Desperate Hearts (37 page)

Now dressed as Kyle again, she dragged
around Jim’s muddy corral, currying the horses for lack anything
else to do. Although she knew better, her mind insisted upon
reviewing what she might have said or done differently to make Jace
want to stay in Blakely.

But the bald fact of the matter was that he
was own man, and he had done exactly as he had wanted. If only she
didn’t feel so bereft. She had her ranch back, and Hardesty—well,
maybe she wouldn’t get over being the one who had ended his life.
Jace had been right—there was no joy in revenge. But she wasn’t
sorry that he couldn’t torment her any longer. The Vigilance Union
had been taken care of. Everything had turned out better than she
could have hoped when she first went looking for Jace back in
September.

For a moment she pressed her hand flat
against her locket. The hardest thing of all, she fretted, would be
forgetting his strong, attractive features. The clean, sculpted
lines of his face, the pattern of his beard, his mouth that was
neither thin nor full, but in a kiss was infinitely soothing and
arousing, those piercing eyes that saw down to her soul. And he
wore his handsomeness in complete ignorance—in her limited
experience she had found that good-looking men tended to be a bit
vain. Jace was anything but.

She rested her head against a fence rail for
a moment. How would she forget? In what part of her heart and mind
did Jace dwell so that she might erase him? But even as she wished
for it, she clung to the image she carried, hoping that it would
never fade. The love of a lifetime should not be so easily
banished.

She lifted her head then, as if she had
heard someone call her name. There was no one around—Jim was in
town and his cowboys were off working on the other side of the
creek. Scanning the open rangeland, saw no other person. Maybe the
events of the last days had made her a little jumpy. It might even
have been the wind sighing through the cottonwoods that grew along
the creek bottom. She shrugged and turned back to her task.

“
I see you are well now,
Winter Moon.”

Kyla jumped and spun around. She saw Many
Braids on the other side of the corral fence. He seemed have
materialized out of thin air—no one had been here near the ranch
house and corral when she looked just a moment earlier.

The medicine man appeared exactly as she
remembered—tall and straight as a yew, ageless, and dignified in
his hodgepodge of buckskin pants and army coat.

She had thought of him from time to time
since her fever dream of him in Misfortune.

“
Many Braids!” She hurried
to the fence to talk him. “Yes, I’m well now. My arm still aches
but Jace said it will improve with time.”

He nodded and considered her with his black,
unwavering eyes. “When last I saw you, you stood with one foot in
each world, this one and the next. I am pleased to see that you
chose to remain with this world.”

Hearing his words, a rash of goose bumps
rose over Kyla. In her dream he had told her the very same thing,
that she had a foot in each world. “Y-you mean when you came to our
fire that night?”

“
Jace Rankin was very
worried about you,” he said, not really answering her question.
“You are the one who fills the empty place he has borne in his
weary heart. He learned to trust you more than he did his
rifle.”

Kyla shifted. It was disconcerting to hear
her feelings and Jace’s discussed so frankly by a man she met only
once. How he knew these things, she couldn’t imagine. But Jace had
been right. Many Braids was not an ordinary man. “Well, I—he
doesn’t—“

“
Now Jace Rankin must
choose which world
he
will stand in. He must decide if he will stand with you,
Winter Moon, or remain forever alone in his.”

“
Many Braids,” she began,
her voice low regret, “he has already decided. He and I said
good-bye this morning.”

“
And your heart is heavy.
But things are not as they seemed then.”

She put both hands on the fence rail and
leaned forward eagerly. “Have you seen him? Talked to him?”

“
No, but Jace Rankin is a
good man. He will make the right decision.” He took a step backward
then and looked at the sky. “The white owl will be flying soon. It
is time for me to return to the People for the winter.”

“
Wait, Many Braids—will I
see you again?”

He gave her an inscrutable smile. “I have
found you three times now, Winter Moon. I will find you again.” He
turned and strode across the field on his long legs that carried
him out of her sight. She didn’t see or hear a horse; he must have
walked. But to where? From where?

I have found you three times. . . .

Three times? She had talked with him only
twice, the night she met him, and now. Unless—Jace had sworn that
Many Braids never came to Misfortune, but she had seen him . . .
heard him. . . .

Kyla shook her head. It was a puzzle that
only the one man could clear up, but he just made it more
mysterious. And Jace—did he really care for her, as Many Braids
hinted?

She sat on the bottom fence rail and idly
picked up the curry comb. It wouldn’t matter, even if he did. He
was on his way to California, or somewhere else. For several
moments she lingered there, her eyes closed against the pale
afternoon sun. She didn’t realize she dozed until a shadow fell
between her and the sun.

“
Kyla?”

Her eyes snapped open, and she found Jace
standing before her, looking handsome and very pleased, as if some
good fortune had befallen him.

“
Jace—I didn’t expect to
see you again.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t know I would be
staying in Blakely.”

Her eyes grew wider. “Staying? You mean for
a few days? For a week?”

He smiled at her and pulled back the lapel
of his duster to show her the sheriff’s badge pinned to his vest.
“No, it looks more permanent than that.”

Kyla’s thoughts tumbled over each other in
the face of this stunning news. “What happened?”

He dropped to a crouch in front of her.
“Well, I was on my way out of town and doing my damnedest not to
turn and look over my shoulder for you. Jim Porter and the group of
men called to me from the street corner and invited me to a meeting
at the Pine Cone. They were so pleased with the way things worked
out yesterday with the Vigilance Committee, they asked if I thought
I’d like a lawman’s job, full time.”

Kyla raised her brows. “When I suggested
that, you weren’t very interested in the idea.”

He took her hand between his own. “I know
this is hard for you to understand, but . . .” He paused, as if
searching for the right words. “Remember when you told me how much
you envied my being feared on sight?”

She nodded.

“
Well, that’s all I’ve
known for years. I admit it was my own doing, but I couldn’t go
anywhere and be accepted for who I was. I dragged that goddamned
reputation around with me like a mangy venison haunch. I just
didn’t fit in anywhere because people tend to not like a man they
fear. But now, this town has gotten to know me, at least well
enough to offer me this job. I finally can stop
drifting.”

Kyla put on a face of indifference and
dropped her gaze to the curry comb in her lap. “So what does this
mean to me?”

Jace put his finger under her chin and
lifted her face to his. “It means that I’m in Blakely to stay.”

She nodded. “I hope you enjoy the town. It’s
a nice place to live.”

He frowned slightly. “Damn it, Kyla—”

“
What do you expect me to
say, Jace?” she asked.

“
Nothing. I mean I want to
tell you that I—well—”

Her heart began beating faster. “Yes? Tell
me what?”

He held her with his gaze. “I know I said
that I couldn’t love anyone, that it was too late for me to make a
new start, but—I was wrong. You gave me back my heart, honey.” He
peered into her face, his expression naked and open. “I lived for
years with a dead place inside me. Except I found out it wasn’t
really dead, but just empty. You showed me that. The thing is, the
only person who can fill that emptiness is you. I need to love you,
as much as I need you to love me.”

“
Jace,” she whispered,
because that was all her tight throat would let her do. “I need to
love you, too.”

He gave her a crooked smile and pressed
kisses to her knuckles. “So will you marry the first sheriff of
Blakely?”

She laughed, so happy she didn’t know if her
heart could contain her joy. “Yes, I will! What’s your first order
of business?”

He grinned at her. “To hire a deputy so that
can have a honeymoon.” He held open his arms to her and she fell
into them, thanking God and Many Braids’s spirits for letting Jace
find his heart in her.

“
Maybe I should make Kyle
Springer a deputy,” he teased.

“
Nope, I don’t think Kyle
will be around anymore. There’s just me.”

He smiled. “Mmm, with a head full of long
red hair, and a yellow dress to wear to dinner.”

“
That’s right,” she said,
“you promised to buy me another dress to replace the one that got
lost in the mountains.”

“
Kyla, for the chance to
see that smile for the rest of my life, I’ll buy you all the
dresses you want.” He leaned and kissed her, that wonderful soft,
healing kiss of his.

“
No,” she said and laid her
palm against his cheek. “I just want you.”

He looked at her with his whole heart in his
eyes. “It’s a deal, Kyla. It’s a deal.”