Where the Heart Leads Read Online Free Page A

More than two decades hadn’t diminished her beauty one bit.
    But it had diminished his bitterness.
    He traded the towel for the curry comb, patiently grooming the gelding. The sounds of the storm echoed in the mostly empty barn. If he were honest, the reason his bitterness was fading was because he’d learned that she was a spinster. She’d never married. She had no children of her own.
    All the dreams he’d had for her as his wife—her happiness, a baby in her arms, the joy of watching their children grow up, sweet days filled with love.
    That had never happened for her.
    Hadn’t that been the reason he’d stayed away? So that she could have those things with the right man, a moneyed man, one that her family was sure could provide a luxurious life for her?
    Sorrow gripped him. He’d been wrong. He’d done the wrong thing, made the wrong decision, and they’d both paid for it. That dream of love and a happy life together never happened.
    His throat felt tight as he untied Joss’s gelding and led him to a stall next to Barney. The black gelding gave the newcomer a sniff, as if to decide if he was friend of foe. With a nicker, he conveyed his opinion to his brother who gave a whinny of welcome.
    Thunder crashed overhead, rattling the barn. Rain turned to hail, drumming on the roof. Since he had a little time yet before supper, Gabriel climbed the wooden ladder into the loft. The last dregs of daylight edged between the boards, guiding him toward the loft door. He unlatched one side and pulled open the door, leaning his shoulder against it as the countryside stretched out below him.
    Wow. Ohio wasn’t anything like this. The mountains, close enough to touch, were shrouded in thick, black cotton clouds. Lightning undulating across the sky, grazing the underbellies of the clouds. Thunder cannoned, echoing across the fertile mountain valley. Sheets of hail turned the lush green meadows and foothills white. He breathed in the fresh, charged air and let the chilly wind blast his face.
    And that’s when he noticed small flickers of light through the dancing boughs of the cottonwoods. There, across the rise and fall of the land, was a two-story log house. Lamplight shone like gold in the many windows, one of which framed Aumaleigh to perfection.
    He was too far away to see more than the blue of her dress and the fall of her molasses hair. An impression, really, of the woman he’d once loved with every piece of his soul. She moved away and the lamplight went out, but the past had a hold of him. Memories reared up, vivid and so sweet they hurt.
    The boom of thunder chased them across the field. Her laughter filled his ears, sweet and melodic, the most beautiful sound.
    They weren’t going to make it to the shelter of the buckboard before the rain hit. Lightning blinded him, but he took her hand, so small and delicate against his big, rough one. The tenderness in his heart doubled from just touching her.
    This second date of theirs was not going to plan, not at all, but it didn’t seem to matter to her. She tilted her head to look up at him while they ran, and the heart and life shining in her bluebonnet-blue eyes stymied him. Just made him melt.
    He had nothing but tenderness for her, tenderness that was so, so sweet.
    “Oh no!” Her hand slipped from his, trying to catch a pretty pink bonnet that was spiraling up with the wind. “My hat!”
    “Wait, I’ll get it.” He bolted after it, cursed under his breath when the wind snatched it away at the last second and dashed it to the ground. Sully snatched it up, clutching it between his big horsy teeth. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”
    The gelding merely arched his neck, proud of himself.
    “That’s no way to treat a lady.” Gabe made a grab for the hat. “Especially in the rain.”
    Sully lifted his head high, keeping the hat out of reach. His brown eyes sparkled with mischief.
    “It’s too late now.” Aumaleigh held up her hands in a helpless