Paxton Pride (74 page)

“Take me with you.”

Jason stared down at her, toying with the idea. “It's impossible, lass though by heaven I wish it weren't. But this I do swear. If it's in my power, I'll come back someday.” He reached down and lifted her until their lips met one last time, held her thus as the mare walked to the doors.

Marie felt as if her very soul were pouring into him. The blood sang in her veins and her head was light and spinning. Then the dirt floor was beneath her feet again and he was riding away. He did not pause or look back but rode like a wild gale across the emerald sward, leaped the enclosing stone fence and disappeared. Marie fought back the tears. He was gone, leaving behind nothing but the indelible memory of a kiss and the promise to come back.

“Oh, yes,” she whispered, touching her cheek where his fingers had rested. “Oh, yes, my darling. I'll be here, waiting for you.”

It wasn't until she was alone in her bed that night, her mind reeling willy-nilly with breathless dreams, that she remembered she had forgotten to tell him her name. But that didn't matter. Because Jason Brand would come back someday. He had said so.

For her.

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About the Authors

Kerry Newcomb was born in Milford, Connecticut, but had the good fortune to be raised in Texas. He has served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and taught at the St. Labre Mission School on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana, and holds a master's of fine arts degree in theater from Trinity University. Newcomb has written plays, film scripts, commercials, and liturgical dramas, and is the author of over thirty novels. He lives with his family in Fort Worth, Texas.

Frank Schaefer was reared in upstate New York but has lived in Texas for many years. He was a hospital corpsman in the navy and served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica. He holds a master of fine arts degree in theater from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Schaefer has written plays, film scripts, commercials, and some twenty novels. He lives in Austin, Texas.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1976 by Shana Carrol

Cover design by Jason Gabbert

ISBN: 978-1-5040-0006-2

This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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