Read Online Dream's End by Diana Palmer - Free Book Online Page A

can’t.”
    â€œI double dog dare you.”
    â€œBut, I….”
    â€œI double-double dog dare you.”
    He threw down his napkin. “That does it, no man alive could refuse a double-double dog dare! But if I come back bleeding, it’ll be your fault.”
    â€œI’ll put on the tourniquet,” she promised faithfully.
    She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he walked up to the table where the fragile looking blonde was sitting alone and bent over to speak to her. She saw the look on the girl’s face, and something inside her relaxed. That beaming, tender look the blonde was giving Jim said more than a volume. Eleanor smiled involuntarily and turned her attention back to her supper.
    Â 
    All Jim talked about on the way back to the ranch was Elaine and how sweet she was and how amazing his luck was that she’d finally agreed to go out with him.
    â€œAnd what do you mean, finally,” Eleanor chuckled. “You never asked her before, you big old shy maverick.”
    â€œThanks, Norie.” He sighed. “You’ll never know…”
    â€œYes, I do,” she protested, “andyou’re very welcome. What are friends for?”
    â€œTo help each other, it looks like.” He pulled up in front of the ranch house and switched off the engine. “I only wish there was some way I could help you besides giving you a job.”
    â€œI’m fine, Jim, really,” she said, twisting her purse in her hands. “Just…a little worn, and time will fix that. I may not stay with you for a long time, you know,” she added gently. “I’m not sure where I want to go yet. I’ve never given any thought to a future beyond this place,” she said, gesturing toward the Matherson property. “Now, I have to decide what I want to do with my life. You know, I’ve only just realized that there are things beside ranch work that I could do. I could work for lawyers, or doctors, or I could go back to school. I could even train for an entirely new profession—go to a technical school, or train on the job. The world is opening up for me.”
    â€œIt won’t bother you to leave here?” he asked shrewdly.
    She looked down at her darkened lap. “I didn’t say that. But time heals most wounds, even the kind Curry Matherson dishes out. I’ll live. People do.”
    He tilted her face up to his eyes in the dim light that came from the front porch.
    â€œCurry’s a damned fool,” he said quietly. “Amanda will never make the kind of wife he needs. She’ll be sick of the ranch in two weeks, and back to Houston to recuperate. Unless I miss my guess, she’ll live there and leave Curry here and he’ll have to come to Houston just to get to see her. She’ll never adapt.”
    She shrugged. “He loves her,” she said simply.
    â€œNo, he doesn’t. He wants her, which is something you’d have to be a man to understand. It’s a kind of burning thirst that usually gets quenched after one good sip. But she’ll keep him hanging until the ring’s on her finger, and then it’ll be toolate to go back.” He sighed. “Curry’s not the kind of man to back out of a deal once he’s given his word. That includes marriage. No, he’ll stick it out. He’s too bullheaded to cry quits.”
    â€œIt won’t be much of a life, will it, Jim?” she asked softly.
    â€œNo, hon, it won’t. But don’t think you can tell him that.”
    She laughed mirthlessly. “When was the last time you tried to tell him something?” she challenged.
    â€œI remember it well, as it happens. It was 1969, and I warned him that if he bought that damned helicopter to use to herd cattle, he’d spend more time maintaining it than he would flying it.”
    â€œThat was before my time,” Eleanor said. “What happened?”
    â€œOne of his