Wolf Shadow Read Online Free Page A

perhaps? How long would he be here? Perhaps Strong Elk
or her father would know who the stranger was and where he came from.
    She was still thinking of him when she fell asleep.

Chapter Three
     
    Winter Rain rose early the following morning. Her first
waking thought was of the stranger, which was not surprising, she mused, since
she had dreamed of him all night long, horribly immodest dreams that had
awakened her, breathless and warm all over, several times in the night. She had
dreamed of standing with him in the sheltering folds of a courting blanket,
dreamed of his hands touching her face, his body pressed close to hers.
Remembering those dreams brought a wave of heat to her face.
    Padding quietly out of the lodge, she made her way down to
the river, thinking she would bathe and then fill the waterskin with fresh
water.
    She walked upriver to her favorite place, a clear blue pool
screened by young cottonwoods and tangled berry bushes.
    She frowned at the sound of splashing, dismayed that someone
else had reached the pool before her. A doe flicked its tail and bounded across
her path as she drew near the river’s edge.
    Peering through the brush, Winter Rain saw the stranger
standing in the waist-deep water. His back was toward her. A broad copper-hued
back marred by a thick spider web of faint white scars.
    He rinsed the soap from his body, then turned and started
toward the shore. Winter Rain was no stranger to the sight of a man’s bare
chest but she found herself staring at him, admiring the width of his
shoulders, the finely sculpted muscles in his arms and chest, his hard flat
stomach, the way the sunlight glistened on his wet skin.
    She wasn’t aware of making any noise but he paused abruptly,
his eyes narrowing as he scanned the shoreline.
    Winter Rain froze, not wanting to be caught staring, felt
his gaze search her out.
    “What do you want?” He put the question to her in flawless
Lakota.
    “I did not mean to intrude,” she said, stepping out from
behind the brush. “I just came to bathe.”
    He glanced around. “You picked a nice place for it.”
    She nodded, unable to draw her gaze away from such masculine
perfection. Her mouth went dry as he took a step forward, apparently
unconcerned by his nudity or the thought of her seeing him that way. Water
dripped down his chest. He took another step and she realized that, very soon,
the water would no longer cover his private parts. She had seen naked men
before. There was no shame in it, couples often bathed and swam together. But
the thought of seeing this man naked was most unsettling and she quickly turned
her back to him.
    His soft chuckle brought a flush of heat to her cheeks. She
stood there, her heart pounding as she listened to the soft whisper of cloth
being pulled over wet male skin.
    “You can turn around now,” he said, a smile evident in his
tone.
    Instead of the white man’s clothing he had worn the day
before, he now wore a wolfskin clout and moccasins. He had long muscular legs.
A knife was sheathed in a beaded belt at his waist. A small medicine bag
dangled from a rawhide thong around his neck.
    “You are Winter Rain?”
    She nodded, suddenly aware that she was far from the
village, alone with a stranger. If she called for help, no one would hear her.
    “I am Wolf Shadow,” he said. “Cousin to Kills-Like-a-Hawk.”
    She nodded in acknowledgement, felt her cheeks grow warm
once more as his gaze moved over her in a long lingering glance.
    Chance watched the color bloom in Winter Rain’s cheeks.
There was no doubt in his mind that this was the Bryants’ daughter. Her
resemblance to Rosalia Bryant was unmistakable. She had her mother’s olive
skin, dark hair, and delicate bone structure, and her father’s deep blue eyes.
His gaze moved to her lips—smooth pink lips that she moistened with the tip of
her tongue.
    Like a doe poised to take flight, she stood there watching
him, her eyes wide and uncertain. Did she feel it, too, the