Gentle Confusion

by

Layne

When Liana awoke, it took her a few moments to remember that she was in Australia. Then, when she turned her head slightly and saw Ben lying beside her, everything came back at once. He had rolled onto his back, one arm lying beside him, the other flung over his head.

Seeing him that way--his face relaxed and innocent in sleep--made it hard for her to reconcile this man beside her with the one he had told her about. This man looked like anything but a criminal. Someone who stole for a living and could kill without hesitation.

"An outlaw" as he liked to call himself, she thought with a slight grin. And now, watching him sleep, she could picture it.

Ben was fascinated with history. Particularly with the Western history of America. Trains, guns, Indians, stagecoaches. That had been the a period when it would have been really fun to do what he did, he had told her--riding fast horses, drawing six-shooters, robbing stagecoaches. She'd seen the fascination and excitement in his eyes when he'd talked about it.

Liana sat up slowly, resisting the urge to run her fingers through that thick chestnut hair. Not wanting to wake him from the sound sleep he was in and disturb her observation of him. The way he looked reminded her of the second night she'd talked with him.

Ben had just returned to Atlanta after two weeks away on "business". The only time they'd had together at that point had been that first evening of talking and a single phone call he'd made to her while he was away. "Just to see if you remember me," he'd told her over the line, half joking, half serious. As though she could possibly forget him!

His first night back in town,he'd picked her up for dinner. Liana had already decided, during that two weeks, that she'd ask him to accompany her to Australia. It hadn't really been a conscious decision. Somewhere during those two weeks of waiting, and wondering if it hadn't all been a dream and if she'd really see him again, her heart (against her better judgment) had simply determined that she didn't want to be without Ben Wade.

As she was sitting in the booth at the restaurant, waiting for the right time to ask him, they'd been talking about her upcoming move. About the land and the family friends waiting for her there. It was a chance for her to start a new life. He'd always wanted that, he told her, his voice seeming almost wistful. A chance to start a new life.

And, in that moment, she'd seen- Not the robber. Or the killer. Not even the man she'd met two weeks before. In his face his eyes, his expression- She'd seen a boy. A little boy, who seemed to be asking, "Can I try again? What did I do wrong, mama?"

In that instant, the invitation to join her had come spilling out of her. As though she could contain it no longer. He deserved that chance. And maybe she could help give it to him.

Giving Ben's face a last, loving look, Liana rose quietly from the bed and went to the doors leading out to the deck. It was dusk outside now and she leaned against the railing, surveying the land spreading out before her. She didn't realize she was no longer alone, until she heard Ben's quiet voice behind her.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes." She turned to look at him, smiling, her heart almost skipping a beat. He looked handsome and rugged in nothing but the towel wrapped around him.

"What do you say to seein' if we can scare up some dinner, darlin?"