Renegades and Stubborn Pride (sequal to Renegades and Pretty Women)

Chapter Twenty-Three

 

                Joe and Jonah sat at the edge of the gully they were camped next to. The rain had finally stopped but not soon enough to keep them from getting thoroughly soaked. Joe was glad that Bart had thought to buy dry tinder when he’d gotten the supplies or else they wouldn’t have even had a fire to try to dry out beside.

                Joe could feel the fire on her back as she sat there curled up against Jonah’s side. His strong arm was wrapped around her and his hand was holding hers, their fingers twined together tightly.

                Joe knew they were both equally scared. They were both barely holding on as the panic for their son gnawed at their minds. Neither had wanted to stop riding and would have ridden all night but Reb and the sheriff had pointed out that they wouldn’t get very far if they killed their horses.

                So now they sat together, just far enough from camp to feel alone and yet close enough to be in the glow of firelight. While Joe probably would never admit it aloud, she needed the feeling of security she felt with Jonah’s strong body holding hers tightly. She needed the strange kind of comfort that came from sharing your pain and your fear with someone who was feeling the exact same things.

                “I’m sorry, Josephine.” Jonah whispered gruffly, his breath warm against her hair. Joe frowned as she snuggled up deeper in his arms. There had been a time when cuddling like this, appearing weak like this, would not have been something Joe would have done with the other men at camp able to see her, but now she didn’t really are what they thought. She needed her husband’s touch. Jonah was all that was keeping her from completely losing her mind.

                “Fer what?” Joe asked quietly.

                Jonah sighed, his thumb gently stroking her wrist. “For everything. For all of this. For falling for Scarlett’s lies. For being so damned determined to make her pay for making a fool out of me. For being so drunk and lost that Bart felt he had to protect you from me. For not killing Critter the first time I had a chance to. Maybe if I’d have just killed him then she wouldn’t have…..”

                Joe cut Jonah off by sitting up straighter and pressing her lips against his. The kiss was tender and full of all the love she felt for him and his eyes remained closed as she pulled away. “Stop, Jonah.” She warned gently. “Ya have to stop living in the past. Lots of men fell fer Scarlett’s lies which leads me to think she really does have a candied clit ‘tween them legs, and of course ya wanted revenge on her! Hell I would have hunted her down too if she’d damn near gotten me killed. As far as being drunk and lost, hell Jonah, I probably woulda been in the same damned shape as you were after losing ya only I had Clayton to think about… You didn’t even have him so I can’t blame ya fer feelin’ so damn alone that drinkin’ and whores is all ya had to turn to.”

                Jonah swallowed hard, his throat bobbing. “I love you.”

“I reckon I love ya too.”

Then Jonah shook his head. “I still should have killed Critter the first time.”