Scarlet Leaves
Page 38
Alarm poured through her, for she knew the people in Ohio wouldn't accept her, just as the people in the Blue Ridge would never accept him because he'd fought for the
Union. "I-I see," she replied quietly, trying to make her voice sound normal. "Then you'll be taking over your father's factory."
Taggart's expression lightened. "Noactually I'll be selling it," he answered, laugh lines streaking from his amused eyes. "I'm going to put that fortune to another use. I have my heart set on buying land, like I've always dreamed about." He ran his finger down her nose, then over her lips, searching her eyes. "What do you say, Fancy Pants? Will you marry me and strike out for California? We'll buy land there and start over. We'll forget this war ever happened."
Silky drew in her breath, thinking she would die from happiness. Wildly throwing her arms about him, she stood on her toes to rain kisses over his face. "Oh yes, a million times yes," she cried, the words coming not only from her lips, but her heart and soul as well. Tilting back her head, she laughed with pure, unadulterated joy, feeling as if she'd scooped the sun from the sky and it was now shining in her heart. He hadn't mentioned being handfastedhe'd done better. He'd actually asked her to marry him and to go to California, that wondrous realm she'd always dreamed about, that golden shore where dreams came true!
Taggart chortled lightly at her unrestrained enthusiasm.
"Are you sure you mean what you're saying?" she asked, her bosom heaving with emotion. "A rich man like you could many anyone he wanted," she insisted, almost out of breath, "one of those fancy Yankee girls you met at those West Point balls, anyone, why"
He shook her gently, halting her runaway words. "I don't love you for what you're not; I love you for what you areand what you are is something glorious to behold." He studied her with sparkling eyes. "Don't you believe what I'm saying?"
She giggled merrily. "Well, yesI'm beginning to. It's just that I've always had a hard time believing anyone who doesn't like okra and buttermilk. And now that I know you're a Yankee, I'm sure you really don't like either one."
He gave a throaty chuckle. "That's right, and I never will, but I love you, you sassy little Reb."
She looked up at his roguish face, thinking she was the happiest woman in the world. California was a long way off, and the future was full of uncertainty, but their love would protect and sustain them. Together they could face anything. "And I love youyou low-down, blue-bellied, Yankee buzzard!"
Taggart's brows shot up in surprise; then he laughed richly.
"You won't be sorry you're marrying me," she promised, intentionally using the heavy mountain drawl that had colored her voice when they had first met. She tossed her hair back and tilted her head to the side. "My love is just like my applejack," she teased with a little chuckle. "It'll make your ears ring, your eyes water, and sweat pop out on your brow. Why, you'll feel so good, you'll have to walk sideways to keep from flying!"
He flashed her a devilishly wicked smile. "Ummm, don't I know it." He pulled her closer, moving his hands in tender circles over her shoulders. "I don't think our peace negotiations are over yet, ma'am. There's one more item on the agenda."
"Very well, sir," she said crisply. "The prisoner has permission to speak."
He lowered his lips to hers, his hands sliding from her shoulders to her waist and leaving a tingling warmth in their wake. "I think we should seal this bargain not with a peck on the lips, but with a proper kiss," he murmured, his voice threaded with fiery passion. He flashed her a provocative grin, moving his strong hands over the hollows of her back. "Don't you?"
Before she had a chance to answer, his mouth captured hers with ravishing insistence, and she circled her arms about his neck, responding to the magic of his touch. As his lips burned over hers, searching, demanding, making her his, happiness sparkled through her like dazzling fireworks. Enveloped in warm glory, she melted against his hard chest, thinking that from this day forward their love would last for eternitywell, maybe not eternity, she decided with an inner smilebut a jillion years at least.
And it was then, during this moment of wild ecstasy, that Silky Shanahan realized that while the Confederacy might have been defeated, she had won the war.