Savage Beloved

And she had never been with a man, sexually, before.

She had never loved before.

She was afraid to love . . . and to . . . make love.

She slipped away from him. “Things are moving too quickly between us,” she said, searching his eyes. “Please understand that this is all so new to me . . . living among your people, learning to trust them, and especially finding myself caring in this way for their young chief.”

His eyes brightened at those words. “I have loved you from the moment I saw you, although I needed to take you captive to avenge what had been done to my uncle,” he said. “In time you can tell me that you love me. Your body will let you know when you are ready to share the ultimate pleasure with me.”

He stepped away from her. “I have the duties of a chief and of a nephew to tend to now,” he said, his voice breaking. “I must tell my people of my uncle’s passing and arrange the funeral rites. I alone will be the one to prepare my uncle’s body for burial.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Candy asked. She had grown to care for the elderly man so much, yet she knew before Two Eagles answered her that it was not her place to mingle with the Wichita people at such a sad time.

“Just rest. Stay in my lodge. I will return when I am free to do so,” Two Eagles said, stepping close to her again and sweeping his arms around her.

They gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment, then kissed passionately.

And then he was gone, leaving Candy in awe of the wonders of this man, his kiss, his gentleness!

Sighing, she sat down beside the fire and gazed into the flames. Life was complicated, but perhaps it would finally be good again!

But could she . . . should she . . . trust this easily?

Hawk Woman stood at the side of Two Eagles’s lodge, stunned by what she had witnessed only moments ago. She had watched, mortified, as Two Eagles went into the garden and removed the white woman’s bonds. Then he had taken her to Short Robe’s lodge. Hawk Woman knew now the old man was dead. But she would not announce it to anyone, for she knew it was Two Eagles’s place to do so.

Hawk Woman saw the gentle way Two Eagles was now treating Candy. As Hawk Woman had walked past Two Eagles’s lodge a moment ago, she had seen through a tiny space at the side of his entrance flap how he had been holding Candy in a tender embrace.

She had even seen them kissing.

She realized now that she had no hope of getting Two Eagles to love her, not while this Candy person was still alive.

Hate seething inside her, she went to her own lodge and began plotting ways to rid Two Eagles of the other woman!

Chapter Fifteen

O, cunning Love! With tears

thou keep’st me blind.

Lest eyes well-seeing thy foul

faults should find.

—William Shakespeare

The next day the air was filled with the steady throb of the esadadnes, the drums that were being played for Short Robe. Everyone in the village had stopped their normal activities to mourn the passing of one of their most beloved men.

Candy was alone in Two Eagles’s tepee. It was still hard to believe how things had turned around for her, and it was all because of that blessed old man who had found the breath and strength to speak in her behalf before he died.

Little had he known how much those few words he spoke would change her life. Not only had she gained her freedom, but now she also had a man in her life to love.

Two Eagles’s tenderness toward her, his gentleness, and ah, the love in his eyes when he looked at her, had made all the wrongs in her life right.

He had given her his love. And she had given him hers. But she had not actually told him that she loved him.

Her fear of loving him, or any man for that matter, made her hesitant to declare her feelings. She had seen the cruelty of men . . . such as her father and his soldiers.

But she ached to feel Two Eagles’s arms around her again, to be kissed by him. Those longings were all the proof she needed to know that she did love him with all her heart and soul. He was not like any of those men of her past who killed and mocked innocent people.