Change of Heart Read Online Free

didn’t hang right
anymore, but her dark cinnamon hair was stunning against the black
frock. A bath with Aunt Mamie’s lilac soap and freshly combed hair
made Marietta feel like a woman once more. She took a deep breath,
full of confidence and femininity, and smiled at her reflection
before going to meet the Carsons and Zack in the kitchen.
    “Look who’s come to join us for supper,” Amy
said, delight in her voice.
    Marietta’s gaze lifted to meet Jase’s. He
seemed to freeze the second he laid eyes on her.
    “Mr. Kent,” Marietta said, “I thought you
were joining the colonel.”
    “I… I was, but, when I brought the rest of
your things from the stage, Amy asked me to stay to supper.” He
cleared his throat, but his eyes never left her. “I never turn down
beef stew.”
    “I see.”
    “Miss Randolf...” Jase cleared his throat
again.
    “Don’t be shy, Jase,” Amy said. “Take the
lady’s arm and escort her to the table.”
    Jase hesitated a moment then moved toward
Marietta, offering her his arm. Marietta took it and walked the few
feet to the table in the center of the kitchen.
    Jase continued to stare at her. “You look
absolutely lovely, Marietta.”
    Thick silence hung in the kitchen as they
locked gazes a moment longer. She felt the warmth of his eyes touch
her all the way through to her heart. Had he just called her by her
given name? How very bold of him.
    He held her chair for her. “Please sit
down.”
    She complied, and he took his place next to
her.
    Will Carson had been standing since Marietta
entered the room. “I’d like to second Jase’s observation,” he said.
“You do indeed look lovely, Miss Randolf.”
    Marietta turned her attention to the soldier
across the table from her. “Thank you.”
    “As I’m sure you’ve guessed, I’m Amy’s
husband, Will Carson.” The tall, uniformed man with wavy blonde
hair, green eyes, and a bushy wheat-colored mustache turned to Amy.
“Did I tell you, my dear, how lovely you look this evening?”
    Amy touched her fingers to her disheveled
hair. “Oh, my. You must fancy an uncoifed look,” she said,
laughing.
    Will leaned over and touched her cheek.
“You’re beautiful.”
    In that simple exchange, Marietta understood
what Amy had tried to tell her in the parlor. Will and Amy had
found true love, and it seemed to have conquered even a desire for
the comforts of a more civilized land.
    Jase didn’t stay long after supper. Marietta
found herself disappointed and strangely lonesome after his early
departure. Amy wouldn’t let Marietta help with the clean up in the
kitchen. She insisted she go to bed and get her much-needed rest.
Amy promised she’d tuck Zack in and come to bed later.
    Marietta was too tired to let good manners
force her to object to Amy’s kind hospitality the way her instincts
told her she should. She complied with her hostess’s sensible
advice and, after changing into a nightgown, fell into the first
real bed she’d slept in for far too long.

    ~ * ~

    Jase arrived before daylight the next morning
to take Marietta and Zack to Kathy and Clint’s burial sites. He
wasn’t pleased that the outing forced him to change his plans for
attending a business meeting, but he’d never shirk his duty to Zack
or to Kathy’s sister. He loaded their belongings onto the buckboard
he’d borrowed so that when they finished paying their respects to
the dearly departed, he could take them straight to the cabin where
they’d stay until Sledge Jackson and his party were ready to leave
for the Missouri River.
    Zack did most of the talking on the
twelve-mile ride to the Morgan ranch. He asked Jase over and over
to tell him about all the adventures the cowboy had had on the
cattle drive from Texas in 1852. Zack knew his dad and Jase had
been among the first men to make such a drive and bring cattle so
far north. He loved to hear the stories of dirt, rivers, horses,
and snakes.
    Marietta seemed fascinated by the tales
herself. Jase