the reservation where she can't interfere in our lives again. But most of all, lady, I want to make love to you. I've been living in h.e.l.l these past few days."

"The door to my room wasn't locked," Storm argued. "You could have come in any time you pleased."

"I had some decisions to make that weren't easy. After Summer Sky's death I was afraid of loving again. Losing someone you love is too painful; it was easier to harden my heart against every emotion except rage and revenge. After searching my soul I discovered I could love again, if the woman was you. For the first time in years my soul is truly at peace. Wakantanka was right. You are my peace."

Storm's eyes grew misty and the lump in her throat prevented her from coherent speech. Instead, she burrowed deeper into his arms and sighed in utter contentment.

Grady groaned deeply as the tension of pa.s.sion swept through him. Storm's body was warm and flushed and so d.a.m.n tempting that the need to make love to her was like a fire in his blood. His mouth ground against hers as he pressed her onto her back. His tongue trust deeply, tasting her, demanding that she return his hunger in kind. His lips brushed her closed lids, the curve of her cheekbones, the tender arch of her neck. He lowered his head and suckled her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, lashing the dusky nipples with the rough, wet edge of his tongue until he wrung a cry of pleasure from her lips.

She moved against him in sinuous response as she tugged his shirt from his pants, urging him out of his clothes. He complied instantly, tossing them aside while she watched through heavy lids. When he was naked she pulled him down and ran her hands across the hard planes of his back, tracing the k.n.o.bby ridges of his spine, then up again to smooth the taut cords of his neck.

"Oh, lady, I love it when you touch me. G.o.d, your hands ..." The heel of her hand came down to rest against his stomach, and her fingers caressed his rigid member. He sucked in a ragged breath.

Fearing he would lose control, Grady reluctantly stilled her, but she continued to explore his flesh. Wherever the tips of her fingers touched, his skin seemed to jump in response. In self-defense he nudged her legs apart and slipped his hand between her thighs. He heard her soft intake of breath as he began to stroke her. When his fingers penetrated her she knew a moment of raw pleasure. When his mouth replaced his hand, Storm simply ceased breathing. She made a feeble protest, but it went unheeded as Grady's tongue lashed deliciously at the dewy petals opening to him like a flower to the morning sun.

Intense rapture simmered through her, making her lightheaded as she floated on a fluffy cloud of incredible sensation. She was no longer flesh and blood but a spirit with no substance, existing on a high plane of physical awareness. When Grady's first thrust filled her, her body responded, tightening around him, memorizing the shape and size of him. She raised her eyes and found him staring at her. His face was stark and intense, his eyes dark with fierce pa.s.sion. Tension pulled his cheeks taut, making the hallows beneath more p.r.o.nounced, his mouth nearly grim with purpose. She closed her eyes.

"No," he said fiercely. "Look at me. I want you to know what you do to me." His thrusts grew more rapid.

Storm was panting now, nearly senseless with the need to reach completion as she tilted her hips and thrust against him, meeting his frantic strokes with the frenzy of her own. Her eyes remained open. Not just because Grady had asked her to look at him, but because the stark beauty of his face and the raw pa.s.sion in his expression held her enthralled. She wanted to savor the moment as her climax began, rising up from somewhere deep inside her. Grady's mouth slanted across hers, swallowing her cry as his seed flooded her.

Flushed and perspiring, Grady remained embedded in Storm as the last shiver of pleasure coursed through him. His skin was so sensitive, he could have sworn white-hot sparks were dancing along his nerve endings. After several long minutes of silence their breathing eased and their heartbeats slowed to a dull pounding. Grady shifted his weight and lay beside her. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"I didn't notice." Storm sighed dreamily. "I never knew loving could be so wonderful."

"With the right person it is."

"I loved Buddy, but-well, I never felt such profound rapture with him as I do with you. I used to feel guilty about it, but no longer. I loved Buddy in a completely different way."

"Storm."

"Ummm?"

Grady turned on his back, pulling Storm atop him. Her hair fell like a bright curtain about her face and shoulders. His hands grazed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Are you tired?"

Storm grinned impishly. "What do you have in mind?"

"I want you again. This time you ride me." He grasped her hips, urging her upward with the firm pressure of his hands. "Take me and put me inside you." He almost exploded when she held him, guiding him into her. "Do whatever you want."

She moved experimentally, and Grady followed. She leaned over, offering him her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He took one nipple into his mouth, suckling with tortuous urgency. The exquisite pleasure mounted as he kneaded her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and thrust against her. His mouth whispered against hers, repeating her name as hot, sweet pa.s.sion built inside him. His hands glided over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and down her stomach until they rested at the place of their joining. When he ma.s.saged the tiny, sensitive b.u.t.ton nestled at the juncture of her thighs, Storm arched her spine, threw back her head, and cried out in sheer joy. Grady bucked beneath her and found his own release.

Still panting, Storm raised herself and fell down beside him. If she wasn't tired before, she was utterly exhausted now.

"I need a bath," she said, wrinkling her nose. "I smell like I've been-"

"-Making love. You smell wonderful."

"You're incorrigible. I don't know how I'm going to put up with you for the next hundred years or so."

"Oh, lady," Grady groaned, pulling her close. "If we keep this up, I'll be worn out after the first fifty years. Go to sleep, sweetheart. I'll wake you in time for supper."

Grady was surprised to see Shannon pacing at the bottom of the stairs when he left the bedroom a short time later. "Mother, are you still here?"

"I couldn't leave," Shannon said, searching Grady's face for a hint of what had happened upstairs. "I thought-that is-what if Storm needed me?"

Grady smiled, placing an arm around his mother's narrow shoulders. "I told you I wouldn't hurt Storm. I love her too much to harm her."

Shannon clapped her hands together. "Oh, Grady, do you mean it? I was so worried. I know you were angry, but I feel certain Storm would have told you about the baby soon. Are you happy? It's time Tim had a brother or sister."

"Yes, Mother, I'm happy. And since you've waited you may as well know that Storm and I have settled our differences. We'll be leaving soon, before travel becomes dangerous for her in her condition. I also have wheat fields waiting to be harvested and a farm to run."

"You know your father and I would love for you to stay on at Peaceful Valley." Grady opened his mouth to speak. "No, don't say anything. I know how you feel about your homestead. Blade and I felt the same about Peaceful Valley when we first settled here. As long as we keep in touch, I'll be content."

"I'll never shut you or Dad out of my life again," Grady vowed sincerely. "And I want you to visit us when the baby is born. Storm will need you."

"I'll be there, son, you can count on it."

Grady made plans for their departure. Though Storm would miss Shannon and Blade, she was ecstatic about returning to the homestead to await the birth of her child. The one discordant note was Laughing Brook. Storm still hated the thought of the beautiful Indian maiden traveling with them, even if it was for a short time. Fortunately that problem was resolved when Soars-Like-An-Eagle and Laughing Brook approached Grady two days before their departure.

Soars-Like-An-Eagle's handsome face wore a smug smile when he announced, "Laughing Brook will not join you when you leave Peaceful Valley."

Grady slanted him a startled look. "Of course she will. I'm taking her back to the reservation."

"No, you do not understand, Thunder. Laughing Brook is no longer your responsibility. It is my duty to see that she gets home safely."

Grady's puzzled glance shifted to Laughing Brook, who stood slightly behind Soars-Like-An-Eagle, her eyes downcast. "What's this all about, Laughing Brook? What is Soars-Like-An-Eagle talking about?"

"Laughing Brook has promised to join with me," Soars-Like-An-Eagle said before Laughing Brook could reply. "When we reach the reservation we will be joined according to the rites of the People. When I return to Peaceful Valley she will accompany me. Swift Blade has promised to hold my job for me until my return and has offered us the house Jumping Buffalo and Sweet Gra.s.s once occupied. I am most pleased with his generous offer."

"Well, I'll be d.a.m.ned," Grady said wonderingly. He speculated on what Soars-Like-An-Eagle had done to wrought such a change in Laughing Brook. Then he looked into Soars-Like-An-Eagle's eyes and recognized the proud gleam of possession, and the mystery was solved. He would have advised Soars-Like-An-Eagle to bed the little h.e.l.lion long ago if it meant getting her off his back. "Is this what you want, Laughing Brook?"

Laughing Brook looked up at Soars-Like-An-Eagle with a sensuality Grady had never noticed in her before. Her lids were heavy, her lips slightly swollen, her face flushed. Having been awakened to s.e.xual pleasure, she couldn't keep the look of contentment from her eyes or turn her gaze from the man who had satisfied her so completely. Since that first time in the stable they had made love as often as they dared, and each time was better than the last. Laughing Brook had no idea Soars-Like-An-Eagle was a man of such fire and pa.s.sion. So masterful, so powerful a lover! Why hadn't she noticed it before?

"It is what I desire above all things, Thunder," Laughing Brook said shyly.

"Then so be it," Grady said, relieved to be spared the burden of returning the girl to the reservation. "I trust Soars-Like-An-Eagle to return you home safely."