Dance With A Gunfighter (42 page)
Read Dance With A Gunfighter Online
Authors: JoMarie Lodge
But then, why should he? They’d already been there.
o0o
At the town dance, Gabe couldn’t pull her gaze away from
Jess. As he walked her around the reception area, he talked to the people of
the town, greeting them like old friends, turning on the full power of his
Southern charm, and acting so sociable and gracious with them, Gabe was
astounded. When even Cozette Beale smiled at him, and invited him to join Gabe
at her house one day for tea, Gabe nearly fell over in a dead faint.
She noticed a slight pallor under the skin of his cheeks
and a darkening under his eyes, both traces of how sick he’d been from the
bullet wound he’d suffered from Tanner. But she also saw the strong brow, the
soft blue eyes, even the down-turned golden mustache she’d fallen in love with
long ago, and loved even more now. The need to tell him how she felt was a
physical ache, but she held back and looked away. She knew that the past lay
too heavy between them to ever be overcome: too much pain; too much heartache.
As if he could feel her scrutiny, he turned toward her.
"Let’s step away from the dance area for a while," he suggested, and
held out his hand.
She took it. They walked out beyond the festivities to a
quiet spot on the edge of the desert. Lanterns had been strung from the trees,
casting a soft glow over the area. He faced her.
"I want to know how you’re doing, Gabe. How you’re
feeling. Your revenge--it’s finally over." His voice was soft, his
beautiful, slow drawl like music to her.
"It is, yes. And I should be happy." Her words
were hushed. "But when I think of all we’ve lost, Jess, I don’t know if it
was worth it."
"There’s always a price, even for justice. And
sometimes it’s necessary to pay it."
Their eyes met and she saw his understanding. "Thank
you," she whispered.
"You’ve turned into a mighty fine woman, Gabe. Your
father would be proud. You’ve learned not only to fight for what’s yours, but
also to show compassion. You’ve got strength and purpose. It seems...you’ve got
everything."
"I don’t think so," she said wryly.
"Your tears--they mean you’re healing."
She folded her arms, and studied the ground before
speaking. "There are things I can’t change. I know that now. Someday I
might even learn to accept them." An ache of loneliness washed over her,
but she fought it. To survive, to be alone...she’d learned those lessons well.
She slowly walked away from him and faced the desert. The moon hung low in the
sky and the moonlit shadows were long. She gazed into the night a long while
before speaking. "It’s been a hard lesson."
"Things like what happened to your father and Henry,
and Chad’s legs."
"Yes. And more," she said softly, turning toward
him again.
"You’ve done a fine job with your ranch, Gabe. That
time I spent there with you, it reminded me of when I was a boy in South
Carolina before the War. I remembered the warmth and love of my home and
family, the smell of new-turned earth at planting time, of fresh hay when we
filled the barns with it. The proud feeling of working for my own home and
land. You made me think about that, Gabe. You made me realize what I’ve missed
all these years."
Having faced nothing but disappointment for so long, she
was afraid to hear anymore. Her body trembled with the effort of holding back,
of not allowing herself to do or say whatever it took not to hear what she knew
was coming--that despite his feelings, he was leaving her again. "Your words
warm my heart, Jess, but I know there’s too much in our past to forget. I only
hope that somewhere you’ll find what you seek."
"Could be."
Her heart fell and she wanted to scream against the
injustice of it all. "I guess you’ll leave again soon," she said.
"Sometimes, Gabe, a man gets tired of going
away." He seemed to search her face. "Sometimes a man’s got to take a
stand and say ‘this place, this land, is where I want to be.’"
A churning hope built in her, but she clenched her hands
tight against it, her nails digging deep grooves in her palms. "When the
past no longer intrudes--" She clamped her mouth shut, then bent her head
downward.
Gently, he placed his hand on her chin and lifted her gaze
to his. "A man might want to stop running because he meets a woman he
can’t get out of his mind." He took a deep breath. "When it’s real
quiet, he’ll hear her laughter in the light rustle of the mesquite, or see her
face reflected in the still water of a boxed canyon pond, or smell her spicy
scent on the winds before a summer rain. A man would want to make a home for
that woman, to share his life with her, to be with her when she needs him...to
father her children. He could go on without her--and sometimes he’d be fool
enough to try--but he’d only be half alive."
True hope began to grow, filling her and closing her
throat to any reply.
"It’s up to you," he said. "I want to
stay...if you’ll have me...if you’ll be my wife. I love you, Gabriella."
The beautiful way he said her name drew her back to the early,
happy time when she first met him, when people she loved surrounded her. But
instead of the overwhelming sorrow and despair that usually accompanied her
memory of those times, a simple peace warmed her. She felt the familiar
presence of Pa and Henry, reminding her of the happy hours and memories she
held close to her heart. Then, slowly, the feeling passed, as if her father and
brother had come to say one last good-bye, as if now, they, too, could rest.
Her eyes searched Jess’s. Had he, too, felt their
presence? But the look he gave her was purely of this world. It was purely
love. "Jess," she whispered as, slowly, a broad, from-the-heart kind
of smile spread over her face, filling her whole being in a burst of sunshine.
"You
are
home."
For the first time since a simple town dance, he saw again
the smile he’d carried with him all those years. A tide of emotion filled his
heart, threatening to burst and overflow. The music began, a waltz. He held out
his hand to her. "Might I have the pleasure of this dance?"
The sweet sound of his voice echoed back to the night they
first met. Unable to say all the words that filled her heart, she put her hand
in his, and walked beside him onto the dance floor.
o0o
Silhouetted against a red desert sunset, a half-grown coyote
named Thorn howled at the moon, then trotted right past the chicken coop and up
to Gabe’s front porch. He sniffed the air, then curled into a ball and lay
down, waiting for her to come home. He had no doubt he’d be welcomed once more.
-The End-
About the Author
JoMarie Lodge was born and raised in northern California.
She has been an award-winning, USA Today best-selling author of other books in
other genres using other names...but she now returns to her first
love--romance. Her books bring you a variety of times, places, and reading
experiences, from emotional contemporaries to lightly humorous contemporaries
to romantic suspense as well as powerful tales of the Old West and San
Francisco at the time of the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906. The Kindle
editions are all either new or completely revised editions of previously
published works.
http://www.jomarielodge.com
.
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Against the background of San Francisco at the time of the
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Gabriella Devere wants vengeance. She grows up quickly
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into her own hands.
Jess McLowry left his war-torn Southern home to head West,
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and what she plans, he knows a young woman like her will have no chance against
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He knows the price she'll pay for vengeance will
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The Sun Signs of Miranda Moon contains a "Sun Signs
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Which sun sign is most compatible with your own? Or, if
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compromise?