Alana Read Online Free Page A

thought he knew her as well as any other man in the world.
    But, when he’d stood before Alana, he'd realized he had been wrong. Her large, almond-shaped eyes had looked questioningly at him. Her long, dark hair had glistened wherever the sun caught its waves. Her tanned face was elegant, her beauty radiating not from her skin but from within her very person.
    Above all else, the strength Alana Belfores possessed struck him the most. When he had told her his news of Jason, he’d watched her close her eyes, had seen her gather herself proudly. It had been in that instant he knew she was different from any other. He hadn’t wanted it to happen, but the moment he’d set eyes on Alana, he knew no other woman would ever satisfy him again.
    Rafe knew, too, the intensity of his conviction was not simply because of his years of being deprived of the company of women; rather, it was because Alana Belfores had become a part of his life.
    He recalled the stricken look on her face when he had told her of Jason’s injury. The image tore at his heart. He had wanted to take her in his arms and hold her close, but that was impossible.
    torn apart by his life and his desires, Rafe knew even if there were no Jason Landow to stop him from loving Alana, there were too many miles he must yet cover and debts that must be repaid. Not debts of money, but of revenge.
    What now ? he asked himself. To leave seemed the only sane response, but he knew he couldn't go. He’d known from the first moment he’d seen Alana that he could not leave. Whatever thoughts had driven him during his years as a prisoner, whatever desires and dreams he’d had, all came rushing back in that instant. Until that very moment, he could have gone away, he could have been free–but once his eyes had met hers, he could not turn away.
    I am in love with her , he told himself. I can’t be , he remembered.
    ~~~~~
    An hour and a half after Rafe Montgomery had appeared, Alana was again sitting on the veranda, waiting for her first sight of the carriage and of Jason Landow. Her nerves were taut. Gone were all her hopes, her dreams, and plans she had made during the long years of war, replaced by…what?
    Doing her utmost to compose herself for Jason’s homecoming, she tried to understand what was happening to her life. She refused to yield to tears. Instead, she replayed her conversation with Rafe repeatedly, trying to imagine what her future might hold.
    Can this be happening ? she asked herself sadly. Alana made herself think of how fortunate she was. Jason might never have returned. Was this not better?
    Alana grasped the locket on her neck. She took the necklace off and stared at the golden scrolled surface. As thunder resounded in the distance, Alana opened the locket with trembling fingers. As she had done almost daily for the past four years, she gazed at the small photograph within. Jason’s visage–his fine-spun light hair, his intelligent, querying eyes, and the firm set of his mouth–looked back at her.
    Taken the day before Jason had ridden off to the war, the picture did not show Jason’s strong and muscular body, his broad, powerful shoulders, or his long, tapering legs that had lent themselves to the lines of his uniform. But Alana, whenever she had looked at the picture, had seen not just Jason’s face but all of him.
    Alana shivered. Just as she would never desert Riverbend, she would never desert Jason. No matter what fate had befallen Jason, she would stand by him, just as he had done for her before the war. She would marry him and be his wife. Together, they would run Riverbend; for without Jason Landow, Riverbend would have been lost long before the war.
    A memory of years ago flashed in her mind. She had been seventeen and had been obliged to attend the wedding of a neighbor.
    She had been in the salon, sitting with three young women of her own age. They were talking about the men in their lives–their desires and their needs. Marietta Handly had