Free Savage Beloved by Cassie Edwards Page A

dried-up leather of the razor strop, slowly slapping and sliding the blade up and down the strop, a sick feeling rushed through her. Why was he gazing at her golden hair?
    Was he sharpening his knife so that he could scalp her?
    Had he fed her her last meal before killing her?
    Suddenly her appetite was gone. Gagging, she shoved the bowl away from her.
    She felt icy cold when Two Eagles paused in his work, then carefully plucked a hair from his head and held it dangling in the air before him.
    Candy gasped and felt faint when he suddenly swept the knife blade in a vicious swing, cutting the hair in half. Nodding, he went back to sharpening the knife on the razor strop.
    Candy reached inside herself for all the courage she could muster and asked, “Why . . . are . . . you doing . . . that?”
    Two Eagles ignored the question. Instead, he gazed at her as he left off sharpening his knife. He could not help noticing how slender and supple she was, her hips curving into a slim waist.
    Her face was oval and delicate, with blue eyes that mesmerized him.
    Her lips. Ah yes, her lips. They were perfectlyshaped and tempting; he found himself longing to taste the wonders of her lips.
    And then there was the golden hair tumbling down her back.
    Although Hawk Woman had the same color hair, it seemed more beautiful and lustrous on this tiny, fragile white woman.
    But he reminded himself that no matter how much he admired her hair, soon it would be gone from her.
    Candy sat rigidly still as she was scrutinized by this man who held her fate in his hands. She felt as though she were on display as his eyes lingered here and there on her, resting longest on her hair!
    Oh, surely he did plan to scalp her!
    Would she die immediately, or slowly bleed to death?
    She wanted to shout at him that it was wrong to kill her. She was innocent of any wrongdoing against him or his people.
    But she couldn’t.
    She would not beg, not even for her life, for she would never forget the courage of the old man as he stood in the parade grounds being whipped, too dignified and proud to ask the soldiers to stop.
    She would be just as dignified and proud!
    She would show this young chief that she would never beg for mercy, not even at that moment when he touched her scalp with that horrid, sharp knife!
    Her eyes widened in wonder when he began talking about his people, surely in an effort to distract her from what he was doing.
    Candy tried hard to look attentive, while all along her heart was crying out to him to set her free!
    She could ride to the next fort and seek refuge there. If Two Eagles agreed to let her go, she would promise not to tell anyone that it was he who had massacred everyone except herself at Fort Hope.
    But she knew that her words would be wasted. She had to patiently wait to see what her final fate would be.
    “The Wichita women are tilling the fields today around the plants that will soon be harvested,” Two Eagles said nonchalantly.
    How could he be so casual about what was happening in this tepee, as though Candy were there just to be talked with, instead of his enemy and captive.
    “After the final harvest of our corn, there is a great feast,” Two Eagles said as he went back to sharpening his knife. The blade occasionally caught the light of the fire, sending its glow into Candy’s eyes. “Corn is my people’s main food. It is sacred and called
aitra,
which means ‘mother.’ There is an ancient legend telling that when the plants fail to come up, the Wichita people will cease to exist.”
    That made Candy’s eyes widen even more. She was surprised that these people’s lives seemed to be dictated by superstition. She listened, her curiosity making her momentarily forget her fear.
    “When the first shoot of corn comes up, an old woman goes there to perform a rite of thanksgiving over the plant,” he said. “She rubs the plant with her hands in blessing, saying, ‘Oh, big bow,’ whichmeans corn stalk. Then she rubs a baby with