Howard Haskell Takes A Bride (The Brides of Paradise Ranch Book 0) by Merry Farmer

Author:Merry Farmer [Farmer, Merry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-07-19T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 7

As the first fingers of dawn peeked through Elizabeth’s curtains on Thursday morning, her frazzled nerves were busy bouncing back and forth between emotions. Ever since the soiree and Howard’s bold suggestion of a race, her heart had flown wildly between despair and elation, hope and doom, excitement and dread. If anyone could win such a grueling race as the one that had been suggested, Howard could. But Jonas was a tough competitor, and if Howard did manage to lose, she would be forced to marry the blackguard.

There was no way under the heavens that she would marry Jonas Armstrong now. But what could she do to ensure she didn’t have to? Howard was the cleverest man she’d ever met, but in all honesty, she hadn’t known him long enough to know that he would prevail. She could only wish that he would.

She tossed in her already rumpled bed, where she had lain awake all night thinking about things. A headache squeezed around her temples, and her thoughts refused to settle. What would she do if Howard lost the competition?

She would flee, that’s what she would do. No matter what her mother and father said, she was going to leave Cincinnati with Howard. If she had to leave the city in disgrace, never to see or speak to her family and friends again, then so be it.

She sucked in a breath, staring up at the canopy enclosing her bed. Could she really do it? Could she really run away with a man she’d known for a week, had barely been able to have a full conversation with? Could she forsake her entire life to start again in the wilds of the western frontier?

Yes. Yes, she could. It was by far a better option than staying meekly home and marrying a man who was as like as not to raise his hand to her. Someday, when she had a daughter, she would encourage her to do the same thing—to be bold and brave, to throw caution to the wind, and to defy the strictures of society if it meant she could be happy and follow her heart.

As thoughts of her future daughter and all the adventures she would have spun through Elizabeth’s restless mind, an odd, pinging sound came from the window. She ignored it at first, so wrapped up in fantasies of the brave, strong children she would have with Howard that the sound hardly reached her ears. But it came again, then again, then again.

At last, Elizabeth sat up with a frown, listening. The pinging came a fifth time, and with it a tiny crack. A muffled curse sounded outside.

Elizabeth gasped. “Howard.”

She threw her tangled bedcovers aside and leapt out of bed, running to the window. Sure enough, a tiny crack split the glass near the bottom. She ignored it, unlatching the window and throwing it open. A blast of cool, morning air swirled around her, sending gooseflesh along her skin and tightening her nipples against the flimsy cotton of her nightgown.

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