Chapter One
Misery, Texas, Autumn 1879
The gnawing in Rafe Bodine's belly and the position of the setting sun
told the ex-Ranger that suppertime was at hand. It took a lot of food to
fill his six-foot, three-inch frame, and the considerable improvement in
his wife's cooking over the past three months made him eager to reach
their small house.
Ellie had made the cabin a real home — a welcome retreat. Sweet-scented
wildflowers graced the center of the rough-hewn kitchen table, and blue
gingham curtains hung crisply at the windows. She had even fashioned a
handsome starburst-pattern quilt for their bed.
Rafe's impulsive decision to marry his best friend and neighbor was
working out after all. Despite niggling doubts about quitting the
Rangers, and his brother Ethan's repeated warnings that marrying Ellie
would be like marrying his own sister, Rafe felt confident that he'd
made the right decision.
He loved Ellie in his own special way. It wasn't an all-consuming,
hearts-on-fire, romantic kind of love that young girls were prone to
dream about, but a genuine, caring, dependable kind of love — one that
promised contentment and friendship. That was more than most couples
shared in their lifetime.
And n ... read full excerpt from: Desperate ebook
