Paden knew that Rosalie was beyond angry, but he was prepared for the fight that was sure to ensue.
Chapter 11
The moment Paden dropped her onto the bed, Rosalie jumped up and shouted, “How dare you treat me that way!”
“You were trying to get yourself killed,” he countered.
Her eyes narrowed as she felt her blood begin to boil. “Why does it matter to you?” she replied in a dry tone. “We are not truly married. This is a farce.”
To her surprise, Paden grabbed her shoulders and leaned in. “Don’t you think I know that?” he asked, his voice rising. “We were supposed to settle down and have kids. But you walked away from us.”
“You know why I did,” she declared, her chin tilted stubbornly.
“I do,” he responded without delay. “Your hatred of Bill Garrett is greater than your love for me.”
Rosalie shook off his hands. “That’s not true! I was getting justice for my father and all those innocent people that Bill killed.”
“No, Rosie. You left me.” Paden turned and walked over to the window. “Every day, I waited for you to come home, to come back to your senses. And when I became an agent, I kept your grandmother informed of where I was.” He turned back to face her. “It didn’t matter. You never came back to me. I am beginning to think you never wanted to marry me in the first place and chasing Bill Garrett around was your excuse to run away.”
“What?! That is not true!” she exclaimed.
He advanced toward her. “Then make me understand why you left me! Make me understand why you didn’t even have the courtesy of telling me in person that you were leaving me. I had to read it in a blasted letter!”
Rosalie tilted her head to look up at him. “If I had told you what I was planning, you would have tried to talk me out of it.” She waved at the bed. “You probably would have placed me in a jail cell to keep me from leaving.”
Tossing up his hands, he shouted, “You are darn right I would have tried to talk you out of it! Your plan was crazy, and I am amazed that you’ve not gotten yourself killed in your pursuit of justice.”
She pursed her lips. “I told you that I am not the same girl that you knew before. Being a bounty hunter has changed…”
“No! I don’t buy that,” he remarked, cutting her off. “You are the same girl I knew, but now I see fear lurking in your eyes.”
“Fear? I am not afraid of anything.”
Bringing his face closer, he declared, “You are afraid of failure, dear. You have become so wrapped up in this life that you have nothing else to live for.”
“I have arrested nine men of Garrett’s gang, and I have caught other criminals along the way,” she defended.
“Good for you,” he replied sarcastically. “But what did you have to give up for it?”
She pressed her lips together, afraid of answering his question.
Instead, Paden answered it for her. “You lost your friends, your family, your community…” he started, stepping back, “and you lost me.”
Hearing those words out of his mouth was heart wrenching, and a small whimper escaped her lips. But isn’t that what she wanted? For him to recognize that he was better off without her.
Regret showed on his features as Paden watched her. “I love you, Rosalie. I always have,” he said, his voice hitching with emotion. “I waited for you to come home… back to me. But you never did. I thought…” He stopped speaking, and she saw his fists clenched tightly at his sides.
“You thought what?” She lifted her hand to touch his sleeve, but Paden stepped out of her reach, causing her heart to shatter.
He met her gaze, and she could see the vulnerability in his eyes. “When I heard about this case, I approached Archie about being the lead agent, and pleaded for you to be my partner. I put my reputation on the line for you, but you don’t care. You only care about Bill Garrett and his gang.”
“That’s not true,” she defended. “I care about you.”
Paden dropped his head. “You only care about me?”
She stepped closer to him, her eyes pleading. “No. I love you,” she corrected. “With every day that passed, I just assumed that you would love me less, especially once you saw the woman that I had become.”
“When are you going to get it through your thick head that you are the same woman, except now you have a fearless streak. That might eventually get you killed, but it doesn’t change who you are,” he said. “You are still the same kind-hearted person that I fell in love with.”
“Where does that leave us?” she asked in a timid voice.
Paden shifted his gaze toward the window. “I don’t know, Rosie. I naively thought that once we were married, you would recognize how good we were together, and we would turn this into a real marriage.”
“You did?”
“I did,” he answered, bringing his gaze back to hers. “But I don’t know if that is what I want anymore.”
“I understand,” she replied, willing herself not to cry.
He closed his eyes for a long moment. “It is not that I don’t love you, but I can’t risk you leaving me again. It would destroy me.”
“Once Bill Garrett and the rest of the gang is rounded up, then…”
“That is precisely my point, Rosie,” he stated with pleading eyes. “What if we don’t catch Garrett tomorrow? You could be tracking him for another four years, or seven, or
