“I love you,” she said.
“I love you as well,” he said. “You know that.”
“You have saved me,” she said, “and given me a new life where I can help millions and millions of people to find a new life as well.”
He nodded.
“Of course I want to go with you. But on one condition.”
“Name it,” he said, looking worried.
“For as long as we are still in this galaxy, we keep this lodge up and come back here once in a while.”
He broke into a huge smile.
Wow, did she love that smile and that man and the brain behind those intense green eyes.
“I have another idea as well,” he said, smiling at her.
“I’m listening.”
“Assuming you don’t get tired of me after a few years of traveling around in space all over this galaxy helping people...”
“Yeah, that’s going to happen,” she said, laughing.
“Then maybe, in a couple of years, we can talk with Benson and come back here and have him marry us.”
Callie just stared at the man of her dreams, her mouth open. She wasn’t really sure she had heard that right.
“Well?” he asked, smiling.
“Vardis Fisher, are you asking me to marry you?”
He smiled. “I am. Too forward? Too soon?”
She grabbed him around the neck and kissed him as hard as she had ever kissed anyone before.
Then she leaned back, not letting him go. “How about having Benson marry us before we set off to save the galaxy?”
His smile now was radiating.
“I’d like that,” he said.
She would like that more than she had ever imagined.
And with that they stood there in the road to the old mountain lodge, kissing, until the chill of the evening air finally drove them inside and to the big featherbed.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
At the moment he produces novels in four major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the Old West, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, and a superhero series starring Poker Boy.
His monthly magazine, Smith's Monthly, which consists of only his own fiction, premiered in October 2013 and offers readers more than 70,000 words per issue, including a new and original novel every month.
During his career, Dean also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, he wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.
He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of almost a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown.
Dean also worked as a fiction editor off and on, starting at Pulphouse Publishing, then at VB Tech Journal, then Pocket Books, and now at WMG Publishing, where he and Kristine Kathryn Rusch serve as series editors for the acclaimed Fiction River anthology series.
For more information about Dean's books and ongoing projects, please visit his website at www.deanwesleysmith.com.
Look for These Other Titles from Dean Wesley Smith
Seeders Universe:
Dust and Kisses
Against Time
Sector Justice
Morning Song
The High Edge
Thunder Mountain Series:
Thunder Mountain
Monumental Summit
Avalanche Creek
The Edwards Mansion
Lake Roosevelt
Warm Springs
Melody Ridge
Earth Protection League:
Life of a Dream
Sign up for the WMG Publishing newsletter to receive updates about new releases, bonus content and more at wmgpublishing.com
Part One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Part Two
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Part Three
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
About the Author
Copyright Information