His Guarded Heart by Jo Noelle

Author:Jo Noelle [Noelle, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little Box Press LLC
Published: 2020-09-07T05:00:00+00:00

“I doubt even fish are up so early in the morning.” Cassandra barely muffled a yawn after joining Westley outside her kitchen door. The thin, early-morning light revealed her bleary-eyed expression.

She’s even beautiful without trying. “The earlier, the better,” he replied. “If they’re ready for breakfast, I want them eating our bait before they find mosquitoes or flies flitting over the surface.” He had no desire to pull his gaze from her just yet. She was wearing her hair down as she had at the dance last week. This time it was plaited in a single braid, pulled over her shoulder and winding in front of her, tied with a scarlet ribbon in stark contrast to the gray and black dress she wore. Even the dress looked fancier because of her wearing it.

She shut the door behind her and followed him toward Sugar Creek. He paused briefly to pull his poles from the wagon, a small metal box of flies he’d tied, and a pail with a sprinkling of dirt at the bottom.

“Worms?’ Cassandra asked, a sour look on her face.

“I dug them last night, knowing we might need them this morning.” As they approached the river bank, he pointed toward a small grove of willows, their roots hanging into the cool water where the river carved out a turn. “That looks like a fine spot.”

He pulled a log near the bank and invited Cassandra to sit. “I thought it might be easiest for you to begin with fishing from the bank.” He handed her the shorter of the two poles before he reached into the pail and pulled out a writhing worm, pulling the hook from her pole toward him.

“You . . . impale them?” Her horror was plain.

He tipped his face downward to hide his smile. “Best to do it quickly.” He did so without waiting for her to respond, then showed her how to cast her line into the water.

“Now you relax,” he suggested with a grin. “This takes time and a great deal of patience. When a fish takes a bite of your worm, snap your rod back like this.” Westley grasped his hands together and pulled them quickly up toward this shoulder. “That sets the hook so the fish won’t swim off with your worm.”

“Does it take long for a fish to bite?” The question had barely left her lips before she gasped. “I felt a tug!” Indeed, the pole bent slightly.

Westley again mimed setting the hook, and Cassandra followed his example. The pole arched high above her and back toward the water. “Hold on. Pull on the line.” He picked up his net, taking a few steps into the cold water to help her capture her catch.

“It’s strong!” she squealed, giggling like a child as he splashed about, trying to catch the struggling fish before she lost it.

“You can do it!” He finally managed to get the wriggling, silvery fish into the net before holding it up with a wide smile for her inspection. “Your first catch.

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.