A Second Chance For A Redeeming Love (Western Historical Romance) Read online

  The guilt over not having taken her with him.

  The sun beat down on his exposed skin, darkening the flesh, aging it faster and drawing more sweat to the surface.

  Wiping it away, Tim turned his head up to the sky and let out a long sigh, wishing his head would be cleared of the past. He wondered how hard he would have to hit his head to forget everything, wash it all away and rebuild his history. Make his story begin with the ranch and nothing before. This life was almost complete. Almost.

  That hole in his heart would never be filled again, not unless Anastasia Griffin miraculously walked back into his life, and Tim had lost hope of that a long time ago.

  “What are you thinking about?” George’s voice had always been as gruff as his appearance, weathered and wrinkled from smoke and sun.

  “Nothing.” Tim shook off the old man’s question, returning to the reality of life on the ranch.

  At that moment, he realized where he was meant to be—and that he was late.

  His slate grey eyes widened as his heart slammed forward, seeming to hit against the confines of his ribs. The sun was already high in the sky and there was something that had been slipping his mind the entire morning.

  He saw the way that George’s face dropped in reaction to his expression, worry overpowering all else. “What is it?”

  “George, I was supposed to be helping out in the town today! They’re building the dance hall and I agreed to pitch in!”

  He was panicking, thinking about what the townspeople had done for him over these past few years. It had been the least that he could do to volunteer, and he didn’t want them to start disliking him, thinking he would simply fall through on his promises.

  “I’ve got things covered over here. You go on down. The men will need all the help that they can get by the sound of things.”

  It was the latest gossip surging like a wave through Newton Creek; the grand opening night of the dance hall was swiftly approaching, yet the structure itself was still merely a skeleton. The wood was in position, but Tim knew that there was much more to be done.

  “Thanks, George, I won’t be too long. Hopefully.”

  Tim was already moving back towards the house to grab his hat and various other equipment. His white shirt was clinging to his back and the vest underneath was already becoming damp with sweat. It was quite a walk into town.

  He decided to take one of the horses instead. There was no time to saddle up the animal, so he used one of the nearby steps and jumped on bareback. Another reminder of his outlaw life; knowing how to ride bareback was essential back then.

  In Newton Creek, it was a unique talent that the other men marveled at.

  When he arrived, it seemed his tardiness hadn’t even been noted. The men were too focused on getting the work done to count who was there and who was absent. He got to work straight away, stripping down to his shirt and pants only. His old boots dug into the dusty ground as he helped the men hammer into the wood and secure each nail into place.

  A couple of hours of continuous work passed, and Tim fell into a rhythm that he quite enjoyed: the mindless task of being part of a collective, constructing something that would be used by a lot of people. It was a comforting thought. The men around him were kind, too, laughing and joking as they worked. Occasionally the talk would turn to their wives.

  At this time, Tim fell silent. He couldn’t relate to their talk and didn’t want to be reminded. But it was too late; the memories would flood back in an instant and bring on a slight headache.

  He paused for a rest, feeling as though he’d earned it after working solidly for so long, his chest heaving as he tried to regain his breath after lifting up some more of the wood.

  His muscles were filled with a cocktail of fatigue and fulfillment; the dance hall structure was finally beginning to take on the shape of a building. The sweat was pouring off him in snaking tributaries, his tanned forearms absorbing the harsh rays from above as the cotton shirt clung to him like a second skin.

  Tim was thankful in that moment that he’d always been blessed with a muscular build. The way his shoulders bulged outwards had allowed him to lift the wood and hold his arms up for much longer than a lot of the other men. It had aided him in his past life, and he was grateful that the strength hadn’t dwindled from his new life on the ranch.

  “It ain’t looking too bad,” Shaun, another of the local ranch owners, commented.

  Tim smiled as the tall man came and sat down next to him. If they both stood up, he knew that the other rancher would dwarf him in an instant.

  Shaun’s lighter hair reflected the sun as though it were a mirror, the top of his forehead slowly turning reddish from his lack of protection. Yet it was too hot to have a hat on, and not practical whilst they worked.

  Tim nodded. “It’s coming along nicely.” The wooden structure was slightly lighter than the rest of the surrounding buildings. It was clear that the old town held some age to it, despite these new editions, which seemed to fill the entire compound with the scent of wood chips.

  “It’s good of you to help us, you know.” Shaun shifted his weight on the log, gloved hands preventing them from getting splinters.

  Tim could feel plenty in his arms from where the gloves stopped, though—a small pain that he knew he deserved for deceiving an entire town into thinking he was a good man.

  “It’s honestly the least I could do. It’s not easy to welcome strange folk in these parts, and I wanted to show my appreciation and gratitude to the townspeople for being kind when I first bought the ranch.”

  The people of Newton Creek had always been a tight bunch of people, and even after three years, Tim was still classed as the new guy. Nobody had dared to come along and take that title from him. He didn’t mind, though, as it gave him the distance he wanted away from the main buzz of the town.

  “You’re one of us, now. You have been for a while.”

  “Thanks. I’ve always had a feeling I was on the outside circle, here, but I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon, so it’s good to know.”

  “Heard some gossip that you’re in for a good spring,” Shaun said, raising one eyebrow as he pushed at Tim’s arm with a playful chuckle.

  Tim had learned by now that it was common for the cattlemen around the town to talk. After all, each one was in competition with the other. He gazed out at the main area of the town around him, his eyes scanning over the people as they went about their day. “Yeah, well George and I—”

  He faltered, his eyes widening and squinting as he tried to make out what he was seeing.

  It couldn’t be. He said to himself. It just... can’t be…

  But it was.

  Anastasia Griffin stood in the center of town with a small bag of belongings slung over her shoulder. She saw him and started walking toward him, her expression unreadable. Tim thought about how much he’d missed looking into those green eyes, how they would soften at his touch.

  Her pace faltered as the realization hit her. She was actually seeing him, and he was seeing her again after so long.

  Tim felt his throat drying up, words slipping from his mind as though he’d been struck dumb. His legs acted first, the muscles seeming to have a mind of their own as they lifted him from the log until he was standing up fully and moving slowly toward her.

  “Is everything all right?” Shaun questioned from behind him, but his voice sounded distant, as though they were in a cave and all he was hearing was a far-off echo.

  “Y-Yeah, I-I just need a minute to talk to…”

  He continued walking, his eyes never leaving hers, as though he was caught in some sort of trance of disbelief.

  Was this all a dream? His stomach was doing flips that felt real, and he’d been lifting and holding wood all day, and that also felt real. No, this is real.

  “Timothy King,” Anastasia breathed out once they were close enough to know that they weren’t seeing things—that after three long and painful years, they were back in front of each other.

  He wasn’t sure whether to cringe or ignore the fact that she had said his name out loud. He didn’t want anybody to connect the dots to his not so pure past. He didn’t know if rumors about certain outlaw individuals had finally reached the town, but he didn’t dare to ask anymore, not wanting people to get suspicious.

  In that moment, all he could do was pray that Shaun was out of earshot and that nobody else had heard the name. That life was behind him—and now, in front of him, stood the woman he had loved.

  Ana didn’t look any different, the mental image he’d kept of her appearance on that final day still accurate. She still wore gauchos, almost as a badge of honor that she wasn't exactly the domestic kind of woman. It was something that Tim had always admired about her; she never deviated from who she truly was.

  Although her hair was slightly longer now, almost reaching her waist, Tim knew it was rare for it to be so loose and moving freely like this.

  Her beauty shone through as though she were some sort of goddess before him, her hair dancing in the gasps of the wind. Her legs were still longer than any other woman’s, her face, like his, slightly more sun kissed than he remembered. She must have remained in the gang for some time after he’d left her.

  Without Ellis as their leader, he knew that the three of them would struggle; Tim and Ellis had been the cunning planners of the group, Ellis leading and Tim planning most of the time.

  The other three would help to execute it flawlessly. Tim always made sure they had some sort of shelter to stay in for the night—a place they could use as a base for a couple of days at a time.

  Carl and Leroy had never chosen to make that one of their priorities.

  He was speechless, his eyes scanning over her, still not quite digesting the fact that she was really here. Her beauty had wrapped around his throat and closed his windpipe, although his grey eyes were still wide and there was the twitch in his aching arms to embrace her in a strong hug.

  “Ana,” he finally managed to breathe out, his voice slightly croaky as though it had been clogged with dust.

  “You’re… you’re really here.” She let out a small burst of emotion, eyes widening for a moment before returning to normal.

  Tim thought that the wavering of her voice was due to the emotion that she felt, yet Ana knew the truth.

  It was a moment of doubt, a moment where she could have easily lifted the mask and told him the entire plan of the Madden brothers. She’d forgotten that Tim could have that sort of effect on her, lifting out the truth as though it were an easy task.

  She let out a breath to steady herself, not allowing her emotions to succumb to that familiar feeling of being wanted by Tim. She knew that she would have to rise above it for this plan to work. Don’t get too sucked in.

  “I…”

  His voice suddenly trailed off as his thoughts began to catch up, lacing everything with a sprinkle of logic. Anastasia was still in the gang... which meant the brothers would be somewhere nearby. His heart rate suddenly picked up and one foot readied itself to take a step backwards.

  Ana sensed the shift in his mood, and panic flooded through her system as she realized he didn’t trust her any more than she trusted him.

  Her entire plan was to get him to trust her completely, to reignite those flames of attraction that had once blazed between them. She knew she would have to do this while also distancing herself from her own feelings, so that when the Madden brothers put their plan into action, the only person it would hurt would be the one that betrayed them all.

  Tim.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked as the doubt clouded his face like a thick fog. “I-I left the gang. They won’t find us in a place like this, would they? They wouldn’t dare show their faces.”

  Tim faltered for a moment, a frown dragging down the chiseled features that Ana realized she’d missed more than she had first anticipated.

  “You left?”

  The skin around his eyes couldn’t stretch any further; his eyes themselves were bulging as he tried his hardest to make sense of what was happening. The last thing that he wanted after three years of peace was for his dark past to come galloping into town in the form of the last two Madden brothers.

  He was thankful that the men, including Shaun, had gone back to work. Nobody was paying attention to them now.

  Ana was thankful that Tim didn’t seem to recall how strong and confident her voice normally was. The wavering that she was now putting on for affect was a softer Ana: a gentler version of herself that she hoped would make her easier to trust.

  “I left not long after you. Tim, they told me that it was you who betrayed us. Y-You left us. You left me.” Ana could feel the tears twinkling in her eyes, catching the light of the afternoon sun and aiming straight at Tim’s heartstrings. She watched as they pulled at them. However, there wasn’t much acting required. This upset was true, and there was no hiding from it anymore.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He could see her lip quivering as her green eyes filled to the brim with tears, and he let out a long breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. “I had to leave. You don’t understand why, but I had to go.”

  “Well, I haven’t seen the brothers in just over two years. In the beginning they kept getting dangerously close to finding me, but it’s been a long time, so I think we’re clear from their wrath.”

  “You just packed up and left?” Tim questioned in confusion, unsure how Ana would have been able to get away so easily. He remembered that first week after he left and how hard it had been to find shelter while also staying out of the path of Leroy and Carl. He shuddered at the thought that Ana would have been through a similar experience, without any money to support her.

  “Just like you did.”

  Ana tried to reign in the conviction in her voice, but it was a struggle. Anger surged at his doubt in her. He didn’t know her anymore.

  “Where have you been all this time?”

  “I’ve spent two years with no permanent place, just moving from town to town, trying to find somewhere that would fit the bill as a place to call home. I haven’t found it yet.” She held her breath as soon as the words were out, hoping he would buy it.

  It was Tim’s soft spot—the fact that he knew exactly how she felt. It was the position he’d been in three years ago before he’d used the money from the robbery to buy the ranch.

  But Anastasia hadn’t had the luxury of a load of cash, by the looks of things. His regret sank further into his gut. The fact that he should have taken her with him was the only thing he could focus on.

  “I’m so sorry for leaving you, Ana. I never wanted to, believe me, and I’ve never stopped thinking about you, either.” Tim’s head drooped down on instinct. He couldn’t look her in the eyes. That bright green seemed to be good at extracting his guilt.

  “I’m just still in shock that I’ve found you here. I thought I would never get to see you again, that you’d simply vanished and would remain in the past. It’s good to see you in the now, though, Tim. I really did miss you a lot.”

  She stepped forward so that they were closer, the gap between them dwindling with each step, though she didn’t get close enough that it would be classed as intimate. Just affectionate.

  Tim’s breathing was shallow, the sweat now practically pouring down his back, the tense situation something that he had never anticipated whenever he’d dreamed of reuniting with Ana. It was a recurring dream that had come to him on many nights over the years. He ran a large hand through his thick hair, feeling the damp of his scalp.