He picked up the envelope and broke the seal. With reluctance, he opened the letter and unfolded it onto the wooden counter of the saloon.
Dearest love,
That is how you always signed your letters to me. That is how you signed your last letter to me.
Well, then, Jesse Greenwood, this is my one last letter to you.
I know you never broke your promise. I realize that now. But you were not the only one who honored the promises we made that day in the gazebo. I need you to know that I never broke mine either.
I never stopped loving you. I tried to convince myself I did, the same way you were terrified of admitting your feelings to me.
I kept trying to rationalize my attraction to you. I kept trying to find reasons that drew me toward you . . . whether it was help with ranch work, or starting a friendship. Those were just my attempts to express my love for you, the same way you wrote these letters for me.
You were right. For us, it is all or nothing. Being just friends is never going to be enough for us, just like California will never be enough for me, and a life without an open pasture will never be enough for you.
I am sorry I could not tell you earlier. Come back to Breighton with me. My heart will follow you wherever you go, but my soul belongs in Hamilton.
I love you, Jesse Greenwood. I always have, and I always will.
Yours,
Eve
His eyes scanned the bar, looking for Evelyn. He swore he could hear his heart thumping in his ears, barely believing she was here.
There was no sight of her in the saloon. He walked over to the bartender, polishing the glass at the other end of the bar. “Who gave you this letter?”
“Someone brought it in. Said he was on orders to deliver it from some lady who’d seen you walk in here.”
Jesse pushed open the doors and stepped into the setting sun of Raleigh. His eyes glanced past the myriad shops and stores. A carriage approached in front of him, and the air was filled with the chatter of busy folks running errands. He looked on the other side of the road that ran through the town.
Standing across from him was Evelyn.
He ran forward, racing past the carriage horses and dodging folks whose paths he had crossed. Once he reached her side of the trail, she jumped into his arms.
Her legs crossed around his waist, and she looped her arms around his neck. His lips were on hers in an instant. He drew her closer to him, eliminating any space remaining between them. Heat filled in the lower half of his body and he pressed her hips against his.
When they finally drew up for air, Jesse set her down on the ground. He kissed her again, with tenderness this time. He’d never felt anything quite as soft as her lips, but it soon deepened into another passionate embrace as his hands settled on her hips. When they drew apart again, he could hear older folks clucking their tongues behind them and a few whispered mutters of disgust at the inappropriate display of affection. He couldn’t have cared less so long as his Eve was in his arms.
“You were right, Jesse.” She pecked his lips again before she continued. “John told me he only wanted to marry me for my social standing.”
“What did he say?”
“I do not matter to him. My social standing and fortune do. I should have listened to you.”
“He told you that?” Anger flared in Jesse’s chest. How dare Cooper have the nerve to insult her?
“That is not all.” She pressed her lips together into a fine line. “He lied to me. He told me all the letters were from him.”
He furrowed his brow. “When did he tell you that?”
“The day I allowed him to begin courting me.” She shook her head. “Foolish as I was, I believed him. I did not know who the letters actually came from. In the beginning, I hoped you had written them.” She beamed at him. “Now I know you did. But that was the reason I allowed John to court me. I thought he honestly cared for me like the author of the letters did. But that was not him. It was you all along.”
He kissed her again, pouring all of his love and respect for her within that kiss. She pushed him away, laughing as she did so.
“There is more I need to tell you. The other day, in the gazebo, when I walked away from you . . .”
He shushed her. She still looked so worried. “It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s okay.”
“No, no, it is not.” Her eyes turned to him with a softer gaze than he’d ever seen before. “I didn’t want to pull away from you. I wanted more than anything to stay there, on the pasture, spending my whole day with you. That was the same reason why I left. I was just overwhelmed with all the feelings I buried in my heart for you. I assumed at that point that you did not care for me after all, and the shock of suddenly realizing that your feelings had never changed scared me.”
He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I never gave up on us, Evelyn. But I did keep hiding behind those letters. It’s in the past now.”
She shot him a bitter smile. “If there is anything I have learned from you, Jesse, it is that there is no such thing as a matter staying in the past.”
“I’m just sorry I couldn’t get to you earlier.” He shook his head. “It took us a long time to finally reach this point.”
“Do you think we wasted all this time?” The corner of her mouth quirked upward. “Imagine if I’d taken you up on that offer to run away with you that day. What if we had left Texas and Breighton and started a life for ourselves?”
Eloped, married, run away, never looked back. The idea had seemed so flawless at the age of sixteen.
Just like Loretta’s threat to elope.
How angry he’d been at how she disobeyed him, how worried he’d been for her safety, how he’d nearly lost hope of finding his baby sister. He and Evelyn would have caused the same reaction around everyone else they cared about. Loretta, Mr. Lancaster, Preston—they all would have been worried sick about them.
“When you are young, you do not think about consequences. You live for yourself, ignoring your responsibilities to others.” Jesse realized she had been thinking of the same possible scenario. “All we could think about was irresponsible impatience, wanting to be together right away.”
“You would’ve never been happy.” He pressed Evelyn closer to him, as if afraid someone was going to swoop in and take her away. “I don’t think we wasted time. It took us this long for us to grow up enough for each other.”
“There is no one else I would rather be with than you.”
Courage rose in his chest. “Eve, I have enough money saved up, and I can sell my hotel in California to someone else. Breighton’s your home, and it’s mine, too. I can help your father run the ranch. I know I don’t have a ring right now, but would you do me the honor of being my . . ." He began to kneel down, but she stopped him. She pulled him up to stand again, a grin on her face as she did so.
“Yes. Yes, I will.” She practically bounced on her heels in excitement at first, and the eagerness of her tone left no doubt in his mind. Evelyn cradled one of his cheeks in her palm and stroked across his cheek with her thumb. The touch caused him to draw in a sharp breath. Her voice was low. “There is no one else in the world I want to marry besides you, Jesse Greenwood.”
He wanted to whoop for joy. He kissed her again, crushing her lips against his. She responded to the kiss, threading her fingers through his hair as she leaned against him. When they pulled away to gasp for air, he twirled a lock of her dark hair around his finger. Her wavy hair was down and fell past her shoulders, just framing the front of her dress. The blue dress she’d worn the day of Loretta’s wedding always looked so stunning on her.
He didn’t think it was possible for a woman to be more gorgeous than she looked in that moment. “You’re beautiful, Eve.” He relished finally saying the words aloud. He didn’t have to worry about her running away from him. There was no other man to court her, and there was no father to avoid. She was finally his, and he was finally hers.
Evelyn’s voice
was suddenly quiet. “When you left for California at first, I thought eventually I would be able to get over you. Every suitor who asked my father for permission to come calling, I turned down. One by one. I kept expecting the same feeling I felt when I was with you. But I never felt that way about any of them. Not even John. When I saw you with Annie, I thought, ‘He has finally moved on. He has finally found that feeling again.’”
“Eve, I’ve never loved anyone else.”
“I know, and I trust that now.” Evelyn’s voice grew firm. “You are the one I love too. I talked to Annie. She made me realize I was giving up on you, actually. But that is not going to happen.” She frowned. “You know that, right? I am never going to give you up again.”
Jesse pulled her toward him, wrapping her in his arms. She nestled her head in the crevice between his neck and his shoulder. “Neither am I.”
He felt Evelyn’s lips curve into a smile.
EPILOGUE
The wind whipped Evelyn’s hair behind her. She leaned closer to her mare, urging Blue Star further down the path. Hooves galloped behind her, closing the distance. Fear struck her heart as he began to catch up to her.
Evelyn glanced over her shoulder at the man hot on her trail. He was gaining speed, and quickly, too. Only a few yards were between them, she estimated. Evelyn turned forward again. Her house was just within sight over the rise of the pasture. So close to safety.
She heard the man behind her yelling as he gained speed, but she couldn’t make out the exact words over the thundering of Blue Star’s galloping hooves. Nothing would slow her down.
The corral posts came closer and closer, until she was nearly there. Evelyn held her breath as the man’s horse came up to hers and began riding beside her. She could see him out of the corner of her eye, but didn’t waste any energy looking directly at him. Instead, she urged Blue Star onward. The horse whinnied, and charged forward at the corral.
“Hurry up, Evelyn!” Preston called. He waved at her from the steps, beckoning his arms inward. She could even see Loretta standing up from the porch chair, watching the chase with wide eyes.
The man charging next to her cursed under his breath. The corral posts were just within reach. Her horse burst forward in a sudden gust of speed, and Evelyn’s hand slapped the first wooden post of the corral with a cry of celebration.
She turned around. Grinning at the losing rider, she folded her arms over her chest. “Seems like the student has advanced beyond the teacher, Jesse.”
After stepping off the stirrups, he walked toward her. “Almost had you that time, Eve.”
“Almost, but not quite.” She held Jesse’s outstretched hand as she descended. As soon as her boots hit the ground, he gripped her hips and pinned her against him. She gasped.
“Think I’ve got you now, though,” Jesse teased, smirking as he did so. Evelyn swatted his shoulder, but didn’t step out of the embrace.
“Momma! Momma! I told Uncle Preston you would win!”
She turned her head in the direction of a six-year-old brown-haired boy stumbling down the steps and racing toward her. “Is that so, Ben? Seems like you know how slow Papa is.” She bent down and squeezed her son’s hands.
The little boy beamed at her. Then he turned to Jesse. A very solemn look crossed the child’s face. “I’m very sorry you lost, Papa. I think you are getting slow.”
“Slow, am I? I’ll show you how slow I am.” He scooped up Benjamin in his arms and threw him into the air. Benjamin laughed as he achieved weightlessness in his father’s arms. Jesse caught him, and then tossed him up again.
“Again, Papa! Do it again!”
“Jesse! Stop that!” Evelyn stood up. She placed both of her hands on her hips, staring down the misbehaving men in her life. Lord forbid the day Ben slipped out of his grasp and hit his head on the ground. “Be careful.”
Benjamin groaned, all advocacy for his mother lost. “Momma!”
Jesse caught Ben a final time and then set him on the ground. He put his hands on his knees to bend down and face Ben at eye level. “Seems like your Momma may be fast, but she sure doesn’t know how to have any fun.”
He scooped up Ben in his arms and held him against his shoulder, one arm underneath the boy and the other against his back. For all the times he threw Ben into the air (too many), whenever he held his son she knew Jesse would never let him go. Her heart swelled at the sight.
She could see the small bobbing of her son’s head as he nodded at his father’s words. “You need to teach her how to have fun.”
“I reckon I can do that. I know a few ways your momma likes to have fun.” Jesse winked at Evelyn.
Preston and Loretta walked down the porch steps and toward Evelyn. Preston stuck out his hand and congratulated her. “You’re the only one who’s ever been able to beat Greenwood over here. Good to take him down a peg or two before he gets too big for his britches.”
“Hey!” He turned in Preston’s direction and shot him a warning look. “I can still beat you in a race any day.”
“Oh, but so can Evelyn,” Loretta laughed. Cupping her hand and placing it over her mouth, she leaned closer next to Evelyn’s ear and whispered, “The day when he’s finally able to beat you in a race is the same day that hell freezes over.”
“Reckon they’re conspiring against us, Jesse.” Preston crossed his arms and inclined his head toward Jesse’s. “Quick, tell me something so it looks like we’re telling secrets too.”
“I want to know a secret!” Ben lifted up his head from his father’s shoulder and looked around at the adults. “Someone tell me what the secret is!”
“The secret,” Evelyn said, leaning closer to her son, “is that it is time for you to go to bed.”
Ben scowled. “That ain’t no secret, Momma.” He sighed as Jesse set him down. “Do I have to go to bed?”
Jesse kneeled down next to his son and grinned. “If you go to bed now, I’ll take you riding tomorrow morning.”
Ben’s eyes lit up with excitement. “You promise, Papa?”
“Promise. I never break any promise of mine.” Jesse stood up.
One of the maids came outside and outstretched her hand toward Ben’s. The child gripped the maid’s hand and led her up the stairs, practically skipping over the idea of racing the next morning.
“Speaking of bedtimes, it’s high time Loretta and I started heading back.” Preston nodded his head in Jesse’s direction. Loretta embraced both her brother and her sister-in-law before following her husband toward the buggy.
As Preston’s horses rolled away toward Loretta’s house, Evelyn turned to her husband and narrowed her eyes at him.
“Jesse! Ben’s barely six years old. He is much too young to be riding.”
He shrugged. “He’s the same age I was when I learned.” He always held her hand when they began to quarrel, the most ridiculous habit in the world. Still, she leaned against his shoulder as they turned back toward the house. “The boy lives on a ranch, Eve. If I don’t teach him, another cowboy will.”
She hated to admit her husband was right. She squeezed his hand. “All right. On one condition.”
“What will that be?” Jesse opened the door for her.
She stepped inside and spun around as soon as the door closed behind him. “I teach him how to ride horses as well.”
He kissed her on the lips. The kiss took her by surprise, and she pulled away. She felt as lightheaded as the time he’d kissed her when she was fifteen. “Jesse! Ben could see us. He is still awake, you know.”
“Just happy you came around, that’s all.”
“Oh.” Evelyn licked her lips as her husband stared back at her with that look of his. The look that sent a thrill down her spine and spread warmth within her heart. The look that told her she was loved. “Well, Mr. Greenwood, maybe I could take a little more convincing . . .”
He smirked.
“More than happy to do so, Mrs. Greenwood.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pema Donyo is a coffee-fueled college student by day and a creative writer by night. She currently lives in sunny Southern California, where any temperature less than 70 degrees is freezing and flip-flops never go out of season. As a current student at Claremont McKenna, she’s still working on mastering that delicate balance between finishing homework, meeting publisher deadlines, and—college. While unfortunately she’s never beaten anyone in a horse race or rescued someone from a burning barn, she has put those two things on her “To Do” list. Keep in touch with her through her website at http://pemadonyo.wordpress.com, or her Twitter @PemaDonyo.
Relentless
Book I in the Degrees of Darkness Series
Winter Austin
Avon, Massachusetts
This edition published by
Crimson Romance
an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.
10151 Carver Road, Suite 200
Blue Ash, Ohio 45242
www.crimsonromance.com
Copyright © 2013 by Winter Austin
ISBN 10: 1-4405-6443-4
ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-6443-7
eISBN 10: 1-4405-6444-2
eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-6444-4
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events, or locales in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. The resemblance of any character to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.
Cover art © 123rf.com
To my agent, Amanda Luedeke, who took a gamble with me and it paid off.
Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Texas Temptation Page 146
