Fighting back his own tears, his voice was husky. ‘I was just headin’ out, goin’ back to the Indian Nation. I didn’t really intend to come here. I just couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t stay away any longer.’
‘I’m sorry I said all those awful things to you.’
‘I’m sorry I paid attention to ’em.’
‘I didn’t want to admit how much I needed you. How much I wanted you. How terrified I was that you’d just ride away, out of our lives, the way you rode in. I didn’t want to admit that I was too weak to even think about having to live without you. So I said the exact opposite of everything I wanted to say. I know it must have hurt you.’
‘It hurt some,’ he understated.
‘How is your arm? It’s going to be OK, isn’t it? I’ve been so scared, and you wouldn’t even stop by to let me know what was going on. Are you OK?’
‘Mostly I’ve been some lonesome.’
‘Me too. Oh, Sam, I can’t believe how empty the house has been since you left. Please tell me you won’t ever leave again.’
He looked into her eyes, wanting that moment, and the sound of her words, to echo in his mind for the rest of his life. ‘You couldn’t drive me away again,’ he asserted softly.
That was all she was waiting for. She came against him, her head tilted back. He was painfully aware of how long it had been since he’d had a good bath and shave. She was aware only that the man she loved had come back to her.
‘Sam!’ The excited voice of young Billy shattered the magic of the moment.
Sam and Kate stepped slightly away from each other, turning to face the hurtling dynamo that erupted from the door of the house. ‘Sam! You did come back! You’re back, Sam!’
He leaped into Sam’s arms, throwing his arms around him, burying his face in Sam’s shoulder, not even noticing the grimace of pain as he squeezed Sam’s injured arm. ‘I knew you’d come back, Sam! I just knew it. I been prayin’ every night, and I been tryin’ to take care o’ stuff, and Ma’s been bawlin’ most o’ the time since you left an’ I was startin’ to think that you wasn’t never gonna come back. But I knew you would. I really did. You ain’t never gonna leave again, are you Sam? Are you?’
Sam set the boy back on his feet. His arm slid easily around Kate’s waist. He grinned as he tousled Billy’s bushy hair. ‘No, Billy. I ain’t gonna leave again.’
Billy grinned from ear to ear. ‘You gonna be my pa, Sam?’
Sam’s eyes darted to Kate’s, seeking and finding the answer he sought. Looking into her eyes instead of at the boy, he answered, ‘If she’ll have me, son.’
Kate’s eyes abruptly took on a mischievous twinkle. ‘Was that supposed to pass for a proposal, Sam Heller?’
Sam felt suddenly at a loss for words, and found himself stammering. ‘Well, I, uh, that is, I thought from what you said, I mean, that is, well, what I meant.…’
Kate giggled delightfully. ‘Stop stammering, sweetheart. I just asked a simple question. Are you asking me to marry you?’
‘Uh, well, yeah. Yeah, I am,’ he said, feeling that it sounded ridiculously lame.
She giggled again. She moved against him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. ‘Then the answer is “Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes, Sam Heller”.’
As she kissed him again, she felt him sway unsteadily on his feet. She stepped back in obvious alarm. ‘Are you all right, Sam?’
He took a deep breath. ‘Just a tad bit on the woozy side. I lost a bit of blood. To tell the truth, I ain’t slept too good, neither. I couldn’t stop thinkin’ about you long enough.’
‘Oh, Sam! Oh dear! And here I am talking your leg off! Billy, take care of Sam’s horse. Sam, come on in and we’ll eat some supper. Then I’ll heat some water and let you take a bath.’
He did. They did. She did. Sam’s hair was still wet when she made him lie down on her bed. He was lost in the sleep of total exhaustion before his hair had more than scarcely dampened the pillow.
It wasn’t anything like she had fantasized it would be if and when he returned. But he was back, and that was enough. When Billy had climbed into the loft to his own bed, she lay down beside the unconscious answer to her prayers and fell asleep, her arm draped possessively across him.
By the Same Author
Bull’s Eye Stage Coach
Kid Hailer
Montana Rescue
The Trouble With the Law
Easy Target
The Ten Sleep Murders
Clear Creek Justice
King Canyon Hideout
Kaycee Killer
Cambden’s Crossing
Death at Dubois
When Justice Strikes
Kid Patterson
Coward’s Carnage
Castoff Cowhand
Casey
Eagle’s Prey
Justice Is a Lie
Crazy Woman Creek
Wild Thing
Bad Mood at Cheerful
Long Valley Showdown
Hard as Nails
Montana Keep
Lone Stand
Temptation Trail
Dakota Death
Rustler’s Range
Copyright
© Billy Hall
First published in Great Britain 2011
This edition 2014
ISBN 978 0 7198 1412 9 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1413 6 (mobi)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1414 3 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7090 9092 2 (print)
Robert Hale Limited
Clerkenwell House
Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.halebooks.com
The right of Billy Hall to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988