by Jodi Thomas
As the men walked back to the house, Cherish rushed toward them. She ran into Brant’s open arms as she always had, silently declaring her love.
The outlaw swung her around. When her feet finally touched ground, she turned to Grayson. “Maggie said she needs to check your bandages and see if the ride did any damage.” She winked at Brant. “We’ll wait out here until she’s finished.”
Grayson grumbled. “That woman is going to bandage me to death.” He turned toward the cabin, continuing to grumble to himself, but he was already smiling at the thought of being alone with Maggie for a few minutes.
Brant pulled Cherish back toward the trees. “I need to talk to you.” They walked arm in arm the short distance toward the shady quiet area beyond the cabin.
“I plan to correct a lie I just told your aunt. That woman is not someone I want to look straight in the face and tell any more lies than I have to.”
They were in the tall grass by the stream before he slowed. He knelt down by the spot where they’d first made love and pulled her beside him.
“Marry me,” he said.
Cherish giggled. “What, here?”
“Yes, right here, right now.”
He faced her as he captured her hands in his. “Marry me, Cherish.”
She saw the need in his dark eyes and nodded slowly.
He bent and kissed her hands as if in prayer, then raised his gaze to hers. “I take you this day for my wife,” he started, trying to remember words he’d heard somewhere long ago. “If I owned the world, you’d be all I treasured. I promise to love and protect you for as long as I live.”
The beauty of his commitment melted over her and she couldn’t have felt his words deeper if they’d been said in the finest church in the world. “And I promise to love you for as long as I live. I take you this day and all the days of my life to be my husband.”
Brant pulled the gold band from his pocket and slid it on her finger. A current of emotion and surprise at the sight of the ring surged through Cherish’s body.
“Forever, Mrs. Coulter,” he whispered.
“Forever,” she answered.
Several feet away, Maggie stood and lifted the bucket she’d been filling. “Amen,” she whispered as a tear trickled down her cheek.
An hour later at dinner, Maggie was silent. When the dishes were done, Cherish and Brant picked up their bedrolls to join an already sleeping Barfield in the barn.
“Good night,” Cherish whispered as she kissed Maggie’s cheek.
Suddenly Maggie was holding her like a frightened child. Grayson raised an eyebrow in question, but Cherish understood. She dropped the bedding and held onto Maggie, hugging her best friend for perhaps the last time, holding her tightly, as she’d held Maggie all her life, knowing that her aunt would need this hug to last a long, long time.
“I’ll miss you,” Maggie whispered in a voice that had suddenly lost all its hardness and direction.
“I know,” Cherish answered. “But remember, ties of love stretch but never break. I’ll be there in your heart, whenever you need me. Just as you will always be with me. My love will walk beside you, even though your place is with Grayson.”
Maggie raised her chin as her strength returned. “And you belong with this Coulter man.”
Then, to everyone’s surprise, Maggie turned and hugged Brant Coulter. The outlaw blushed for the first time in his life, while Grayson’s laughter filled the tiny cabin.
DIAMOND BOOKS, NEW YORK
PRAIRIE SONG
A Diamond Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Diamond edition / February 1992
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1992 by Jodi Koumalats.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.
For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016.
EISBN: 9781101563380
Diamond Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016.
The name “DIAMOND” and its logo are trademarks belonging to Charter Communications, Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Epilogue