The Alamo Bride by Kathleen Y'Barbo

Author:Kathleen Y'Barbo [Y’Barbo, Kathleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781683228226
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2019-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

Ellis returned a few hours later to change Clay’s bandages and add the familiar foul-smelling poultice to his wounds. She was quiet, unnaturally so, and an air of sadness surrounded her.

Something had happened since he last saw her.

When she finished her work and stepped away, Clay decided to try to coax a smile from her. “You’re just making me stink so you won’t want to be around me so much.”

Her brows rose and then she shook her head. So much for that feeble attempt at humor. As he watched her meticulously return her herbs and bandages to her basket, he decided to try again, this time without using humor.

“Something has happened,” he said, causing her busy hands to pause. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She whirled around to face him. “Why would I want to do that?” Then she spied his choice of reading material, a book about pirates he found in the trunk beside the bed. “Put that back where you found it. That is not yours to read.”

“I am sorry,” he said gently as he lifted the lid and settled the book carefully back inside. “Your grandfather told me to make myself at home, so I just assumed that I, well … again, I am sorry.”

When Mr. Valmont requested he stay away from Ellis today, perhaps it was because he expected she might be in a foul mood. “Did you get bad news from your grandfather?”

Crimson flooded her face. Ellis appeared unable to speak for a moment. “Please do not tell me that my grandfather confided in you before he told me.”

“Maybe he thought I would forget?”

“Oh! You are impossible.” She snatched up the basket, upsetting her work and causing the bandages and some of the herbs to scatter.

“It was a joke.”

“It wasn’t funny,” she snapped.

He bent down to grab a bandage as it rolled to a stop against the trunk. The effort cost him in a pain that took his breath away, but Clay refused to allow it to show.

“I have few memories, so why would he think I would be able to remember anything …” He paused as Ellis knelt down to scoop the herbs into the basket. “Never mind. I’m not much for telling jokes.”

“You’re terrible at it, actually.”

“Am I?” he said, feigning innocence while he waited for his shoulder to cease its throbbing. “I don’t recall.”

Ellis looked up and met his gaze. And then she laughed.

He tossed a roll of bandages at her and then winced. Unfortunately, the expression did not escape Ellis’s green eyes.

“You’re still in pain.” She rose and picked up the basket. “You shouldn’t have done what you did yesterday. I fear you’ve harmed yourself.”

“Don’t you think that fire would have harmed you worse than anything I could have done in making sure you escaped it?”

He hadn’t intended to snap at her. The damage he did likely was out of his own stupidity. He could have just helped her to her feet. Could have somehow released her tangled dress from the burning hinges.

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