Read Online Outlaw for Christmas (9781101573020) by Lori Austin - Free Book Online Page A

eyes.
    â€œWhat have you been doing since you left the farm?”
    Even though her cool, soft hand stroked his brow, proving she hovered near, Ruth’s voice seemed to come from a long way off. He should tell her not to touch him like that, but he couldn’t quite manage it.
    â€œDidn’t say I left.” His voice had slurred. “Said I
could
have at eighteen.”
    â€œThen you’re still farming? Do you like it?”
    â€œAlways hated it.”
    â€œDo something else then. Do it here.”
    He didn’t answer. Couldn’t. The glide of her fingertips soothed him into a quiet, restful sleep where not a dream awaited. Not a single memory of blood and death, no whisper of pain and fever. Not even the image of alabaster skin, silken breasts, or warm, soothing lips on his own.
    Nothing there but peace and safety, a thread of happiness. But then those things had always been more of a dream to Noah than anything else.
    * * *
    As Christmas Eve became Christmas, Ruth’s gift slept on and on—a healing rest, no longer an unconscious slump. Noah was out of danger, yet Ruth remained, running her hands through his hair, touching his face, holding his hand. He never moved.
    Perhaps she had not heard him murmur her name in his sleep; he certainly didn’t do so now. But their kiss, the embrace, had changed things—no matter that he had not meant it. Ruth had, and she could never go back to the way things had been. Even if Noah left, she would always remember what it had been like to be touched by him, and she did not think she could bear to be touched by any other man.
    Love was so much more than she could ever have imagined. In her girlish heart love had been warmth and safety. But in the space of an hour she’d learned that love could be heat and danger, too.
    Because what she felt for Noah
was
dangerous. As her father had said, love could destroy her. She knew that as instinctively as she knew Noah did not love her. At least not yet.
    His horror at touching her as a man touches a woman proved he saw her as a child and not a woman grown. But he cared for her; she could see it in his eyes. He trusted her or he would never have come to her when he was hurt. Noah needed her now. Ruth would make certain he always did.
    Once he’d saved her, and despite the intervening years, she still belonged to him. Now she had saved Noah. How would she convince him that he belonged with her?
    She needed time to show him she was all grown up and he was the only man for her. Just as she was the only woman for him. Time to show him that Kelly Creek could be a home—for him and for her. For them.
    He’d spoken of leaving, but she had a few days. She just wasn’t sure what to do.
    Snow scratched the window, reminding Ruth that time had passed. She had to go back home.
    After bundling herself against the cold, Ruth looked in on Noah once more. Even with the dark ghost of a beard on his face, he appeared younger asleep. She touched her chin where his beard had chafed as his mouth had taken, then given to, hers.
    Determination flowed through her. She’d do whatever she had to do to feel his mouth against hers again. Even follow him to the end of the earth—or the borders of Kansas.
    Ruth shrugged. Most folks thought the two were the very same place.
    ***
    For Robert Kelly, Christmas was interminable. Because his Cora had adored Christmas.
    A whiff of evergreen brought back images of her. The flicker of candles made him remember how the fire had played in her long blonde hair. The scent of cookies caused him to see her laughing face, with flour on her nose, to remember how the frosting had tasted on her lips.
    He’d allowed Christmas to continue almost as it had when she was alive. To do otherwise would only invite pity, even scorn, from people who knew him. But one thing he’d been unable to bear was the reading of that blasted poem she’d adored. That he had banned from