AnUnlikelyHeroAmazon
Page 29
On a loud whoop, Dillon pulled her onto his lap and cupped her face. “Other than the joy of marrying you and loving you for the rest of my life, this is the best thing ever. No more scouting. Jeezus, Alma…I love you so much.” He caught her mouth in a long, heated kiss. On a hum of pleasure, he slid his hand beneath her robe, his callused fingers warm against her skin. His touch stole her breath. “Regardless of ranches,” he said against her mouth, “I’m just grateful for the gift of you in my life.”
Love rushed through her. “I’m the lucky one,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. The many joys this man had already shown her outnumbered the stars in the glorious night sky. She hugged him. “And I’m so glad you approve.” However much she wanted to make love again, she slid from his embrace. “I’ll dress and we can go see our new place.”
“We’ll go in a minute.” He held the edge of her robe, and the paisley silk glided from her naked body.
Eyes dark with need, he slipped off his jacket and then pulled his shirt from the waistband of his pants. “For right now, Mrs. Reed, I’m going to thank you good and proper.”Dillon scooped her up and she wrapped herself around him. “You beast,” she breathed.
“As I recall, you like things this way.”
“I do at tha–”
Long and intimate, his kiss cut off her words as they tumbled into bed.
When they finally exited the hotel hours later, the sun blazed high in the sky.
Alma smoothed her hands over the peplum of her black riding habit, the skirt void of a full bustle, much to her husband’s delight. A top hat finished her stylish ensemble, the tails of the black bow falling off the back edge of the brim and down her back. Before she’d left their room, she also tucked a folding parasol beneath her arm.
A smile across her face, she nodded at the hotel patrons passing by as she followed her husband out the front door.
He clasped the brim of his Stetson in one hand, his other giving hers a squeeze. “I’ll call for a carriage,” he said, turning toward the stable.
“Wait. No carriage today.”
He glanced at her, a glint in his eyes. A half-smile touched his lips. “You don’t mean what I’m thinkin’, do you?”
A breeze lifted the wisps of hair falling over his forehead. Another sizzle slipped through her. She cherished this man with all her heart. “Yes, Mister Reed,” she said with warm teasing. “I do mean exactly that.”
Dillon nodded and stepped into the sunlight, his spurs chinking as he hit the sand. The sun laid a glint across his holstered Colt. “Wait here out of the heat. I’ll be right back.” Five minutes later, he pulled his gelding to a stop, paces away. “You sure ‘bout this, Princess?”
She stepped onto the dusty lane. Shielding her eyes from the glare of the territory sun, she glanced up at her husband. “Absolutely.”
With a laugh, he leaned down and slid his arm around her. “Up we go, darlin’.” He lifted her onto the saddle and set her before him, then slipped his arm around her cinched waist.
Wrapped within his protective embrace, Alma settled against him, never so happy in her life. “Perfect,” she sighed. “Now, I’m ready.”
“I’m glad you’re here, too,” he whispered against her ear. “Within easy reach.” He squeezed her tighter against him as tears of joy filled her eyes. They had their whole life ahead of them, and she couldn’t wait to get started. She pushed open her tiny sunshade and held the peach-colored parasol aloft in her gloved hand.
Chuckling, Dillon pushed the gadget a smidgen more to the left, then reined his gelding around and headed south.
Anyone who caught a glimpse of the mismatched newlyweds as they rode by didn’t really know the full love story between this army scout and the beautiful Boston socialite he’d been assigned to protect on her journey westward.
But…they knew.
And that was all that mattered to them.
The End
About the Author …
Born in Arizona to a family of educators, Cindy Nord moved from the southwestern desert to southwestern Indiana during her teenage years. After the birth of her two sons, she became a stay-at-home mom. When the boys went down for naps, she settled in to read and escape into the world of historical novels. A thousand stories and a divorce later, Cindy pulled out her father’s Tower typewriter and decided she would write a saga that contained the elements SHE liked best in a hero.
Cindy met her husband, Tom, on a Civil War battlefield, where he was portraying a captain of the 14th Indiana Infantry. Right then and there, she decided to don a corset and become part of a unique little hobby called Civil War Reenacting, something she and her family could enjoy together. The rest, as they say, is history.
A member of numerous writers groups, Cindy’s work has finaled or won countless times in chapter competitions, including the prestigious Romance Writers of America National Golden Heart Contest. Her writing is fresh and intense, and conflict keeps the pages turning. A luscious blend of history and romance, her stories meld both genres around fast-paced action and emotionally driven characters.
Indeed, true love awaits you in the writings of Cindy Nord.
Website: www.cindynord.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cindy.nord.9
Twitter: cnord2@sbcglobal.net
Cindy invites you to enjoy her other passion-driven novels in her bestselling The Cutteridge Series
NO GREATER GLORY
Also in Print
(Book One & the #1 Civil War Romance at Amazon for over one full year)
WITH OPEN ARMS
Also in Print
(Book Two & a #1 Bestselling Western Historical Romance)
BY ANY MEANS
(Book Four – Coming the winter of 2017)
Amid the carnage of war, he commandeers far more than just her home
NO GREATER GLORY
Also in Print
©2012 Cindy Nord
(The Cutteridge Family, Book One)
Samhain Publishing
Widowed plantation owner Emaline McDaniels has struggled to hold on to her late husband’s dreams. Despite the responsibilities resting on her slender shoulders, she’ll not let anyone steal away what’s left of her way of life…particularly a Yankee officer who wants to set up winter camp on her land.
With a defiance born of desperation, she defends her home as though it were the child she never had…and no mother gives up her child without a fight!
Despite the brazen wisp of a woman pointing a gun at his head, Colonel Reece Cutteridge has his orders. Requisition Shapinsay—and its valuable livestock—for his regiment’s use, and pay her with Union vouchers. He ever expected her fierce determination, then her concern for his wounded, to upend his heart—and possibly his career.
As the armies go dormant for the winter, battle lines are drawn inside the mansion. Yet just as their clash of wills shifts to forbidden passion, the tides of war sweep Reece away. And now their most desperate battle is to survive the war with their lives—and their love—intact.
(Available now in ebook and print from Samhain Publishing and all other booksellers)
** Also available in audiobook
A war-weary ex-soldier. An untamable woman. Love doesn’t stand a chance in hell…
WITH OPEN ARMS
Also in Print
©2012 Cindy Nord
(The Cutteridge Family, Book Two)
Samhain Publishing
Hardened in childhood by the death of her parents, then left to run the family’s southwestern territory ranch when her brother rode off to fight for the Union years before, Callie Cutteridge hides her heartbreak behind a mask of self-sufficiency. Breaking horses for the army proves she’s neither delicate nor helpless. When a former cavalry officer shows up claiming to own her brother’s half of the Arizona ranch, she steels herself to resist the handsome stranger’s intention to govern even one single aspect of her life. After all, loving means losing…to her it always has.
> For months, Jackson Neale has looked forward to putting the bloodstained battlefields back east behind him. Callie isn’t the agreeable angel her brother led him to believe, but he’s damned well not the useless rake this foul-mouthed hellion thinks he is, either. His quest for calm stability contradicts sharply with her need for control, yet still their heartstrings tangle. But how can these mistrusting partners transform their fiery passion into happily-ever-after when all Callie knows how to do is fight…and all Jackson wants is peace?
(Available now in ebook and print from Samhain Publishing and all other booksellers)
Table of Contents
Copyright
Praise for Cindy Nord's Cutteridge Family Series
Dedications
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
About the Author
No Greater Glory
With Open Arms