Mail-Order Groom (24 page)

She looked up at Adam in shock. She felt her heart leap in her chest with all the irrational hopefulness that was her stock in trade. This situation was going to be troublesome. If she didn't watch herself closely, Savannah knew, she would make a fool of herself all over again by begging Adam to stay.

She'd never wanted anything more. To see him smile at her in the mornings over coffee, to feel him pull her close to him in bed at night, to hear her name spoken tenderly on his lips…

But she couldn't have any of that. Not anymore.

Forcing herself to be strong, Savannah raised her head.
But her whole body still quivered with hopefulness. Drat it all.

“You're going to want to do something with that horse, Mr. Corwin,” she told him. “It's unconscionable to leave the poor creature standing there all tired and wet and hungry.”

He turned his hat in his hands. “This won't take long.”

Because he wasn't here for her,
Savannah realized with a pang of despair. Likely he was here to collect his things.

“I'm not stealing all these things, if that's what you're wondering about.” Proudly she gestured toward the loaded wagon. “Whatever you've left here is still here. I'm no thief.”

Somberly Adam nodded. She didn't think he believed her.

“I know Roy Bedell told you about me, and some of that
is
true,” she went on, admitting it for the first time. “My parents really were the ‘Ruthless Reeds.' I really was on the stage. But I left that life behind me. For good! Only it just keeps…”

Her voice broke, forcing her to stop. Adam blinked down at her. He sighed. She realized he must be feeling impatient.

Doubtless, again, he didn't believe a word she said.

Why should he? Nobody else ever had.

“It just keeps following me,” Savannah made herself say. “My past, I mean. But that needn't trouble you. I'm sure I can give you an annulment or just sever our ties somehow, before I—”

“Please don't do that,” Adam said. He sounded hoarse, too.

Before she could reason out why, Mose shouldered past both of them. “I'll just take care of that horse,” he announced.

He hurried into the yard. In the moonlight, he caught hold of the horse's bridle. He led the creature toward the barn.

“You needn't do that, Mose!” Savannah called out, her heart aching. “Mr. Corwin won't be staying.”

With that painful truth said, she looked at Adam. She could not imagine what he'd come here for. Desperately she reviewed their conversation so far and could arrive at no explanation.

“Now then.” Deliberately, Savannah pushed past him to add her bundled clothes to the wagon. Adam trod silently after her. “I've already assured you that your belongings are safe, even near me. I've already told you I'd be willing to set you legally free from our marriage. I've even admitted everything about my past—and if that doesn't make you want to run, I don't know what will.” She gave a humorless chuckle. “You have no further obligation to me, Mr. Corwin. So if there's nothing else—”

“There is something else,” he said.

With her gullible heart still pounding, Savannah watched as Adam set his hat atop a crate of cookware in the wagon. With his hands free, though, he seemed not to know what to do with them. They shook, curiously enough, as he fisted them at his sides.

“I'm sorry, Savannah,” Adam said in a rough voice. “I'm sorry for everything I did. I'm sorry I misled you. I'm sorry I lied to you. I'm sorry I let you believe I was the man you'd been waiting for. I wasn't that man—that man you were dreaming of and hoping for. For a while, I thought maybe I could be, but—”

He hauled in a raspy, painful-sounding breath. Then, in a move as deliberate as any he'd ever made, Adam took her hand. He wrapped her fingers in his, then squeezed tightly.

“—but you deserve better than that,” Adam said fervently. “
Better than me
. All I ever wanted was to protect you, but I did it the wrong way. You needed the truth, and I didn't give it to you. I'm sorry. But now, if you'll give me a chance… Maybe now I can make up for that.”

Confused yet desperately encouraged, Savannah gazed up at him. His hand felt undeniably at home wrapped around hers. All the deepest parts of her yearned to be with him. But she didn't dare. Adam didn't understand about her, didn't truly know…

“You told me one time that all you wanted was for me to believe you—to believe
you
first, before anyone.” Seeming to steel himself, Adam looked her in the eye. “So that's why I'm here. To give you a chance to tell me what I need to know.”

Disconsolate, Savannah looked away. “You mean about my past.”

It had come to that. Again. At least Adam was giving her a chance to deny all his worst fears about her. But she couldn't.

“It's all true,” she said. “I told you a minute ago. It's—”

But Adam only blinked. “Not about your past. I figured that out tonight, yes. But if what you've been through is what's made you the woman you are right now, then I'm grateful for it.”

Dubiously she stared up at him. “Grateful?”

“Because it's brought you to me,” Adam said. “I can't be sorry for that!” He smiled. “If you hadn't been trying to start over, you wouldn't have been here for me to find you. If you hadn't been hopeful enough to try to love someone, you wouldn't have helped me, even though I didn't deserve it.” With an air of wonder, Adam shook his head. “You put a dream within my grasp, Savannah. A dream I didn't even
know I had.” He swore. “When I woke up to find all those hopes within my reach, I just…took them. I'm a flawed man. That's true; I can't deny it. But I—”

“What hopes?” she asked. “What dream? I don't understand.”

“You.”
Smiling more broadly, Adam released her hand. He cupped her face in his palms instead. “
You
were my dream. Haven't you guessed by now? I love you, Savannah. I've loved you nearly from the first moment I saw you. I love your smile and your warmth and your wonderful, impeccable manners—”

She snorted. “They're far from impeccable. Just ask Mose.”

“—and I feel beyond lucky to have had any time with you at all, much less to be asking for more now. But that's what I'm doing.” Deeply, Adam inhaled, fixing her with a somber look. “So when I said before—that I want you to tell me what I need to know—I meant this: Do you love me, Savannah? Because that's
all
I need to know. Everything else will turn out in the end.”

“You—” Savannah hesitated “—
don't
think the worst of me?”

“Of you? I never could,” Adam swore. “Never, Savannah.”

“And…
you love me?
” Disbelieving, Savannah realized what she'd heard a second ago. “You really love me?
Me?
”

“More than anything else,” Adam told her. “I love you.”

“Oh.” Reeling beneath the impossibility of that, Savannah went on staring at him. She could scarcely breathe for the rush of hopefulness that struck her. “I love you, too, Adam.”

The words hung between them, tentatively spoken, as
fragile as the moonlight. Fearful that he would not believe her, again, even about such a momentous truth, Savannah said it once more.

“I love you, Adam. I do!” she cried. “I'm sorry I didn't trust you more, but I was scared and confused, and I—I—”

She hesitated, despairing of a way to fully convince him. But as it turned out—wonder of wonders—she didn't have to.

“I believe you,” Adam said with a smile in his voice.

Then he pulled her all the way in his arms and kissed her. Surrendering at last, laughing, daring to finally reach out for the new future she
truly
needed, Savannah kissed him back.

“But nobody ever believed me,” she said. “Why you?”

Tenderly Adam stroked her cheek. As though unable to imagine they were finally together, he shook his head. “Why me? That's simple. I believe you because I know you. Because I love you. Because, even though I'm not the man you wanted—”

“Stop right there.” Savannah laughed, then kissed him once more. “You're the man I
needed
. I won't hear another word to the contrary.” Just to make sure, she kissed Adam again, with all the love and happiness and wonder that were in her heart.

Which was only fitting, really. Because all that love and happiness and wonder were theirs to share, brought into being by the unlikely combination of trust and coincidence, caring and daring and a tiny dose of necessary etiquette. And that reminded Savannah of something else—something she hadn't reckoned on.

“Are you willing to stay here in Morrow Creek?” she asked Adam, holding his hands in hers. “Because I've been running for a while now, trying to start over, and I'm
starting to think—no place will ever feel right to me until I own up to who I am and go on from there. I don't want to compel you to do anything, of course, but with you by my side, I just might have the courage to stay here and try to hold my head high…no matter what.”

“I'll do anything you want,” Adam assured her. “Anything.”

Happily Savannah agreed. She sighed. Near her, someone else did, too.
Mose,
she saw. He wiped a tear from his cheek.

“I'm powerfully glad you two got that settled,” he said.

“Why, Mose!” Savannah smiled at him, overcome with affection. “Does that mean Adam has your blessing at last?”

Gruffly her friend nodded. “I'm not the only one.”

Indicating as much, he angled his chin toward the road leading from Morrow Creek. To Savannah's surprise, an array of the town's residents came up that path even now, driving wagons and buggies and riding lone horses. In the summertime moonlight, their faces seemed friendly, if concerned for her well-being.

Adam noticed their approach, too. “I guess you left a mite too quickly. Everyone kept asking me about you tonight.”

“They did?” She stared as her visitors approached. “Truly?”

Adam nodded. “You made a lasting impression, Savannah. On me, on everyone in Morrow Creek…on everyone you touched.”

Savannah could scarcely believe it. But as Grace Murphy became the first to reach her and offer her a warmhearted hug, she started to accept it. Especially when Grace spoke up.

“I'm
so
admiring of your adventures on the stage!” she
exclaimed. “If you would come talk to the Social Equality Sisterhood about it, I'd be very grateful, Savannah.”

“And to my book club!” Sarah McCabe put in. “Maybe even the schoolhouse. I've heard you can do magic tricks. I know the children would be absolutely thrilled to see them demonstrated.”

“And to my bakery,” Molly Copeland added with the friendliest smile of all. “The place could use a bit of sophistication. I'm betting you could provide it, Savannah.”

They didn't want her to leave,
Savannah realized in utter amazement.
They wanted her to stay
.

As she joined hands with Adam again, preparing to begin their
honest
future together, Savannah realized that she wanted exactly the same thing. She wanted to stay. For good this time.

Under these circumstances, she reckoned cheerfully, the only polite thing to do was to graciously agree, then fix a time for all those meetings she'd been invited to. But her heart suddenly felt too full for etiquette and propriety.

Instead, to her chagrin, all Savannah could do was nod.

Seeing her face, Adam waved his arm toward the small but welcoming station. “Everyone come inside and sit a spell! It's late, but Savannah and I want to welcome you properly.”

Relieved, Savannah smiled at him. Once again, Adam had shown her another wonderful, undeniable truth. The two of them, together, made a perfect match. In the Territory or anywhere else, it just didn't get any better than that—better than her mail-order groom…and the love they'd found together.