MONTANA SKY 07.5: Angel In Paradise by Debra Holland Read Free Book Online Page A

rose “I was no horse thief.”
    “I know,” she whispered, cupping the side of his face with one hand. Her eyes filled. A tear spilled over, sliding down her cheek.
    Rafe couldn’t bear to see her cry. Remorse welled up, clogged his throat like someone had shoved a fistful of sand into his mouth. He took a minute to fight for control, to find the words. “I’m so very sorry, Angel,” he said, his voice thick. “I shouldn’t have been so damn stubborn. When you didn’t answer my note, I should have written a letter, written a hundred letters.”
    Her eyebrows pulled together. “What note?”
    He leaned forward and kissed the teardrop before it could fall, tasting the salty trail. “The one I left in the oak.”
    She stared wide-eyed and slack-jawed. “There wasn’t a letter, Rafe. I went there the next day. Made sure I felt every inch of that hole in the trunk. Went back every day for months, just in case you returned or were around, but in hiding.”
    “I did leave you a message, Angel. I swear. Told you I was coming here. Told you to write me care of Seeker’s Island Hotel.” Then he remembered Lucinda McCurdy driving by. “Lucinda must have taken it. I was pulling out when she passed me. She must have wondered why I’d stopped there at night, and being a McCurdy had to investigate and make trouble.”
    She pressed a hand to her heart. “I can’t believe this, Rafe. All those years of pain.”
    “It’s the truth.”
    “No, no. I believe you. I mean that I can’t believe we’ve wasted so many years.”
    Time for my confession . “I thought you believed McCurdy’s lies about me stealing his stud.”
    She made a raspberry sound. “Never in a million years would I believe one of Dustin McCurdy’s lies. Besides, I heard almost a day-by-day recounting of you saving the money, paying Dustin, bringing your mares there…. And so I told everyone. Some people might have believed the McCurdys, but most didn’t.”
    “Why didn’t my family get in touch with me?”
    “I’ll bet your grandfather was too damn stubborn to admit he was wrong. As for your mom, she was so downtrodden by that old man. She and your brother, they’re too much alike—both gentle souls, even if Gabe has a hunky cowboy body.”
    “What!”
    “Just saying.” She grinned and kissed his chin. “Not as hunky as you, though.”
    “So, they knuckled under. But what about after he died?”
    “They knew you weren’t responding to Dad’s letters. Probably figured you didn’t want to talk to them.”
    He kissed her nose. “They figured right.”
    Her expression turned serious. “Rafe, your grandfather died a year ago.”
    “I assumed something like that.” Maybe in the future when he’d worked through things, he’d be able to mourn the loss of the old man. Right now, he didn’t feel anything.
    “His will stipulates that if you didn’t return to Sweetwater Springs, the ranch is to be sold to the McCurdys. I have no doubt, they’ll break the land up into parcels for developing.”
    Rafe swore. He sat a few minutes, watching the breeze dry Angel’s hair, seeing the curls spring back around her face, thinking through the implications of her revelations. “Did he expect me to live there? Run the ranch with Gabe?”
    “No. Just visit for one month a year. Your stay doesn’t even have to be continuous.”
    “That’s it? He went to all that trouble for that little bit? I’d have thought he’d not only want me hog-tied, but also my progeny for ten generations.”
    “Deep down, your grandfather must have known he was in the wrong. He wanted to force your hand to make you come home, make peace with your family.”
    “Good.” He pulled her into his arms. “Because I’m staying here on Seeker’s Island.” He dropped a kiss on her lips. “Unless you’ll make me move to the big city.”
    “You’d do that for me? Relocate to New York?”
    “We’d have to raise the Paints in your apartment,” he teased. “Is it big