Lorraine Heath by Always To Remember

Author:Always To Remember [Remember, Always To]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-03-07T23:11:44+00:00

As twilight neared. Clay heard the hammers fall one by one into silence. He didn’t need to look to know that he was being left to put the final boards into place. He’d had the unrealistic hope that maybe he’d finish first. He’d certainly had the incentive. Finish up his side and be gone, but he wouldn’t leave before he finished what he’d started. Even if it took him past midnight.

He set the board against the frame. As he had most of the afternoon, he turned slightly, pressed his backside against the board, reached down, and tapped the first nail into position. Straightening, he moved the board a fraction of an inch, making certain it was level with the other boards. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lucian striding toward him.

“At the pace you’re working, you’ll be here till midnight,” Lucian said just before he slammed his hammer against the nail Clay had used to set the board into place.

Both men heard the wood split and watched as a tiny fissure raced up the center of the board. Raising a brow, Clay looked at his brother. “I’ll be here till dawn if you help me.

Lucian wrapped his hand around the head of his hammer. “They made bets on whether or not you’d stay the whole day.”

“How much did you lose?”

Lucian dropped his gaze. “Why didn’t you leave?”

“I suppose that’s what a brave man would have done.”

Lucian snapped his head back. Clay captured his gaze and said, “But a coward might have stayed, hoping if he built one wall, he might knock another one down.”

“Lucian?” a soft feminine voice asked.

Lucian spun around. Clay’d never seen a hat come off a head so fast in his life.

“You shouldn’t be over here, Taffy,” Lucian said quietly.

Smiling softly, she extended a dipper of water. “I thought you might be thirsty.”

Lucian grinned. “How could I be thirsty when you been bringing me water all day?”

She shrugged slightly, her cheeks pinkening. “You just looked thirsty.”

“Then I reckon I am.”

Lucian took the dipper and drank the water, his eyes never leaving Taffy. He handed the empty dipper back to her. “I appreciate the thought.”

In the distance, the tuning of a fiddle sounded. “You gonna stay for the dance?” Taffy asked.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“I was hoping you might. I thought maybe you’d ask me to dance.”

Lucian sighed deeply. “I talked to your pa.” He shifted his hat to the hand holding the hammer and touched his thumb to her cheek. “Taffy, honey, he doesn’t want me calling on you.”

She studied the ground, then nudged Lucian’s foot with her toe before meeting his gaze. “I don’t see that it’s his decision to make. I’m almost seventeen, nearly fully growed, and he doesn’t know what I look for in a man.”

Lucian chuckled. “Girl, you’re gonna get me a good sound beatin'.”

“I’m worth it,” she promised before she walked away.

“Just between you and me,” Clay said, “if I had to choose between a pretty girl wanting a dance and pounding nails into boards, I’d pick the pretty girl.

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