Bride by Mistake by Serenity Woods

Author:Serenity Woods [Woods, Serenity]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Serenity Woods
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The path led away from the house, around the large pool, and down across the lawn toward the river. Dominic kept his pace slow, and Fliss seemed content to meander with him, enjoying the peace and quiet of the evening. A couple of late cicadas chirruped in the trees, and as the path trailed down to the water, the sound of the river tumbling over the rocks filled the air.

“This is the Kerikeri River,” he said. “It’s the same one that forms Rainbow Falls farther downstream.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Oh, I didn’t realize that.”

“It’s caused some problems in the past. In 2007, there was a great storm. Fallen tree trunks got caught on the bridge by the Stone Store and the whole basin flooded. The water stopped an inch short of the steps to the Store.”

“Oh my God, really?”

“After that, they made the bypass over the river, so you can no longer drive past the Stone Store. Anyway, a few years later, there was another bad storm. The bridge upstream from here was blocked, and the whole of Mum’s garden flooded.” He gestured toward the pond. “You couldn’t see that. The water covered the whole lawn and flooded the pool. It was a nightmare. But they’ve widened the banks now, so it shouldn’t happen again.”

“That must have been scary.”

He held a branch out of the way so it didn’t tangle her hair. “Mum was terrified the river wasn’t going to stop rising, but the house is built on the highest point, and luckily it stopped just short of the door.”

“Thank you,” she said as he lowered the branch back down carefully. Her bright turquoise eyes met his for a moment, then dropped back to the path.

They walked in silence for a while, following the river, descending into the twilight of the forest. Dominic wasn’t sure why he’d asked her to go for a walk. He’d done his best to keep his distance during the afternoon, but her gaze had rested on him several times, and he’d felt an answering pull in his solar plexus, as if they were linked by an invisible rope and she’d given it a tug. In the end, he’d just wanted to get her on her own, away from the others.

“You have a nice family,” she said eventually.

“Yeah, they’re okay. Apart from Elliot.” He smiled, letting her know he didn’t mean it.

“Are he and Karen married?” she asked.

“Not yet.”

“You think they will be?”

He shrugged. “Not sure. She’s keen, I think. Him… I don’t know. Elliot keeps his cards close to his chest. He’s never seemed wildly in love with her. They sort of fell into dating together and fell into getting a house together, and I expect they’ll fall into getting married eventually. He buries his head in the sand—he once told me he’d let future Elliot worry about it. At the moment, he’s content, and that’s all he’s concerned about.”

“You disapprove,” she said, her tone teasing.

“Eh. That makes me sound old.”

“No, it makes you sound

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.