couple of minutes ago, I was thinking about having one more night.' He
groaned.
'Jessie, we need to talk about something else.'
'Why? ' He decided to be blunt. 'Because I'm already hot and
bothered, and if you keep talking about making love again, I wonXt be
able to hold out until after we're married.' He squeezed her. 'Don't
you dare ask me how long I'll stay with you.'
'I wasn't going to ask you that.'
'Yes, you were.'
'What if I can't ever give you what you want, what you deserve? A wife
should be able to trust her husband, but I don't think I could ever .
.
. What if . . . ' He didn't let her finish. 'Then I guess you're
going to be real worried every time I leave the house. I'll always
come back to you and Caleb, though, and maybe in about twenty years or
so, you'll catch on. I'm in this for the long haul. I meant it when I
told you it was forever. And by the way, you will tell me you love me
before our wedding day. Now please change the subject.'
'Do you think Caleb's all right? ' 'Yes, ' he answered. 'He's
probably going to have an aversion to fried foods for the rest of his
life, but he's being loved and spoiled.'
'I had a nice long talk with Tom, ' she remarked.
'What'd you talk about? ' 'You.' He shot her a glance. 'What'd he
tell you? ' 'He was full of stories about you.'
'Like what? ' 'Abilene.' His shoulders sagged. 'I had hoped to get
married before you found out about that.'
'You act like you did something wrong.'
'I shot a woman, Jessie.' He waited for her to grill him with
questions or tell him he'd been wrong to take that chance with a
woman's life hanging in the balance.
'It was very clever of you.' He stopped dead in his tracks. 'What?
' 'I said it was very clever of you.'
'I shot the woman, ' he reminded her.
