Romance: Detective Romance: A Vicious Affair (Victorian Regency Intrigue 19th England Romance) (Historical Mystery Detective Romance) (99 page)

     “Fair enough,” he allowed, adding as he inclined his head sharp in her direction, “So what is your truth, Miss? Why exactly did you come to me today?”

     Elena bit her lip.

     “Well the first thing you should know, Justin, is that I will love only one man for all of my days. My husband Blake and I had just begun a beautiful life together when he was taken away from me. And when he passed, he took my heart with him,” she revealed, adding as she folded her arms before her, “I can say with all confidence that I never shall love another man. And I shall never, ever be another man’s wife.”

     Justin thought a moment, then nodded.

“Well Ma’am, I am so sorry to hear about your terrible loss,” he told her, tone low and reverent as he bowed his head before her. “And believe me when I say that I understand your pain, all too well.” He paused here, adding as he lifted his head and returned her direct gaze, “The question still remains, though. Why did you come to me today, if you had no earthly intention of being my mail order bride?”

     Elena thought for a long, silent moment, then let loose with a frustrated sigh.

     “Truth be told, I do not rightly know,” she admitted, adding as she shuffled her feet restless beneath her, “What I do know is that, since the passing of my husband, I have been living alone in a big lonesome ranch house, tending the ranch and the house in equal measure—by myself, and all hours of the day and night. I work, Justin. I work and I sleep, and it is only when I sleep that I find any degree of happiness or peace.”

     She took in her breath as an understanding Justin erased all distance between them; taking her hands in his as he stared deep into her eyes.

     “A young, vibrant woman such as yourself should not be closing herself away from the world,” he advised her, tone soft and sincere. “And you should not simply be dreaming of living a good life. You should be living it.”

     Elena sighed.

     “I don’t know, I guess so,” she allowed, adding with an uneasy shrug, “And when I saw your ad, I told myself that I had to meet the man who dared to be so,” she paused here, struggling for the right words to express her thoughts, “Bold, I suppose? Confident?”

     “Arrogant,” Justin corrected her, adding as he rolled his eyes heavenward, “Churlish. An out and out cad.”

     Elena laughed.

     “Well now I must admit that I was most relieved to discover that you did not in fact write that preposterous ad, as intriguing as it happened to be,” she admitted, adding as she pursed her pearl pink lips to curious effect, “Now I must ask, though; who did compose the ad, after all? And were you the one who placed the ad in the newspaper?”

     Justin shook his head.

     “Truth be told, Miss, it seems that you and I have altogether too much in common,” he admitted. “Like you, I too once had a great love. A woman of my dreams who just seemed to appear in my life at just the right time—a bright, sweet, beautiful woman who stole my heart. And in return I took her hand—her hand in marriage, that is. We settled right here on this ranch and made what I thought would be a beautiful life together; and when she told me that we were going to have a baby, the joy that I felt came close to overwhelming me…”

     He broke off here, shaking his head from side to side as he shut his eyes tight.

     An uneasy silence descended between them as he stood stock still in his place; a single telltale tear descending his carved cheek as he considered what seemed to be unthinkable.

     Squeezing his hand in hers, an empathetic Elena stepped forward to wipe away the tear; all the while allowing a few of her own to fall free down the length of her fair skinned face.

     “Justin,” she said his name on the wings of a whisper, adding with a visible wince, “Your wife. Did she pass in childbirth?”

     Justin nodded, and his eyes flew open as he pinned her with a wide eyed look that bespoke his keen, unspeakable agony.

     “It was all my fault, Elena,” he insisted, voice trembling beneath the weight of his guilt and shame, “If it wasn’t for me, then she would not have been placed in that delicate condition. I was just a poison in the life of the woman I loved more than anything else in the world.”

     Elena shook her head.

     “Please don’t think that, Justin,” she plead with him, adding as she made a broad gesture between them, “When my husband contracted the sickness that ultimately killed him, he and I were working side by side in the fields. That is what married couples do. Your wife’s pregnancy was also the result of something that married couples do—and providing that you did not force yourself on her or otherwise abuse her, then she was a willing participant; chances are that she wanted the baby just as much as you did. And, tragically, sometimes babies pass—and so do their mamas.”

     For the first time since the inception of his confession—and, or so she suspected, for the first time in a long time, Justin exhaled—sweeping her up in two strong arms and pulling her closer to him.

    “You know, Elena, my chief ranch hand here told me the same thing—and it was him, in fact, who wrote and placed that ridiculous ad,” he revealed, adding as he buried his head in the fresh blonde mass of her long, luxurious hair, “As many times as I insisted to him that I never could love again, he told me the exact same words that I just told you. He insisted that I was too young and vital to
live
in the past. He said that livin’ in the past just isn’t really livin’.”

     Elena nodded.

     “You will always love and remember your wife—just as I will always adore my husband, and recall with fondness the magical life that we shared together,” she assured him, adding as she wrapped her arms tight around his muscled shoulders, “Yet now they’re gone. So what do we do?”

     “I have an idea.”

     Elena gasped outright as an ardent Justin pulled back to seize her lips in a hot, passionate kiss; his full, moist lips stroking and massaging hers as she sighed with contentment.

     Angling his head over hers to intensify the kiss, Justin plied her lips with the greatest affection as his strong sturdy hands ran down the length of her back.

     Leaning full and hard into his kiss, Elena gasped against his lips as their tongues entangled between them; their chests pressed together as he pulled her closer still.

     Sinking deep
in
his arms, Elena felt her senses awakened and revitalized by this dream of an intimate kiss; one that made her heart and pulse pound in a single accord as she came to terms with a certain truth.

     Never had she been loved like this before; and never, ever had she known such grand passion.

     “Not even from my husband.”

     The thought, although vague, still penetrated her psyche with the ferocity of a bullet; driving her out of Justin’s arms as she made
fast
distance between them.

     “This is not right. We are not married,” she reminded him, holding a firm finger up before him as she remembered the timeless teachings of her mother and church—and, of course, her husband with his gentle smile and loving ways. “And I feel as though I am betraying my husband—and you, your wife.”

     Although he stood a respectful distance from her in the meadow, Justin shook his head from side to side in response to this assertion.

     “Of course I never would want to do anything to hurt and offend such a fine lady,” he insisted, tone soft and conciliatory. “Yet you yourself just said it, Miss; our spouses have left this earth, while the both of us remain.” He paused here, adding with a near desperate shrug, “Are we to spend the remainder of our lives in mourning for our loved ones? I guess I could accept that idea if I was 80—but I’m only 25, Miss. And I reckon that you’re about the same age. Do you not believe that our loved ones would want us to be happy?”

     Elena thought a moment, then shook her head.

     “At this point, Justin, I frankly don’t know what to do—or, for that matter, what is right,” she admitted, adding as she turned for the gate, “I do believe that I made a big mistake by coming here, Justin. I’ve done little more than make a spectacle of myself and wasted both of our time.” She paused here, adding as she shut her eyes tight in a show of keen abashment, “I have a ranch to run, and so do you. So what do you say we cease this juvenile nonsense and both get back to work?”

     “Elena, please.”

     The frowning woman stopped in her tracks as she heard her own name—expressed in a voice that seemed laced with no small degree of sadness, along with just a hint of out and out pleading.

     Still she refrained from turning around and making eye contact with the man who called her back to him. Indeed, she was too afraid that—if she beheld his beauty, his strength, his vulnerability one more time—she’d never be able to leave him.

     “What, Justin?” she asked over her shoulder, all the while keeping her gaze trained on the gates that would take her far away from this place—and far away from the temptation it represented in the deepest confines of her heart and mind.

     Her host sighed.

     “I cannot tell you, Ma’am, just how regretful I am that I have offended you,” he told her, tone dripping with the sounds of genuine sorrow. “Please accept my deepest apologies, and also consider this offer made in earnest.” He paused here, adding in a more businesslike tone, “Look, before my ranch hand went and placed that knuckle headed ad, I myself was not so sure that I needed a mail order bride. What I do need for certain, however, is some more help around this place. So what do you say we strike a deal? You can stay on here for a few days and help me tend these flowers; judging by the success of your own rose ranch, you certainly do seem to have a way with them. Then we can hightail it to your place, and I can help you tend your fields, do any repairs you need—just lend you a little manpower, not that you need it. We can split both of our profits both ways and keep our relationship strictly business.”

     Elena pursed her lips.

     “Strictly business?” she confirmed, adding as she turned finally to face him, “I do indeed need some help around the ranch. I mean, I did ask my neighbors to watch over my crops and feed my animals while I embarked on this little madcap adventure of mine. Yet I cannot expect them to neglect their own lands in favor of mine; and even if I did return to my ranch, I no doubt would have to eventually admit that I do indeed need help around the place.” She paused here, adding with a firm finger raised for emphasis. “Now I never was a lady of leisure, mind you. Nor was I ever simply a farm wife who stayed in the kitchen while my husband worked the fields. I worked right alongside Blake in the gardens and the fields, every day of our lives together.”

     Justin nodded.

     “And I am sure that you did a cracker jack job,” he assured her, adding with a slight shrug, “You have to admit, though, that it would be mighty difficult for one farmer—be they male or female—to tend a ranch all by their lonesome.”

     Elena nodded.

     “You speak the truth—and my back ain’t arguin’. Not one bit,” she admitted, wincing in spite of herself as she contemplated the hours of hard labor she’d invested in her farm since the death of her husband and business partner. “And I don’t exactly have the coins to hire a ranch hand—not right now, anyway.”

     Justin smiled.

     “Then stay here with me a while,” he invited her, adding as he made a broad gesture across the vast expanse of the golden fields around them, “We can work the day away in the flower beds then go home to my ranch house—where beautifully kept lodgings and delicious home cooked meals always will await us, thanks to my house staff.” He paused here, adding as he raised his strong sturdy hands before him in what seemed a defensive stance, “And every evenin’ after supper, you can feel free to retire all by your lonesome, and to the privacy of your guest room.”

     Elena considered his words for a moment, then nodded.

     “And whenever we make the hop, skip and the jump back to my place, you can stay in my best quarters—though in comparison to this mansion you have here, my ‘guest quarters’ probably will bear a closer resemblance to a dag gum horse stall in serious need of mucking,” she scoffed, adding as she cast a stray glance at the lavish ivory ranch house that
lie
just beyond the fields, “That is, if I ever choose to go back. At all. And at any ol’ time.”

     She jumped then as her beaming host met these words with a loud resounding whoop; emphasizing his robust cry of “Yipee ki yi yeah!” with the high and hard toss of his ivory hued cowboy hat.

     “That, my lovely Miss, is exactly what I wanted to hear,” he announced, catching the hat and tossing it in an arty swirl atop his bronzed head.

     “Yes, I guessed as much,” Elena marveled, adding as she raised a firm finger for emphasis, “Only make no mistake, Justin. I’m far more than a purty face. As you are about to find out, I work very hard day in and day out—and I have every aim to turn your ranch here right square on its ear.”

*****

Proving her words throughout the next few days, Elena joined her host in the fields and the rose garden; planting, tending and sewing the hours away as her companion praised and encouraged her every effort.