Spirit's Song by Madeline Baker

Author:Madeline Baker [Baker, Madeline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Butterfly Kisses Press
Published: 2016-08-11T18:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

They pulled into Twin Bluffs the following afternoon. There was a short layover at the depot, during which time a fresh team of horses was hitched to the coach. They also took on two new passengers. Bill Andrews went to sit topside, while the salesman who had been sitting across from Kaylynn moved to sit beside her so the new arrivals, obviously newlyweds, could sit together. They introduced themselves as Ben and Doris Whiteside.

Kaylynn offered them a tentative smile. Doris Whiteside was tall and thin. She had pale-blue eyes, and fine honey-gold hair that she wore in a tight bun at her nape. She looked like she was about sixteen. Ben Whiteside looked like he could have been her brother. He had the same pale-blue eyes, the same honey-gold hair.

Jesse looked out the window, wondering if Ravenhawk was in town. It didn’t sit well with him, that his bounty had gotten away. In the last seven years, he had brought in every man he’d gone after. He glanced back at the livery as the driver stowed the newlyweds’ baggage in the boot, wondering if old Ron Hays was still running the stable. It had been awhile since he’d seen the old man. Hays was one of the few men Jesse considered as a friend.

Kaylynn shifted on the seat beside him as the coach lurched forward, drawing his mind back to matters at hand. The most important thing to him now was taking Kaylynn back home, where she belonged, making sure she was happy.

His gaze moved over her. When had he fallen in love with her? How had she come to mean so much in such a short time?

She looked up, a shy smile curving her lips as her gaze met his.

He hadn’t been afraid of much in his life, but he was suddenly afraid of her, afraid of the power she had over him, a power she didn’t even realize she held. A word, a gesture, and she could destroy him.

She rocked against him as the coach went over a deep rut in the road. Instinctively, he put his arm around her and drew her up close. And knew again that he never wanted to let her go.

For a moment, nothing else in the world existed but the two of them. He forgot about the newlywed couple who were staring adoringly into each other’s eyes, forgot about the other two men inside the coach.

Hungry for the touch of her, the taste of her, he lowered his head and kissed her lightly, hardly more than the brush of his lips over hers, yet he felt the spark ignite deep within him, knew, by her sudden intake of her breath, that she had felt it, too.

When he drew back, he felt as if his heart would break. She was a wild rose among thistles, a delicate flower like those that grew wild on the prairie. He had no right to pluck that flower and make it his own, no right at all.

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