Heart of a Soldier. Belle Calhoune

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СКАЧАТЬ between them. There had been no attraction, no pull in her direction. And she wasn’t at all like he’d expected her to be. She was skittish and nervous. When he’d moved to pull her into a hug, she’d stood there like a statue, still and unmoving. She hadn’t even hugged him back. She didn’t seem like the Holly he’d gotten to know over the past twelve months.

      And then she’d practically rushed him out the door on the pretext of not feeling well. Not once had she asked about his living arrangements or his four-month rental with Doc Sampson. Truthfully, she hadn’t seemed all that happy to see him at Horseshoe Bend Ranch. Disappointment filled him, leaving him frustrated and full of sorrow. He’d been so sure about Holly, more certain of her than anything ever in his life. Yet now it was looking as if he’d made another gigantic mistake.

      It wouldn’t be the first time, a little voice reminded him. He shook off the memory of his faithless ex-girlfriend, Shawna. It had been a long time since he’d thought about his high school sweetheart, the woman who’d dumped him after his deployment to Afghanistan. After he’d broken his neck and was laid up in a military hospital, he’d been deemed useless in her eyes. He fought against the anger swelling up inside him. There was no time in his life for people who weren’t genuine. And he refused to wallow over past hurts. He had enough scars to last a lifetime.

       Please don’t let me have been so mistaken about Holly. I’ve been so wrong in the past about so many things—relationships, people, situations. Please let me find in her the strong, faithful woman I’ve been seeking. Show me I haven’t traveled all this way chasing a pipe dream.

      Maybe it was just jitters from meeting each other for the first time. It could be that his expectations were way too high. And meeting someone in the flesh was a lot different than writing to one another. She had every right to be nervous, didn’t she? Perhaps it just wasn’t meant to be, he realized as a sinking sensation settled in his stomach. Being so misguided about a situation would be a hard pill to swallow. Sometimes one just got a sense of a person—who they were down to their very soul. And for the past year, he’d come to know Holly as a warm and loving, God-fearing woman. Her goodness had resonated in every letter she’d written him and wormed its way inside him, serving as a reminder of everything he wanted in a life partner.

      Try as he might, he just couldn’t shake off the encounter with Holly. There was something bothering him. It was resting right under the surface, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. All of a sudden it hit him. Her eyes. They’d been a vivid green, not blue. Holly had said her eyes were blue. Or was he going crazy? And he’d noticed she was wearing a ring when she’d poured him the sweet tea. Not just any ring, he realized. It had been a diamond ring planted on the wedding finger of her left hand.

      He pulled his truck over to the side of the road, his breathing shallow as he racked his brain for the facts. Had she been wearing an engagement ring? Could he have been wrong about her eye color? No, absolutely not. He remembered the words she’d written him in her letter. I’m a blue-eyed girl from West Falls, Texas.

      He slammed his palm against the steering wheel. What in the world was going on? The woman he’d just seen, the one pretending to be Holly, was a fraud. Her eyes were a spectacular green. That fact, coupled with the odd way she’d been acting and the sparkly ring, was all the proof he needed. With a wild groan, he did a U-turn in the road, his tires spewing dust and rocks as he made his way back toward Horseshoe Bend Ranch. He didn’t know who was trying to make a fool out of him, but he was surely going to find out.

      * * *

      “That did not go so well.” Holly let out a deep sigh. Things had not unfolded the way she’d envisioned. Even though she hated the idea of tricking Dylan, the idea had come to her in a moment of absolute desperation. As an honest woman, it didn’t sit well with her that she’d taken the low road instead of coming clean to Dylan. An overwhelming feeling of fear had held her back. She now felt as helpless as a lamb.

      “Holly, I’m sorry. I tried, but I—” Cassidy grimaced and shook her head. “I just couldn’t pull it off the way you wanted. It didn’t feel right giving him the brush-off.”

      “It’s not your fault. I’m responsible.” Her tone was clipped. She saw the look of dismay on her best friend’s face. She didn’t mean to be so abrupt, but she was feeling so wounded. It hurt to lose the possibility of Dylan. Even though they’d shared secrets and dreams ever since they were kids, she wanted to lick her wounds in private. There was no way Cassidy could ever understand what had driven her to keep her disability a secret. Most able-bodied people wouldn’t get it in a million years. All Cassidy had to do was walk in a room to have all male eyes drawn to her like moths to a flame. Ever since the accident she’d been single. Alone. For eight long years she hadn’t gone out on a date or shared a sweet, tender kiss with a single soul. There had been nobody to hold hands with or catch a movie with at the drive-in. She’d hadn’t received flowers on Valentine’s Day or kissed anyone under the mistletoe. Although she’d felt the stirrings of something with Deputy Cullen Brand, they’d never managed to get out of the friend zone. And considering the fact that he worked closely with Tate in the sheriff’s office, in the long run it might have been a little awkward.

      Becoming Dylan’s correspondent had allowed her a rare opportunity to connect with someone without her physical condition being front and center. Living in a small town like West Falls where everyone knew her whole life story felt limiting at times. And she’d wanted to experience romance. Pure, wondrous romance.

      She’d wanted someone to fall for her without the wheelchair getting in the way. Yes, in retrospect it was selfish of her to withhold the truth, but she hadn’t been able to write those words down on the page. She hadn’t wanted his opinion of her to change.

      Her relationship with Dylan had started out as mere friendship, blossoming into tender, powerful feelings over the course of the past year. Deep in her soul she’d nurtured a fragile hope that he might be the one. She’d never been in love, but she’d hoped to be in a position to fall head over heels in love with Dylan. And to have those tender feelings returned. Now, in light of everything, those dreams had gone up in smoke. She must have been crazy to think this would all work out in the end.

      The sound of whirring tires followed by screeching brakes reverberated in the stillness of the October afternoon. A loud rapping on the front door soon followed. Holly locked eyes with Cassidy before moving toward the front door and slowly opening it. Dylan was standing on the front porch, his handsome features marred by a frown. Holly let out a deep breath. He looked so different now. His face was shuttered. He seemed impenetrable, as if he’d built a wall around himself no one or nothing could breach. The way he was standing—his arms were folded in front of him and his chest was rapidly rising and falling—caused a prickle of awareness to race through her. He looked as if he were ready to take on the world.

      “May I come in?” The grim set of his features was nothing compared to the iciness in his voice.

      Flustered, Holly waved him into the house. All the while her mind was racing. What was he doing back here? And why was his expression so forbidding? Her throat felt constricted, and she didn’t think she could utter a single word if she tried. The sound of his boots echoed sharply against the hardwood floor. He moved toward the middle of the foyer so he was facing both of them.

      Looking back and forth between them, he ground out, “Make no mistake, we need to get something straight. I don’t know what kind of game the two of you are playing with me, but I do know you’re not Holly Lynch.” He jutted his chin in Cassidy’s direction, his eyes blazing with anger. “Are you?”

      Resembling a deer caught in headlights, Cassidy froze, her eyes wide with alarm.

      Holly maneuvered her wheelchair СКАЧАТЬ