No One But You Read Online Free PDF

believe she might be happier growing up as a young woman than the son she thinks I need her to be. I’m more guilty than anyone else because I’ve depended on her so much.” She turned to Jared. “And I need someone who can understand that Jared is a wonderful boy even though he can’t do the things most boys can.”
    â€œThat’s what Rose did for my family,” George said. “We wouldn’t be here without her.”
    â€œYes, you would,” Rose contradicted. “Probably still fighting, wearing dirty clothes, and choking down Tyler’s cooking, but you’d still be here.”
    Sarah wondered if it would ever be possible for a man to look at her the way George looked at Rose. She could cook, clean, wash, mend, and sew. She could work in the fields, put up food for the winter, dress meat, and make sausage. She could dance, sing a little, and carry on a conversation if it didn’t wander too far from ordinary life. She believed she was capable of satisfying a man’s physical appetites. Surely no man could expect more.
    â€œGo on,” George encouraged. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
    Sarah jerked her thoughts away from the impossible. “When I asked if there were any other men I might interview, I was told you employed the most capable and dependable men in the area. So that’s why I’m here, to ask if you will help me convince your most capable and dependable man to marry me.”
    â€œWhy should I do that?” George asked.
    â€œYou have no reason at all,” Sarah said.
    â€œYes, we do,” Rose said. “You need help, and we can give it to you.”
    â€œHow?” George asked. “We don’t have anyone who fits her requirements.”
    â€œWe have the perfect man.” Rose flashed a very satisfied smile and announced, “Salty. If you choose him, nothing will go wrong.”
    Sarah hoped her face didn’t show her surprise. She’d found him attractive, but she didn’t want a man she found appealing. That wasn’t supposed to be part of the bargain. She didn’t want any emotional attachment while they were married…or any emotional entanglement to deal with when she divorced him. Divorce wasn’t common, and divorced women were often looked upon with a jaundiced eye, but Sarah was willing to take that risk rather than find herself and her children bound to a second husband like her first.
    â€œI had someone older in mind, someone who’ll be willing to commit to at least five years,” Sarah said. “Salty is young enough to want to marry and start his own family.”
    â€œSalty’s twenty-seven,” George said. “There’s only one older on the ranch. All the men who work for me were soldiers during the war.”
    She didn’t want a soldier, either. The two she’d hired had been bitter, cynical, and given to drinking up their small wages. Worse than that, they’d had no understanding of Jared’s handicap. They acted like he was faking. Their scoffing had driven him to a dangerous attempt to saddle a horse. He’d fallen in the corral, unable to get up. It was a miracle he hadn’t been stepped on or kicked. She’d fired both men immediately, but the real damage had been done to Jared’s self-esteem. How could he respect himself as a man when he couldn’t saddle or ride a horse, something his sister did every day?
    â€œI admit I barely know Salty,” Sarah said, “but I don’t think he’s the kind of man to be interested in taking such a job.”
    â€œWhy not?” Rose asked.
    What to say? No one knew she didn’t want to be married again. She’d been forced to marry Roger who’d mistreated her, turned his back on his son, then deserted his family. The physical side of their marriage had been a painful and humiliating experience she never wanted to repeat. The men in her life, from