Heartland by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page A

you to leave.”
    â€œNo, of course not. They just warned me to stop and think very seriously about what I was doing. They pointed out how much I was expecting you to give up. They were afraid that I’d never settle down entirely, that you’d wake up one day and realize I’d made you miss out on the only thing that had ever mattered to you. You would have resented me terribly for that.”
    His gaze lifted and lingered on her face. “Remember that last night at the stream?”
    â€œAs if it were yesterday,” she admitted in a choked voice. “You held me and made love to me and you...you cried.” There was a note of surprise in her voice at the end. She had forgotten that, forgotten the shock of seeing tears in the eyes of a man she’d thought stronger than anything. “You knew what you meant to do then, didn’t you?”
    â€œI knew,” he admitted. “And it hurt.”
    There were tears in his eyes now as he asked, “Do you remember what we talked about?”
    She stared at him in confusion. All she recalled was being enfolded in his arms, the wild excitement that raced through her at his touch.
    â€œYou were so excited about your classes,” he prompted, and it began coming back to her. “Your grades had come in. Straight A’s. You were absolutely certain you’d be able to get through undergraduate school in less than four years. If you kept getting grades like that there was no question you’d be accepted to medical school.”
    Lara watched him with a puzzled frown. “You seemed so excited for me.”
    â€œI was, but I also knew right then that to continue our relationship would be wrong. I’d been planning to ask you that night to leave town with me, but when I saw how bright your future was, how much you wanted that dream, I couldn’t ask you to go. I had to let you have your chance.”
    Lara swallowed hard. “And that’s why you didn’t say anything? Couldn’t you have given me a choice?”
    A faint smile pulled at his lips. “I knew you too well, love. I knew how you’d choose. You were impetuous and in love. You’d have gone with me.”
    â€œOf course, I would have.”
    â€œAnd it would have been wrong.”
    â€œNo,” she protested, even as she realized the depth of his sacrifice. “At least I would have had you. Instead, you left, then Papa died. Not so long afterward, Mama died, too. I had to give up any thought of medical school. So, you see, it was all for nothing.”
    â€œThere was no way to know that that night. I thought I was giving you your dream. It wasn’t until I came back three years ago that I discovered it hadn’t come true after all. By then your hatred of me ran so deep I didn’t think there was any way to change it.”
    â€œWhy did you come back?”
    â€œFor the reason I gave you the other day. I couldn’t stay away any longer. If you’d been happy, if you’d been married, I told myself I wouldn’t stay, but you weren’t. Even if you wouldn’t let me back into your life, I felt I had to be here to watch out for you.”
    â€œBut you never said anything before now. Why?”
    â€œFear, I suppose. I could see how you’d reacted to my being back, especially since I’d practically forced you to sell me that land. I didn’t know how to approach you to change that. Then I was gone a lot. I had a lot of business interests in other states. And in those years I’d been away, I’d had a lot of experience with engineering. I’d been in Mexico during the earthquake. I’d helped with the rescue operation. When similar disasters took place in other countries, I was asked to come and help. I always went. It was easier than staying here and seeing the look of betrayal in your eyes.”
    Lara drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She looked at