by Pam Crooks
“Yes,” he croaked.
“This design, my school, will be an opportunity to bring education to those who don’t have the opportunities that others have. The Basque children, and so many others, will have a promising future inspired by knowledge.”
Her generosity, her brilliance, humbled him. Filled him with a love and hunger that burned his throat and robbed him of words.
“It will take some doing, of course.” She kept talking. Because he couldn’t. “The townspeople will have to approve the venture. Funds will need to be raised. It could take months, probably a couple of years, before everything is said and done, but--”
An unsettling wave of unworthiness roared into him. He’d never be able to repay her. He’d never make her feel as happy, as complete, as she was making him feel right now. How could he, when he was only a sheepherder’s son? A cattleman’s bastard son? A cowboy, deep in his heart?
“Allie.” He swallowed. “I can’t--I’m not sure--I could never--”
“What’s the matter, Mick?” She cocked her head. Though a small smile curved her lips, uncertainty dimmed the glitter of excitement in her eyes. “You don’t like my idea?”
His brain scrambled for assurances, but their differences stifled them. Would they always?
“I know my reputation is in a shambles right now,” she said, the admission coming in a fractured rush. “But I’ll--”
“To hell with your reputation, shambles or otherwise,” he growled, grasping her shoulders, desperate to make her believe.
“I’ll find the truth in who stole the library’s money, I swear.”
“I swear it, too.” His grasp tightened. “We all will.”
“Then what is it, Mick?”
Still, he hesitated, his heart torn that she was high-society, and he was cattle and sheep. She knew only big city living. He’d never live anywhere else but on this wild, unforgiving land. She was born and bred culture, and nothing could change that. He was born and bred Basque and cowboy, and nothing would ever change that, and--
“I love you, Mick.”
His worries screeched to a blazing halt.
She kept her gaze direct on his, and he almost fell into the pools of blue, darkening with a little desperation of her own. She knew his worries, his fears. Read them as plain as words on a page.
Because they matched her own?
His reservations crumbled.
“Allie. Sweet, sweet Allie. I love you. I’ll always love you.”
His arms took her against him; his mouth captured hers in a fervent declaration of all she made him feel. Love, happiness, exhilaration. Relief, too, that the burden of his responsibilities, his need to give back to his beloved Basque people, was lifted and shared by this incredible woman.
How had she known her dream could be so perfect? How could she have guessed she’d given him the most perfect of gifts?
How could she have doubted?
After long delicious moments, his head lifted, and his finger traced the swollen wetness of her mouth. He intended to spend the rest of his life making sure she never doubted again.
“Guess that means you’ll have to live in Montana for a spell,” he murmured.
“I don’t want to leave,” she admitted in earnest. “Not for a single minute.”
“Then live here as my wife, Allie. Make your home with me forever.”
Her breath caught. “Your wife?” On the wings of an elated cry, she gifted him with a new plethora of kisses that assured him of forever. “Oh, Mick! Yes!”
He fell back with her against the pillows. With his heart filled with love, he showed her just how glad he was that she’d found her way home to him.
To live a lifetime of Christmases together.
THE END
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
It has been such fun to return to Montana Territory and delve into my characters’ lives. That it’s during Christmas makes it even more fun!
THE CATTLEMAN’S CHRISTMAS BRIDE picks up where the first book in the Wells Cattle Company trilogy, THE CATTLEMAN’S UNSUITABLE BRIDE, leaves off.
By now, you know Allie decided upon the perfect gift for Christmas. I based that gift upon a monument that still stands today in Great Falls, Montana. Originally built as a vision for education and culture, Paris Gibson Square represented great vision and hope for the time. Today, it lives on as a community cultural center and museum.
The mystery of the missing library money is solved in Jack Hollister’s story, THE LAWMAN’S REDEMPTION, the third and final book in the Wells Cattle Company trilogy.
I wish you and yours the joy and peace of the Christmas season, now and always!
Pam Crooks
About Pam
While expecting her first child (more years back than she cares to count), Pam Crooks read her very first romance novel, and she’s been in love with them ever since. She grew up in the ranch country of western Nebraska, and it was inevitable she’d eventually write lots of books about cowboys. Pam still lives in Nebraska with her husband (who is not a cowboy), four married daughters and a whole slew of perfect grandchildren.
She’s a long-time member of RWA and RAH, her local chapter. Pam is also one of the founders of Petticoats & Pistols, a popular blogsite for western romance. She loves to cook, hang out at her lake cabin, and decorate birthday cakes for anyone who will let her.
To see other books Pam has written, visit www.pamcrooks.com
Or visit her author page on Amazon