Linda Lael Miller - High Country Bride

Banner OBrien

Corbins Fancy

Memorys Embrace

My Darling Melissa

Angelfire

Desire and Destiny

Fletchers Woman

Lauralee

Moonfire

Wanton Angel

Willow

Princess Annie

The Legacy

Taming Charlotte

Yankee Wife

Daniels Bride

Lily and the Major

Emma and the Outlaw

Caroline and the Raider

Pirates

Knights

My Outlaw

The Vow

Two Brothers

Springwater

Springwater Seasons series:

Rachel

Savannah

Miranda

Jessica

A Springwater Christmas

One Wish

The Women of Primrose Creek series:

Bridget

Christy

Skye

Megan

Courting Susannah

Springwater Wedding

My Lady Beloved (writing as Lael St. James)

My Lady Wayward (writing as Lael St. James)

Last Chance Caf

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS

A Pocket Star Book published by POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

Copyright 2002 by Linda Lael Miller

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-2457-8
ISBN-10: 0-7434-2457-3

POCKET STAR BOOKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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For my nieces:

Kelly Lael,

Angela Lang,

Samantha Lang,

Jenni Readman,

And great niece

Courtney Lael

With much love

A NGUS MCKETTRICK hated every thorn and cactus, every sprig of sagebrush, every juniper tree and jack-rabbit and hunk of red rock for fifty miles in all directions, and if he could have scorched the land bare as a pigs hide at rendering time, hed have done it, yes, sir. Hed have laughed while the flames roared from one end of that ranch to the other, consuming it all.

He stood high on a hilltop, gazing now at Georgias marker, a snow-white angel, chiseled from the finest Italian marble and big as a full-grown woman. Hed ordered it a week after his wife passed over, had it sent all the way from New Orleans, Louisiana. Georgias people hailed from that godforsaken country, with its swamps and alligaors and wet heat, and seemed to favor fine stonework, not just on their graves but in their gardens, too. Angus reckoned it was because so many of them had French in their blood and were thus inclined toward frippery and fuss.

Georgia, he said, right out loud, since they were alone there, the two of them, in that high, windswept place. I turned seventy-five today. Shed know that, of course; she surely kept track of him, even from the other side. Had she been among the living, shed have built him one of her brown sugar and molasses cakes to mark the occasion. Far as Im concerned, thats plum old enough for anybody, but I guess the good Lord doesnt see it that way. The good Lord, in Anguss experience, was a contrary sort, slow to act and as likely to be cussed as to be kind when He did, but real just the same.

Angus extended a hoary finger, traced her name and the carefully chosen words of remembrance carved into the white stone pedestal, atop which the angel stood on one bare and delicate foot, trumpet raised, eyes set upon the heavens, ready to take flight.

GEORGIA BEAUDREAUX MCKETTRICK CHERISHED WIFE, BELOVED MOTHER TAKEN TOO SOON

Beneath were the dates that enclosed her life like brackets:BORN SEPTEMBER 13, 1824,DIED JUNE 17, 1870. It seemed a travesty to Angus, the mere attempt to confine so much beauty, so much love and laughter and vitalityall the vast configuration of traits that had been his Georgiato a handful of vanished years.

If only he could have gone in her place. It was a cowards wish, he knew, but hed made it often since her passing. It wouldnt have served, his passing over first, though, because as strong as she was, as smart as she was, Georgia probably couldnt have held on to the ranch all this time, a woman on her own, and the boys, the eldest just fifteen when she died, would have been more hindrance than help.