The Indomitable Eve by Merry Farmer

Author:Merry Farmer [Farmer, Merry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781311655929
Published: 2013-12-18T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Eve couldn’t remember a time when she’d been so miserable. She didn’t care what Mark would think, she wept through the entire ride back into Cold Springs. How could she have been so hurtful, so broken? Amelia had invited her into her home to make amends, and here she had gone and started a fight. But it was just so impossible to be in her sister’s happy, peaceful life, the life she would never have.

The chill of the night had cut through to her bones by the time Mark drove his wagon into Cold Springs and up to his church.

“You can drop me at the hotel,” Eve said, her voice strange and foggy.

“I’m not dropping you anywhere,” he replied.

She didn’t know if she liked his determination or if it made her shame that much deeper.

“No, truly, I don’t deserve your consideration after I… after the horrid mess I made.” She collapsed into tears, amazed that she still had any left to shed.

Mark’s answer was to slide his arm around her back and hug her from the side. She didn’t deserve it. She didn’t deserve one moment of the sweet, kind man’s attention.

He had to let go of her and straighten after only a moment so that he could drive around the corner of the church to the small stable to park his wagon. He helped her down, taking advantage of the quiet moment in the shaded stable to keep his arms around her.

“It’s all right,” he told her with a certainty she would never feel. “It’s my fault for rushing you into something you weren’t ready for. I should have listened to you.”

“No, Mark.” She shook her head, which was now starting to ache. “The fault was all mine. Amelia was right. I am impetuous and spiteful and ungrateful.”

Mark arched an eyebrow. “I don’t believe she said any of those things.”

“It’s what she meant.”

He stared at her for a long, painful moment in the dark. What if he was right and Amelia hadn’t meant those things? If that was true, then she was a liar on top of everything else. She lowered her head and swallowed.

“Stay right here.” Mark let go of her. “I’m going to get the horse settled, then I’m walking you home.”

He didn’t have to. In fact, Eve wasn’t sure she wanted him to. She would much rather have returned to her room and buried herself in bed under mounds of blankets and never come out again. Instead she nodded.

She watched as Mark unhitched his horse from the wagon and took care of the beast. She had never had to care for horses in any part of her former life. There had always been someone else to do it, a servant or one of the troupe’s lackeys. Mark was so gentle with the big animal, removing its harness and brushing its coat and doing everything to make sure it was safe and warm for the night.

He took off his coat to work, and in the dim electric light of the stable she could just make out the firm lines of his arms and shoulders.

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