Free The Rancher Takes a Bride by Brenda Minton Page B

holding tight as they walked.
    â€œThat was either the worst sermon to hear, or the best,” he said as they came to a fishing dock. He led her onto the floating deck that rocked gently with waves caused by a ski boat.
    â€œBoth?” she offered as they sat on a bench.
    â€œYeah, both.” He let out a sigh as his chest let go of the pressure that had been building over the past hour. “I can’t forget their faces.”
    â€œI’m sorry.” She didn’t say more. He didn’t want more. He didn’t need to hear that someday he would forget, or that it would get easier. Maybe he didn’t want either of those things to happen. Those soldiers who died didn’t need to be forgotten. His life shouldn’t get easier.
    The woman sitting next to him gave a quiet, calm assurance with her very presence. He hadn’t had a lot of calm in his life the past few years. He’d been happy. He’d kept busy. But calm? Not so much. He hadn’t thought too much about it until lately, when she was at his side.
    â€œI don’t want to think about how God was okay with all those men dying,” he admitted.
    â€œI know. I don’t blame you.”
    â€œWould you stop being so easy to get along with?” He lifted her hand to his lips and held it there as he closed his eyes, thinking about how guilty he felt when he slept through the night without nightmares.
    â€œOne of us has to be easy to get along with,” she said.
    â€œRight.”
    He pulled her close to his side and held her, just held her.
    â€œI don’t think God was okay with those guys dying,” she whispered against his shoulder. “I think He isn’t okay with the pain it causes you. But I also think that those men were blessed to have you there with them.”
    The words poured over him like a balm, simple truths that were exactly what he’d needed someone to say. He held her a little tighter and realized he could get used to having this woman in his life.
    It was something he’d never imagined, a woman in his life, a child that looked like him.
    They were dangerous thoughts.

Chapter Seven
    T hey sat together for a while on the dock, until a family spilled out of a van and headed down the ramp with coolers and fishing poles.
    â€œJake decided to take over cooking duty today,” Duke said as he stood, reaching for her hand. “Burgers on the grill. If we go back now, we’ll be in time for lunch and miss out on the work.”
    â€œSounds like a plan.” Oregon tossed him his keys. “I can’t take you white-knuckling the door handle all the way home, so you’d better drive.”
    â€œYou saw that?” He grinned, and she felt her heart shudder, half apprehension and half something else she didn’t want to acknowledge.
    â€œI saw it.” She let him open the passenger door for her. “I didn’t do that bad.”
    â€œYeah, you did.”
    As he drove she pretended it was just another Sunday, and that they weren’t heading for danger. After all, he was just supposed to be Lilly’s safety net. He wasn’t meant to be Oregon’s. She definitely wasn’t meant to be his. But she’d crossed a line, following him out of the church.
    She just hadn’t been able to let him leave alone. Not with that tortured look in his eyes.
    â€œI wasn’t going to fall apart,” he said as they got close to the Circle M.
    She glanced his way, surprised by the abrupt comment and the defensive tone.
    â€œI know you weren’t.”
    He didn’t look at her, continuing to watch the road, his jaw tightening a little. Unsure wasn’t something Duke Martin was used to feeling. He probably faced every situation with a certain amount of courage and certainty because of his size and his overwhelming confidence. Sometimes known as ego. She laughed to herself at the thought.
    â€œI heard that.”
    She stared at the