The Savage Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

manageable, and I saw the futility of trying to fight a veritable ocean of whites. What is it you say, better to join than fight them?”
    â€œIf the odds are against you.” She liked the feel of his strong, warm fingers on her cheek. She stood very still so that he wouldn’t move them. “Is it so bad, the way you live now?”
    He studied her face. “If I were a poor man, it might be. I have too many advantages here to feel sorry for myself.” His eyes narrowed. “Tess, try not to get too embroiled in the women’s movement, will you? Some of these women are very radical.”
    â€œI promise not to go wild with a hatchet in any local bars,” she said demurely. “Does that reassure you?”
    â€œNot a lot,” he said. “Your father worried about you.”
    Her pale eyes became sad. “Yes, he did. I miss himterribly. But I couldn’t very well stay on at the reservation. The job was his, not mine.”
    â€œThey’d probably have hired you to teach, if you’d asked,” he commented.
    â€œPossibly. Still, there was the persistent lieutenant. What a temptation he presented.”
    His brow rose. “Temptation?”
    â€œI was tempted to put a bullet through him,” she clarified. “I was at Wounded Knee, too, Matt. I know he shot women and children and old men.”
    His hand slowly lowered. “You should go inside. It’s too cold out here for idle conversation.”
    â€œYou can’t imagine how you look when I mention the massacre,” she said softly. “I’m sorry. However painful the memories are for me, I know they’re a hundred times worse for you.”
    He gazed down at her with his heart twisting inside him. She was pretty, but her attraction went so far beyond the physical. She had a soft heart and a stubborn independence that made his breath catch. She had, he mused, a savage heart.
    â€œWhy are you smiling?” she asked.
    â€œI was thinking how you go headfirst into a fight,” he replied. “And how soft your heart is.” He became solemn. “Don’t wear it on your sleeve, little one,” he said softly. “The world can be a cruel place.”
    She saw the lines in his hard face and reached up hesitantly to touch the ones between his dark eyes. He flinched and she jerked her fingers back.
    â€œSorry!” she cried, flustered.
    His expression grew even more grim. “I’m not used to being touched. Especially by women.”
    She laughed nervously. “So I noticed!”
    He relaxed, but only fractionally. “I’ve grown a shell since I’ve been here,” he confessed. “And now I’m trapped in it. I’m rich and successful. But under it all, I’m still a poor ragged Indian—to people more shortsighted than you are.”
    â€œI’ve only always thought of you as my friend.”
    â€œAnd I am,” he said solemnly. “I’d do anything for you.”
    â€œI know that.” She drew her old coat closer and smiled up at him, her gaze intent. “I’d do anything for you, too, Matt.”
    As she turned away, he suddenly caught her arm and swung her back to him. The unexpected movement made her lose her balance. She fell heavily against him. His hand at her back steadied her, and she rested against him, breathing in soap and cologne and a faint scent of tobacco from the occasional cigar he smoked.
    His eyes were turbulent, and the hold he had on her was new and exciting.
    A little startled, she asked huskily, “What is it?”
    His gaze roamed over her face, then stopped on her mouth. Her lips were full and soft and he wondered not for the first time in their long relationship how they would feel under his. The hunger he felt made his heart race.
    â€œMatt, you’re scaring me,” she said all in one breath.
    â€œNothing scares you,” he returned. “You walked rightinto the thick of