“I WANT TO TRUST HIM,” Isabella said as they stepped out of the third—and final—lawyer’s office.
“We can. He comes highly recommended. I wouldn’t have parted with such a sum if I didn’t think he was the right man for the job,” Hale said. He took her arm in his and guided her down the sidewalk. Cheyenne was a busy town, much larger and more established than Crest Stone, and much more likely for a lady to get pushed into or knocked over.
“I’ll try not to worry. But I can’t promise I won’t send a telegram to him every day for new information,” Isabella said, smiling up at him.
“You won’t be able to do that, because I can’t afford telegrams anymore,” Hale said, teasing her right back.
“I know that wasn’t an easy decision. Thank you for believing in Carter and Henry. And me.”
She peered up at him with those green-brown eyes, and his heart softened into something that resembled cornmeal mush.
“Of course.” It was all he could manage to say. Just looking at her sent his heart racing.
“Especially after not telling you the whole truth. I’d convinced myself on the ride here that you’d finally had enough of me, and that I’d never see you again.”
Her voice sounded so sorrowful that he stopped in his tracks, right in front of a bank. “Isabella Darby, there was nothing on this earth that would have kept me from coming after you.”
She swallowed as she looked up at him, her eyes round. “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t.”
His hands found her shoulders, and he ignored the people jostling past them. “I married you for better or for worse, didn’t I? All I ask is that you believe in that. Believe in me. Confide in me.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
Hale smiled and shook his head. “I didn’t mean to make you cry. What I meant to say is . . . I love you too.”
A tear slipped free as Isabella threw her arms around him. And before Hale could react, she lifted herself onto her toes and pressed her lips to his. He was so stunned that he stood there, hands still on her shoulders. Someone bumped into his back, and he stumbled forward.
Isabella stepped backwards, lifting a hand to her reddening face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. And in public, no less. Hale—”
She never finished what she was saying because he grabbed her hand and pulled her around the corner of the bank building. They weren’t entirely obscured, but Hale didn’t care.
All he wanted to do was kiss her again.
He lifted her chin, smiled, and did just that.
A breeze sent her skirts rippling around his legs as he kissed her softly at first. She held onto him as if he were the only thing in the world that mattered at that moment.Shewas certainly the only thing that mattered to him. In fact, he didn’t much care in those seconds whether he ever returned to Crest Stone or the boardinghouse. He’d be perfectly content to stand in this overgrown space between buildings in Cheyenne if it meant he never had to stop kissing Isabella.
She threaded her hands around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. The entire world faded around them. Hale lost track of the minutes. All he could think of was how long he’d waited to hold her like this. He’d almost lost her.
He never wanted to let her go.
“Ahem.”
Hale was only vaguely aware of the voice until the man spoke louder this time.
“Excuse me!”
He forced himself to pull away from Isabella—and he then very nearly leaned back down and started kissing her again when he saw her flushed face and the sparkle in her eyes.
“I need to get this lumber through here. If you don’t mind.” The man waited, arms crossed, with a small cart filled with long beams of wood.
“We’ll be on our way.” Hale tipped his hat at the man before taking Isabella’s hand. They made their way past the man and his cart back to the street. He looked down at her, and they both began to laugh.
“Come on,” he said, looping Isabella’s arm around his again. “We need to get to the depot.”
She tucked herself against him as they walked. “Let’s go home.”
