Wild Splendor by Cassie Edwards Page A

wet material of her petticoat. She moaned and leaned into his hand as he began kneading her breast, the nipple hardening from the fires that his fingers seemed to be igniting. The heat spread as Sage’s hand trailed downward, soon gathering the petticoat between his fingers and shifting the wet garment upward . . . upward . . . upward.
    Leonida sucked in a wild gasp of pleasure when she felt his first touch at the center of her passion. She drew her lips away and closed her eyes in ecstasy as his fingers began caressing her, arousing her to blissful feelings.
    When his mouth found her lips again and his tongue flicked between them, tongues meeting, tip to tip, she began running her hands over his bare flesh, thrilling at the feel of his taut muscles, and then dared to move her fingers lower, breathless at the thought of touching his manhood. Could she give him the same sort of pleasure that he was giving her by the mere caress of her fingers?
    Then she drew her head away and closed her eyes, shame filling her at where her thoughts had taken her. She began shoving at Sage’s chest, but he grabbed her wrists and held them as he began caressing her passion’s center with his manhood, his eyes dark and passion-filled as he gazed down at her.
    Leonida’s eyes widened as she felt his manhood begin to twitch and grow against her flesh. Her heart was thundering wildly from these feelings that she seemed to have no control over.
    â€œSage, please . . .” Leonida said with her last trace of reason. “Let’s stop now, or . . .”
    â€œOr else Sage might take you to paradise and back?” he said huskily. “Or Sage might prove to you the extent of your love for this Navaho chief?”
    â€œI’m so confused,” Leonida murmured. “I want you, yet I do not want to be forced. I want it to be beautiful, Sage.”
    He released her wrists and held his hands out away from her. “You are no longer being forced to do anything,” he said. “Rise and leave if you wish. Sage will even give you a horse to return to Fort Defiance. You are captive no more. In truth, Sage is the captive—to your heart. I will love you always, even if only in my midnight dreams.”
    Leonida scarcely breathed, understanding what he was doing and why. She had just won her freedom. Yet she could not find it in her heart to leave. She saw no future now without Sage, and she would have to come to terms, somehow, with what he had done. The ambush had been wrong, yet . . . She suddenly realized that had she been in his place, she would more than likely have taken the same road as he.
    â€œYou are free to leave,” Sage said, moving away from her.
    Leonida watched him begin to walk away beneath the thundering falls, then moved quickly to her feet and went to him and grabbed his hand. “Don’t go,” she said. “I love you, Sage. Oh, how I love you.”
    When he turned to her, his eyelids heavy with passion, she twined a leg around one of his, moaning as she felt her swollen, throbbing center come into contact with his flesh as her petticoat scooted up her leg. Closing her eyes, Leonida began rubbing herself against him, becoming dizzy with the pleasure.
    Feeling that part of her moving against his flesh drove Sage almost out of his mind. He wrapped his arms around her and helped anchor her to him as she continued moving herself on him.
    But afraid that she was nearing that point of no return when pleasure would seize her like explosions of fire, he placed his hand on her waist and lifted her away from him.
    Her face hot with a sensual blush, Leonida smiled up at Sage, her whole body seeming to be one consuming, throbbing heartbeat. “Make love to me,” she whispered, reaching a hand to his manhood.
    She watched his eyes become glassy with pleasure as she moved her fingers on him, herself mystified by that part of him that seemed so hot and alive. She watched his expression as