clean-romance

With the way Bertha can cook and her good-natured personality, she__l be married in no time. We__l see to it!_ She cast a speculative glance around. __hy I see ten available men within a hundred feet of us. ... Bertha will manage just fine_ I hope.

Howie rose and smiled down at her. __ just eat what__ put before me without being picky. I know everything you make will make my tastebuds bless the day you set foot in Morgan__ Crossing_ he drawled, waiting to see the adorable look of confusion that crossed her face when he flirted.Bertha lowered her gaze and looked up at him through her eyelashes.__nly your tastebuds?

Even through her coat, he could feel the curve of her arm, making him aware of their differences. Man and woman. Hard and soft.

Don__ be sorry, Darlin__, he said in his best cowboy drawl, __or I__ certainly not. It__ not every day a man like me gets to assist such a pretty lady. Any time you need help in or out of a wagon, you just give me a holler_ he said in a teasing tone, ____l be right there, hoping you__l fall in my arms again.

She sighed. __hat I wouldn__ give for a civilized bathroom._ Howie remained silent out of habit and also because he didn__ know what a civilized bathroom was.

Howie brought her hand to his lips. __ou stepped in front of me,_ he said in wonder. __ didn__ need you to. I can handle Prudence Morgan._ __ut you didn__._ She tapped his chest. __ou stayed quiet for the longest time before responding._ __uiet is how I handle difficult people_._ __ou don__ handle me that way._ Her voice came out sounding breathless. Howie slipped his arms around her. __f it were up to me, this is how I__ handle you._ Butterflies danced in her stomach. Not a fearful battering of wings, but a sparkling mating flight, making her heart soar into her throat. __hy isn__ it up to you?

Jessabelle, I'm sorry to just leave, but I need some time. Time to get my head back on straight. Time to remember who I really am. Time with my Creator, the one who knew before the foundations of the earth what would happen over the last few days. I wish more than anything, that I could process all of this with you, go through all of this together, because I'm coming to understand that, out of all the men in the world, God picked me for you. It's so much more than lineage. It's you. How you've come into your own. How you've blossomed and grown. I'm so privileged to see that secret side of you-the side no one else gets to see. The side where you secretly paint your second toenail a different color because everyone else does the fourth one, but you're not sure my mother would approve so you never wear open-toed shoes to show them off. You only eat M&Ms in odd numbers. You use your right hand to put hair behind your ear, but never your left. You didn't know I knew those things, did you? I've watched you over the last few months and learned more about you than I realized until I tried to put my thoughts on paper. You're sleeping just feet away from me as I write this. Your even breathing brings some peace to my troubled soul. The small smile on your face makes me wonder what your dreaming about and if, in your sleep, you've managed to find happiness instead of the turmoil life always seems to bring. I have to stop myself from wondering if dream-Jessabelle has found happiness with someone besides dream-Malachi, because I've realized something in the last couple of days. I love you. My life didn't really begin until you walked down the aisle into it. I want to be man enough to tell you to your face, to kiss you, to tell you over and over what you've come to mean to me, but I can't. Not yet... You are the only one for me, sweet Mia Belle. I love you with my entire being, in a way I never believed possible to love another person. I didn't know this kind of love truly existed outside of fairy tales. Always, Kai