A Promise of Thunder

strength, she tried to rise from the bed. She could see the pulse beating wildly in Grady’s temple and his breath coming faster, harsher, as he shifted his weight off her. For a moment she thought he meant to let her go, but he merely pushed her back down and began to strip off his clothes.
    In moments he stood before her naked, proud, magnificently aroused, and she staredat him in utter fascination. She could see Grady like this every day of her life until she grew old and never tire of the sight of him. He stood over her, all bronze masculinity, the powerful sinews cording his thighs, the smooth, tight musculature of his stomach, the taut roundness of his buttocks. His blue eyes glowed with dark fire, his mouth heavy with sensuality. His eyes intent upon her face, he bent and stripped her bare.
    She tensed, exposed, burning, as his gaze slowly slid down the length of her body. She clenched her legs tightly, but he merely smiled and shoved them apart, moving between them. His fingers began caressing her, massaging, then plunging into the center of her.
    Her body arched up from the bed and she gave a tormented cry.
    “Are you becoming more convinced?” He was breathing harshly, his muscles taut with tension, his face fierce as his long, hard fingers moved rhythmically in and out of her.
    By now Storm was beyond speech as her head wagged from side to side. She begged him to end her torture, but Grady was just warming to his pleasurable task. Lowering his head, he touched his tongue where his fingers had been moments before.
    “Grady!”
    She tried to close her legs against this unorthodox intrusion, but Grady shoved them farther apart, settling more deeply into thecradle of her thighs as his mouth and tongue delved deeply into the sensitive core of her womanhood. He lashed her relentlessly until pleasure so intense it stole her breath shuddered through her. Allowing her no time to recover from the volatile release he had forced from her, Grady slid upward and thrust into her. His fullness stretched her, filled the emptiness of the past months without him—made her complete.
    Wildness seized Grady as he plunged and thrust, long, hard, short, gentle, losing all control now as he felt Storm’s moist heat surround and enfold him. She was just becoming accustomed to one tempo when he changed it to another, each stroke bringing her once again to the brink of madness.
    Just when Storm thought she could stand no more, Grady added a new dimension to their loving when he kissed her deeply, his tongue moving wildly in her mouth to the same tempo as his thrusting below. He reached around and cupped her buttocks, bringing her up hard to his every thrust.
    “Hurry,” he breathed, raising his head. “I can’t wait much longer.” His expression was blissful agony, his nostrils flared as his thrusting hips grew more forceful with every movement.
    Suddenly the tension broke and she surged upward convulsively.
    Grady cried out and clutched her against him.
    Spent and limp, Storm lay unmoving as Grady lifted himself from her and sank down on the bed beside her. His breath was still coming harsh and quick, his black hair tousled, making him appear amazingly young and vulnerable.
    Storm’s hand slid across her belly where her baby lay sheltered in her womb. The slight bulge beneath her fingertips reminded her that she hadn’t told Grady yet about their child. She wasn’t quite ready for that, she decided as she deliberately reached down and pulled the sheet over her nakedness. Grady still hadn’t proved to her that he was finished with violence. For all she knew he would still participate in gunfights with men who came to Guthrie to challenge him. Once he learned she was carrying his child she would be forced to return with him to Oklahoma. Both Blade and Shannon had promised they wouldn’t tell Grady about her pregnancy until she was ready, and she hoped they intended to keep their word.
    “Have I convinced you to return with me to the homestead? We need each other, Storm.”
    “Will Laughing Brook accompany us back to Oklahoma?”
    “I’ve given my word. I will personally return her to the reservation. I thought we’d take Laughing Brook to the reservation first before returning home. I wouldn’t feel right sending her alone.”
    “Can’t one of your father’s men take her home? Or Soars-Like-An-Eagle?”
    “Laughing Brook is my problem, not my father’s. She’ll go with us.”
    “Then I’m not going with