At the Rainbow's End (42 page)

“I'm fine,” answered Samantha. “Just cold!” She laughed as she added, “It's so good to be cold again!”

“Take her down to the Fairview. They have coffee, and a change of clothes for you, Gilchrist.”

“And for Sam, I hope,” Joel joked, ignoring the clothes frozen to him. “Her things are half way to heaven by this time.” His voice grew serious as he added, “Thanks, French.”

Palmer smiled, his teeth bright in his smoke-darkened face. “I could say it was all in the line of duty, but take care of your lady. She's pretty special.”

“That she is.” Blue eyes smiled at her as Joel squeezed her lightly.

With a shiver, Samantha covered her embarrassment by asking, “Can we go to the Fairview before I freeze?”

A crowd swarmed around them as they entered the Fairview Hotel. Joel smiled and set Samantha on her feet. With the blanket cockeyed around her shoulders, revealing the lace of her chemise and her hair loose along her back, she made a charming sight—the bedraggled maiden. He noted several syndicate reporters. Within the next few weeks, Samantha Perry's dramatic rescue would be in papers across the country. It made the perfect ending for a tale of yet another fire gutting the boomtown.

“Is this the one?” demanded a feminine voice.

Suddenly Joel was included in the embrace of a woman in a garish, dance hall gown, but all her attention centered on Sam. He was not surprised she knew a woman of this profession.

Samantha stepped out of Gwen's arms. With her lungs still clogged with smoke, she had difficulty breathing. In a scratchy voice, she said, “This is the one. Joel Gilchrist, my dear friend Gwen—”

“Goddard,” she supplied with a broad wink at her friend. “Charmed, Mr. Gilchrist. So you're the one who won Samantha?”

He winced inwardly. Somehow he would have to tell Sam about what happened to Kevin. Not now. He forced a smile. “I guess that's the truth. I've finally convinced Sam to marry me.”

“You convinced me?” Samantha teased.

“Something like that.” He put his arm around her and readjusted the blanket.

“And you intend to marry her?” Gwen chuckled as the younger woman gasped at her forthright question. “Samantha is the type who needs to be made an honest woman. Not like me, I'm afraid.”

Samantha glanced up at him, unsure how he would deal with Gwen's effusive behavior. She smiled with sudden shyness as he bent to kiss her lightly. Cheers broke out around the room, generating a heated blush along her cheeks.

“I'm going to marry her as soon as possible,” he answered.

“
As soon as possible?
You mean that?”

He squeezed Sam's shoulders as he turned back to her friend. “Yes, Miss Goddard.”

Gwen whirled to look at the crowd, then leapt onto a circular divan in the middle of the lobby. With her skirts flaring high around her dimpled knees, she caught the attention of every man in the room, calling for them to listen.

“Is there a preacher here?” she cried.

As laughter raced through the crowd, Samantha wanted to hide her face. She took Joel's hand in hers. In a whisper too low for anyone to hear, she said, “Joel, I didn't think she'd do anything like this.”

Slowly he brought her to face him. “Do you think I mind marrying you tonight?”

“Like this?”

He leaned forward to murmur in her ear, “You look delectable this way, my dear damsel in distress. Let us get this ceremony out of the way. Then I'll show you how convenient it is to have you dressed so skimpily when I play the rapacious pirate to your captive wench.”

“I love you.” The soft huskiness in her laugh urged him to take her in his arms and taste the lips he had feared would be lost to him forever.

Laughter close to her ear broke the enchantment. Gwen was pointing to a slight man walking toward them. “You'd better hurry, Reverend. I don't think they'll be able to wait much longer.”

Pushing her hair back from her face, Joel looked down into Samantha's eyes. “She's right. I've been waiting all my life for you, Sam. I don't want to wait any longer. Will you marry me tonight, my love?”

“How can I refuse?” she asked. She put her hands up to cover his. “Do you think I'd tell you no now?”

Samantha put her arms around his shoulders as he pressed her close. The other sounds of laughter and rejoicing voices vanished into the silken pulse created by his mouth on hers. This rapture would be hers forever, a joy gilded not by gold, but by the love they had found at the rainbow's end.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1989 by Jo Ann Ferguson

Cover design by Neil Alexander Heacox

ISBN: 978-1-5040-0886-0

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