Page 103 of Texas Destiny
“So it’s only because I was there that you spoke the words to me. Any woman would have done,” she said softly, meeting his gaze only for the instant that a flame might flicker.
He slipped his finger beneath her chin and tilted her face. “No. I was more afraid that I wouldn’t be able to stop the men, and you’d die without ever knowing that I loved you.”
She balled up her fists, tears welling in her eyes. “Damn you. Damn you for telling me now, when it’s too late.”
“It was always too late for us, Amelia. You promised yourself to Dallas. He’s not a man who gives up what belongs to him.”
“What belongs to him? You think if I lift up my skirt, you’ll find his brand on my backside? I’m not a possession, Houston. I’m not something to be owned.”
“You’re his wife.”
“Yes, now I’m his wife. And do you know what I discovered? That you lied to me. You told me that my needs were based on lust. I won’t deny that a part of that was true, but the greater part of my needs came from the love I held for you. I don’t feel those needs when Dallas touches me. I just feel empty.”
Her words tore through him. He knew the emptiness that came from being with someone you didn’t love. He had thought Dallas would have the power to hold the emptiness at bay for her.
She suddenly laughed mirthlessly. “On the other hand, I suppose I should be grateful. I would have hated being married to a man as vain as you are.”
“Vain? You think I’m vain?”
She spun around, waving her hand in a circle. “You don’t have a single mirror in this whole house. You hide your face beneath the shadows of your hat.”
“You think I don’t have mirrors because of this?” he asked, dragging his hand down the left side of his face.
She nodded, her movements jerky.
He pointed to his right eye. “‘It’s this I don’t want to see. When I meet my gaze, I see the man who lives inside here.” He hit his chest, grimacing as the pain shot through his shoulder. “What’s inside here is uglier than anything you’re looking at right now.”
“You don’t know the man who lives inside of you,” she said angrily. “You only know the boy, the fifteen-year-old boy who ran. You won’t let him go; you won’t let him grow up! You see yourself as a coward because you don’t meet your reflection in the mirror. You don’t see the man you’ve become, you only see the boy you were. You jumped off the back of that horse because you thought you had something to prove—”
“I jumped off that horse because I was afraid. Afraid Dallas couldn’t stop those men, afraid you’d be killed. Every decision I make in life is based on fear. The thought of you dying scared me more than the thought of me dying. That’s why I jumped. I always take the coward’s way.”
She shook her head sadly. “The coward’s way. You held me through a storm that could have easily killed us both; we fought a raging river; we captured wild mustangs—”
“I wouldn’t have done any of those things if you hadn’t been by my side.”
“Yes, you would have. Because that’s the man you’ve become. You just don’t know yourself as I do.Dareto look in a mirror sometime, and you’ll see the man I grew to love.”
The door opened. Amelia jumped back, swiping the tears from her cheeks. Houston met Dallas’s gaze as he walked into the house, Austin in his wake.
“You’re out of bed,” Dallas said, his gaze shifting between Houston and Amelia.
Houston nodded, searching for his voice. “Yeah, I’m feeling stronger.”
“Then you won’t mind if I take Amelia home.”
“No, no, I don’t mind at all. She’s your wife. You should take her home.”
“Then I’ll do that.” He held out his hand.
Amelia slipped her hand into Dallas’s, and Houston felt as though a herd of mustangs had stampeded over his heart.
When the couple closed the door behind them, Houston sank to the bed.
“You sure you’re feeling all right?” Austin asked.
“Yeah.”
Austin scraped the chair across the floor, turned it, and straddled it, crossing his arms over the back. “I owe you an apology for Black Thunder.”
