Page 21 of Texas Destiny
“Does Dallas smile more often than you do?” she asked.
“Everyone smiles more than I do.” He laid the board on the stump and put the pieces into place. “Go ahead and move.”
Amelia leaned forward and placed her elbow on the stump of the tree, cradling her chin in her palm. “Why don’t you smile?”
He averted his gaze, and Amelia studied his perfect profile, imagining how he might have looked if a portion of his face hadn’t been torn to shreds when he was a young man. Women would have fallen over themselves to gain his attention. They might have said he was handsome as sin.
He certainly had the temperament of the devil.
“You feel up to riding?” he asked.
His words startled her. The shadows were lengthening. “You want to travel at night?”
He drew his gaze back to hers. “No, I just want to show you somethin’ if you feel up to riding. Of course, you’ll have to ride on the horse with me.”
She glanced at Sorrel and the saddle on the ground. She hadn’t ridden in years, not since her father had died. A horse wasn’t nearly as wide as the seat of a wagon. She wouldn’t be able to avoid the accidental brushing of thighs or elbows. She wouldn’t be able to ignore the closeness of Houston’s body. Her mouth went dry with the thought, her heart pounding. He wanted to share something with her. No matter how small, friendship was built on sharing. “What are you going to show me?”
“If I could describe it, I wouldn’t have to show you.”
She rose from the log. “Then I’d like to see it.”
A few minutes later, he led Sorrel over to her and lifted her onto the saddle. She clung to the pommel as he slipped a booted foot into the stirrup and threw a leg over the back of the horse.
Reaching around her, he took hold of the reins. “Relax,” he ordered. “You’ll make the horse nervous.”
“I am relaxed,” she squeaked, nestled between his thighs, her shoulder bumping against his chest.
“Yeah, and I was having fun playing checkers,” he said in a low voice as he prodded the horse forward.
The gently rolling plains stretched out before them. She glanced over her shoulder, but Fort Worth was beyond her vision, a piece of her past now. Her future lay ahead.
Sorrel plodded up a steep rise. When they reached the crest of the hill, Houston brought the horse to a halt, dismounted, and gazed toward the horizon.
“See where the sun touches the land?” he asked in a reverent voice.
“Yes.”
“That’s where you’ll be living.”
Amelia admired the tranquil splendor of the distant site. Lavender and blue hues swept across the sky, reached down, and melted into the green horizon.
“See all the people?” he asked.
“No.”
Too late she realized his question required no answer. She glanced down. The dark depths of his eye held a profound sadness, and the purpose of his question struck her hard with its intensity. She looked back at the majestic land, the scattered trees, the vast emptiness.
“Who will you talk to, Miss Carson?” he asked.
“I’ll talk with my husband.”
“And when he’s not there?”
“Our children.”
“I don’t know what Dallas told you in his letters, but you’re heading into a loneliness so deep that it hurts the heart.”
“Only if you let it, Mr. Leigh.”
