Lone Star Winter Read Online Free PDF Page A

he’d lived long enough to know about the baby, he would have said it was too soon.” She shrugged. “I guess it was.”
    She’d never told that to another soul. It embarrassed her that it had slipped out, but Cy seemed unshockable.
    â€œSome men don’t adjust well to children,” he said simply. It went without saying that he wasn’t one of them. He didn’t know what else to say. He felt sorry for her. She obviously took pleasure in her pregnancy, and it was equally obvious that she loved children. He sat down at the table with her. Maybe she needed toget it out of her system. Evidently she could tell him things that she couldn’t tell anyone else.
    â€œGo on,” he coaxed. “Get everything off your chest. I’m a clam. I don’t tell anything I know, and I’m not judgmental.”
    â€œI think I sensed that.” She sighed. “Want some coffee? I have to drink decaf, but I could make some.”
    â€œI hate decaf, but I’ll drink it.”
    She smiled. She got up and filled the pot and the filter and started the coffeemaker while she got down white mugs. She glanced at him with pursed lips. “Black,” she guessed.
    He gave her an annoyed look. “Don’t get conceited because you know how I take my coffee.”
    â€œI won’t.”
    She poured the coffee into the cups and sat back down, watching as he cupped his left hand around it. “Does it still hurt?” she asked, referring to the burns on his hand.
    â€œNot as much as it used to,” he said flatly.
    â€œYou don’t have anyone to talk to, either, do you?”
    He shook his head. “I’m not much for bars, and the only friend I have is Eb. Now that he’s married, we don’t spend a lot of time together.”
    â€œIt’s worse when you hold things inside,” she murmured absently, staring into her coffee. “Everybodythinks I had a fairy-tale marriage with a sexy man who loved danger and could have had any woman he wanted.” She smiled wryly. “At first I thought so, too. He seemed like a dream come true. Boy, did my illusions leave skid marks taking off!”
    â€œSo did mine,” he said flatly.
    She leaned forward, feeling daring. “Yes, but I’ll bet you weren’t a virgin who thought people did it in the dark fully clothed!”
    He burst out laughing. He hadn’t felt like laughing since…he couldn’t remember. Her eyes bubbled with joy; her laugh was infectious. She made him hungry, thirsty, desperate for the delight she engendered.
    She grinned. “There. You look much less intimidating when you smile. And before you regret telling me secrets, I’d better mention that I’ve never told anybody what my best friend did on our senior trip to Florida. And I won’t tell you now.”
    â€œWas it scandalous?”
    â€œIt was for Jacobsville.” She chuckled.
    â€œDidn’t you do anything scandalous?”
    â€œNot me,” she popped back. “I’m the soul of propriety. My dad used to say that I was the suffering conscience of the world.” Her eyes darkened. “He died of a stroke while he was using the tiller out in the garden. When he didn’t come in for lunch, I knew somethingwas wrong. I went out to find him.” She moved her coffee cup on the table. “He was sitting against a tree with his thermos jug of coffee still in his hands, his eyes wide-open, stone dead.” She shivered. “Mom had died when I was in sixth grade, of cancer. Dad loved her so much. He loved me, too.” She lifted her sad eyes. “I sup pose I’d rather have had him for a short time than not to have had him at all. Walter felt sorry for me and asked me to marry him, because I was so alone. He’d just lost the woman he loved and I think he wanted to marry me just to spite her. The ranch was a bonus. I was really infatuated with him at first, and he