Jodi Thomas - The Lone Texan

He stormed, "I said I didn't want to hear you say that. Never you”

Sage calmed enough to consider he might be completely mad. "Why?" she asked simply.

He stared out the window, knowing he had to be honest. No matter how ugly, there could be no secrets between them. "When I was little, I'd hide under my mother's bed at night. I heard her say those words to every man who came in. She didn't say them to me, only to them. Most of the time she'd be too drunk to remember their names so she'd just say, 'Course, I love you, mister. Leave the money on the table before we start, would you.' " He turned to her. "I don't want to ever hear you say those words. What we have… what we feel… what we do is nothing like her"

"I agree” Sage answered, looking down at the food. "But that doesn't stop me from loving you. No matter what you think, it's not a dirty word."

"Just don't-"

"Did she drink all the time?" Sage asked before he could finish the order.

He didn't look at her. "Yeah. From the time she got up." Sage picked up the bottle of wine and hurled it at him. Drum ducked a second before it hit his head.

"Then I shouldn't drink, because I'm nothing like her" Drum raised an eyebrow. The woman who'd melted in his arms minutes ago was now fighting mad because he didn't see things her way. He smiled. That was his wife.

"Did she eat beef?" Sage asked as she picked up the plate of steak.

"Of course," he answered as the plate flew toward him. He ducked, but the corner caught him just above the eye.

"Did she eat vegetables?"

"Stop it, Sage!" Drum yelled as peas and corn slammed against the wall behind him.

"No." Sage stormed toward him. "I don't want to be anything like her. That's what you want, right? So I can't even tell you I love you."

"Stop." He shoved blood out of his eye, knowing the cut was more bothersome than bad.

"Love is just a word to you. A dirty word. Well, it's far more than that to me. It's not just a feeling, it's a commitment. I'm saying I want to spend the rest of my life with you, you idiot. I want to wake up every morning with you, fight over everything and nothing with you, and make mad love to you every night." She picked up the apple pie. "And I want to tell you every day that I love you without you comparing me to your mother."

He took the pie from her hand and set it back on the table before he grinned at her. "Every day, Sage?"

“And night." She dabbed at his tiny cut with the napkin.

"So you want to be my woman. Only mine until we die. Is that what 'I love you' means to you when you say it?"

She understood what he'd been asking. "Yes." In his mind, that was how he asked her to marry him. It was his way of saying he loved her, and he'd been saying those words since he was a kid.

He pulled her roughly to him. "I am your man, Sage. I always have been."

She squealed and pulled away. "Not until we agree. I'll not have a marriage where you always get your way. If I can admit I'm your woman, you can sure as hell say you love me."

"I doubt we're in danger of you ever not getting your way.”

He knocked the chair over to reach her. "You're a spoiled brat."

She squealed again and darted away.

"Come here, wife!" he yelled. "When I catch you. I’ll make you pay." He took one more step, slipped on peas, and hit the floor hard.

Sage crumpled, holding her sides, trying not to laugh.

The door to their room crashed to the floor. Teagen stormed in with his gun drawn. He took in the scene. The room was a mess. His sister was curled on the floor in a ball. Drum was flat on his back. "I told you if you ever hurt my sister, I'd kill you."

Drum had had it. Sage's big brother had threatened for the last time. "Well, just shoot me, Teagen. I'm tired of waiting for the bullet” He stood, wiping peas off his chest. "Don't waste time, considering that I'm the one bleeding here. You've got it in your head to kill me, so go ahead. Make another pile of dirt for Sage to cry over."

Sage tried to pull the shirt she wore down at least to her knees as she stood. "We were playing, not fighting. I got mad and tossed our dinner at him, not that it's any of your business, Teagen. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I came to talk to Drummond alone about something important, and I thought I heard him beating you near to death”

She smiled. "I'm all right." She patted her big brother's cheek.

Drum felt sorry for Teagen. He'd been her protector all her life, and now he'd lost his job. She didn't need him anymore. "I would never hurt your sister," Drum said. "I love her." "What?" Sage stared at Drum as if she didn't believe what she'd heard.

He grinned. "I love you."

Sage turned her back to him. "Teagen, put that door back on its hinges and go home to your family. I'm fine. I'm with my man”

Teagen holstered his gun and backed out of the room, still glaring at Drum. "I'll tell the clerk that you need another meal delivered, just in case you need something to throw at him.^” He picked up the door and set it in place. "What I came to say to you, Roak, can wait till morning. I'll meet you for coffee at dawn."

They heard Teagen storming down the stairs, probably waking anyone who might have slept through the fight.

"We've got to get us a place shouting distance away from my family.” she mumbled to herself as she faced Drum. "Sit down so I can have a look at that cut”

"It's nothing," he said, but he turned the chair over and sat. While she examined his cut, he slipped his hand beneath the shirt and brushed his fingers over her bottom.

She kissed the spot where the plate had hit him and whispered, "We're going to make love again tonight, aren't we?" He breathed her in, loving the way she responded to his touch. "After we eat and the door gets locked solid. Not before.

I don't want to be interrupted when I'm satisfying my wife." He kept his promise. Once they'd had dinner, he made slow, passionate love to her. When she cuddled next to him and slipped into sleep, he whispered, "I love you, honey." "I love you too?" she answered.

LONG AFTER DAWN. SAGE AWOKE ALONE. THE NIGHT of lovemaking filled her thoughts. She no longer had any doubt about how much he cared for her. He'd spent most of the night showing her. She remembered the way he held her, the way he kissed her, the way he made her explode inside. Just thinking about it made her long for the night.

Slowly, she climbed out of bed. Her body was sore, her lips slightly swollen. She smiled. She'd been well-loved.

She washed and dressed, then went down to the café, where she guessed Drum must be still talking to Teagen. Knowing her brother, he'd sat on the porch all night, just in case they had another fight.

The desk clerk nodded politely when she passed. "Good morning, Mrs. Roak."

The name seemed strange, but like she had with Drummond, she'd get used to it. He couldn't have been more different than her first husband. With Barret, she'd felt needed. With Drum. she felt wanted. No, more than wanted… cherished.

Teagen was the only one in the café. Sage hid her disappointment. She wanted to see Drum. "Where is my husband?" she asked as she kissed Teagen on the cheek and took the seat next to him.

He frowned. "Now, don't get upset, Sage, but he's gone." She felt like screaming, but she waited.

"We talked this morning, and he had to leave on a mission," Teagen rushed on. "I told him to go up and wake you, but he said if he saw you, he wasn't sure he could leave. We both knew no one else but him could do this job."

Her mind had been so full of the night and of loving Drum, it took her a minute for Teagen's words to register. The waitress gave her coffee and offered to bring a breakfast plate, but she shook her head.

Glancing out the window, she noticed Daniel Torry bounding up the steps. When he made it to the café, he came right to the table.

"Want to join us for breakfast, Daniel?" Teagen offered. "We're talking about Drum's mission."

"No, thanks. I eat my breakfast every morning at the bakery. I've put on a few pounds. That little baker tells me it looks good on me." He straddled a chair. "She won't serve me if she smells whiskey on me”

"You know about this mission?" she said to Daniel, not caring about his sweet tooth.

He nodded, his smile disappearing. "I offered to go with him, but he turned me down. Said it was too dangerous, and this time he needed me here more."

"What for?" Sage hadn't had enough sleep to piece together all the parts, but neither man with her was telling her what she wanted to hear.

"To watch over you and the boys” Daniel said. "His exact words were, 'Keep my family safe, and tell Sage I swear I'll be back.' "

Sage felt as if she were made of sand and someone had poked holes in her. All emotions drained out of her. "Tell me about this mission.” She stared at Teagen.

He'd never lied to her or sugarcoated anything he'd ever told her, and he didn't lie now. "Word came from the trackers we put on the carriages when they left Whispering Mountain. One went to Galveston, carrying your almost relative and the judge. The other turned west and disappeared into Skull Alley.”

"So, the count was behind the attempt?" she guessed. Daniel cut in. "I talked with Miss Bonnie's new husband a few days ago, and he filled in the blanks. He's never been to Skull Alley, but his brother used to talk about what went on there and what the count was like”

"More than that.^” Teagen shook his head. "Travis figured out that Hanover, who calls himself Count, wants the boys dead because he's next in line to be king after them. He'll still have several to kill to reach the crown, but we figure he decided to start with his relatives here first. We think he's their father's brother, who disappeared years ago. If someone got the land for the Smiths, it could have been Hanover himself. He wanted them close so he could destroy that line of the family tree. If so, the boys will never be safe as long as he's alive and is hoping to be king one day.”