Swift Horse by Cassie Edwards

Author:Cassie Edwards [Edwards, Cassie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-08-02T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Shadow of annoyance

Never came near thee:

Thou lovest, but ne’er knew love’s sad satiety.

—Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Are you all right?” Edward James asked as he slipped a fringed buckskin jacket on. “Sis, you’ve seemed flushed since your ride with Swift Horse. Do you have a fever?”

Marsha placed the last of the dishes in the cupboard, untied her apron and hung it on a peg on the wall, then gave her brother a big, warm hug.

“I’m fine,” she murmured. “It was just the sun. And you know how warm the weather can get during the days of Indian summer. That’s all, big brother. I just got a bit too much sun.”

She pressed her cheek against his chest, but her mind was on another man who had embraced her today—who had kissed her and declared such love for her.

She smiled a secret smile—for, in truth, it was not the sun or the warmth of the day at all that had brought such color to her cheeks.

It was Swift Horse.

For the first time since that terrible day of the ambush she was excited about something and had a renewel of hope that her life could be good and happy again.

“But you enjoyed the outing, didn’t you?” Edward James asked, gently taking her by the shoulders and easing her away from him so that they could look into each other’s eyes—his blue, hers violet, one color for each of their parents.

“You know that I did,” Marsha said, laughing softly when she saw her brother’s expression change from questioning to knowing. She eased from his arms and went to stand before a mirror that was on the wall above the washbasin.

“I had hoped for this day,” Edward James said, reaching and running a hand lovingly through her thick golden tresses. “When I would see that laughter in your eyes again. Tonight I see even more than that. You are in love. The same as I, your heart has been stolen by an Indian.”

She lifted the hem of her skirt with her hands and spun around, giggling.

“My Lord, big brother, I am in love,” she said, now stopping and smiling into his eyes. “I had begun to wonder if I was going to be a spinster, for until now I have never felt anything akin to love for any man. Isn’t it a wonderful feeling, Edward James, to truly be in love?”

Edward James threw his head back in a fit of laughter, for it was good to see his sister this happy, whereas even only a few days ago, he had never thought he would experience seeing her this way again. When she was happy, he was—twofold!

“Yes, it’s a wonderful feeling,” Edward James said, reaching for her hands and taking them in his. “I’m so happy for you.”

“As I am for you,” Marsha murmured. She lowered her eyes for a moment, then looked up at him again. “I’m going to marry Swift Horse, Edward James. He . . . he . . . asked me today.”

Edward James’s eyes widened.

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