Give My Love to Rose (20 page)

“
You’re a strong woman and
you’ve been through more than your share of heartache.”

“
I vowed that I would give
Langley a better life. That he would never know the pain and the
fear I knew…”

“
Who caused you that pain,
Rose? Who gave you those scars?”

Marston cursed himself the moment those
words left his mouth and he remembered he wasn’t supposed to know
about those scars.

Rose scrambled from his arms and stared at
him in shock. “How did you know?”

“
I stole a peek yesterday
when I put you in the shower,” he admitted sheepishly. Her eyes
shone with tears and Marston wished that he had lied. “I’m sorry. I
couldn’t help myself and I just want you to know that…”

“
You had no right to do
that, Marston. No right at all!” she snapped as she wrapped that
blanket tight around her.

Marston held up his hands. “I know
but….”

Marston wanted to get his two cents in but
Rose seemed determined not to hear him. She turned on her heel and
stomped for her room. Marston could hear her breathing becoming
more labored and he knew her lungs must be burning from the
excretion of her temper.

“
I’m tired,” she hissed
before stepping into her room and slamming the door.

Marston slowly got to his feet and made his
way to the closed door. He wanted to kick the damn thing in and
force the woman to listen to him, but he knew that would only make
matters worse.

“
Rose, can you please open
this door so we can talk?” he requested as calmly as he could
manage. “I don’t feel like having a conversation with a closed
door.”

“
No,” Rose replied and
Marston was certain that she was crying.

His heart ached in his chest. “Come on,
Rose. Open the door.”

“
Just go to sleep,
Marston.”

Marston threw up his hands and stormed back
to the sofa. He jerked his boots from his feet and tossed them
across the cabin, letting them bounce off the wall and land with a
thud on the floor. He unhooked his gun belt and laid it in the
armchair before flopping down on the sofa and putting his hands
behind his head.

Langley’s bedroom door opened and the boy
passed by him on the way to the water pitcher on the kitchen
counter. He poured himself a glass and took a drink. “Has your
mother always been so damn moody?” Marston growled.

Langley shrugged. “Only since she met you,”
he replied before downing the rest of his water and returning to
his room.

Marston snorted. “Glad to know I bring out
the best in her.” Marston could swear he heard that brat of a boy
laugh from behind his door.

Chapter Eighteen

Rose was awake with the sunrise the next
morning. She had tossed and turned the entire night and had barely
slept a wink.

She was ashamed at the way she had reacted
to hearing of Marston’s betrayal last night. She should have
discussed things with him rationally, but she had been so hurt to
know that she had trusted him and he had looked at her body without
her consent.

So many men had done things to her so many
times even though she had begged them not to.

Rose was embarrassed to know that Marston
knew what she looked like beneath her clothes. There was nothing
beautiful about scars.

The scent of frying bacon reached her nose
and Rose felt her stomach growl. Marston must already have
breakfast cooking which meant he probably hadn’t slept well either.
Rose groaned as she got to her feet.

She had to face him.

Rose changed into her black wool skirt and
white long necked and long sleeved blouse. The only visible skin
was her face and her hands. She also pulled all her hair up tight
on her head so not a single long red curl dangled down her neck.
Her lungs were burning by the time she finished and so she took a
moment to rest.

Grease popped in the kitchen and Marston
mumbled something just before a skillet slammed and Langley’s
laughter filled the air. Rose knew she needed to get out there
quick before Marston hog tied the boy.

Marston’s gaze instantly fell on her as she
stepped from her room. “Good morning, Rose,” he greeted
cautiously.

Rose gave him a tight smile. “Good morning,
Marston.”

“
Well, I guess I better go
out and feed the critters before I feed myself,” Langley announced,
clearly wanting to escape the tension in the tiny cabin.

He stood from his chair, hugged Rose tight
and then darted outside.

“
Did you hurt yourself?”
Rose asked, when she saw Marston rubbing at his arm.

“
I’ll be fine,” he assured
her. “It’s just a little bacon grease.”

“
Do you want some help
with breakfast?”

“
No, I can take care it.
You’re supposed to be resting,” he replied, never once looking her
way.

“
If I rest much more, I’ll
be stuck to the sofa,” she grumbled.

The hint of a smile tugged at the corners of
Marston’s mouth. He carried three empty plates to the table before
laying out a platter of eggs, bacon, and homemade biscuits.

“
Where did you learn to
cook like this?” Rose asked, hating the awkwardness between
them.

Marston shrugged. “When there’s no one
around to cook for you, you learn to do it on your own.”

Rose nodded and silence fell over the
cabin.

“
Rose, I’m
sorry….”

“
About last
night….”

They both spoke in unison and quickly
stopped speaking. Marston held up his hand as if he were a student
seeking permission to speak in class.

“
Go ahead,” Rose urged
before crossing her arms and chewing her bottom lip.

Marston leaned back against the counter.
“I’m sorry I looked at you….” He began but then he stopped and
shook his head. “No, you know what? I’m not sorry. I’m a red
blooded man and you were a naked woman so of course I looked. But
looking is all that I did. What I wanted to do was make love to
right there under the spray of water, but I didn’t.”

“
You couldn’t have!” Rose
quickly countered, feeling her panic rise. “I wouldn’t have let
you! There will never be another man to touch me against my
will.”

Marston fought back the rising rage within
him. He’d suspected that Rose had been taken against her will in
the past but to hear it spoken with such fear and pain from her own
lips, caused his blood to freeze and boil red hot all at once.

“
Rose…” Marston swallowed
hard, working desperately to control his temper. “Rose, I would
never, never, force you to do anything. You are the only person in
this whole world who ever saw me as something other than a bad man.
You told me you didn’t think I was all bad and I want to believe
you… but then you go and say something like that and leave me to
wonder if all your pretty talk is nothing but horseshit. It leaves
me to wonder if you really trust me at all.”

Rose felt her heart fall at the pain she
could hear in his gruff voice. He was so strong, so confident and
so tough that it was easy to forget how sensitive he was—at least
when it came to his newfound goodness. Rose closed the distance
between them quickly and stood on her toes so she could throw her
arms around his neck and hold him tight.

“
I trust you, Marston. I’m
sorry.. I’m so sorry!”

Marston was quick to throw his arms around
her in return and hold her fiercely. He kissed her hair. “I’m sorry
for what you went through,” he whispered against her tightly pulled
back curls.

Rose pulled away and slowly smoothed out the
black wool of her skirt. “I’m sorry I stormed away from you the way
I did last night. That was terribly childish…”

Marston shrugged. “I understand why you
did.”

“
I just.. I was ashamed
and embarrassed to know that you saw my scars.” Rose stared at his
feet, unwilling to look up at his face. “I know how ugly they
are.”

Marston simply stared at her with disbelief.
“You’re brain addled,” he stated bluntly.

Rose rolled her eyes. “No, I’m not.”

Marston nodded. “You must be because that
was the most brain-addled comment I’ve ever heard and that’s saying
something seeing as how I’ve been around quite a few men suffering
sun stroke.”

Rose nearly laughed before catching herself.
“Marston, I’m serious…”

Marston sighed and took her hands, wishing
she would let her blue eyes gaze up at him. “Rose, you are a
beautiful woman. I wish you could see for one second what I see
when I look at you. You’re soft, warm, caring, gentle—all the
things that I’ve never known before. I feel like the luckiest man
alive just to know that, for some reason, you want to keep me
around.”

Rose shook her head and she tilted her head
up toward him. A tear rolled down her full cheek and Marston kissed
it away, causing her to gasp. “I still wish you hadn’t seen them,”
she whispered. “I wish they were gone.”

“
Duke said something to me
once and now I’m gonna say it to you. Don’t you ever be ashamed of
your scars. Each one of those damn things made you stronger and
helped you become the person you are. Now, granted, the person I
was back then wasn’t exactly something to be proud of, but the
person you are is. Look how damn strong you are and what a great
kid you’ve raised. You did that, Rose.” Marston stroked her wrist
with his thumb. “If my opinion counts, I think that you are a
beautiful and desirable woman.”

Rose was unable to speak as she stared up at
him. What had happened to that cold callous man he’d been just a
few short months before? “Are you sure there aren’t two men living
in that head?” she asked, remembering that he had asked her a
similar question all those months ago.

Marston smiled. “There might be,” he
admitted. “One for you and Langley and one for the rest of the
world. Are you okay with that?”

“
I’m fine with that,” Rose
replied, drying her face on her shirt sleeves.

Marston pressed a tender kiss to her brow
before taking her arm and leading her to the table. “Now sit,” he
ordered. “You’re supposed to be resting.” Rose did as he commanded
simply because her legs were protesting the fact that she’d been
standing on them for so long.

Marston chuckled and his voice raised. “I’ll
go tell sir-talks-a-lot that he can stop trying to listen through
the door.”

Stifled laughter sounded from outside and
Rose shook her head. “You knew he was out there?”

Marston sat down across from her, those line
around his mouth deepening as his smile grew. “The boy thinks he’s
slick, but you’ve gotta get up real damn early to pull one over on
Marston Jacobs.”

***

“
Marston there’s something
we need to talk about,” Rose announced the next morning after
Langley had eaten his breakfast and gone outside for the
day.

Marston nodded, dried his hands on a towel
and took a seat across from her at the table. “It sounds
serious.”

Rose blew out a long breath. “It is.”

Marston reached across the table and took
her hand. “Tell me about it and I’ll fix whatever it is.”

“
I’m not sure it can be
fixed,” Rose countered. “If it could I would have done so. Money
has been a constant issue since Langston was taken away. I have had
to scrimp and save just to keep food on the table and clothes on
our back. I couldn’t find much work since most people around here
assume the worst of an outlaw’s wife…I was forced to take a loan
from the bank in Millerton and used the home and property as
collateral.”

Marston snorted as he glanced around. “This
place?”

“
Yes, this place. It might
not be much but it’s our home and now the banker who approved the
loan, Winston Meade, is demanding his money in full. He’s been very
patient over the years, but it seems his patience has run out.
He’ll be back any day and if I don’t have his money he let me know
he’ll take our home from us and toss us out in the
cold.”

“
How much do you owe the
bank?”

“
He says it’s three
hundred dollars once they add the interest,” Rose admitted
shamefully.

Marston let out a whistle. “That’s a lot of
money.”

“
I know… I didn’t know
much about money or loans or interest… I feel quite foolish for
accepting the terms that I did, but I was uneducated and
desperate.”

Marston growled. “And he took
advantage.”

Marston didn’t even know Winston Meade and
he hated him already. Marston thought about the money in his saddle
bags. He had three-hundred dollars that belonged to Langley and
Rose. Not to mention all the money had had stashed away from his
life of thieving and looting. It might not have been an honest way
of life, but it had kept his pockets lined nicely. He had enough
money to keep Rose and Langley fed, warm and clothes for years to
come without lifting a finger to make more.

“
Langley and I will hook
up the cart and go to town. I’ll send a payment to that bank and
pay off what you owe.”

“
Marston, I couldn’t ask
you to do that! I wasn’t telling you so you’d pay the loan. I was
telling you so you wouldn’t be caught by surprise when we end up
homeless.”

Marston shook his head and released his hold
on her hand. “No woman of mine will ever be homeless. Don’t you
worry about money, I have plenty. You and Langley are my
responsibility now and I’ll see that you’re taken care of.”

“
Marston…”

“
Stop arguing.” Marston
got to his feet. He came around the table and stooped low to kiss
the top of her head. “You don’t have to be the rock solid Rose who
does everything for herself any longer. You’ve got me now so let me
help.”