“I’m not sorry. Zeb was cruel to her. Now she has an excuse to be rid of him. And as for you and me…” He raised her chin with a finger. “I never told you that I loved you.”
She stared blankly at him, numb with shock, then a cry of joy broke from her lips. “You do?”
“Oh, yes.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered weakly. “More than I ever thought I could love any man.”
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. “When I saw you in that noose, Jo, I thought I’d lost you. Then, I thought I was dying and all I could think about was how I’d been wasting my life doing something that just wasn’t me, and how you’re everything that I want and you make me everything I want to be. I can’t miss this chance for happiness, Jo. I don’t want to lose you.”
Jo sat back, almost afraid to believe this could be happening, that he could be saying these things to her. “You won’t.”
“Is that a promise?”
“Yes.” She kissed his hand, again and again. “Yes!”
“But there’s only one thing that still bothers me about all this,” Fletcher said, frowning. “Actually, about you.”
At his words, Jo’s heart flinched a little, but she forced herself to speak. “What would that be?”
He stared at her for a moment, looking reluctant to tell her. “Well…if you really want to know…it’s your name.”
“Josephine? You don’t like it?”
“Oh, I like Josephine fine. It’s Mrs. O’Malley I’m gonna have a problem with. You see, I was kind of hoping you’d change it—to Mrs. Collins.”
Jo filled with warmth as Fletcher grasped her hand in his and brought it to his lips.
“Well, will you? Will you be Mrs. Collins?”
Laughing and crying at the same time, Jo flung herself at Fletcher and planted her mouth on his.
“Ow! Ow! My side!” he groaned, peeling her off him and laughing. “Have pity on an injured man! I take it that’s a yes?”
“Yes,” Jo sputtered, still wiping at the tears that flowed freely down her face as Fletcher reached up to kiss her.
“Hey,” he said softly. “I guess that old saying is true after all.”
“About what?”
He tilted his head for another kiss and smiled. “A rose by any other name does smell as sweet.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1372-2
THE MARSHAL AND MRS. O’MALLEY
Copyright © 2001 by Julianne MacLean
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The Marshal and Mrs. O'Malley Page 25