Tennessee Bride by Bittner Rosanne

Author:Bittner, Rosanne [Bittner, Rosanne]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: FICTION/Romance/Historical
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2014-05-13T04:00:00+00:00

Emma blinked open her eyes to what she was sure was morning sun coming through a tiny window in the loft. It took her a moment to remember where she was, and she turned to see River sleeping beside her. She frowned, rubbing at her eyes, sure she remembered going to sleep before supper. Surely she hadn’t been sleeping ever since!

She pushed at River, whispering, “River, wake up.”

He stirred, then turned toward her. She realized he was naked, but she still had on her dress.

“River, what time do you think it is? Have they had supper yet?”

He just lay there a moment, slowly opening his eyes, then grinning sleepily and moving closer to put an arm around her and move a leg over her own legs. “It is probably time for breakfast,” he said softly.

“Breakfast!” She sat up. “River, you didn’t let me sleep straight through!”

“Of course I did. Every time I came up here to check on you, you were sleeping so soundly I did not have the heart to wake you.” He pulled her back down.

“Oh, but they’ll think I’m weak—”

He laughed lightly, moving then to kiss her. “They know better,” he said. “We all had a good talk over supper. They know what you have been through. You deserve a good rest.”

She met his eyes, putting a hand to his chest. “They know about Hank, then?”

The joy left his eyes. “They have to know, so they can keep watch.” He pushed some of her hair back from her face. “It is possible someone will come looking for us.” He saw the panic in her eyes. “I just want you to realize it, Emma, that’s all. It is just like I said before. It is possible no one is left who would even connect me to Hank’s death, or who knew you would be on that boat. But if they do happen to figure it out, the first place they would look is among the Cherokee. My people keep scouts moving around all the time. If anyone is coming, they will know it, and they will hide us and swear we never came here. We will be all right. We have some time to think about whether we want to stay here or try to go away.”

“To Texas?”

“I do not know yet.”

“You don’t really want to leave Mary and Grace and Peter or your father, do you?”

He sighed deeply, pulling her close. “Not really. But I will if I have to. They say this place called Texas is filling up fast, and so far the country of Mexico is letting more and more settlers go there. The Cherokee have claimed a considerable amount of territory there for themselves.”

“A place far away—that would be best, wouldn’t it, River? We would be safe there.”

“From people here who might be hunting us—yes. But not especially safe. It is a wild, rugged land, Emma. I do not like the thought of taking you there. In such a remote, wild country, life is very hard, Emma, much harder even than here in the Smokies.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.