Read Online Heart of Texas Vol. 3 by Debbie Macomber - Free Book Online Page A

past its prime. It’d been ready for the scrap heap when Jake was alive, but Nell had coaxed three more years from it; she prayed the truck would last another year.
    â€œI disagree,” he said.
    His words cut into her thoughts. She raised questioning eyes to him. “What do you mean?”
    â€œYou loved Jake, and it’s obvious you two shared something very special. But you didn’t die with him. The woman I kissed is alive and healthy. She’s vital and lovely and passionate.” He raised his hand as if to touch her face, but changed his mind and slowly lowered it. “I felt your heart pound against mine. The woman I kissed is alive, Nell. She has a lot to live for.”
    â€œI—”
    â€œYou might prefer to think of yourself as dead, but you aren’t.”
    His words surprised her more than his kiss. She didn’t know how to respond, how to react. Ruth had been saying the same thing to her, but in different words. All this time she’d resisted, afraid she’d lose even more of Jake than she already had. This was dangerous stuff, too dangerous to think about right now. She’d leave it for another time.
    â€œYou haven’t dated since Jake died?” Travis asked.
    She shook her head.
    â€œWhat’s the matter with the men in this town?” he asked in a way that suggested they were idiots.
    â€œGrady Weston asked me to the big summer dance last year.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œAnd I turned him down. Glen Patterson, too.”
    â€œNell, no.” He planted his hands squarely on her shoulders. “Wake up. Look around you. Breathe in the cool night air and let it fill your lungs. Let yourself feel. ”
    He spoke with such intensity all she could do was stare at him.
    â€œYou don’t believe anything I’ve said, do you? I can see it in your eyes.”
    Instantly she lowered her gaze. “I’ll never have with anyone else the kind of love I had with Jake.”
    â€œOf course you won’t,” he said.
    The man said and did the most shocking things.
    â€œJake was Jake,” he continued. “Any relationship you might have with another man will be different from your marriage to Jake because that man will be different from Jake.” He paused. “The problem, Nell, is that you haven’t seen it this way. The way you see it, any other man is destined to fall short because he can never be a replacement for the original.”
    She had to admit Travis made sense. It was exactly what Ruth and Dovie and several others, Savannah included, had been trying to tell her. Either she hadn’t fully understood or she hadn’t been ready to listen.
    It hit her then that Travis spoke as if he was familiar with this type of loss. “You lost your wife?” she asked him.
    Now it was Travis who looked away. “In a manner of speaking.”
    â€œWhat manner?” He’d prodded and pried, now she did the same.
    â€œI’m divorced.”
    â€œYou loved her?”
    â€œVery much,” he said, “and I assumed she loved me. But apparently I was wrong.”
    Nell waited for him to go on, and after a moment he did.
    â€œShe met someone else.” Travis buried his hands deep inside his pockets as though he felt a need to suppress his anger, even now. “Someone who could give her the things she needed, the things I couldn’t—and I’m not just talking about money.” He sounded philosophical, but beneath his matter-of-fact statement, she recognized his pain. Recognized it because she’d experienced a similar pain.
    â€œTony, Val’s new husband, sets her on fire,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I didn’t.”
    Nell might have accepted the words at face value if not for one thing. He’d held her and kissed her. There was definitely fire in him, and it was burning strong. Maybe his ex-wife hadn’t provided enough kindling, she