Give My All to Jessie (Third in Outlaw Series)

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

Both Jessie and Kaitlyn stared at Langley with disbelief. Jessie stepped forward knowing if she could only touch him she could change his mind.

Langley took a step back. "It's too late, Jessie."

"No, it's not," she countered stubbornly. "I love you."

Langley shook his head. "And why would I believe you now?" he demanded. "You've said you loved me before and yet you let me go. I warned you, Jessie, that if you let me walk out that door it would be over. You let me know that every single 'I love you' you'd ever spoken had been a lie. I won't be made a fool of again."

"Langley, they were never lies and you damned well know that."

Jessie was certain she saw something flicker in Langley's eyes but it was gone as soon as it appeared and became replaced by the cold indifference. "I'm sorry I hurt you...."she began but he held up his hand.

"Sometimes sorry just isn't good enough. I went through hell for you. I chased after you twice when you left me and I took lives to save yours—I still see those men's face at night sometimes when I sleep. I all but begged you to stay with me that night. I offered you everything I had to offer and let you know that our lives would be lived on your terms but it meant nothing. Do you have any idea how badly you broke my heart?" the last words were whispered as if he was attempting to keep anyone else from hearing them.

"I broke my own heart too," Jessie replied sadly. She felt tears gathering behind her eyes but she fought them back with everything she had. If he could be cold and heartless then so could she. Damn him for making things so hard!

"Jessie, I don't know what it is you were expecting when you showed up here. Did you think you could just ride in here, offer an apology for ripping my heart out and I would just let you fall into my arms and be so damn happy to have you back that I'd forget everything?"

Jessie offered a halfhearted shrug. "Something like that." Jessie attempted to offer a smile to lighten the mood.

That only seemed to make Langley even more angry and he let out a growl before turning and walking away from her, leaving her standing there on the boardwalk with his sister.

All at once he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "You aren't.. uh... with child or anything, are you?"

Jessie couldn't believe what she was hearing or the coldness in his voice. Could that possibly be the same loving, caring, gentle man she'd once known? "Would it make a difference if I was?" she choked out around the lump in her throat.

She saw Langley's arm jerk and his fists clenched as if he was fighting some internal battle with himself. "I'm a man of honor," he ground out. "If you were carrying my child, I would marry you."

Jessie thought about lying. She thought about telling him she was with child just to see if it would stop him from acting so cold. But she couldn't do that. She couldn't lie to Langley.

"No." Her eyes dropped to her boots. "No, I'm not with child."

"Then I have nothing else to say to you," Langley stated. Jessie was certain she heard his voice broke but when she looked up, he had unhitched his horse. He hopped on the black gelding's back and rode away without ever glancing her way again.

Jessie felt as if someone had just dumped a bucket of cold water over her head. She knew it had nothing to do with the icy wind currently blowing. Langley had turned his back on her. Langley had always done everything she'd wanted—he'd never denied her anything.