Her Dearly Unintended by Regina Jennings

Author:Regina Jennings [Jennings, Regina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC042030, FIC042040, FIC027050
ISBN: 9781441228956
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2016-03-09T05:00:00+00:00

Ma and Pa needed to come home. Mr. Silas needed to leave. Josiah needed . . . well, Katie Ellen wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with him. There was a time when she would’ve given every invention in her tree house to spend two whole days in his company, but the fear was too great. Not fear of Silas, but fear that Josiah would realize his power over her. Fear that she would lose control.

She wiped the mud off her face with the wet sleeve of her coat. She didn’t intend to leave with Josiah, but what would she do if he refused to stay? Yet even as she asked herself that question, she realized that truthfully it wasn’t possible that he would leave her. For all Josiah’s wild tendencies, he wouldn’t leave a lady in need.

He’d leave a lady embarrassed, frustrated, and angry, but not in danger. And maybe it was time for her to be impulsive. Maybe she should challenge Silas. See what he was up to.

“Josiah, this man has no reason to hurt us. He’s frustrating, but besides the broken window . . .”

Josiah wrinkled his nose. His nostrils twitched like he was fixing to sneeze, but instead he looked over his shoulder toward the house. Then, without so much as a by-your-leave, he took off like a jackrabbit.

She watched him run. Water splashed with each stride through the standing puddles. There he went, dashing off right in the middle of her sentence. He had no more manners than—

She watched as Josiah reached the house and immediately threw open the front door—and then she saw the reason for his hurry. Katie Ellen rose off her knees and darted toward the house, splashing through the selfsame puddles that Josiah had parted. Until Josiah opened the door, everything had looked fine. But now she saw the thin gray smoke hugging the top of the doorframe and seeping betwixt the boards on the broken window.

She snatched the fire bucket on her way across the porch, and pain ripped up her arm. The wet sand weighed twice its usual and was topped to the brim with rainwater. Holding the handle with both hands she entered her home and nearly fainted. Smoke billowed from her solid-oak-framed sofa. Scorched springs waved through where the crush plush upholstery had been stretched across the frame. Now it was eaten away like the meat from a half-gnawed chicken leg, leaving sinew and bones, and beneath that lay the remains of her grandmother’s quilt.

And there through the smoke she saw Josiah tossing a whole bucket of water on it. No, not water. The flames sizzled and filled the room with the scent of scorched milk.

“What are you doing?” She blinked back tears from her stinging eyes.

He pulled the bucket out of her hand and shoved the empty one into her chest. “I didn’t have time to pump water. Thought milk would work just as well. Now go get that thing refilled.”

Once again he’d caught her on her heels while he saved the day.

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