Read Online Taming the Lone Wolf by Joan Johnston - Free Book Online Page A

devastated when I found out that Charlie had been lying to me—about the rustling, I mean. To this day, it’s the one thing I can’t forgive him.”
    He had felt a pang of remorse at the lie of omission he was perpetrating. Tess, there’s something I have to tell you. I killed your husband. The words were on the tip of his tongue. He could hear himself saying them. They remained unspoken.
    Surely, when the time came to tell Tess everything, he would find a way to make her understand why he had kept the truth from her. Fear of what she might say and do when she learned his part in her husband’s death upset his stomach. He had laid down his fork, the pleasant meal abruptly ended.
    During the past four months, the right time had never come to confess. The longer the lie lay between them, the more difficult it became to tell her the truth.
    He was running out of time. The snow was melting off the mountain. It was already gone in town. Soon the tourists would begin to arrive, and Tess would leave him to return to her life in town.
    Unless he could make things right about what had happened with her husband. Unless he could offerlove, even when it meant accepting second place to someone else in her life.
    Stony turned on his side in bed and stared at Tess in the early golden light of morning. She was more beautiful to him than ever. And infinitely precious. He should wake her up and confess the truth.
    Now was not the right time, either. He had gotten a call last night, a lead on the rustlers who had proved so elusive all winter. He was closing in on them. He had to leave this morning and return to Jackson. He didn’t know how long he would be gone.
    He lay back down and folded his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. He was going to lose her. Deep in his gut he knew it, and he was bone-deep scared.
    One second the room was silent. The next, a tornado of energy came whirling in. Rose’s pajama-clad behind plopped down on his stomach, and her hands landed flat against his bare chest. He gave a “woof” as the air in his diaphragm was pushed out by the weight of her. She rubbed her nose against his and said, “Good morning, Stony.”
    Her visits had become a morning ritual. After the first nearly embarrassing episode several months ago, he had stopped sleeping naked. It was a small enough sacrifice to enjoy the light she brought with her each morning.
    â€œHi there, little bit,” he said. “What’s up?”
    â€œIs it spring yet?” she asked, glancing out the window.
    Snow from an early March storm was melting fromthe tin roof, dripping off the eaves. “Almost,” he said.
    â€œYou promised to let me ride a pony when spring comes.”
    â€œSo I did.” He rubbed his morning beard. There was no putting it off. “I have to leave for a while, Rose. I have to go chase the bad men again.”
    She frowned, a ferocious glare worthy of the vilest villain in a penny dreadful. “I don’t want you to go.”
    A sudden lump formed in his throat. He didn’t want to go, either. How had Rose become so dear to him when he harbored such resentment against her for the place in her mother’s heart she stole from him? It was hard not to be enchanted by Rose, who gave love freely and demanded nothing in return.
    She bounced up and down on his stomach. “Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go,” she chanted.
    He grabbed her hips to save his solar plexus. “I won’t be gone long. And when I come back, it will be spring.”
    â€œPromise? And I can ride a pony?”
    â€œI promise. And you can ride a pony.”
    â€œYippee!” The bouncing started again, as though she were already on the horse, a wild bucking bronc.
    â€œWhoa, there, cowgirl! Wait until you have the horse under you.” He slid Rose onto the bed between them, tickling her once he had her down. She giggled delightedly. It was all part of