Simply Heaven by Patricia Hagan Read Free Book Online Page B

certain places. Hell, I've always thought that was ridiculous anyway. It's not a man's size down there that matters to a woman, and —"
    "Can't you find something else to talk about?" Raven could feel beads of perspiration running down her cheeks and swiped at them, seeing the grime on her fingers and knowing her face would be streaked.
    Steve was wickedly enjoying how the banter made the boy squirm. Obviously, he was not experienced in the ways of manhood. "I'll wager you've never even had a woman, have you? Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do for you. Surely there are some whores on the reservation—women willing to give you a tumble for a few dollars. I'm going to make you a present of one when this is over. I'll have you bed you down for a whole week with the wildest little filly we can find. She'll make you so glad to be a man you'll want to run around naked and show off your—"
    "Shut up!" Raven cried, kneeing the mustang into a gallop. She would not listen anymore. In the past, when the scouts or soldiers would say such risqué things she had just gone away. Here, it was different. She could not escape.
    Steve did not immediately catch up. He was too lost in thought, wondering what caused Little Crow to be like he was. Something had sure made him shy, and he needed to get over it if he was ever going to make anything of himself, especially since he could speak English so well. And while the men at the fort seemed to regard him highly when it came to horses, he didn't need to hide in the shadows of a stable the rest of his life. It was also wrong for him to go around so dirty and unkempt all the time. Steve made up his mind that before their time together ended, he would try to reach him, somehow, and make him understand all that.
    Raven saw Diablo was working up a lather, which he didn't need in the sweltering weather. Spotting a creek up ahead, she reined him in to drink.
    Steve followed. He was thirsty himself, and, after splashing cool water over his chest and face, he put his shirt back on, because he could feel his skin starting to burn.
    "That's a nice horse," he said, making his first attempt to ease the tension between them. "Where did you get him?"
    Raven experienced a rush of pride. She was only too glad to talk about Diablo. "He was rounded up and brought in to the reservation. I knew right away he was special, because the best riders tried to break him and couldn't. The braves were getting angry and threatening to beat him to break his spirit, but the Indian agent would not allow it. He said it was wrong to beat a horse into submission."
    "I certainly go along with that."
    She was glad he felt the same. "The agent decided that the man who could ride him without whipping him would own him."
    "And you were the one to do it?"
    Raven smiled. "Just because I'm little doesn't mean I can't ride. Besides, that had nothing to do with it."
    He was amused. "Really? Then how did you break his spirit?"
    "I didn't." She wished she could look at Steve full in the face and see his reaction but did not dare. Keeping her head turned, as though watching Diablo drink, she explained, "He still has his spirit, because he sensed that it wasn't my intention to take it away from him, and that I was determined he wouldn't take mine from me. We understood each other. We still do. And that's the way it should be for animals and humans, to give each to the other without taking anything away."
    Steve was impressed and could well understand what Captain Puckett had meant when he said Little Crow seemed to have an uncanny way with horses.
    "Would you like to try to ride him?" Raven could not resist challenging.
    If what the boy said about the horse was true, Steve was not about to give him the satisfaction of seeing him thrown. "No, thanks. I've known horses like that. As a matter of fact, Mr. Ralston has one that nobody has ever ridden except him. The horse has almost killed anybody that tried. He threw one man up against the barn