“Thank you for catching me,” she managed to clarify. She stared at the lantern’s light spilling over the bottom steps of her cabin’s winding staircase. “I might’ve broken a leg—or my neck—if you hadn’t helped me. I want you to know that I do appreciate what you did, and I’m sorry for not being kinder to you when we first met.”
Raising her head, she faced him once more, finding him closer than she expected. She caught herself leaning forward to absorb a little more of the heat emanating from his muscular frame.
He lowered his head next to hers, near the lantern’s soft light, and his chest vibrated softly with the low words he spoke. “You’re welcome.”
She caught a brief glimpse of a small smile on his sensual lips before he turned away and walked toward the bridge leading to his cabin on the other side of the stream. His left arm moved stiffly by his side with each step.
“Travis?”
His tall frame stopped, half turned toward her.
“I know you’re hurting because you helped me,” she whispered. “And what I said—it’s not enough. But words never are, are they?” Glancing down, she tightened her grip on the lantern, then walked over and pressed it into his hand instead. “Take this. You’ll need it going up the trail, and I know my way in from here.”
He stood there silently, the lantern dangling between his blunt fingertips, his dark eyes peering into hers. After a few moments, he moved away and crossed the bridge.
Hannah hugged her arms across her chest and watched as Travis’s tall figure blended into the dark night, the glowing lantern bobbing in the dark along the stream’s bank, then winding up the mountain trail.
When the lantern’s light dimmed to a small speck, barely visible at a high point among the trees, Hannah went inside her cabin, locked the door, and reminded herself of what had happened the last time she’d bared her body—and heart—to a man.
Dear Margaret,
I helped fix the stable roof today. I wish I could tell you that I did it solely for you, at your request. But I didn’t. I wanted to help Hannah, too . . . and I did. Just not in the way I expected.
Hannah thanked me tonight. She looked at me as though I might be someone who mattered, and it was the first time in my life that I came close to feeling happy. Do I deserve that?
Coming to Paradise Peak felt right at the time, but now it doesn’t. Hannah doesn’t know who I am any more than you do. Neither does Red. I lied to all of you and you’ve done nothing but welcome me in. It was one thing to imagine being here and asking for your forgiveness; it’s another thing altogether to feel the mountain beneath my feet, to look you in the eye and try to find the words.
How can I tell any of you who I am? What can I possibly say that will explain why I felt I had to lie? What can I say to Red and Hannah when they realize how much I’ve hurt you? When they know I stole Niki’s life from her?
Hannah told me tonight that words are never enough. I believe her. There is nothing I could ever say that would right the wrong I’ve committed. So what do I do now?
I’m so sorry, Margaret—I have no right to ask anything of you, but I don’t have the answers.
How is the value of a man measured? With what instrument? And how does a man prove he is worthy of forgiveness?
CHAPTER 4
Travi s waved his hand, motioning for Red to continue backing up his truck beside the stable.
“How much further?” Red, seated behind the wheel of the truck, stuck his head out of the open window and hollered over the rumble of the engine. “’Bout a foot?”
“Two,” Travis called back.
A swift wind rushed over the foggy grounds of Paradise Peak Ranch, kicking up dust along the gravel driveway and ruffling Travis’s hair onto his forehead. Ruby and Juno, standing in the adjacent pasture, jerked their heads and lifted their noses in the air.
Pushing his hair out of his eyes, Travis glanced at the trailer’s coupler, then eyed the hitch on the back of Red’s truck as it approached. “One more foot and you’re there.”
When the truck’s hitch eased into position beneath the trailer’s coupler, Travis held up a fist, signaling for Red to stop the truck. Red turned off the ignition, and the engine ceased its rumble, but a high-pitched whistle took its place, whizzing sharply by Travis’s ears.
Travis looked up, taking in the gray, overcast sky and eyeing the darker clouds that rolled with the wind at a lower altitude. From the looks of things, the weatherman’s prediction that rain would arrive this afternoon was correct.
“Hannah said y’all planned to stop by Glory Be on the way to pick the horse up.” Red had exited the truck and strolled toward Travis. “Might want to make it a quick trip. Way my bones are aching, this storm that’s blowing in is gonna be a humdinger, and you don’t want to be hauling a nervous horse back in something like that.”
“Glory Be?” Travis asked.
Red laughed, bent and cranked the handle on the trailer to lower it. “Gloria Ulman’s store. She carries clothes, tools, and plants—bit of everything. Hannah said you two are gonna stop by there so you can pick up a few things.”
Travis nodded. “I could use a tougher pair of jeans and a shirt or two. Thanks again for the boots and the bonus.”