Untamed Hearts by Colleen O'Connell

Author:Colleen O'Connell [O'Connell, Colleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, western, historical
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2018-04-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

By late morning, the Dalton household had awakened, cheerily discussing Luke and Anita’s wedding over a buffet breakfast in the dining room. Taryn walked into the room, greeting everyone with a bright smile. Sunshine filtered through the three-part Palladian window dominating the large room. Although she had little sleep after Jared’s lovemaking, she felt invigorated. She chose a few slices of toast, some marmalade from the cherry wood buffet table, and took a place beside Brad at the matching dining room table. Brad may as well have been an inanimate object for the attention she paid him. Still feeling the afterglow of Jared’s caresses, she absently spread marmalade on her toast.

“You’re looking very refreshed,” Dennis commented to his daughter. “I feel as though I never went to bed myself.”

“I did sleep well.” She kept her gaze focused on her toast, hoping he didn’t detect the blush she felt creeping up her neck. She lapsed back into her own thoughts. She couldn’t stop thinking about Jared. She felt so warm and wonderful. A smile rested on her face as she recalled her first experience with a man. She didn’t even hear the conversation going on around the table as the others continued talking. Her daydreaming thoughts focused on the intimacies they had shared. Her smile spread across her face, a low giggle escaping her when she thought of how intimate they had been.

“I don’t see what’s so amusing, Taryn. Laughter is not an appropriate response to someone’s illness.”

Snapped out of her musings by her mother’s voice, Taryn stared in a daze. “What did you say, Mother?”

“I asked what you found so amusing about your uncle’s story.”

Taryn searched her mind. What story? Whatever the story had been, it didn’t warrant the reaction she’d given. “I wasn’t amused.” She wished she’d kept quiet. Her mother would ask the obvious question.

“What were you laughing about then?”

“Nothing. Daydreaming I guess.”

Madeline sighed in exasperation.

Brad put an arm around her shoulders squeezing her to his side and kissing her cheek. “Daydreaming about our wedding day, I hope.”

Taryn gave him a conciliatory smile. She shied away from his kiss, finding his embrace unwanted. How dull he seemed with his perfect manners. She couldn’t marry him now. Not after what she’d shared with Jared. Not after knowing what she felt for Jared went far beyond infatuation. The idea of spending her life with Brad no longer appealed to her. His smile was too solicitous, his manners too forced. Why had she not seen it before? She would have to tell him she couldn’t marry him. Somehow, she would have to find the proper time to inform them all of her decision, and soon. She didn’t want to continue with Brad when she could be with Jared.

Following breakfast, she went in search of Jared. She wanted to tell him she loved him and had no intention of marrying Brad. She had no doubt of her true feelings.

Jared sat in Luke’s office, attempting to go over the numbers on the ledger before him.

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