Cheyenne's Lady by Patricia Rice

Author:Patricia Rice [Rice, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Book View Cafe

Chapter 5

Maria rode home to find her uncles and half the ranch saddling up to go looking for her. Her explanation of her usual Sunday visiting fended off a scolding. Pieta ordered her into a hot tub of water and carried off her soaked clothing, and the household returned to its routine.

All except Maria. Just this morning she had gone to confession and accepted her penance and prayed for some resolution to these feeling for Luke, only to fall victim to the devil just hours later. She lay in her bed and stared into the moonlit garden. Why did it have to be a gunfighter who made her feel that it was right to be in his arms? Why did his kisses have the power to melt her resistance? If she didn’t come up with some answers soon, she would ruin her life as well as her reputation.

Restlessly she rose to stand by the French door to the terrace, listening for the sounds of the guitar. The night was silent. Her body felt strange, as if it no longer belonged to her. She felt peculiarly empty, and her hand went unconsciously to the hollow between her hip bones. Luke had made his claim as certainly as if she had sold her soul to the devil.

She returned to her bed but not to sleep. What did Luke intend to do now? What had he meant when he said he could not keep away from her? All the sweet words he had poured in her ears this afternoon came back to haunt her, and Maria dissected them mercilessly, searching for some crumb of hope. He couldn’t love her. He had never said the words or given her any reason to think them. He loved the mysterious Caroline. Her father had never found another woman after her mother. She doubted if Luke would ever love twice. He wanted her. She might even think that enough if everything else wasn’t stacked against them.

Her uncles would never approve of Luke. He was a gunfighter, a roaming adventurer with a price on his head. He would never settle down to a home and family. She wanted children, and the wandering life was wrong for children.

If she could only keep the ranch, it might work. She could stay here, and he could come and go as he pleased. Maybe someday he would tire of wandering or admit he preferred her to a restless life. That was a pleasant daydream, but no more. Without cash she would be driven off the ranch like all the others. And the shame of living as a gunfighter’s mistress or even his off-again, on-again wife would not make it easy to endure the hard life out here. She would like to have friends and the respect of the community. Luke could not give her that.

She buried her tears in the pillow.

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