Savage Splendor (Savage Lagonda 2) by Constance O'Banyon Page A

was a real lady. Most probably had servants waiting on you."
    Mara felt tears of frustration gathering in her eyes as she tried to remember who she was.
    "I do not know, Jake. I do not know who I am."
    "It don't make no never mind, little princess. Zeke and me will take care of the cooking, and as far as you knowing who you are, I bet you will wake up one morning and tell us your name and where you live." Jake took her by the shoulders and led her to the table, where he sat her down. "You just rest. Me and Zeke will cook you up something nice and hot to eat."
    Mara lowered her head to the table in total misery. She sat there the whole time the brothers were preparing the meal. Every so often they would look at her with concern, but she did not notice. She was searching her mind, trying to remember anything that would tell her who she was. It was frightening—the blank void of her mind would reveal no clue to her past life.
    Dinner that night consisted of fried fatback and eggs. Jake told Mara that he had bought the chickens some years back, since he had a fondness for eggs. He had turned them loose in the woods since he and Zeke were gone most of the time and could not tend them properly. The chickens had thrived. They roosted in the trees at night, and to his surprise had multiplied. The only problem was finding the eggs, which the chickens hid in various nests among the underbrush.
    Mara found she was hungry and the fresh eggs tasted delicious. Jake and Zeke watched in satisfaction as she ate two eggs.
    After dinner she insisted on clearing the table and washing dishes, while Jake brought in more wood and Zeke tended to the horses. By the time Mara had finished the last of the dishes Jake and Zeke were seated by the fireplace. Zeke filled his pipe with tobacco and lit it. The room took on a cheerful glow as Mara sat down on one of the wooden chairs, warmed by the fire that glowed in the fireplace. She had discovered that although the days were hot, the nights could turn quite cool.
    Once again Mara's stomach felt queasy, but she tried to ignore it. She was not aware that the two men were watching her as she picked up the fringe on her doeskin dress and studied it in the bright firelight. She frowned. Why was she dressed so strangely? She ran her hand over the soft doeskin, then she studied her moccasins. She was dressed as an Indian!
    Looking at her hands she saw that they were white. She picked up a tress of hair and saw it was golden in color. Raising her head to Jake she gave him a questioning look.
    "I am not an Indian. How is it that I am dressed as one? Jake how . . . where did you and Zeke find me?" she said, beginning to panic.
    The two brothers exchanged glances. "It ain't no use you fretting over anything, little princess. We will talk on it when you are more rested," Zeke told her.
    "No, tell me now. I have to know, can you not see? It is as if I have no past. I was born the day you found me. I have to find out who I am."
    "Well," Zeke said, taking a puff on his pipe and blowing out a smoke ring and watching as it floated upward. "When me and Jake found you, you were with two big Injun bucks. They were fighting over you. Me and Jake shot and killed them."
    Mara swallowed convulsively. "I was a captive of Indians?"
    "It would appear so," Jake spoke up, wishing they had not had to tell her how they had found her.
    She looked down at her doeskin dress with new understanding. "Is that all you can tell me?"
    "Yep," Jake said. "There ain't no more to tell. That's all we know."
    "You was in a faint or something and me and Jake took turns carrying you," Zeke added.
    Suddenly Mara remembered the golden medallion she had placed in her shoe. The two brothers watched curiously as she removed her moccasin. She held the medallion up to the firelight watching the way it shimmered.
    "Do either of you know about this?" she asked.
    Zeke reached across and took the medallion. "I ain't never seen the likes of it before. It's gold,"