Read Online Love by the Letter by Melissa Jagears - Free Book Online

And he’d thought candy and a poem could win her last minute. But even now she’d be gone for four years with hardly a notion of how he felt.
    Dex shook his head.
    He had to do something, but what could he do now? More sophisticated, intelligent men lived in the big city and were bound to notice the jewel she was. And they’d not shy away from selling everything to gain a treasure like her.
    Her frown pulled at his heart—stupid men shouldn’t make her second guess her dreams though. She encouraged every man, woman, and child in town to succeed; he could do no less for her.
    He dared to put his hand on top of hers. “Whether you want to be a fancy professor or a mother, don’t let anybody discourage youfrom school. Being smart and having a diploma won’t make any difference to a man who loves you.”
    She blinked those big golden-hazel eyes at him, and with each downward flutter, he took in her pert nose, her warmed cheeks, her slightly parted lips.
    “He would wait years for you.” The whisper of his words seemed to make her hold her breath.
    He’d never kissed a woman, not even the ones he’d walked home more than once. But the exposed flesh between her neck and shoulder called to his hand, and he leaned a fraction closer.
    He shouldn’t kiss her now. Not even a good-bye kiss. But her lips were too close, her breath too sweet, and the urge to kiss her powerful bad. He leaned forward another inch.
    Her tender lips against his revived the words of the love sonnet he’d recited, except he’d leave the sensation of his mouth upon hers instead of a touch upon the palm and gain the flavor of butterscotch on his lips to haunt his dreams rather than the taste of wine.
    A moment passed before her lips softened against his. He sank deeper and wound his fingers in her hair.
    She inhaled sharply and broke away. “Your lesson is over.”
    He dropped his hand and blinked. “Because I kissed you?”
    “No.” She stood, her chair banging against the sofa, and she reached to steady herself. “I mean, yes. I shouldn’t have done that. Not at all.”
    This was going wrong, terribly wrong. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that either. I didn’t mean to kiss you—”
    “So you accidently kissed me?” She clenched her fists at her side. Her face was red again, but definitely not from a blush. “Your bride might not appreciate you kissing other girls for no reason.”
    He stood and reached out to her. “But I don’t accidentally kiss other girls—”
    “Oh? I never would’ve believed Dex Stanton would cheat on a woman.” Before he could grab her, she’d disappeared into the hall.
    “I’m not cheating.”
    “I doubt your wife would think so.” Her slippered feet made swift work of the stairs.
    He slid after her into the foyer. “Wait, Rachel. You’re not listening. This is just a big mistake—”
    She slammed a door.
    He stood, shaking as hard as if he’d been forced to publicly read an unfamiliar passage. His chest rose and fell fitfully. The feel of her lips against his had twisted up everything inside him.
    “Rachel! I’ve kissed no one but you. There is no one but you.” Hoping to hear the quiet opening of a door, he waited until his breathing evened out. But only the mantle clock ticked and ticked and ticked. . . . What had he done wrong?
    He went back to grab his sister-in-law’s poems and trudged back into the foyer, taking one last hopeless glimpse upstairs. He’d used his lips upon hers to show her everything he’d bottled up inside, but it hadn’t been enough to win the battle. That’s what he got for doing nothing to win her until now.
    For the rest of his life he’d have to be content spending his pennies on butterscotch.

Chapter 5
    The front door shut with a faint click.
    Rachel wilted against her bedroom door. She pressed a hand against her lips still abuzz from Dex’s kiss. She should have gone back downstairs and asked him what he meant by there being no one but her. Did