Carol Finch (23 page)
Authors: The Ranger's Woman
“Or maybe it was last night when I walked in and felt like I had finally come home because you were here.” He threw up his hands in frustration and said, “Oh, hell, if you want to know the honest truth I think I fell in over
my head while you were dangling off the cliff in the overturned coach and Lucky knocked off that ridiculous veiled hat you were wearing as a disguise. I saw the bewitching face that went with that sassy mouth and fiery spirit and I—”
Quinn grunted uncomfortably when Piper leapt at him and sent him staggering backward. Her laughter was sweet music to his ears. The feel of her legs wrapping around his waist and her arms clenching around his neck reminded him of the magical, intimate moments they had shared.
And suddenly the resentment, grief and hardships he had battled more than half of his lifetime dissolved because Piper kissed him as if he were the center of her universe.
Quinn decided, right there and then, that he had finally found the missing half of his soul. He was tired of fighting his way through life, tired of denying that this fiery, adorable female was the one who made him
feel
again, made him hope and dream of a bright, promising future. With her.
“I will love you forever and ever, Quinn Callahan,” Piper murmured as she cupped his face in both hands. “Guaranteed.”
Quinn dropped a kiss to the tip of her nose. “I love you, too, sweetheart, but life has taught me that nothing is forever.”
She smiled impishly up at him. Her love for him shone in those glorious blue eyes like the midday sun. “Maybe
nothing
lasts forever,” she whispered, “but
this
will.”
When she led him to bed and made wild sweet love
with him, she murmured that
he
was the most precious gift her heart desired. And when they were body to body and soul to soul Quinn felt himself soaring to delirious heights of the most incredible passion he had ever known, experiencing emotions that came bubbling up from nowhere like the pure, clear water in Phantom Springs.
“All I need is to see you every morning for the rest of my life and to lie in your arms every night,” she assured him. “
That
is the truth.
You
are my
forever,
Quinn.”
And suddenly he believed in happily ever after.
Because Piper said it was so…and she always told him the truth.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-3732-2
THE RANGER’S WOMAN
Copyright © 2005 by Connie Feddersen
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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