Wolf Shadow by Madeline Baker Page B

right, she passed several other
women who had come down to draw water. She could have filled her waterskin
anywhere but she kept moving upriver. She told herself the reason she didn’t
stop where the Crow women were gathered was because she didn’t want to suffer
their cold looks or hear their cruel words, but the truth was, she was looking
for Wolf Shadow, even though she was reluctant to admit it.
    She found him a short time later, couldn’t help grinning
when she thought of how often she had found him standing naked in the river. This
time he was hunkered down, submerged to mid-chest.
    He didn’t look happy to see her.
    “What are you doing?” Moving upstream a little, she knelt at
the river’s edge to fill the waterskin.
    “What does it look like?” he asked, his voice gruff.
    She shrugged. “It looks like you’re just sitting there. Are
you not cold?”
    “Not cold enough.”
    “I do not understand.”
    He scowled at her. “Don’t I know it.”
    He sounded angry, though she did not know why. Perhaps it
was merely that the cold water made his wounds ache, she mused, or perhaps he
was upset at being a prisoner. It was not a fate a Lakota warrior could easily
accept. Or maybe he was worried about facing the warrior who had captured him.
She dismissed that thought as soon as it crossed her mind. When his wounds
healed, Wolf Shadow would not be easily overcome.
    “Why do you not come out?” she asked.
    He looked down at himself, then back at her, one brow
lifting in wry amusement. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    “Why not?” she asked, and then, taking his meaning, she
blushed to the roots of her hair. Rising quickly, she hurried back to the
village.
    “Finally, she gets it,” he muttered irritably.
    The morning meal was ready when Chance returned to
Blackbird-in-the-Morning’s lodge.
    Winter Rain looked up when he stepped inside. She blushed
when she met his gaze.
    Just looking at her made him hard and aching all over again.
It was all too easy to remember how she had felt pressed against him that
morning, to remember how ardently she had returned his kisses. Damn! He was
going to be spending a lot of time in that river.
    Sitting down, he glanced at Blackbird-in-the-Morning. Was
she aware of the tension sparking between himself and Winter Rain? She couldn’t
miss it, he thought, looking back at Winter Rain. The attraction between the
two of them was hot enough to set the lodge on fire.
    With the meal over, Winter Rain went outside. Aware of
Blackbird-in-the-Morning’s knowing look, he followed Winter Rain out of the
lodge.
    Finding a place in the shade, he watched her cut thin slices
from the venison she had quartered the day before. The strips were about as
long as her arm, perhaps three hands wide. When all the strips were cut, she
would arrange them over the drying rack beside the lodge. The rack was a long
pole suspended on two sturdy forked poles which were high enough to prevent the
dogs from jumping up and stealing the meat. Young boys sometimes grabbed a
piece of meat and ran away with it. Chance remembered doing it himself a few
times. He also remembered the day he’d been caught by one of the women. She had
given him quite a thrashing, but it hadn’t stopped him from doing it again. The
women never had to worry about the girls. The girls knew what happened to the
boys who got caught!
    When the meat was thoroughly dried, it would be cut up and
stored to be used as needed. Some of it would be pulverized, mixed with fat and
made into pemmican. Dried cherries or grapes were often crushed, including pits
and seeds, and added to the mix. It made a sweet treat.
    Winter Rain bent over her task, all too aware that Wolf
Shadow was watching her every move. What was he thinking? Why didn’t he go
away? His nearness and the heated look in his eyes made her nervous. The knife
in her hand slipped and she cut the side of her hand.
    With a yelp of pained surprise, she dropped the knife.
    Wolf