Desert Angel Read Online Free PDF Page A

only of changing the rags and dribbling water into her mouth.
    When she continued to be unresponsive, he began to accept that everything he did for Melanie wouldn’t be enough. She had opened her eyes several times and had stared at him, but there had been no sign of recognition in her unfocused gaze. The only hopeful sign had been the frequent movements of the baby, easily seen beneath the tightly stretched skin of her stomach. But in the last hour or so, even that had ceased.
     
     
    On the lonely hillside the wind whistled mournfully through the spreading arms of a solitary pine. With his hat clutched in his hands and his head bowed as if in prayer, Jim stared at the newly turned earth at his feet. The hastily constructed white cross would later be replaced with a finely made marker of granite, and soon the elements would cover the harshness of the new earth. Only the stone would distinguish this as the final resting place of a woman far too young to have died.
    After her ordeal in the desert, Melanie had never regained consciousness, slipping silently into the hands of death. Now it was too late for him to tell her of his regret that things hadn’t been different. He knew he would live the rest of his life with a burden of guilt that he had caused her death.
    He was wise enough to know that he hadn’t chased her into the desert; he accepted that the sun and countless abrasions had taken their toll. But he would never be able to forget that she had given up, had refused to fight. It was easier for her to accept death, than to continue life in the hell he had forced on her.
    And for that, for not seeing and understanding that his dream wasn’t hers, he would never forgive himself.
    He had made a mistake, thinking that she would fit into his life. It had been a fatal mistake. His dream had been to build a ranch in the growing West. He’d never given a thought to her dreams. Even now, staring down at her final resting place, he couldn’t name one dream that had been hers. He’d told her of his plans, his dreams, but he realized now that he’d never once asked her what she wanted from life.
    The untamed West was hard on even the toughest men. Why had he thought that Melanie could adapt? Before meeting him her greatest hardship had been keeping the hem of her gown clean on a rainy day. His selfishness and lack of foresight appalled him.
    The decisions had all been his, without consultation with the woman whose life they would effect. He had taken one look at a sweet, gentle girl, and decided that she would make his life complete, without bothering to think whether he could make her happy or not. He had decided to move her to Arizona without considering that she would be a continent away from her family and friends in a land completely different from the gentle hills of Vermont.
    “I’m sorry, Melanie,” he whispered. “I know that doesn’t make much difference, but I am truly sorry. I’ll spend the rest of my life regretting what I’ve done to you.”
    “You did nothing to her.”
    Startled by the voice at his shoulder, Jim’s head snapped up, and he turned burning eyes on the man who dared to overhear his confession. Breed’s crystal blue gaze met his without flinching.
    “Some people are not meant to live a long span on earth. Their beings are too fragile for this world. From the time of birth, they walk with one foot in this land and the other still in the spirit-land before birth. Their souls wander earth without first disconnecting from the other side, and they are too willing to return to the place of peace.”
    “A man of God, Breed?” Jim asked with a smirk in his voice.
    Understanding the pain that Jim harbored, Breed took no offense. “The Comanche have many gods, many spirits that do good or bring harm. A man must learn to court the first and avoid the second. If he allows himself to live in regret for mistakes he has made, then his life will forever be plagued by sorrow, if he thinks constantly