whispered as he slid under the covers. “You even folded on the three aces I dealt you.”
“Did I?” She giggled as her hand brushed timidly across his chest.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you wanted to undress in front of me.”
“No, that wasn’t my plan, but you didn’t seem to mind.” She reached for his hand and pulled it to her.
“What was your plan?”
She laughed. “I just didn’t want to see those hairy legs, so the only choice was to go first.”
He laughed, finally relaxing. “I’d think as much as you love animals, you’d like my legs.”
“I’d just as soon never see them.” She tickled her fingers across his chest.
“Fair enough.” He pulled her close, loving the way she felt with no clothes between them. “I’ll watch you undress every night. I’ll even help, and then I’ll turn off the light and undress in the dark.”
He kissed her then for a long while as his hands moved over her body. When he pulled away from her mouth, he moved to her ear and whispered, “I love you, Emily McMurray Paterson. Live with me, sleep with me, all the days of our life.”
She cuddled against him, learning his body as he already knew hers. “And what will we tell our children and grandchildren when they ask how we met?”
He leaned down and kissed the tip of her breast, knowing it would take her breath away. “We’ll tell them that I won you in a poker game.”
She was laughing when he kissed her again, and they both knew it was time for the talking to stop and the loving to begin.
EPILOGUE
FOUR DAYS LATER, MR. AND MRS. LEWTON PATERSON picked up horses Duncan had sent down from Whispering Mountain. They rode across the countryside alone. They camped under the stars wrapped in each other’s arms and talked for hours about nothing and everything.
Lewt found he knew nothing of loving, but he was always gentle. Each night she came to him willing and ready, and he learned more of her and how to please.
When they’d finished making love, she’d lie next to him and sigh as he moved his hands over her body for a long while, as if he couldn’t get enough of the feel of her. Then he’d hold her hand in his and she’d go to sleep on his chest.
“I love you,” she’d whisper just before she drifted off.
She’d feel his hand move over her one more time, then settle on her hip. “I love you too, darling,” he’d whisper. “Forever.”
A week later, when they finally reached the ranch, everyone around turned out to the party. The two cooks proved to be a wonder. They even made a wedding cake four layers high.
Lewt danced with his bride until they were both exhausted. While he poured her a punch he thought had been spiked, he said, “Everyone is smiling at us.”
“Maybe they’ve never seen me so happy,” she whispered.
“Maybe they don’t know I’m a gambler who stole your heart.”
“Oh, they all know you were a gambler. They also know you risked your life for me and you stood by Duncan when he was in trouble.” She kissed his cheek, and they heard several people laugh. “They don’t care what you were, Lewt, they only care about what you are.”
“And what am I?” he said, thinking that he had no job and no hint of one.
“Don’t you know, Lewt Paterson, you’re a good man.” She smiled. “You’re the man I love.”
He kissed her full on the mouth and didn’t care if folks laughed. “No, darling, I’m the luckiest man alive.”
They danced another dance and talked with people who’d grown up with Emily, but Lewt’s thoughts were on getting her back to the cabin where they were staying and watching her undress before he turned off the light.
When he looked into her beautiful blue eyes, he knew she was thinking the same thing.
He’d gambled with his life and won her heart.
Keep reading for a special preview
of the third novel in Jodi Thomas’s
heartwarming HARMONY series
THE COMFORTS OF HOME
Coming Fall 2011 from Berkley!
Truman Farm on Lone Oak Road
THE APPLE ORCHARD ALWAYS FASCINATED REAGAN Truman in the winter months. Her uncle Jeremiah told her once that his father had started it back before the First World War. Now, a hundred years later, half of the apple jelly in town and most of the apple pies came from Truman apples. But it wasn’t the fruit, or the trees that drew Reagan. The shadows pulled her near like