Emily's Cowboy Read Free

skin soft to his touch, her breasts full, her nipples hard. The taste of her juices haunted him to this very day. He craved them, could still remember her flavour on his tongue, an addiction he could not cure, no matter how he tried.
    The pointlessness in holding on to those memories of her was never far from his mind. She’d ripped out his heart by sending him away. Emily had tried to make him believe that she didn’t love him anymore, didn’t want him or the plans and dreams they had spoken of so often. But Gareth knew it hadn’t been that—it had been her inability to face what had happened to her, to ignore the scars that marred her body, the marks that were a testament to her bravery. He had not seen them as she had. Gareth had hardly noticed the burns at all, but that was all Emily had seen. Even when she hadn’t been looking in a mirror, she’d seen them in her mind, and even though Gareth loved her more than anything and everything on this earth, his love hadn’t been enough for Emily. It hadn’t been enough to convince her she was his. She was beautiful. She was allowed to be happy and have all the dreams that they had planned.
    So instead of sharing the life they had planned together, both he and Emily remained alone and apart.
    “Earth to Cowboy… Come in, Cowboy…”
    “Eh, what? Did you say something, Pippa? I was miles away.”
    “Yeah, I got that impression…and I can guess where. Mitch has gone to the bar to get you another beer, said something about saving you from the attention of your adoring fans. Gareth, seriously, you need to do something about this whole Emily thing. Why don’t you take the advice I was given by someone I love, and just tell her how you feel? What’s the worst that can happen?”
    Gareth was a bit shocked that Pippa was using that same advice he had given her right back at him, but he knew in this case, words would not help.
    “Pippa, I have told her. Over and over again. I’ve begged and pleaded my case, but it didn’t help…wasn’t enough. The fire damaged more than her skin. It changed her, her spirit. My Emily is gone. She hides behind her scars, uses them to keep us apart. Who knows, maybe I’ve got it all wrong. Could be that deep down it’s just an excuse I’ve dreamt up. Maybe she just doesn’t feel the same way about me anymore. Maybe I need to face up to that. Move on.”
    Even saying the words cut deeply. Gareth would never be able to move on. He understood that. He had loved Emily for as long as he’d had memories, could not recall a time when he had not loved her in some way. Could not really remember a time that Emily had not been a part of his life. Their families were neighbours, albeit miles apart, but in the country that was the way it was. The Mackenzie house was the nearest home to the Andrews house. They had grown up together, he and Emily. They were the same age and they had played together, gone to school together. Gareth could even remember the exact moment his body had reacted to hers, male to female, and his feelings of brotherly love had become much, much more.
    He recalled noticing over their early teenage years, without a great amount of interest on his part, that Emily’s body was changing, but it was during their eighteenth year, that first time they had swum together after a long, cold winter, that he had really seen her as a temptation, as more than just a friend. The sun had finally been shining and the country heat had been rising with the return of spring, back towards the usual scorching temperatures that the northern areas of New South Wales achieved. They had spent the afternoon on horseback, riding together, checking fences between the two properties, when they’d reached one of the dams their neighbouring properties shared. The attraction of freshening their sweaty bodies in the cool water of the dam had been hard to resist. They had swum together many times, so when Emily had urged her horse in the direction of the