Change of Heart by Fran Shaff Read Free Book Online

Marietta
looked away and sighed. “I’ll never understand why she left.”
    “Folks have given up what they have for all
sorts of reasons,” Jase said. “You take me for example. I had a
fine ranch in Texas, had everything a man could ever want, then
Clint and me got curious about the Nebraska and Wyoming
territories. We made a trip up here to look around, and once I laid
my eyes on this part of God’s creation, I knew I had to come here
to live. Clint felt the same way.”
    “I felt bad enough to learn that Kathy was
going to Texas, but at least Texas has some civilization,” Marietta
said. “Did you know when Clint and Kathy got married that you’d
come to the Nebraska territory?”
    “Kathy knew of our plans, and she was excited
to come to virgin land.”
    Marietta shook her head. “I don’t understand
why that girl was such a rebel. How could she allow herself to take
such dangerous risks?”
    “Kathy a rebel?” he said, grinning. “I never
thought of her that way. She seemed like a real reasonable woman to
me.” The grin on his face was replaced with a soft sort of
affection that matched the tone of his voice. “I don’t think Kathy
ever saw going to Texas or coming to Nebraska as a risk. As long as
she had Clint at her side, she had everything she’d ever wanted.
She loved that man in a most profound way.”
    “And what did such foolishness get her, Mr.
Kent? Death at the hands of wild savages.”
    “That love brought her immeasurable
happiness, Miss Randolf. As for the savages who killed her, savages
are among us everywhere. Would Kathy be any less dead if she’d
fallen in with riffraff from a riverboat in Chicago or St. Louis or
Omaha?” He squeezed her shoulder with his powerful hand. “There
isn’t anything foolish about the kind of love your sister had for
Clint.”
    His words stung Marietta to her core.
    “We all miss Kathy terribly.” He paused
before he went on. “She was a shining light among us. It was a
blessing to have her in my life and an even bigger blessing for
Clint to have her in his. She changed him in an overpowering way.
Kathy was a beacon of hope in the life of a man who’d lived alone
since he was only a little older than Zack.”
    Marietta shook her head. “Don’t tell me any
more. Love destroyed Kathy. If she hadn’t loved Clint, she’d be
alive today.”
    “Maybe she would, but Zack wouldn’t.”
    Marietta got up off the sofa too quickly, and
her knees began to buckle.
    Jase bolted to his feet and held her arm to
steady her. “Easy, Miss Randolf. You don’t want to faint
again.”
    She looked up into his coffee-brown eyes and
was surprised at the concern she saw in them. Did he care for her?
While they’d been in the shack during the storm, she’d wondered a
few times if he was feeling mystical things for her as she did for
him. Now, as she gazed into his compelling eyes, she saw something
more than just friendly disquiet in his heart.
    “No, I don’t want to faint again,” she said,
barely above a whisper.
    “Please sit down.” He helped her back to the
sofa and took his place next to her. “I need to get back to my
ranch,” he said hesitantly.
    “It’s nearly nightfall. You can’t travel back
there tonight.” The realization that she didn’t want him to go
struck her like a bolt of lightning.
    “I’ll stay with the colonel tonight, and I’ll
head back at first light in the morning.”
    “Are you going to tell Zack goodbye?”
    He glanced toward the kitchen before focusing
his engaging brown eyes on Marietta. “I’ll invite myself to supper
before I go to see the colonel and make arrangements for the night.
If I can ease Zack into the idea of staying here where he belongs
by having supper with all of you, he might raise less of a fuss.
After supper, I’ll tell him goodbye and promise him I’ll be back in
a week.”
    “That sounds good.” Marietta found herself
happy at the prospect of spending one more evening with Jase, and
she was