Stay With Me by Beverly Long

Author:Beverly Long [Long, Beverly]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Romance, Time Travel, time travel old west western
ISBN: 9780425200629
Google: Selgp7EGv2AC
Amazon: B00A6JX9QM
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Published: 2005-01-04T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Fred and John jerked apart. John looked at Fred. Fred looked at the blood on his hands. He’d cracked the skin across his knuckles on his right hand. “Damn you, John,” Fred said. “Do you have to have a face as hard as granite?”

Thomas pushed around his sister and walked up to the two men. “You broke a chair,” he said, his voice filled with awe.

“I’m ashamed of both of you,” Helen said, hands on her hips. John expected her to ask for the hickory switch to be brought forth.

Not that they both didn’t deserve it. He didn’t regret the fight but he’d have preferred not to have the children as an audience. John stood up, wincing a little. Fred had landed a couple strong punches. He’d be very surprised if he didn’t have a cracked rib and the rolling on the wood floor hadn’t helped the barely-healed cut on his head. “I’ve got to be going,” he said, picking up his hat. “Goodbye, children.”

Fred lifted his big frame off the wooden floor. “I’ll walk out with you.”

“No more fighting,” Helen called after them.

They walked the first ten feet in silence. “I don’t think she’s going to let you forget this for a long time,” John said, giving Fred a quick glance.

“Nope. I imagine the next time she and Thomas quarrel, it will come up.”

“I’m sorry about that,” John said.

Fred nodded, looking back over his shoulder, probably to verify that they remained without an audience. “There’s something you need to know,” he said.

John scratched his head. He didn’t want to know. He didn’t want to hear any details about Fred and Sarah. He didn’t need that kind of pain. “I think we’ve said enough today.”

“I haven’t said nearly enough,” Fred replied. “You’re not getting on your horse until I do.”

John picked up his horse’s reins. “Fred, please don’t tell me that you’ve fallen in love with her.”

“I have.”

A rush of emotions flooded John. He tried to sort them out. Disappointment. Rage. Jealously. How could that be? How could he be jealous of Fred and Sarah?

“I’m in a hell of a mess,” Fred said.

John’s gut churned. How bad could it be? “You asked her to marry you?”

Fred shook his head.

What could be worse? She’d only been in town for less than a week. That he knew of. Perhaps she and Fred had been together longer. “She’s with child?” he asked, barely able to say the words.

Fred jerked his head back, looking visibly shaken. “I don’t think so,” he said. “She said she took care of those things.”

He didn’t want to hear about Fred and Sarah’s conversations about such intimate topics. Words like that should be kept between a man and his woman.

“I’ve got to go,” John said, grabbing his saddle horn.

Fred put his hand on John’s arm. “Wait. Please?”

John gritted his teeth and nodded.

“I want to the hotel last night,” Fred said. “I told myself that I should stay away but I just couldn’t. It’s not what you think, John. I went to see Suzanne.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.