Savage Beloved Read online

  CASSIE EDWARDS,

  AUTHOR OF THE SAVAGE SERIES

  Winner of the Romantic Times

  Lifetime Achievement Award for

  Best Indian Series!

  “Cassie Edwards writes action-packed, sexy reads!

  Romance fans will be more than satisfied!”

  —Romantic Times

  A WOMAN OF COURAGE

  She had never considered any Indian handsome. But now? She knew how wrong she had been.

  Yet how could she forget, for even one moment, that this man was responsible for the deaths of many people, among them her father and Malvina?

  She gazed at him now with contempt, with hate, as he stopped beside her.

  “Stand,” he said in perfect English. “Or do you prefer to continue crawling like a lowly snake along the ground?”

  Knowing that she had no choice, yet so afraid she was not certain her knees would support her when she did try to stand, Candy slowly pushed herself up from the ground.

  She stood straight-backed, her chin held firmly high, as she tried to prove that she was a woman of spirit . . . of courage . . . despite the danger she was in.

  Other books by Cassie Edwards:

  TOUCH THE WILD WIND

  ROSES AFTER RAIN

  WHEN PASSION CALLS

  EDEN’S PROMISE

  ISLAND RAPTURE

  SECRETS OF MY HEART

  The Savage Series:

  SAVAGE ARROW

  SAVAGE VISION

  SAVAGE COURAGE

  SAVAGE HOPE

  SAVAGE TRUST

  SAVAGE HERO

  SAVAGE DESTINY

  SAVAGE LOVE

  SAVAGE MOON

  SAVAGE HONOR

  SAVAGE THUNDER

  SAVAGE DEVOTION

  SAVAGE GRACE

  SAVAGE FIRES

  SAVAGE JOY

  SAVAGE WONDER

  SAVAGE HEAT

  SAVAGE DANCE

  SAVAGE TEARS

  SAVAGE LONGINGS

  SAVAGE DREAM

  SAVAGE BLISS

  SAVAGE WHISPERS

  SAVAGE SHADOWS

  SAVAGE SPLENDOR

  SAVAGE EDEN

  SAVAGE SURRENDER

  SAVAGE PASSIONS

  SAVAGE SECRETS

  SAVAGE PRIDE

  SAVAGE SPIRIT

  SAVAGE EMBERS

  SAVAGE ILLUSION

  SAVAGE SUNRISE

  SAVAGE MISTS

  SAVAGE PROMISE

  SAVAGE PERSUASION

  CASSIE EDWARDS

  SAVAGE BELOVED

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  DORCHESTER PUBLISHING

  Published by

  Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.

  200 Madison Avenue

  New York, NY 10016

  Copyright © 2006 by Cassie Edwards

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Trade ISBN: 978-1-4285-1797-4

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-4285-0404-2

  First Dorchester Publishing, Co., Inc. edition: June 2006

  The “DP” logo is the property of Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  Visit us online at www.dorchesterpub.com.

  With the fondest of memories, I dedicate Savage Beloved to my 1954 Mattoon High School (Illinois) graduating class, especially my special friends. Who could ever forget walking the halls of Mattoon High with friends between classes; the many sock hops and formal dances; the Tuesday nights with the Fifinellas (our sorority group); and Gill’s Drive Inn, where everyone met after dances, ballgames, and dates, for a delicious hamburger and cherry Coke!

  Always,

  Cassie Edwards

  Kay Adams

  Peggy Donley

  Fred Hovis

  Sue Armstrong

  Louise Douglas

  Jean Hunt

  Madonna Arthur

  Duane Duncan

  Ralph Idleman

  Walter Baker

  Fred Duncan

  Marilyn Janes

  Linda Bales

  Shirley Duncan

  Harvey Janssen

  Evelyn Banks

  Geneva Edwards

  Carl Jeffers

  Tom Barber

  Ina Rae Elder

  Billie Johnson

  James Beals

  Pansy Elder

  Katherine Jones

  Donna Belt

  Corinne Ellis

  William Justice

  Bernice Boruff

  Ed Ethington

  Pat Kelley

  Susan Bowen

  Joan Fickes

  Mavis Kenny

  Gerald Boyle

  Robert Fickes

  Marion Kirkendoll

  Pat Bradley

  Larry Fisher

  Rose Knollenberg

  Jack Branson

  Fritz Furry

  Patty Knowles

  Tom Brewer

  Ronald Geiger

  Alice Landrus

  Patty Bridges

  Janice Gilbert

  Leonard Lass

  Joan Broers

  Roxanne Gilbert

  Joanna Lawhorn

  Mac Bumpus

  Sara Gover

  Gene Lindsey

  David Bunten

  Yvonne Grafton

  Jo Ann Lindsey

  John Burns

  Karlene Gust

  Mary Lou Lundeen

  Russell Camfield

  Earl Haislip

  Dean Marshall

  Jahala Cannoy

  Marilyn Hamby

  Don Martin

  Stephen Cannoy

  Mary Hamilton

  Carolyn Matthews

  A.L. Carter

  Joyce Hamma
br />   Bob McCall

  Phil Carter

  Judy Harris

  Bill McCleary

  John Chamberlain

  Norma Hash

  Noah McFadden

  Freda Chism

  Phil Haskell

  Gene McFarland

  Doris Clark

  Melvin Hebert

  Charles McKibben

  Raymond Crenshaw

  Sara Helm

  Jim McMillan

  Bill Critchelow

  Thelma Higgens

  Ann Miller

  Joann Cross

  John Hill

  Dixie Miller

  Jim Daugherty

  Shirley Hite

  Wayne Mingus

  Betty Davis

  Evelyn Hogan

  Barbara Montague

  Howard Decker

  Marcia Holloway

  Kay Morse

  Joe Delaney

  Clara Hood

  Larry Myers

  Joyce Derrickson

  Joyce Hood

  Paula Neal

  Nancy Neimeier

  Shirley Thompson

  In Remembrance:

  Craig Nelson

  Don Timmons

  Nancy Newby

  Susie Tomlin

  Claire Abell

  Richard Nighswander

  Richard Tucker

  Tom Clayton

  Ronald Nighswander

  Kenneth Wakefield

  Emil Czerwonka

  Peggy O’Neal

  Bonnie Walker

  Delores Hackett

  Daisy Oakley

  Bill Wallace

  Jim Hardin

  Eileen Overton

  Frances Ward

  David Hoop

  Mary Parker

  Dick Ward

  Joe Eveland

  Wendell Parkhurst

  Marilyn Waters

  Charles Ellis

  Delores Peterson

  Shirley Weber

  Janice Fonner

  Edward Phipps

  David Well

  Madonna Campbell

  Mary Ann Pippin

  Barbara Welsh

  Jim Van Cleave

  Willie Podesta

  Duane Wetzel

  Mary Giberson

  Harlan Price

  Don Whitford

  Jerry Pepperdine

  Carol Rardin

  Shirley Whitley

  John Keene

  Shirley Rardin

  Steve Whitley

  Dorothy Scott

  Marjorie Rathe

  Ann Wilbur

  Catherine Shoap

  Madonna Reinhart

  Marilyn Wildman

  Roy Stewart

  Madonna Ritter

  Fred Winings

  Le Titia Thomas

  James Rominger

  Paul Young

  John Wheeler

  Jeannene Rose

  John Kilman

  Read Ross

  Ernie Watkins

  Phillip Ryan

  John Bone

  Marilyn Sampson

  Shirley Estelle

  Joanne Schagemann

  Shirley Maxey

  David Schwarz

  Bill Biggs

  Jack Scott

  Jim Trower

  Duane Seaman

  Ronnie Campbell

  Lenora Seaman

  Charles Ryan

  Guy Seymour

  Tom Karpus

  William Shafer

  Mildred McGinnis

  Stan Sharp

  Janelle Russell

  Don Shepardson

  Jerry Zike

  Jim Showalter

  Joe Wade

  Ruth Sloan

  Jim Whitley

  Lewis Smith

  Richard Rodgers

  Sharon Smith

  Ruth Howes

  Mike Smyser

  Suellan Mey

  Bob Snapp

  Shirley Logdson

  Kenneth Sparks

  Russell Sawyer

  Patty Stevens

  John Craig

  Harold Strater

  Paul McAchran

  Virginia Swango

  Natresia Ballinger

  Bernard Thompson

  Thea Rae Hovious

  Pat Thompson

  Carol O’Dell

  My Warrior

  His eyes so dark,

  like the midnight sky,

  would make any woman

  want to die.

  His hair is long and black,

  and flows in waves

  down his back,

  his skin is copper

  like the sky in autumn.

  And his heart and mind . . .

  so sweet and tender.

  And he and his people

  will never surrender.

  —Crystal Marie Carpenter,

  a fan and friend

  Chapter One

  There’s heaven above, and night by night,

  I look right through its gorgeous roof;

  No suns and moons though e’er so bright,

  Avail to stop me; splendor-proof.

  —Robert Browning

  Kansas, l849

  A slow fire burned in the fire pit of the large, cone-shaped council house, the smoke spiraling slowly upward through the smoke hole overhead. Two Eagles, a young chief of twenty-five winters, of the Eagle band of the Wichita tribe, sat in council with his warriors, making plans to go help his ailing uncle Short Robe escape from Fort Hope.

  As his warriors obediently watched and listened, it was evident that their chief would tower in height over most of his band, as well as his enemies.

  His bronzed, muscled body was clad today in only a breechclout. His face was sculpted, with a small slash of a scar beneath his lower lip. He had flashing dark eyes, and his long, sleek, black hair hung down to his waist.

  Today he wore a beaded headband that held his hair in place; a lone eagle feather was hanging from a coil of his hair, at one side.

  He sat comfortably on a thick cougar pelt.

  “My warriors, as you know, several days ago my uncle Short Robe was abducted while praying alone at his private place of prayer,” he said tightly. His dark eyes glittered at his warriors, who were sitting cross-legged before him.

  Two Eagles was attuned to all emotions around him. As a person of solitude may sense the feelings of others without their speaking, Two Eagles sensed his world, like the deer that lifts its head quickly from feeding on rich grass, sensing the invisible approach of danger from warnings that come clear and sharp as a clap of thunder.

  “Only a short while ago did I discover who took my uncle, and why,” Two Eagles continued. “Our scout, Gray Wing, came to me with the sad news that it was pony soldiers who wrongly took my uncle.”

  He paused as gasps of horror filled the council house, now that everyone finally knew the truth of Short Robe’s disappearance.

  “Ho, yes, it is with much sadness that I report this to you today,” Two Eagles said solemnly. “The pony soldiers thought they were stealing away my father, our chief, for his brother looked so much like him. But in reality, my father, Chief Moon Thunder, was dying. Now that he has been buried, it is my plan to attack the fort today and bring my elderly uncle back to his home.”

  The Wichita did not choose a chief through heredity alone. A chief’s son must show not only marked ability to lead, but must also win the love and respect of all members of his band by acts of generosity and kindness. Two Eagles had done both during his father’s time as chief.

  It had not taken a second thought for the band to accept Two Eagles as their chief upon the death of his father.

  A shout from outside the large tepee now caused Two Eagles to look quickly toward the closed entrance flap.

  He stiffened when the person shouted that a small contingent of pony soldiers had been seen approaching in the distance. And someone was walking behind them, being led by a rope.

  Two Eagles l
eapt to his feet and hurried outside to see his sentry, Running Wolf, dismounting from his steed a few feet away.

  “My chief,” Running Wolf said breathlessly. “Pony soldiers from Fort Hope are approaching. Short Robe is with them. He is shackled and being led by a rope behind the soldiers. But we cannot attack them in order to rescue your uncle, for there are many more soldiers visible along the horizon, watching and waiting to see if you and our warriors will start a fight.”

  Two Eagles’s heart raced, for it was hard to imagine his uncle being treated so inhumanely. Yet for now, Two Eagles could not do anything about it. The pony soldiers were apparently just waiting for him to make the wrong move, so they would have an excuse to attack his village and kill everyone.

  He kneaded his brow, puzzled as to why the soldiers were returning his uncle at all.

  There could be only one reason: Surely they hoped to antagonize Two Eagles into a fight.

  So he must keep control of his anger until his uncle was safely home. Afterward, those at Fort Hope would be sorry for having done his people wrong. Up until now, to protect his people from attack by the pony soldiers, Two Eagles had practiced restraint, as had his chieftain father.

  But this was too much.

  The white eyes had gone too far!

  They must pay. And . . . they . . . would.

  In the meantime, Two Eagles was relieved to know that his uncle was still alive, for he had been afraid that once the soldiers discovered their error, they would kill him. They had already dishonored another Wichita band by beheading their chief . . . Chief Night Horse, whose son Proud Wind was now chief. Proud Wind was also Two Eagles’s best friend.