Page 46 of Texas Destiny
He wrapped his duster and one arm around her, crooking his other arm. “Here, use my arm as a pillow,” he said quietly.
She scooted back, nestling her backside against his stomach and laying her head on his arm.
“Better?” he asked.
“Warmer.” She studied his curled hand, the long tanned fingers. She knew the strength those fingers held, had felt it this afternoon as he’d braced her face and lowered his mouth to hers. The pads and palms of his fingers were callused, and she resisted the urge to place her hand over his, to press palm to palm, fingertip to fingertip.
“What will we do tomorrow?” she asked.
“See what we can salvage. Use the mules as pack animals.”
“I guess we should have waited to cross the river.”
“Yeah.”
She heard his sigh more than his word. “Why didn’t we?”
Silence fell heavy between them. Amelia rolled over within his arms and felt him stiffen. “Why didn’t we wait?”
“Because we’d already lost too much time,” he stated flatly.
“Why did you kiss me?”
“Because I’m a fool.”
She touched her fingers to his lips. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand back.
“Don’t do that,” he said gruffly.
“We shouldn’t have crossed the river. You shouldn’t have kissed me. Yet, you did both. Why?”
“Because it’s been too damn long since I’ve been with a woman. Don’t read any feelings into what happened this afternoon. I’m a man and I’ve got needs. Needs any woman would fill. Right now, you’re the only woman within two hundred miles.”
“So it’s not me specifically. It’s only because I’m a woman.”
“That’s right,” he said curtly.
“And why did I kiss you back?”
“I reckon women have needs, too.”
“And any man would do? That makes me no better than a whore.”
He released her wrist. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know,” she said softly. “You think it’s the circumstances and not the people that made us turn to each other this afternoon.”
“That’s right. You won’t be turning to me once we get to the ranch. Once you’re with Dallas. Now go to sleep.”
She rolled over, giving him her back. She watched the flames in the low fire flicker, just as her thoughts flickered. Was he right? Had she kissed him just because he was there? Because she’d been terrified? “Houston?”
She had been quiet for so long that Houston had been certain she’d fallen asleep. He’d never before heard his name come from her lips as anything but a scream. His heart tightened, and he fought against pulling her closer. “What?”
“What sort of man is Dallas?”
A better man than me. He swallowed, searching for the words that would do his brother justice, true words that would ease her doubts. “He’s the kind of man who casts a long shadow … a shadow that reaches out to touch everyone and everything. Years from now, people who never knew him will remember him.”
She rolled over, pressing her face against his shoulder. “And my shadow will be short. I worry that the man I imagined in the letters doesn’t really exist. He seems almost perfect.”
