Trail of Longing (Hot on the Trail Book 3) by Farmer Merry

Author:Farmer, Merry [Farmer, Merry]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Published: 2015-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

They crossed the juncture of the North and South Platte Rivers a few days later. Under normal circumstances, Emma would have been beside herself with worry as she floated with the Boyles’ wagon across the slow-moving, muddy water, but her thoughts were a thousand miles away. She kept herself busy with work, and Katie was up to her usual, distracting antics, both before and after the crossing, but it wasn’t enough to take Emma’s mind off things. She continuously looked for more and more to do so that she didn’t have to think about the dilemma of Dean and Russ and her mother’s expectations.

“It should be simple,” she confided in Katie a few days after they had moved on from the crossing, heading toward Wyoming, Ft. Laramie, and the next stage of their journey. “I’m fond of Dean, very fond, and I can’t stand Russ.”

“Aye, you’re right,” Katie agreed in her Irish lilt. “It should be as simple as anything. A woman knows her own heart. So why don’t we march up there to the front of the wagon train where your sweetheart is waiting and have you tell him everything that’s in your heart?”

The prospect made Emma feel sick with alarm. “Oh no, no, I couldn’t.”

Katie laughed aloud, earning a teasing, “Keep it down over there, Katie Boyle,” from Aiden, who walked several yards behind, playing his fiddle for the children walking with him.

“Shut yer gob, Aiden Murphy,” Katie tossed back over her shoulder to him. “I’m having a serious conversation with Emma here and we don’t need you interfering.”

“Serious, eh?” Aiden paused in his playing for a moment. “Well, that is something.” He raised his fiddle to his chin and went on with a new song, a serious song.

“That Aiden.” Katie huffed out a breath and shook her head.

Emma peeked over her shoulder at the dark-haired, blue-eyed Irishman. She had more than a few suspicions about his feelings for Katie, and about hers for him. “If you’re so concerned about me blurting out my jumble of emotions to Dean,” she whispered to Katie as they walked on, “then why don’t you share how you feel with Aiden?”

Katie laughed. “Aiden? No, no, no, you have that one wrong. I’ve known the man my entire life. I’m not about to get romantic feelings for the boy who’s been there since I knew what boys were. I want to fall in love with a handsome stranger, a valiant hero, someone who will whisk me off to a life of adventure and excitement. Not Aiden.”

“He’s very handsome,” Emma pressed.

Katie snorted. “So’s the dog we had back home in Ballymote.”

Emma bit her lip to keep herself from laughing or contradicting everything her friend said.

“But we’re not talking about me,” Katie went on, turning to her with a scolding, mischievous look. “Though you’re mighty clever for turning the conversation like that. I see what you did, but I won’t let you get away with it.” Emma couldn’t help but giggle with guilt. “This

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.