An Unexpected Amish Harvest by Carrie Lighte

Author:Carrie Lighte
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-06-11T02:30:49+00:00

* * *

Peter felt like Susannah was speaking only to him. Or was it that he wanted her to be speaking only to him? Was he already entertaining the very kinds of romantic thoughts he’d just resolved to put out of his mind the evening before?

No, he didn’t think so. It was probably more that he just didn’t want Susannah to consider Benuel special in a romantic sense. Not because Peter had any hope of courting her, but because Benuel was obviously trying to win her over with insincere flattery. She deserved someone more straightforward than that. She deserves someone more straightforward than I was, too, he reminded himself. Benuel’s dishonesty about how he regarded her cooking paled in comparison with how Peter hadn’t been forthcoming about the reason he’d broken up with her.

“I’ll be away from the bauerei on Dunnerschdaag afternoon,” Marshall mentioned as they were waiting for Susannah to finish scrambling the eggs. “So I’ll need to make sure you all know how to gauge the digger point.”

When Peter was a teenager, he’d helped Amos, Marshall’s brother, during three consecutive harvest seasons, so he was aware that if the blade went too deep, it would slice into the potatoes, ruining them. He considered it a cinch to operate a mechanical digger, but Jacob, Conrad and Benuel had never harvested potatoes before, so it was understandable they’d need to receive Marshall’s instruction.

“Who’s going to be digging?” Benuel asked.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to see how each of you handles the equipment first.”

Susannah placed two bowls of eggs at each end of the table, then prepared to take her seat again. Benuel was crowding her on her left side and as she sat down, she wobbled toward Peter, but caught her balance by placing her palm on his shoulder. It only took a second for her to steady herself and withdraw her hand, but her momentary touch warmed Peter from head to toe.

He dared not look anywhere except at his plate until the feeling passed. The problem was, it didn’t pass, not even when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Marshall was glaring at him. It was as if he thought Peter were the one who’d grasped Susannah’s shoulder, instead of the other way around. His mouth went dry, making it difficult for him to swallow his food, and he’d only taken two bites of pie by the time everyone else had finished their dessert.

“Time to get back to work,” Marshall ordered and the other men pushed their chairs back and started filing out the door.

“But, Groossdaadi, Peter’s not done with his pie yet,” Susannah pointed out. “And that’s practically the main course of this meal.”

Marshall glowered, but as he put his hat on, he told Peter, “We’ll be in the north field.”

“I’ll be right out,” Peter said, shoveling another bite into his mouth and triggering a coughing spasm.

“Take your time,” Lydia told him once Marshall exited the house. “Sweet things are meant to be savored.”

Susannah

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