Page 88 of Texas Destiny
She laughed. “Amelia?”
His smile slipped away. “Valiant.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Please take me for a ride.”
Whatever good sense he might have possessed must have left him because he dismounted and walked around to her. “We won’t go far,” he said.
She nodded. “That’s fine.”
“We won’t stay gone for long.”
“That’s fine.”
He cupped his hands together and bent down. She put her foot within his palms, and he hoisted her up. She settled into the saddle as Valiant sidestepped, snorted, and shook her head.
Houston grabbed the reins and spoke in a low voice near the mare’s ear before moving aside and mounting Sorrel. He glanced at Amelia. “Let’s test her speed and endurance, but I’ll set the pace.”
She could only nod as she began to hoard away all the images that would make up the memories of their last ride.
* * *
Amelia removed her socks and shoes and dipped her feet into the cold water of the springs. She hadn’t expected their short trip to take them this far, but it seemed appropriate to finally have the chance to say good-bye properly and to say it here.
Houston was stretched out beside her, raised on an elbow, watching her as though he’d never again have the opportunity to look at her. And perhaps he wouldn’t. At least not in the same way.
Tomorrow, she would become his sister by marriage. Leaning forward, she slipped her fingers into the water until they were wet enough, then she lifted them out and flicked them toward Houston. He turned his head aside as the water sprayed over him. Then he met her gaze.
“You didn’t ask Dallas why he won’t look at me, did you?”
“No.” She tilted her nose slightly, daring him to ask.
“Why?”
“Because you’ve told me time and again that you take the easy way. Asking Dallas would have been the easy way for you. I deserve better than that.”
He smiled sadly. “And I’d never give you better than that, Amelia.”
“And you think he will?” “I know he will.”
She turned away, wondering why she was trying to push herself into the life of a man who obviously didn’t want her. She couldn’t explain why she loved him, why she wanted to be part of his life, his dreams.
“Accepting Dallas’s offer of marriage seemed so right before I met you. Now, I no longer know what is right. I wanted to be a wife. I wanted to escape the memories from the war. I never expected to find love.”
He gently grazed his knuckles over her cheek. “You should have expected to find love. There’s so much about you to love.”
She had never wanted anything as desperately in her life as she wanted to hear him voice aloud his love for her. Just three words. Three simple words. Yet, she knew he would never say them. To do so would force them to acknowledge a dream they could never possess, would condemn them to years of wondering what might have been.
She placed her hand over his and rubbed her cheek against his rough palm. “Will Dallas love me?”
She watched his throat work as he swallowed. He shifted his gaze to the waterfalls, his voice raspy when at last he spoke. “Yeah, he will.”
She could hear the rush of the water as it spilled over the rocks, her moments with Houston flowing by as quickly. Never again would she be alone with him, to look upon him with a longing that should have never entered her heart. She had so much that she wanted to say to him, but she knew the words would only make their leaving this peaceful sanctuary more difficult, so she locked them away, hoping a day would come when she would forget that she’d ever thought them.
“I imagine this place is beautiful in the spring,” she said softly.
“Yep. It’s a lot greener then, and the flowers come up.”
“Will Dallas bring me here to see it?”
