The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,34

cheeks as her eyes widened in shock. She didn’t know the man, but those blue eyes looked an awful lot like—

“Miles?”

He whooped with laughter and set her down on her feet.

“I’m askin’ you again, Truly Fine. Will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

“Consider your choices, now,” Miles argued, unaware that she’d already buckled easier than an old belt. “You’re not getting any younger, although to my eyes you’re still as pretty as a peach.”

“Yes,” she repeated and clasped her hands together to keep from shaking.

“Remember your promise,” he added, having practiced his speech for so long that he’d completely tuned her and her answers out.

“Yes.”

“You can’t go back on—” His eyes widened. It was finally soaking in. “Yes? You said yes?”

She nodded and tried not to cry. She looked like hell when she cried. It made her nose all red and her eyes swelled shut like a horny toad. If he saw her like that, he might change his mind.

“Oh, Truly! You will marry me? Without the gold? Without the riches?”

“Yes, Miles, yes.”

She threw her arms around his neck and knew that she’d found her place in life.

“That’s good, Truly darlin’.” He stole a kiss before she could change her mind. “I promise you won’t regret it. When can you leave?”

She started out the door.

He stared at the low-cut dress and the length of leg showing from beneath the skirt and tried to imagine her on the road in an outfit like that. “Don’t you want to change and pack your belongings?”

“There’s not a damned thing here that I want except you, and I didn’t think you were coming back to ever ask again.”

A wide grin spread across his face. While he’d come to grips with getting Truly on any terms, it felt good—damned good, to know that she came without knowledge of what he’d gained except, the obvious—his mouthful of teeth.

Miles followed her out the door and lifted her into the wagon. “When we get to Lizard Flats, I’ll buy you some new clothes.”

She frowned as he climbed into the seat beside her. “I’ve already been to Lizard Flats. I can promise you there’s no gold there, and we can’t afford to buy clothes. Neither one of us has two dimes to rub together.”

He grinned and stole one more kiss before he broke his news.

“I’m not lookin’ for gold in Lizard Flats. We’re going there to get married. While I was down in Dodge City, I heard tell that a real preacher is on his way there to marry the town banker. As for money—”

Truly frowned. He went to Dodge? So that’s where he’s been all this time.

He grinned. There was something about the way she kept looking at him that told him she still didn’t get it.

Truly stared at his smirk. The longer she stared, the more certain she was that he had a secret he still hadn’t told.

“Miles?”

He grinned again.

“I’d like to know what’s so funny.”

His grin widened even further.

She looked past the mouthful of pearly-white teeth to the cut of his suit, the clean-shaven face, the new, nearly-healed wounds, and the twinkle in his eyes. There was something about the way he carried himself that had nothing to do with promises and everything to do with pride.

It hit her then. Her mouth dropped and she pressed both hands to her lips.

The twinkle in his eyes deepened. It was almost as if he had read her mind. It was then that she gasped.

“Oh! Miles!”

“What is it, Truly dear?”

“You didn’t… did you?”

He started to laugh.

She began to hug herself in disbelief! He’d actually found wealth and still came back for her—a woman who’d soiled her body as well as her soul.

“Oh, but I did, Truly darlin’. I found a mother lode.” He flipped the reins across the back of his team. “Giddyup,” he shouted, and melted as Truly leaned her head against his arm and started to cry.

“I thought you’d be happy.”

“You’re the first man who ever kept his promise to me.”

Miles shifted in the seat as he looked down at the top of her head. “And I’ll be the last, too. As soon as we can find that preacher, you’ll be as honest as any woman on the street. I don’t want you to ever have to turn your head away in shame again. Not from any man, woman, or child, and especially not from yourself. Do you hear me, Truly Fine?”

She batted her eyes, her breasts bouncing lightly with the sway of the wagon as the wheels slipped in