B000XUBEHA EBOK (40 page)
Authors: Maggie Osborne
Then he was floating again, and the boat moved away carrying his father into the mist hovering above the sea.
Every now and then he thought he heard her voice, believed he’d caught a glimpse of her. He tried to tell her not to worry, it wasn’t his time. But he didn’t know if he spoke aloud. And then one day he opened his eyes and she was real, standing beside his bed with a cool hand on his forehead.
“Della . . .”
“Oh, thank God!” Collapsing, she dropped to a chair and fell forward, pressing her forehead against the edge of the mattress. “Thank God.” He reached to touch her hair, surprised to discover how weak he was. Raising his hand required more strength than he could summon. She sat up and wiped her eyes. “Rest. Don’t try to talk, just rest. I think the worst is over now.”
She fussed over him, wouldn’t leave his bedside. She bathed him and fed him even when he insisted he could do it himself. She read to him, whistled tunes he liked, changed the dressings on his chest, and made him drink nasty-tasting tonics.
Finally she judged him fit enough to actually talk about something more important than the weather or his temperature.
“Your plan almost backfired,” she said, turning back the sheet over his chest. “You damn near died. Doc West-wood gave you up for dead at least twice.”
Moving gingerly, Cameron tested his body parts. He could raise his arms now. His chest ached still, but he was past the deep pain. “I would have sworn that Luke Apple wasn’t any good with a gun. In all the time I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him use a gun. I did get him, didn’t I?”
“You shot him in the fleshy part of the waist. The bullet went through. He was up and around before breakfast.”
“Good.”
Placing a hand on his forehead, she checked his temperature. “Luke came to your funeral. Caused a bit of a scandal, in fact. I had a word with him after the service. He said if you lived, I should thank you for giving him the credit for killing you. Said he hoped you lived and I should tell you that he’ll miss you. At the time, I didn’t know if you would live or not. He said he was proud that you trusted him with our secret.”
“Quit fussing and sit next to me.” She was beautiful today, wearing a plain everyday dress, her wonderful glossy hair wrapped in a bun on top of her head. “Did I have a nice funeral?”
“I thought so. The body the sheriff came up with looked enough like you that I almost fainted. Sheriff Rollins started to tell me who he was, but I didn’t want to know.” She drew a breath. “There were lots of people.”
“Now tell me about you. How are you feeling?”
“Tired.” She slid down in bed beside him, rested her head on the pillow and gazed into his eyes. “As soon as you’re able, we’ll sneak out of town in a private stage. We’ll go to Denver and catch a train to the coast from there.”
He caught a loose tendril of her hair and rubbed it between his fingers. “I’m sorry we’ve had to delay the wedding.”
She touched his lips. “It doesn’t matter. Cameron? I love you. I thought I’d go insane when it looked like you might die. Don’t you ever do this again, hear?”
He smiled, then kissed her palm and pressed her hand to his cheek. He’d never had anyone to love, had never had anyone who cared if he lived or died. Now this magnificent woman loved and wanted him, and there was a baby on the way. A baby who would be part of him and part of her. He had a family of his own, and a new life waiting in San Francisco.
He buried his face in her hair and blinked hard. “I love you, Della.”
There were tears in the gunslinger’s eyes.
Don’t miss these marvelous novels
by Maggie Osborne
THE BRIDE OF
WILLOW CREEK
Ten years ago Angie Bertoli eloped with Sam Holland. But before their impetuous marriage even began, they were torn apart by chance. For Angie, the gold band on her finger is a constant reminder of the man she could never forget. Aiming to find her husband and resolve their relationship once and for all, Angie sets out on the adventure of a lifetime.
In a small Colorado town, Angie discovers that her young groom has grown into a man—still handsome, irresistible, and infuriating as ever . . and now the father of two young children. Forced to become a temporary family, Sam and Angie are surprised to find a deeper love awakening between them—one that could require more than they are willing to give if they are to forge a lasting new life on the American frontier.
Published by Ivy Books.
Available wherever books are sold.
Don’t miss these marvelous novels
by Maggie Osborne
Three
brides.
One
groom.
The
chase
is
on. . . .
I DO, I DO, I DO
A rich, proper spinster aching for a man’s touch,
Juliette March is an easy target for the seductive
Jean Jacques Villette. When he disappears with
her inheritance after their wedding, Juliette sets
out to find the scoundrel. She never expects to
meet Clara Klaus, who ran a boardinghouse until
Jean Jacques swept her off her feet, then
swept himself out of town.
While following the trail of their no-good
husband, Clara and Juliette run into Zoe Wilder,
another victim of the debonair Jean Jacques.
Now Zoe’s ready to put a bullet in his cheating
heart. When these three vengeful ladies embark
on a misbegotten quest to Alaska, things get
downright dangerous—especially for the unsus-
pecting men they entice along the way.
Published by Ivy Books.
Available wherever books are sold.
Don’t miss these marvelous novels
by Maggie Osborne
Meet the irresistible Low Down,
who never had anything good happen to
her—until she asked for the one thing
that only a man could give her. . . .
SILVER LINING
As scruffy and rootless as the other prospectors
searching for gold in the Rockies, Low Down
hadn’t asked for anything in return for nursing
a raggedy bunch through the pox. But the men
insisted, so she spoke bluntly. A baby. Not a
husband, not a forced marriage, not the proud
man who drew the short straw and became
honor-bound to marry her and jilt his fiancée
back home. To be sure, Max McCord was easy
on the eyes, but he loved another woman and
dreamed of a different life. But they agreed to a
temporary marriage, never anticipating the havoc
good deeds gone awry would bring—or the
tempestuous love born of a strange twist of fate,
a gift they could share forever . . . if they dared
to risk their hearts.
Published by Ivy Books.
Available wherever books are sold.
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Copyright © 2002 by Maggie Osborne
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
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eISBN : 978-0-307-41641-4
v1.0