Lorraine Heath Read Online Free

continued working, the strain evident in his voice. “I didn’t tell him. I was afraid he might offer—” He shot her a quick glance, wishing he was better with words as she arched a brow.
    “Might offer me to someone else?”
    “Might tell someone else about your situation before I got a chance to ask.”
    Satisfied with his efforts, he began to caress the mare, his bloodied hands gentle on the great beast, his voice tender. “All right, girl.”
    The foal was born, struggling to stand. Rebecca watched Jake’s face fill with tenderness and awe in the miracle he’d just witnessed. He scooted back against the wall, watching the newborn creature.
    “Why?” Rebecca asked quietly. “Why did you ask me to marry you? You’ve offered me your name, a piece of your dreams. What do you get?”
    He had slept so little last night and the day had been long, filled with chores. Then the mare had gone into a difficult labor. How could he explain his reasons when he hadn’t thought about them yet himself? If not her love, what did he get? Her eyes were so blue and her ebony hair cascaded about her, creating the perfect frame for her face, so beautiful. His voice was low, his eyes warm.
    “It’s a rugged land, filled with the voices of men, the wild cries of animals. I’d have the soft, sweet music of a woman’s voice. When winter browns and deadens the earth, I’d only have to look across the room to see the beauty of spring. I’d have friendship in the place of loneliness. I’d have more than I ever hoped to have.”
    He wasn’t usually such a flowery speaker. But the words, like him, were honest and they touched her heart. If a woman couldn’t marry the man she loved, she should at least marry a man she liked. And Rebecca did like Jake. She enjoyed his company, the emotions reflected in his eyes, the gentleness he bestowed upon the animals. But to decide now …
    “Would you take a walk with me?” she asked.
    Offering her a small smile, he nodded.
    They strolled out of the barn and Jake detoured by the water pump to wash his hands. Then they continued on into the night, skirting around the buildings until they were walking along the dirt path that led to the house, a comfortable silence enveloping them. A warm breeze blew across the land. Rebecca reached back and grabbed her hair, draping it over one shoulder before slumping against one of the many trees that lined the path. “How did you come by your land in Texas?” she asked.
    Jake rubbed the side of his nose. “Man who raised me left it to me when he died.”
    “He must have thought a great deal of you to leave you something as precious as land.”
    He shook his head. “To tell you the truth, Reb, I don’t know why he left it to me. He had two sons. Seems like he should have left it to one of them.”
    She moved her hands behind her back and pressed against the tree. “So why are you here and not in Texas?”
    “Because the land is the only thing Thomas Truscott ever gave me. I started heading that way … then I realized I needed money.” He shrugged. “Your father was hiring.”
    Rebecca looked up into the black heavens, distant stars twinkling. If she were a little girl, she’d latch onto one of them and make a wish. But she wasn’t a little girl anymore. In Brett’s arms, she’d become a woman, and soon she’d become a mother. Her heart believed that Brett would return to take her as his wife, to be a father to her child, but her father’s words, his anger, and the endless days with no word from Brett had begun to plant seeds of doubt within her mind. During any other time in her life she would have listened to her heart. But now she had a life more precious than her own to consider.
    “Oh, Jake, I don’t know if Brett’s coming back,” she said in a hoarse whisper, fighting back the tears that accompanied the acknowledgment of her fears, angry at herself for being so weak. “He didn’t say he would. He just said he had some things he