Read Night Thunder's Bride: Blackfoot Warriors, Book 3 for Free Online Page A

more serious, and he continued to look at her, his eyes darkening with a disturbing emotion.
    “It is not important what I thought then.”
    “I think that it is.”
    “Do you?” he countered. “And what was your impression of me that first night?”
    “I…” she hesitated. She couldn’t very well tell him that at that time, she had thought him unusually handsome. What would he think of her? “I…I thought that you were…Indian.”
    He laughed. “We should get a little more sleep,” he said, “before my brothers from the Blood tribe return with presents for us. We will need our wits about us, I think.”
    He turned over, his buffalo hide covering slipping farther down, admitting to her perusal the smooth length of his bare back.
    A shudder fell over her spine at the sight of all that handsome flesh and she gulped, the sound of it seeming loud against the silence.
    “Aye,” agreed Rebecca. “I believe you are correct.” And she, too, turned her back on him.
    But she couldn’t help wondering. What had he thought of her?
    She didn’t know why, but she felt it important that she know. She would ask him again when they awakened, she decided. And this time, she wouldn’t be put off by him directing the same question to her.
    This she promised herself.

Chapter Four
    A scratch on the tepee flap awakened them.
    “ Ikkamssit, ”Night Thunder’s word had barely been over a whisper as he spoke to Rebecca, “be quick.” He motioned her over toward him, telling her with gestures to lie next to him beneath his sleeping robe.
    She didn’t hesitate, either, and she hurriedly scooted toward him, more afeard of what would happen if she didn’t than if she did.
    “ Piit, ”he called out, no sooner than she had settled herself down beside him. “Enter.”
    She pulled the robe over her head and kept it there, as Night Thunder spoke to whomever had entered their lodge.
    She listened to the foreign conversation, comforted by the fact that the voice of the visitor did not belong to her previous captor.
    She began to relax. Night Thunder, however, sat up, the robe falling down around his waist, barely enough to cover that part of him which declared him male. And Rebecca instantly became aware of one startling fact. Night Thunder sat beside her, naked. Utterly, completely naked.
    She tried to look elsewhere, to think of something besides him.
    She couldn’t.
    And despite there being little light beneath the robe, despite her inability to see as well as she might, there were some things one simply couldn’t ignore. The sight of him surrounded her; the musky scent of him teased her. He smelled good…alluring.
    She drew a deep breath, but instead of the action calming her, his scent tantalized her and she felt her stomach turn over.
    But it wasn’t pain she felt. It was…what? Excitement? No, it couldn’t be. Yet…
    She spun onto her stomach and turned her head away, any concern she had for their guest, what he might think of what she did, evaporating in her effort to hold onto her reserve.
    She heard a chuckle, more foreign words, then the sound of the tepee flap opening and closing.
    A quiet moment passed. Another.
    “Come out now.”
    What was it she heard in his voice? Humor?
    Still, she didn’t move.
    “Do you like it beneath there?”
    What could she say? Rebecca had never felt more embarrassed in her life. Not only had she witnessed a naked man, she had responded to the sight of him as though she might like him to hold her.
    She held her breath and without budging, without in the least moving her head, replied, “Why did you not tell me that you were naked?”
    He paused and when he spoke, he said the words slowly, as though he were picking each one carefully, “There was not time. Besides, how else would you have me sleep?”
    “In night clothing.”
    Night Thunder gave a short laugh. “Night clothing? What is this night clothing? Do you expect to make me believe that the white man wears clothing in