Beloved Counterfeit by Kathleen Y'Barbo

Author:Kathleen Y'Barbo [Y'Barbo, Kathleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Christian, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9781602858220
Google: wcsonwEACAAJ
Amazon: B00HAYICX6
Publisher: Center Point Pub.
Published: 2010-07-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

“This time.”

Two words that taunted Micah all the way back to the boat, where he left his boots on the deck then jumped into the water fully dressed. Unlike his swim with Ruby, slipping under the lapping waters of the bay offered a few seconds of peace and quiet.

Holding his breath, Micah opened his eyes and waited for the familiar sting of the salt water to subside. A shaft of sunlight pierced the murky water and illuminated a pair of tussling lobsters on the ocean floor. Any other day, he’d have dived down and brought up dinner.

Tonight, however, he’d not need the feast, though he could certainly offer them to the Carters for the favors they’d be performing. Using a skill that had filled his hungry belly more times than he could count, Micah made short work of tossing both of the combatants onto the deck of his ship, where he’d tend to them once he finished his swim. Without much effort, he found two more and added them to the pair, who now seemed more intent on exploring than escaping.

Dropping back into the water, he kicked off the hull and propelled himself a decent measure away from the vessel. A sail off to the south caught his attention. Though he rarely judged these things from water level, it appeared the ship was sailing dangerously close to the reef.

Watching a moment longer, Micah decided the angle at which he viewed the sail seemed to be the reason. With the weather as fine as it was today, any decent sailor captaining a vessel in these waters would know the dangers and steer clear.

Micah gave the vessel one last look then turned to float on his back. Above him, the Lord had set the slightest wisp of cotton clouds against a sky so blue it hurt to look at it.

Blue as Ruby’s eyes.

Not since he mistook his friendship with Emilie for something more had he paid such close attention to a woman. Always he’d been too busy to concern himself with the confusing process of wooing a woman.

His thoughts tumbled back to Caroline. She had required little of him, and sadly, he’d obliged her by spending too many hours planting and plowing only to return with just enough energy to eat and fall into a sleep that seemed to last only minutes. Then he got up and did it all over again. Just as his pa had done, and likely his pa’s pa.

Even when Caroline begged him to stay, he chose his allegiance to Texas over allegiance to her. “I promise, Lord,” he whispered. “Not this time.”

Micah rolled onto his belly and ducked beneath the surface, then rose up to commence floating on his back once again. The move did nothing to change the direction of his thoughts, though it did cause his eyes to sting again.

Or were those tears?

He shook off the foolish notion and tugged at his water-soaked trousers. With the sun full overhead, his belly complained. Only then did he realize he’d eaten little of what Ruby had brought to him for breakfast.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.