Do Not Forsake Me by Rosanne Bittner

Author:Rosanne Bittner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc
Published: 2015-05-01T15:54:18+00:00

Twenty-two

Randy woke to see Jake already dressed. Her pain had returned tenfold. All yesterday afternoon and last night, she’d been plagued with it. Now she’d ended up oversleeping from the medication Brian had given her. In a bit of a daze she watched Jake. He was already wearing his gun belt, with a third gun tucked in a holster behind his back and his extra belt of cartridges hung on a hook nearby. He pulled on his leather vest with his badge pinned to it, then picked up his duster and hat.

“Jake Harkner, if I didn’t know who you were, I’d be terrified of you. You look like you’re ready for an army.”

He glanced at her. “There just might be something close to an army at the Buckleys or the Bryants, maybe both. I have to take death certificates to Jessie Buckley for her husband and son, both of whom I killed, so it will be no picnic. That woman is as formidable as a man.”

“Well, if you want to look intimidating, you’ve done a good job. You’ll probably scare your own grandchildren away.”

Jake grinned. “Not Little Jake. He’ll probably walk up to me and want to touch ‘Gampa’s guns.’ That little devil is the only child I’ve ever known who truly tempts me to smack his little butt.”

“That will be the day.”

Jake walked over to her and knelt beside the bed. “You were sleeping so well and you need it so much that I didn’t want to wake you until the last minute.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you intended to wake me. If you’d left without doing that, I’d never forgive you.” She reached out and touched his face. “You’re still such a handsome man. I have to say this is how I like you best—guns and badge and looking mean—which is funny, because only I know how not mean you are.”

He grinned. “I know a few men who would argue that. And you’re talking like you’re a little drunk.”

“And did we do…terrible, disrespectful things…last night?”

Jake’s heart ached at her slurred words. “Not this time. We just held each other.” He leaned in and kissed her. “Peter Brown is sitting in the porch chair out front,” he told her then. “I don’t like leaving you in bed and half-drunk with him around,” he teased.

She grinned. “He’s not my Jake.”

“Well, just for insurance, Evie is out there in the sitting room to make sure that man doesn’t come in here. She’ll help you get dressed.”

“Oh, Jake, he wouldn’t…and I wouldn’t… You stop thinking like that. Kiss me again.”

He sat on the edge of the bed and gently pulled her into his arms, kissing her softly. “Who do you belong to?” he asked, nuzzling her neck.

“Jake Harkner.”

“You bet your ass. Yo te amo, mi querida.”

“Tell me this won’t be the last time you hold me.”

“It won’t. You’ll come back…and I’ll come back…and we’ll both be alive and well, and this nightmare will be over.”

“It will, Jake. I know it will.” She put her arms around his neck.

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