Love's Awakening (The Ballantyne Legacy Book #2): A Novel by Laura Frantz

Author:Laura Frantz
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: FIC042030, Christian, FIC027050, General, Romance, FIC042040, Historical, Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Families—Pennsylvania—Fiction
ISBN: 9781441244536
Publisher: Revell
Published: 2013-09-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chloe held the ivory invitation in a hand soiled from digging worms, and her fingers seemed to shake. From excitement, Jack guessed.

“Look, Jack, your name is on it too! The Ballantynes are having a ball later this month—and we’re invited.” She dropped the elegantly sealed paper on his desk and leaned down to blow away the dirt, but the stubborn smudge remained. “Dash!”

He scanned the invitation, every engraved word fueling surprise—and fresh misery. Something was obviously afoot with the Ballantynes. Some pending announcement or celebration. Pushing his spectacles atop his head, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Invited and welcomed are two different things.”

Chloe stared at him in consternation. “What do you mean?”

Feigning indifference, he returned to the notice of sale he’d almost finished. “We’re not going.”

“What?” Her protest was a strangled wail. Dirty hands forgotten, Chloe snatched up the summons from New Hope and held it to her heart, as pitiful a ploy as he’d ever seen. “I just have to see Miss Ellie again, Jack!”

“I’ll be heavy into the harvest come then, as will you. Everyone at River Hill is needed for the work, even Sol and Ben. No one is exempt.” He needn’t remind her that they, along with the tenants, were in the fields before dawn and often worked by moonlight to bring the harvest in. The prospect of a dance filled him with dread, the gleaning with elation. He would extract the thought of Ellie from his mind with the sweat of his brow and every swing of his scythe if it was the last thing he did.

“But Jack!” Her lower lip trembled. “One ball?”

Immune to her antics, he signed a document and moved on to the ledgers. “Another word and I’ll send you back to Broad Oak.”

She threw the invitation down and fled, slamming the study door behind her. Glad to be alone, he reached into his breast pocket and withdrew a letter, delivered that morning and addressed solely to him. For a moment he fought returning it to his pocket, sure Ellie had penned her goodbye, severing their tie.

Studying the familiar writing, he wanted to groan. How was it that the mere slant of her pen turned him inside out? He could no longer deny he missed her. Her lemon-lavender scent. The graceful way she moved across a room. The wistful way she regarded him. He even craved the sound of her voice.

With a sigh, he broke the indigo seal with a swipe of his thumb.

Dear Jack . . .

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