Sweet Savage Heart Read Online Free PDF

had brought to life a flood of haunting memories and suppressed feelings. Long ago he had lived as a Lakota warrior, and an Indian maiden had gotten him into peril; she had not only ruined his existence but had also nearly cost him his life. Repressing his past, hecompared the two women. Both were of medium height and possessed shapely figures of the variety that could entice moisture above a man’s upper lip and a tightening in his pants, though such reactions only supported his belief that most women were nothing but trouble. He unknowingly focused his full attention on the fascinating creature in a heavily beaded white buckskin dress. Her unmarred complexion glowed as if the sun had turned to lather and had bathed her in its golden foam, permanently staining her silky flesh.
    In one portrait, the girl’s hair was in braids and she was wearing a beaded headband and matching braid ties. In the other, his favorite, her thick hair fell wild and free to her waist. If the sun’s rays had not caused it to seemingly burst into fire, her wavy tresses would have appeared a medium auburn shade. A small medicine wheel, made of quills in the sacred colors with a breast feather dangling from its center, was secured just above her right ear. Travis knew a Sioux medicine wheel had to be earned before one could wear it, as a warrior must earn a coup feather. He wondered what brave deed had prompted her tribe to gift her with it. As more turbulent memories stormed his vulnerable mind, he tried to deter them, as he had for years. He could not quite succeed.
    Travis’s green eyes settled on the girl’s winter blue ones. Unlike Marissa’s knowing look, which revealed she had tasted some of life’s wanton offerings, Wild Wind’s alluring gaze had a glow of innocence, a glow that hinted at eagerness to explore life. Oddly, he warmed at the undeniable spark of magic and vitality that flowed out to him from Watogla Tate’s expression. She was a rare beauty who could strike a man speechless or halt him in his tracks. She was trouble of the highest degree and had probably crushed many men. For years he had noticed Marissa Michaels’s portrait and beauty, but it was the Indian girl’s image that affected his respiration andpulse; it was Chief Soaring Hawk’s adopted daughter who caused his curiously susceptible mind and body to do more than stare. And this was most unusual considering his sardonic attitude toward women, an attitude that had been forced on him.
    Travis became aware of the silence and the fact that the two men were staring at him. He scolded himself for his foolish reaction to a mere painting of a beautiful woman, one who doubtlessly used her looks as a potent weapon. “It could be her, Nate, or just a wild coincidence. But you’ll surely pay hell if you try to steal her from Soaring Hawk and his Oglala band. Didn’t you hear Mallory? She’s considered the chief’s daughter.”
    Nathan and Travis stared at each other as if speaking without words. Nathan realized his mixed-blooded, twenty-seven-year-old foreman knew what he was talking about, for Travis Kincade had been born and reared as Hunkpapa, one of the most powerful tribes in the Lakota branch of the Sioux Nation, as was the Oglala tribe, which had his granddaughter. Before settling on the Rocking C Ranch seven years ago, Travis had been a defensive and wary loner, a drifter, and a devilish rogue who had been a master of many skills and charms and had used them without mercy or hesitation whenever necessary. Born and trapped between two warring cultures, Travis had grown up too fast and too hard. Although he and Travis were now very close, Nathan knew there were things Travis had never told him or anyone, things that haunted the young man and had made him cynical and rebellious.
    After leaving the Indians at the age of eighteen, the troubled youth had wandered from place to place, observing and learning about life and people, and constantly honing his skills and