Chasing the Sunset by Barbara Mack

Author:Barbara Mack [Mack, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Usenet, C429, Kat, Exratorrents
ISBN: 1468171887
Amazon: B0055ODBLG
Published: 2011-06-11T21:00:00+00:00

SEVEN

Maggie bit her lip as she hurried toward the stables. She had not realized that this was going to be so hard. It took every ounce of courage she had to go to the stables and see Ned. She had to try to explain, for she could not stand it if he thought badly of her. He was the only family that she had left, and she had not realized until last night how much his good opinion meant to her. How important it was to her.

Until it was gone, she thought gloomily. She would never, for the rest of her days, forget the look of shock in Ned’s eyes when he stood in that doorway and caught her in Nick’s illicit embrace. She was deeply ashamed. She should have known better. Nick had warned her how it would be, and she had not listened to him, she had just gone on and done what she wanted without a thought to the consequences. She had thrown herself at the man every chance she got, and she had no right . . . she was not free to love him, and she knew it.

Last night, after Ned had left them standing there, the look on Nick’s face had killed her tender heart. He was tormented by guilt and she could see the shame in his eyes. He had turned and left then, too, without speaking a word. Maggie had watched him go with all the frustrated love in her heart. She had spent the next four hours weeping into her pillow, only dropping off to sleep when exhaustion claimed her body.

Now, she called softly for Ned. She peeped into the tack room, and squeaked in alarm when she ran right into her uncle’s chest. He put two hands out to steady her, and frowned. Maggie felt a scalding blush rise up her face. She lowered her eyes, unable to meet the knowledge in his.

“Here now, what is this?” he said gruffly. “Something wrong, Maggie girl?”

Maggie felt the tears well up from some place deep inside her, some hidden crevasse inside her wounded soul. She tried to keep them at bay, but they came on anyway, an unstoppable flood. Ned pulled her forward against his chest, and cradled the back of her head with his hand.

“There, there, poppet. Do not cry, sweetheart,” he soothed. He patted her back as if she were a small child in need of comfort, and that made Maggie cry all the harder. She remembered when she was small and Ned would come to visit, how he had always brought her a gift, how he held her on his lap and kissed away her hurts. She felt like a child again as he tried to console her.

Ned led her to a bale of hay in a nearby empty stall and sat her down, gave her a handkerchief from his pocket, and waited out the storm of tears. When the flood had abated to a trickle, and she sniffled and blew her nose, he spoke.

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