Reese (31 page)

Her eyes still moist from the first set of tears, when she saw the gold wedding band, fresh drops spilled over. "You got that ring before you knew about... about—"

"This?" He placed his palm on the mound of her belly, something he'd wanted to do since the first moment he'd realized the burden she carried. "Of course, Mary."

Reese moved closer, ignoring all the eyes that watched them. If he had to do this in front of the whole town, and it looked as if he did, so be it. However some things were for her ears alone. He leaned over and whispered, "Didn't you know I fell in love with you the first time you offered me everything? I'd like to give you everything."

"Does everything include you?"

He leaned back and smiled. "Everything most certainly does include me."

"Well, in that case..."

"Is that a yes?"

"That's a yes," Nate shouted from the rear.

Reese led Mary in front of Clancy, who still appeared as if he'd swallowed half a sour pickle. "J-just because she'll be married doesn't mean she can keep teaching, you know. It isn't proper."

Reese pulled the other thing he'd gone home for from his pocket. "Fine. I'll take the job."

Clancy glanced at the teaching certificate. His mouth started moving again, but nothing came out. Reese returned the paper to his pocket. "I'll take that as a yes."

"But, Reese." Mary bit her lip. "Won't the children upset you?"

"Maybe. But avoiding them wasn't helping. Perhaps I need to face children before I have one of my own. I was a very good teacher once. I think I can be again as long as I have you to hold my hand." He peered at Clancy, who seemed to have recovered enough to perform the ceremony. "Marry us."

A commotion from the rear drew everyone's attention. Reese's men were whispering and exchanging money.

Mary laughed. "Who won?"

"Me." Sullivan held up a fistful of dollars and smiled for the first time that Reese had ever seen.

The bet. How could Reese have forgotten what had kept them amused for so many years? He'd have to find something else for them to do now that all his secrets had been revealed.

"Name?" Clancy asked.

Well,
almost
all of his secrets.

"James Reese IV," he answered, and his men hooted.

"Pansy rich boy's name," Cash said.

Reese kept his gaze on Mary. The bloom of her smile made every pain of his past worthwhile. Perhaps he'd had to live through hell to deserve such heaven.

His gaze dropped to her stomach, and suddenly something she had once said made sense. Perhaps he
had
lived, when everyone else had died, for a reason.

This reason.

"James is a beautiful name," Mary said. "But I doubt I'll ever be able to call you by it."

"Call me whatever you like, as long as you call me yours."

"I
did
buy you once. Just because you returned the money doesn't mean beans to me."

Reese grinned. "That's right. You own me."

"You were a bargain."

"A steal." He sobered as uncertainty raised its ugly head once more. "You're sure you want to do this? Might be a mistake."

Mary held his gaze as she took his hand. "I'll take my chances."

The End

Page forward for an excerpt from

Sullivan

Book 2 in The Rock Creek Six series

Excerpt from

Sullivan

The Rock Creek Six

Book 2

by

Linda Devlin

Eden lifted her face to Sullivan, expecting a scowling frown to be directed her way. But his face was strangely passive, less threatening than it had been moments ago. "You're welcome to travel with us, Mr. Sullivan." It was the proper thing to say, and Eden prided herself on not being rude. Not even to strangers. "Unless, of course, you prefer to go on." She nodded to where the horses grazed. "Teddy and I tried to get you into the wagon ourselves, but I'm afraid you were too heavy for us. We had to solicit help from the saloon." She wrinkled her nose at the memory of her brief time in that establishment. "I decided as long as I was there I might as well ask about your horse."

She studied the man before her a bit more closely. In spite of his size and his harsh and battered face, Sullivan wasn't such a threatening man after all. Her imagination must have been working much too hard earlier, when she'd felt almost afraid of him. There was a kindness there. Mostly hidden, that was true, but she saw it.

"I promised them that if they let me take you and your horse I'd do my best to keep you out of their less-than-friendly town." She gave him a small smile.

"Those sons of bitches," he muttered. "I've got a good mind to head back there right now and..."

"Please don't curse in front of the children," Eden said in a lowered voice. He didn't look at all chastened. "Perhaps in the future you'll be more selective about the women you kiss." Her tone was light; the face he turned to her was not. "I asked one of those horrible men why they were beating you," she explained. "I don't suppose you remember that part."

He turned and began to silently tend to the horses, checking his own fine steed, a tall black stallion, before leading her team to the front of the wagon. He hadn't said much at all, didn't seem inclined to indulge in friendly conversation. How was she supposed to discover what kind of man he was if he didn't
speak
? She didn't even know if he planned to turn back, to ride ahead, or join them for a while.

"So, where are you headed, Mr. Sullivan?" she asked as she gathered up the pink skirt and the coffeepot.

"Rock Creek," he mumbled.

His attentions were elsewhere as he hitched the horses to the wagon, and so he couldn't see Eden's face, her fading smile, the flicker of fascination in her eyes. For that she was grateful. Jedidiah had always told her she'd make a lousy poker player, with every thought so clearly displayed on her face.

As he moved to hitch his own horse to the back of the wagon, which answered the question about his immediate travel intentions, she said, "How very interesting. So am I."

He grunted something that sounded obscene, but since she couldn't be sure she didn't reprimand him. The only word she was certain she understood was
Rourke
.

Suddenly she smiled. Sullivan was heading for Rock Creek, himself, and the way he'd mumbled her last name... "You know Jedidiah, don't you?" she asked.

Sullivan turned slowly to face her. "Yeah, I know him." It was impossible to tell from the expression on his face whether he and Jedidiah were friends or enemies or casual acquaintances.

"Is he well?" she asked. "I haven't seen him in five years, and lately... Well, lately he's been on my mind quite a lot."

Sullivan didn't ease her mind or satisfy her curiosity. In fact, he was a confoundedly closemouthed man. He looked at the children in the back of the wagon, studying them closely, thoughtfully.

"I don't think he's there," he did say, finally. "At least, he wasn't there three weeks ago, when I left. But I imagine he'll be back before too much longer. He always turns up sooner or later."

Her spirits fell. She hadn't realized how much she had her heart set on riding into Rock Creek and finding Jedidiah. "Well," she said, determined not to let her disappointment show, "perhaps you're wrong."

Sullivan took her hand and assisted her into the wagon seat; then he vaulted, carefully on account of his recent beating, to the seat beside her. "Can I ask why you're so all-fired set on seeing Jed?" he asked as he set the horses into motion.

"He hasn't been home in years," she said. "But I know he hasn't forgotten about me. He usually writes regularly, but lately... Lately he's been writing less and less, and he doesn't really tell me anything about his life. His last two letters were posted in Rock Creek, and he mentioned the place with some fondness. He also said I could write to him there, in care of the Rock Creek Hotel. That made me hope that perhaps he'd made a place for himself there, and I decided that if he won't come home, then, by golly, I'll go to him."

"By golly," he said softly, and with more than a touch of sarcasm. "I didn't even know Jed was married, much less that he had a pretty little wife willing to track him to the ends of the earth when he doesn't come home on time."

Eden broke into a huge grin as she realized Sullivan's mistake. "Wife? Don't be silly. I'm Jedidiah's sister
."

He cut her a suspicious glance—one-eyed, still. "Sister?"

"Yes. My stepfather died last year, and now I have no family left but for my brother." Her heart leaped a little. She still missed the man she'd called Daddy. The past few months had been lonely and frightening. She hated living alone, positively
hated
it. "A person should be with family, if at all possible. Don't you agree, Mr. Sullivan?"

He didn't answer.

"So, if Jedidiah won't come home to Georgia, I'm moving to Rock Creek."

Sullivan studied the road silently for a while, lost in thought, sullen and battered. When he finally spoke, his voice was clearer than it had been, thus far. "So, Jed's sister just happens to be riding through that shit-hole Webberville while I'm getting my ass whupped for the first time since I got outta short pants. What a coincidence."

Eden watched his profile, wincing at the injury to his face, damage that looked uglier and more obviously painful by the light of the sun. Her smile faded. She really should reprimand him for using coarse language in front of the children again, but she couldn't find her tongue. His final disdainful, mocking comment stayed with her, instead. Coincidence?

Eden Rourke didn't believe in coincidence.

But she did believe in fate.

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Rock Creek Six

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