Love's Violet Sunrise by Naomi Rawlings

Author:Naomi Rawlings
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cedar Lake Press
Published: 2019-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Mabel turned and tromped down the wooded path toward the beach. A distraction. Of all the ridiculous things.

“Mabel, wait. I didn’t mean it like that.” Footsteps thudded behind her. “I just wanted to keep you from—”

“I understand very well what you meant, Hiram Cummings. And I’ll have you know that the next time I kiss a man, it will be because he thinks fondly of me, not because he’s trying to distract me.”

“I’m sorry.”

She could almost hear him wince, but she didn’t turn around and look. One glance at those sincere hazel eyes of his, and she’d believe whatever tripe he spouted. “Yes, you told me already.”

“I only meant—”

“You’ve made your intentions clear, thank you.”

He sighed loudly from behind her, but thankfully he stopped talking.

With Dietrich in jail, did he think of her as an easy target? Some poor, disheartened immigrant who would accept his advances without thought? And here he’d promised Dietrich he’d look out for her.

Well he had watched out for her, if she wanted to think about it. Nothing said he needed to escort her to her apartment yesterday afternoon or bring her back to his parents’ house afterwards. Tell her stories late into the night so that she drifted off in a pleasant slumber rather than cried herself to sleep. Her footsteps slowed. Maybe he wasn’t trying to take advantage of her, but if not, why say he’d kissed her for a distraction?

“Why aren’t you married?”

She jerked to a stop and whirled on him. “Why do you want to know? So you can estimate how much longer you can use me as a distraction before I’m taken?”

He cringed. “Ah, no. I was more wondering why a woman like you…” His words dropped off and he ran his eyes briefly down her before bringing them back to linger on her face.

“Would you quit stopping in the middle of a sentence?” She tapped her foot on the earthen path. “I can’t read your thoughts.”

“Um… you’re a lovely woman, Mabel. That’s the reason I was wondering why you hadn’t wed yet.”

She was a lovely woman? Her foot tapping slowed. He seemed to mean it, if the sincere look in his eyes was any indication. Actually he always seemed to mean everything he said—which was why the distraction comment stung.

He dipped his head toward the ground, peeking over at her as though he were a shy child in short pants rather than a grown man. “Seems to me half the immigrants in Milwaukee would be interested in you.”

“I’ll answer your question if you answer it first. Why aren’t you married?”

He grew still for a moment, then tilted his head to the side, watching her with those eyes that seemed to take in far too much. “Too busy with law school, I suppose.”

“Don’t any of the girls you grew up with want a lawyer for a husband?”

He laughed at that. “Most of the girls I grew up with think lawyers are as slippery and slimy as the fish their pas catch every day.

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