Give My Heart to Kaitlyn (2nd in Outlaw Series)

Chapter Eight

The left side of his face, the boyish dimpled side, was completely hidden from her view. Instead she found herself studying disfigured half of his face. She found herself wondering, as she took in the details of that puckered and twisted scar, if he'd once had a dimple in that cheek just as he had in the left.

Raising a trembling hand, Kaitlyn pressed her fingers again the skin there and realized it was soft and smooth beneath her touch. Who had burned the man? And why?

She sensed a change in his breathing. "Good morning," he whispered as his eyes opened. They were deep, rich brown. Similar in color to the imported chocolate bars the mercantile charged five dollars apiece for.

Kaitlyn was amazed that she felt no fear as she lay there with him. She knew that most of that was due to the fact that he had been a perfect gentleman all night. He had never once tried to touch her and had instead allowed her to curl herself up against him and they had slept wrapped around one another.

Kaitlyn's nightmares hadn't returned. Pete was right when he said they shared something special. She felt it too.

"Good morning," she whispered in return.

The peace of the moment was quickly shattered when the door to the room burst open and crashed against the wall. Pete quickly put his body between Kaitlyn and the intruder. She saw him reach for his hip but he'd left his gun belt in his room downstairs.

Panic filled her and she grabbed at the back of his shirt. "Who is it?"

Pete couldn't answer her. His mouth simply wouldn't work. Standing before him, knife drawn and looking ready to kill, was the man who had helped destroy Pete's entire life.

"Marston..." he hissed, the name leaving Pete's lips like a curse.

Marston stopped in his tracks and stared hard at him. "You oughta tell me your name, friend. I like knowing the name of a man before I cover myself in his blood."

When Marston took a step forward, Pete stepped from the bed and met the challenge despite the fact that he had no weapon. "You should remember me, Marston. After all, you helped ruin my life."

Marston angry snarl became a frown. "Pete?" he raised his brow. "You look different." Then he shrugged. "Of course you're about to look dead unless you can explain real fast what you were doing in bed with my daughter."

Pete turned an accusing glance back toward Kaitlyn. "This is your pa?"

Kaitlyn got out of the bed, (fully clothed to Marston's relief), and she chewed her lip as she nodded.

Doctor Rankin poked his head in the room. "Marston, we had no idea he was up here or we would have done something."

Kaitlyn stepped forward. "Pa, nothing happened."

Marston put his knife away slowly. "I know nothing happened. If I thought something had happened, he'd be bleeding and you'd be explaining yourself over his dead body."

Pete just stood there feeling hurt, angry and betrayed. He should have known. Jacob Marston? Louisiana? Adopted children? Pete had always been good at piecing things together but he hadn't done so with Kaitlyn—probably because he hadn't really wanted to know the truth.

Why in the hell did God hate him so damn much? He finally meets the woman he loves, gets her to begin to trust him and then finds out she's the daughter of the man he'd sworn to hate for the rest of his life. And she talked about the man as if he was Jesus himself come back to walk the earth! Marston Jacobs was a far cry from being Jesus!