Beverly Jenkins Read Online Free PDF

his head and chuckled softly.
    “I am,” he insisted. This time the words held strength.
    “Whatever happened to that piece of love candy you were seeing this past summer?”
    “Billie?” As Drew spoke her name he was assailed by a flood of pleasurable memories and he leaned back and exhaled a slow stream of smoke. “Haven’t seen her since I left for Mexico seven months ago. Why?”
    “Just wondering. You seemed particularly taken with her.”
    “Can’t deny that, but Mama would drop dead at my feet if I presented a whore as my novia .”
    “True.”
    But Drew continued to muse on the times he spent with Billie—the night rides in his coach, the walks in the parks, the breakfasts they’d shared. As soon as he returned to San Francisco, he planned to look her up and spend a few days with her before attending Consuela’s birthday ball. As he’d noted back in July, having to give her up was going to be difficult, but necessary.
    Mariah stepped outside and Logan rose to his feet. The smile in her golden eyes was for him alone, and Drew wondered if there’d ever be a woman in his life who’d look upon him in the same loving fashion.
    Mariah asked, “Do you mind taking me home now, Logan? The baby and I are tired.”
    “Let me get the wagon. You sit.”
    She did as instructed, and while Logan hurried away she asked Drew, “How long are you staying?”
    He noted the tiredness in her golden eyes and the effort it had taken for her to settle into the chair. “I’m off to the train in the morning. You said the baby’s due in April?”
    She nodded. “Only two more months and I can’t wait. I feel like an elephant.”
    “You look fine.”
    “And you lie almost as well as Logan. Will you be back for the birth?”
    “I’ll try. Sounds like you’re going to need somebody to help Logan keep his wits about him.”
    “I know. I keep assuring him the baby and I will be fine, but you know your brother.”
    He did. Logan liked being in control, but because he had none over his wife’s pregnancy, he was undoubtedly driving her mad.
    “Next time, maybe I’ll let him carry the child.”
    When Logan returned, Mariah struggled to her feet and said to Drew with genuine feeling, “Good luck on your search.”
    “Thanks. Take care of my brother.”
    Leaving him with a smile and a nod, she slowly made her way over to the wagon. Once she was safely aboard they drove off to their homestead on the other side of the ranch.
    Alone in the quiet courtyard, Drew sat musing. Yes, he envied the love Logan found with Mariah but again he doubted he’d be so fortunate. Since becoming old enough to claim his own life, he’d been content to discreetly sow his oats from Stockton to the border because he viewed women like a kid in a well-stocked candy store. With so many choices who needed love or the commitments and ties that went with it? Women like Billie were his preference, but now he needed to choose a wife. Logan and Mariah were awaiting the birth of their first child. His mother, Alanza, was ecstatic. She’d been praying for grandchildren since her three sons reached marriageable age. Her love for Mariah was as wide and tall as the mountains on the edges of Destiny’s land, and he knew without a doubt that she’d open her heart to his future wife as well. Just as soon as he found one.
    Alanza stood in the door and silently observed her son. Logan was her stepson and came to her as a six-year-old little boy when she and Abraham married. She loved all three of her sons fiercely, but Andrew Antonio held a special place all his own because he was the first child of her loins. Both God and Alanza knew that one of her foremost failings was her impatience. Having to raise three boys on her own after Abraham’s untimely death had tempered it a bit, but still she found it hard to wait for things to run their course. It had been that way when she wanted Destiny to be profitable, and again when her youngest disappeared during a night