Give My Love to Rose (43 page)

Marston took a deep breath. “You were
holding her, Jeremiah.”

Jeremiah shrugged. “She had a breakdown! She
starting going on a rant, started crying and then threw her arms
around me. I didn’t know what to do but I figured she needed a hug
so I held her.”

“
So it was her fault?”
Marston grumbled, feeling more than a little foolish.

“
Yeah, it was her fault!”
Jeremiah replied far too quickly, eager to have a
scapegoat.

“
There’s the way to be a
man about it, Jeremiah,” Duke commented.

Marston glared at the man. He was getting
far too much enjoyment out of all this.

“
I better go talk to her,”
Marston said, rubbing his sweaty neck.

Duke nodded whole heartedly. “That would
probably be the best thing to do.”

“
You know what?” Marston
grumbled. “I liked you better when you were a cold-hearted son of a
bitch.”

Without another word, Marston strode toward
the porch and saw the two sets of eyes watching him warily. “Pa…?”
Langley whispered.

Marston felt his temper fade completely as
he looked down at the boy’s confused but hopeful face. “Hey kid.
You been taking care of things around here?”

Langley shrugged. “I’ve tried… I thought you
were dead.”

“
I almost was,” Marston
admitted. “But your Uncle Duke saved me. I was real sick and it
took a while before I could get up and travel to come back to you
all.”

“
Are you going to leave
again?” Kaitlyn whispered.

Marston shook his head as he squatted down
to their level. He looked up at both their faces and felt his heart
swell with emotion. “I ain’t leaving you all again,” he promised.
“At least not until God Himself comes down and takes me.”

Langley smiled. “You promise, pa?”

Marston held up his hand. “Outlaws
honor.”

Langley let out a whoop of joy and threw his
arms around Marston’s neck. Marston scooped the boy up and spun him
around before sitting him back on his feet.

Marston patted Kaitlyn’s hair tenderly as he
smiled down at her. He longed to hug the girl tight, but he knew
that she didn’t like to be touched. “Now listen, I want to hear all
about your adventure you had coming here all the way from Louisiana
and I’m sure that Langley’s just bursting to flap that jaw, but
first I need to go talk to your mama.”

“
Wait pa!” Langley called.
“Did you shoot Uncle Jeremiah?” the boy asked pointing at the man
standing with a bloody shirt sleeve.

Marston grinned. “Yes I did.”

Langley laughed, slapping his thigh. “That’s
great! Mama’s threatened to do it about a hundred times since
you’ve been gone.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Marston stepped into the house and let out a
whistle as his eyes tried to take in all the finery at once. Damn,
but he’d never even stepped foot in a place this nice and now it
was gonna be his home—that was if Rose decided to let him stay
after the ass he’d made out of himself.

He had to make her see that he was sorry but
first he had to find the woman in this mansion of a house. He
rubbed the back of his neck deciding that he’d simply have to go
door to door until he found her. The sound of crashing glass above
his head had him jumping.

“
Rose!” he shouted. When
another crash followed the first, Marston found himself running as
fast as his legs could carry him up the stairs and down a carpeted
hall toward the source of the sound.

He tried the door knob to the room but it
was locked. “Rose, are you okay?” he demanded, fully prepared to
break that door down and save the woman.

“
I’m fine, Marston. Don’t
pretend that you give a damn,” snapped her voice from
inside.

Marston heard something else shatter.
“That’s a hell of a thing for you to say to me,” he stated bluntly.
“Now let me in so we can talk.”

“
No.”

Marston jaw tensed and he prayed for
patience to deal with her temper. He had forgotten just how
stubborn the woman could be when she was angry. Another crash came
from behind the door and Marston frowned. Was she throwing
things?

“
Rose, please let me in.
I’m sorry for the way I acted outside.. Let me talk to your face,
please?”

“
Oh now you want to talk?”
she demanded. “Are you sure you don’t want to accuse me of moving
on with your brother again? Or maybe you’d just like to shoot me
the same way you do everyone else who makes you angry!”

“
I would never hurt you
and you know that,” Marston said, forcing his voice to remain calm
even while he held his hands out and shook them as if choking
someone.

“
Just go spend time with
your children, Marston, and I’ll be down in a while.”

Marston could tell by her sigh that her
temper was fading. “I don’t want to spend time with the children
just now, Rose. I want to spend time with you. Now open this door
or I swear on my own grave, I’ll kick it down.”

“
Your own grave?” Rose
asked skeptically.

“
It exists,” he assured
her. “I’ve seen it.” He laid his forehead against the thick wood
separating him from his woman. “Now please let me in. This looks
like a real costly door and I’d hate to destroy it.”

Marston heard her soft footsteps come to the
door and suddenly the barrier between them was pulled away. Marston
took in the sight of her the way a man in the desert would take in
the sight of an oasis.

Her red curls were falling around her face,
having come loose from the pins in her temper. Her light skin was
flushed and her heart shaped lips were set in a stubborn line. Her
blue eyes sparkled like the clearest of autumn skies.

“
Don’t you dare do that,”
Rose snapped breathlessly.

“
Do what?” Marston
whispered, his gaze dropping lower. His eyes drank in the smooth
skin of her throat, danced across the mole on her collarbone and
fell to the swell of her breasts beneath the yellow fabric of her
dress. The indent of her waist and the swell of her hips made
Marston’s hands itch to touch her.

He saw the trace of swelling in her stomach
where his child was growing and Marston’s heart swelled with
emotions. Pride, love and joy all mixed together and so intense he
nearly cried out.

“
Don’t look at me like
that…” Rose replied, taking an involuntary step toward
him.

“
Like what?” Marston
asked, stepping into the room.

“
Like you loved me,” Rose
breathed. “Like you missed me.”

Marston frowned as he tilted his head and
looked into the deep blue eyes he had missed so much. The eyes that
he had dreamt of so many nights in that cell. Eyes that he had
tried hard to lose himself in as death had been coming to claim him
as he’d swung from the rope.

“
That’s like telling the
sun not to burn your skin or the rain not to get you wet. No matter
how bad they might want to do what you say and make you happy, they
just can’t help themselves.”

“
Oh Marston…”

Rose flung herself at him and he happily
caught her in his arms. He wrapped himself tight around her soft
body and breathed in the scent of her curls.

Tears poured from Rose’s eyes as she pressed
her face tight against Marston’s chest and listened to the sound of
his heart beating beneath her. He was dirty, he stunk and he had
been a complete idiot outside but, God help her, she loved him with
every bit of her heart.

“
God, how I’ve missed
you,” Marston whispered gruffly. Rose laughed with happiness as she
pulled away and looked up into his eyes. His rough thumbs slid
gently across her cheeks to dry them. “Are those the really happy
tears or the other kind?”

“
They’re the happy ones,”
Rose promised.

Marston kissed her brow and Rose’s body
trembled. Marston’s hands trailed up and down her back. “Am I
allowed to stay then? You aren’t going to run me off for being a
jackass?”

“
Yes, you’re staying,”
Rose replied, her tone stern. “And if you ever leave me again, I’ll
shoot you myself. We stay together, Marston. Do you hear me? No
matter what.”

Marston looked into her eyes and nodded,
though he knew he’d gladly sacrifice himself again just to offer
her a few more seconds of life. “No matter what.”

Rose pulled herself out of his arms and took
him by the hand. “Come sit with me.” He was happy to let her lead
him to the spacious bed and even happier to collapse down upon the
mattress. The last few weeks on horseback after the month of hell
before that had taken a toll on his body.

“
Damn…” he muttered as he
sank into the mattress. “This is a bed.”

Rose smiled. “Yes. It’s like a cloud.”

Marston flopped onto his back and put his
hands behind his head. “I’ll bet you’ve enjoyed it.”

“
I’ll enjoy it more now
that you’re here to share it with me,” Rose replied, her eyes
trailing the length of his body.

Their eyes locked. “I want to make love to
you, Rose.” Blue and gold gazed deep into each other and the room
grew warmer. There suddenly wasn’t enough air to breathe and Rose
laid her palms on his chest.

Marston was going to raise up for a kiss but
a yawn suddenly came bursting from him and he covered his mouth
sheepishly. Rose simply laughed lightly and laid down beside him,
curling her body up to his and resting her head on his chest.
“You’re tired,” she observed.

Marston sighed. “I’m not as young as I used
to be.”

A comfortable silence filled the room as
Marston held his woman and felt a peace he hadn’t known in months.
He glanced around the room and saw the shattered crystal glasses
beside the window.

A smile deepened the creases around his
mouth. “What did those fancy glasses do to you?”

Rose flushed bright red and buried her face
in his chest. “Nothing,” came her muffled response.

“
Then why’d you do that to
them?”

Rose glanced up. “Well you throw things when
you get mad so I figured I’d give it a try.”

Marston nodded. “I punch people from time to
time.”

“
Yes, well, you have a big
head and I have little hands.”

Marston worked hard to hold back his
laughter. He rubbed at his chin. “I’ve been known to shoot folks
now and then.”

Rose winked. “You should be glad I don’t
carry a gun.”

Marston laughed. “God, I missed you.”

“
How did you get away,
Marston?” Rose asked after several more quiet moments.

Marston sighed. “Duke showed up with a
stampede of cattle and sent them running down main street. Everyone
was too busy running for their lives to notice him cutting me
down.”

“
Cut you down? You mean
you had already been hanged?” Rose’s blue eyes were full of
horror.

Marston stared at the ceiling as he
shivered. “Yeah. But my neck didn’t break. Duke had altered the
knot so it wouldn’t.”

“
Thank God for Duke,” Rose
whispered, her bottom lip trembling.

Marston shook his head. “You better not let
him hear you say that. You’d probably make him sick.”

“
Yeah, but that won’t stop
me. It didn’t stop me from saying them to you did it?”

Marston smiled as he rolled onto his side
and slid his arm around her. “I’m not God’s gift to anyone, Rose.
You all are His gift to me. I’m not sure what the hell I did to
deserve the gift but I damn sure ain’t gonna complain.”

Rose laid her hand on his cheek and when she
slid her thumb along his lip, Marston kissed it quickly. He saw the
hunger spark in her blue eyes. “Marston…” she gasped. He let out a
growl before flipping her onto her back and covering her body with
his. “I thought you were tired?” she reminded him.

Marston flashed a wicked grin. “I’m never
that tired.”

Rose’s hands buried themselves in his hair
and she pulled his face down to hers. Their lips met and Marston
lost all control. Too long he had been without her. Too long he had
dreamt of feeling her kiss, her touch, her soft body pressed
against his own.

He devoured her hungrily, running his tongue
along her bottom lip to urge her mouth open so he could taste her.
His hand slipped down to her hip then came up her soft stomach and
cupped her full breast. He groaned in protest when Rose pulled her
mouth away from his kiss.

“
Make love to me,
Marston,” she pleaded, her breathing labored.

Marston was beyond the point of forming
words as fire raged in his blood. He growled as he once again
attacked her lips with a vengeance and Rose surrendered herself to
his hunger.

***

“
Marston.. what happened
to your back?” Rose whispered as they lay spent together beneath
the covers a long while later.

Marston sighed with contentment as he traced
her bare arm with his fingertips. “The Marshall.”

Rose propped her chin on his chest and
looked up at him. “Did they punish you for trying to escape?”

“
I didn’t try to
escape.”

“
Why?” Rose asked, her
brow furrowing. “I know you and lying down and dying just isn’t
your way.”

Marston ran his thumb along the line of her
jaw. “It is when they tell me that fighting back or getting away
will result in my family being killed.”

Rose’s eyes widened. “But they’re lawmen!
They can’t do that!”

Marston chuckled. “They’re lawmen and that’s
exactly why they could.”

Rose was silent for a moment and then kissed
his shoulder, causing him to tremble. She buried her fingers in the
dusting of hair on his chest and sighed. “I can’t believe I’m
saying this, but, I really hope you killed that Marshall.”