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  "She's been here all night. We've been taking turns coming in and sitting with you."

  Fran couldn't take his eyes off his wife. He watched as her eyes fluttered open. They were hazy at first. When her gaze met his, the fog cleared, and she sat up.

  "I took care of them all while you were asleep,” Carlos continued. “I stayed by their side like a man does for his family."

  Fran looked back at the young man. He lifted his hand and placed it on his cheek. "You did good."

  Carlos nodded in agreement. Then he slid off the bed. He gave his sister a hug, and then he slipped out the door.

  Eva made her way to Fran on slow feet. Fran wanted to sit up, to get up, to get to her faster. He reached his hand out to her. She took his fingers and sat down on the bed next to him.

  "I'm sorry," he said.

  "It's okay. You're okay."

  "I promise you, I won't ever push you away like that again. I love you, Eva. I want us to be together, in a real marriage. I want to hold you. I want to kiss you. I want to fall asleep and wake up with you in my arms. If I only have another hour, I want to spend that time with you."

  Fran brushed away a tear from her eye. She turned her face into his palm and kissed it.

  "I love you, Fran. We're going to have more than an hour together. We're going to have a lifetime."

  He'd let her believe that. He'd take every moment and treasure it.

  "The shrapnel," she said. "It moved away from your heart. I don't really understand it all, but the doctor said that where it's moving, it'll likely form scar tissue that will hold it still."

  Fran struggled to understand her words. They were too good to be true.

  "They said you might feel more pain from time to time," she continued. "But the fragments are moving in a positive direction."

  Fran wanted to laugh. He'd suffer an ache in his chest from time to time if it meant he got to have this love. Not just Eva's love, but the love of his entire family. He spied them all watching with grins on their faces from the doorway.

  They all let out a cheer now that he knew the prognosis. Eva laughed. Fran did too.

  He'd set out to save this woman and her family, to move them out of a danger zone and into safety. He hadn't expected them all to steal his heart and save his life. Now they had, the dangerous bits inside him had given way. Fran followed suit.

  He turned to her, tugging her closer. Their lips met. It was nothing like the dream he'd just had. It was so much more because it was real, because this kiss, this love, this family, it would last.

  Epilogue

  Reed kept his eye on the bouncing ball as Xavier danced around the basketball hoop at the head of the driveway. He remained light on his feet as Xavier danced around, dribbling between his legs more like a backup dancer than a baller. Reed paid the performance no mind. He knew it would only be a matter of moments before his shot came.

  He gave his shoulders a shake. Clenching and releasing the fingers of his sole hand, he lay in wait, ready to grab for his chance and steal the game-winning point. No one watching the game would think to consider that he had a lesser chance of winning due to the fact that he had only one fully functioning arm in a game where handling the ball was key. He and Xavier weren’t evenly matched at all. Reed had the upper hand.

  Watching his friend continue his fancy footwork, Reed kept calm and gathered the facts. That’s all he’d need to turn the game to his advantage. His careful observations quickly panned out.

  Xavier favored his left side. He kept the ball in his left hand more times than not. When he went for the shot, it would be with his right hand.

  Reed squared up against his friend. Xavier faked a jab to his left. Reed hadn’t fallen for it. Reed attacked, using the stump of his special arm. With Xavier being on his subordinate side, it was easy to knock the ball out of his left hand.

  Once the ball was free of Xavier’s grasp, Reed stepped in. Using his body to block Xavier, Reed grabbed the ball with his own left hand. He pivoted his body, turning toward the hoop and made the shot.

  The swish of the corded rope was louder than the applause of an NBA stadium at playoffs. But it was Xavier’s groan that was music to Reed’s ears.

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” groaned Xavier.

  “Don’t hate the player,” said Reed.

  “Let’s go again. Best three out of five.”

  Xavier was a sore loser. But Reed was feeling pretty sore after two full out games. Before he could decline, the sound of a truck pulling up pushed the two men out of the driveway and into the yard. Once the truck was in park, Fran opened the passenger side door and stepped out.

  Reed stepped up to the driver’s side to hand out Eva. Eva smiled, grateful as she took his hand and hopped down to the ground.

  “DeMonti,” called Xavier, “think fast.”

  The basketball sailed through the air. Fran reached out his hands, but Eva smacked the ball away. Those same quick hands went to her hips, and her gaze shot balls of fury at Xavier. Reed’s brows raised in shock. How in the heck had she gotten around the car that fast?

  “Xavier Hunter Ramos if you over-excite my husband, I will tan your hide,” Eva said.

  Xavier straightened his back like the soldier he was. His shoulders snapped to attention and his head tilted as though he’d received an order from a commanding officer.

  Reed’s body reacted in the same manner. His right hand itched to rise to a salute.

  “Are we clear?” Eva said to Xavier. Behind her Fran smirked at his friend.

  “Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” said Xavier.

  “He is to have no excitement for the next few weeks,” Eva said wrapping her arms around Fran’s torso and placing her hand on his heart.

  Now it was Xavier who smirked at Fran. Fran had been married for two weeks and there had been no excitement in his marital bed. Unlike Xavier who went out to get his kicks every weekend with a different girl.

  “Come on, let’s get you into bed,” said Eva.

  “Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” grinned Fran.

  “To rest,” said Eva. “The doctor said you need to take it easy, Fran.”

  Fran hadn’t argued. He’d placed a light kiss at his wife’s lips and allowed her to lead him inside the house.

  Reed watched after them. Soon that would be him.

  The dating app had found him a woman with a compatibility rating of ninety-eight percent. Sarai Austin was perfect on paper. And soon they’d meet in real life, once she got back into the country from her overseas business trip.

  Reed had chatted with Sarai online every day since they’d connected through the app. The more he spoke to her, the more he knew she was the one for him. He just needed to meet her in person to seal the deal. But for the second week straight, she’d been called out of town for business.

  He admired her dedication to her job. And he was a patient man. But there was a deadline he was up against. The edict that he had to get married in just under two months. Reed just knew that if they could meet in person, everything would align. The data told him so.

  The two of them had so much in common, and their conversations were so easy he’d swear he’d known her for years and not days. She’d seen his injury. He’d displayed images of him sleeveless with his stump, and his arm with a prosthetic prominently on his profile. She’d said she wasn’t averse to it, and he believed her.

  He just needed to look in her eyes. Then, just like Dylan and Fran, he’d have a woman who’d place her hand over his heart and fiercely protect that organ with all that she was. He’d have a woman tilt her head back, offering her lips to him for a kiss. He’d have a woman he’d wrap his arms around, a woman who knew his love was true and whole. Even if he couldn’t quite lock her in an embrace, she’d never doubt that he’d hold her.

  The moment Sarai touched down back on US soil, he’d have it all.

  Soon …

  * * *

  Wanna know a secret?

  Sarai’s not out of t
he country.

  She’s actually not far from the ranch.

  It’s just she has a little—well, big secret that she’s not sure Reed will be able to accept.

  Wanna know what it is?

  Turn the page to keep reading

  “Offering His Arm”

  the third book in The Brides of Purple Heart Ranch!

  You can sign up for Shanae’s Reader Group at

  http://bit.ly/PurpleHeartBrides

  Offering His Arm

  Copyright © 2018, Ines Johnson. All rights reserved.

  This novel is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and incidents described in this publication are used fictitiously, or are entirely fictional. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, except by an authorized retailer, or with written permission of the author.

  Edited by Alyssa Breck

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  First Edition November 2018

  Chapter One

  “That makes no logical sense.”

  Typically, when Reed Cannon said those words they were out of frustration as he tried to use facts and figures to prove what was clearly rational. Not this time.

  Reed found himself running the fingers of his right hand through his hair. His lips split into a grin. His shoulders relaxed as he leaned back and looked at the screen.

  “Not everything has to make sense, Specialist Cannon,” said the woman on the other end of the voice only call.

  She was wrong again. But Reed didn’t mind. He liked the sound of her voice and was happy to hear her speak more words. Even if they were groundless and implausible.

  “Some things you just know,” she continued.

  She had him. Because this was something that Reed, somehow, someway, just knew. Sarai Austin, the owner of the sultry voice that was heating up Reed’s speakers, made sense. She was the proverbial One that the love stories told of.

  The two of them had so much in common from their educational backgrounds; where he had studied Computer Science, she had studied Web Design. To their tastes in food; she detested Brussel’s sprouts and you couldn’t get him near a stalk of cruciferous poison. And then there was the most important commonality; they rolled in the same science fiction television and film fandoms.

  “The Weeping Angels would totally and entirely decimate The Silence,” Reed insisted, championing the scary statue villains in the hit science fiction television show Doctor Who.

  “Nah unh,” Sarai disagreed. “The way a Weeping Angel kills is when their victim looks away. That’s when the stone figure comes alive, uncovers their eyes, and moves closer. If an Angel looks away from a Silence they’d forget they’d even saw them. Hence, the Silence would win.”

  “Sarai, you are so wrong.”

  “Oh, really, Reed? You may have gotten me on the Kirk over Picard argument. I still don’t concede on the Spike was better for Buffy than Angel debate. But I’m right on this one.”

  “The Angel would turn back to stone as soon as the Silent looked at it. But the Angel can still see the Silent while it’s a statue, so it wouldn’t forget. Then, the moment the Silent blinks, the Angel would move in and kill it.”

  Sarai sighed on the other end of the line. Reed was getting used to that sound. It wasn’t a sound of resignation. No, Sarai didn’t give up so easily. She was about to move in for the kill, and Reed couldn’t wait to hear her rebuttal.

  “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. If they looked at each other, they’d be locked in a staring contest forever.”

  “You know this is a nonsensical argument about fictional characters?”

  “I know that when you no longer have a leg to stand on in a debate you call it nonsensical.”

  Reed chuckled. Just as he was learning her quirks and idiosyncrasies, she was learning his. The sound of her light laughter surrounded him in stereo, but the box on the screen where the video of her face would be was dark. He wanted it to light up with the technicolor of a movie screen.

  Reed and Sarai had been in communication for weeks on the dating app. Unlike many of the sites out there that had users swiping left or right depending on someone’s attractiveness, this app was designed by sociologists, behavior scientists, and psychologists. The app matched users on levels of compatibility.

  Sarai and Reed had earned a 98% compatibility score.

  They’d gone through the seven stages of chatting via messenger. Then recently moved onto chatting over the voice feature of the app. It took four conversations to unlock the video feature. This was their fifth conversation.

  The video feature’s red button had changed to green with their last conversation, but neither of them had engaged it. They had no idea what the other looked like.

  Reed wasn't fooled enough to say it didn’t matter. He knew it did. The last three women he’d chatted with had balked when they’d seen what had become of his left arm. If he were honest, he’d admit that he’d rushed those relationships. Eager to get to the big reveal to see if they’d accept him.

  He’d seen their rejection the moment the video went live. Two of them had tried to play it off that his prosthetic arm wasn’t a big deal. One had ended the call immediately. Those other two never called back after their play acting.

  Reed had taken things slow with Sarai. Mainly because of their high compatibility score. But also, because he liked chatting with her. Now they were outside a chat room and talking. But he couldn’t delay it any longer. She had to see him. He just hoped that she accepted what came up on the screen.

  “Sarai, you know what would make sense right now?”

  “What? That the Cybermen could take out Daleks?”

  Reed chuckled at the absurd idea, but he kept the conversation on track. “The video feature is available. Do you think maybe it’s time we both went live on screen?”

  The pause that ensued was deafening. Reed leaned back in his office chair. His office consisted of a desk shoved into the corner of the dining room he shared with no one. Reed wanted to share his dining room. He wanted to share his life. He felt certain that this was the woman who should be sitting next to him in this empty room.

  “Why?” Sarai asked. Her voice was so tiny and small. So unlike the big personality that came through her text messages and voiced arguments.

  “There’s something about me that I think you should know. You have to see me in order to do that.”

  “Is this about your arm?” she asked. There was a note of relief in her voice. “You wrote that you have a prosthetic clear as day on your profile. It doesn’t bother me.”

  “Women have said that to me in the past. Then when they see it, they sing another tune.”

  Reed leaned forward, getting closer to the dark video dot at the top of his screen, even though Sarai couldn’t see him. “I really like you, Sarai. I’d like to take our relationship to the next level. A level where there are pictures. Unless … you’re not interested in going any further.”

  “No, no. It’s not that. It’s just …”

  Reed pulled close to the speakers listening intently as she inhaled. Still no resignation in her breath. She wasn’t giving up. She was going to launch into another argument.

  And he was going to give in. If she didn’t want to see him live, or if she wanted to wait longer, he’d let her have her way. It didn’t make sense, but something told him he’d have to be patient with this woman.

  “All right. We can turn the cameras on.”

  Reed’s heart pounded against his chest. He felt an itch in the palm of his hand. The itch was in the palm of his left hand which was no longer a part of his body. Phantom feelings came to him from time to time. Right now, the phantom fingers of his left hand wanted to reach out and click the button to turn on the feed that would finally bring him closer to meet his match. He reached out his right hand and flipped the switch.

  Chapter Two

  The green button flashed at Sarai, daring her to clic
k it and show all of her imperfections to Reed. Sarai had used many dating apps over the last couple of years. This was usually the time that she typically closed her laptop and ran.

  Well, not physically run. More metaphorically. Because Sarai Austin was in no shape to run. At least not any longer.

  Just three years ago she’d strutted her stuff on some of the hottest runways in the world. Now, she rarely left the house or got out of her pajamas. Her life was spent entirely online, from keeping up with her various makeover blogs, to chiming in on fandoms, to socializing on various platforms with virtual friends. She’d gone to college online, earning a degree in web design, which came in handy with her current line of work.

  She’d even had a couple of virtual boyfriends. Sarai was always careful to choose men who lived far enough away from her that it would make a weekend getaway cost-prohibitive. Her last relationship was with a guy in Russia. But he’d gotten tired of their chat room talks and unfriended her. The guy after that, he’d lived in Australia. When he’d wanted to FaceTime her, she’d ended the relationship.

  What other choice did she have? She wasn’t about to turn on the live feed so that they could see that her profile picture was three years old and thirty pounds lighter than she was in the present day. No, she didn’t need that kind of rejection. She’d had enough from the modeling world.

  So why was her finger hovered over the accept button to engage her video camera with Reed?

  Because she looked forward to their chats every night. Because he made her laugh, genuinely laugh. And he made her think, and stretch her mind when she went toe to toe with him in one of their debates.

  Also because he had no idea what she looked like, neither in the past nor in the present.

  Sarai had made her way around nearly every dating app out there. They all required a photograph as part of the profile. But not this one.