Jillian Hart by Maclain's Wife

Author:Maclain's Wife
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-07-12T10:40:30+00:00

"Is she asleep?" Polly leaned away from the campfire's dying glow to better see the man striding toward her.

"Dead to the world," he assured her.

Polly could see Emily's bed roll, not five yards away. There was no better way to sleep, cushioned in the soft grasses, brushed by the light of a thousand stars. "I guess we should turn in. It's been a long day."

"Thanks for what you did today."

"Me? I caught some fish."

"You've made Emily happy. You gave her happy memories. She hasn't had much of those since her mother's death." Ben stepped over the rock and sat down beside her. "You were incredible. It's all she could talk about when I was tucking her in–how you can do anything."

"Except cook breakfast on the Family Sunshine stove." Polly grabbed the base of her ponytail and loosened the ribbon. She shook her head, and curls cascaded over her shoulders.

Ben's fingers twined through a lock of her hair. "I've had a hard time accepting you as the woman to make Emily happy. You weren't my first choice."

"I noticed."

He sighed, a thoughtful sound. "I've been afraid. You understand fear, don't you?"

An ember popped in the low flames, shooting sparks up into the dark night. Bright specks of fire dazzled, flying in the air for one brief second, then they died out, gone forever.

She screwed her eyes shut, trying not to remember. "Yes, I know about fear."

"I was afraid you wouldn't love Emily. What if you left? And then, when you didn't, I was afraid you would get too close."

"Isn't that why you proposed? To have a mother for Emily?"

"Yes, but I would have been happy with a housekeeper for the rest of my life." He stared hard into the flames. "If I could have gotten a domestic to come out here, then that's all the commitment I wanted to make."

"I see." Heat radiated against her, but it wasn't coming from the campfire. Ben released her hair, watching as the curls tumbled across her right breast. She knew he was looking at her breasts and not her plain brown curls. "What man doesn't want a servant to cook and clean for him?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Isn't it? No wonder you're so happy tonight. You found out I can cook." The full and happy feeling in her heart faded, leaving nothing in its place but coldness. "I'm glad I'm going to make you a convenient wife after all."

"You don't understand." His knuckles brushed her cheek.

She felt the tender touch all the way down to her toes. She closed her eyes and breathed in the night air. She wasn't ready for closeness, yet she'd been yearning for it all of her life.

She heard the chirrup of crickets and the call of a silver owl. In the edges of the clearing, deer grazed in the shadows. "What don't I understand?"

"I didn't want another wife. I loved the one I had."

"Oh." She hadn't considered that. She stared down into the glowing coals and watched the orange light tease the darkness.

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.