Reluctant to Wed by Anneliese Dalaba

Author:Anneliese Dalaba [Dalaba, Anneliese]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical romance
Published: 2017-06-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

❈

Devon stood at his study window watching Emma throw a stick for Hunter to fetch. Hunter had been a hungry, abandoned mutt when Devon found him while out walking about five years ago. His fur was matted and caked with dried blood, and he could barely stand. He’d probably been kicked and abused when trying to steal food. To all appearances, the dog had been laying for many hours, hungry and bleeding, before Devon found him. He doubted the dog would survive the night, but he took him home and placed him in the care of his stable hands who bound his broken ribs and tried to ease his pain. As it turned out, Devon had rescued an excellent hunting dog.

Devon and Emma had been at Campton Manor for two weeks now. She was far better company than he could ever have hoped. They spent several hours together every day going on picnics, paddling the boat around the small lake and inlet, riding horses, walking, and exploring the area. Conversation flowed easily between them. In the evenings, they often read a book together or played cards or chess. Although she seldom won, she was a competent opponent and played well.

One afternoon, after exploring the land, they stopped beneath a tree near the lake to rest. She began sharing with him some stories about her family and her life on the farm in Pennsylvania. It was hard to imagine his lovely bride mucking out stalls, collecting eggs, plucking feathers off a chicken, and making dinner for her family. Ladies in British society had servants to do all these things for them. Most of them would look down on her if they knew she had dirtied her hands with menial labor. Yet he was intrigued by her. He told her it comforted him to know that if he ever lost his fortune, his wife could help them to survive. They’d laughed together as they imagined what such a life would look like. Of course, there was no real concern of that ever happening, but they enjoyed the banter such playful imaginings evoked in their conversation. Emma had informed him that if such an event ever occurred where she would have to prepare his meals for him, she drew the line at chopping heads off of chickens. She explained about the time her mother chopped the head off a chicken and it slipped from her hands and ran headless around the farm yard until her father finally caught it when he came to investigate what the screaming was all about. Emma had nightmares for weeks afterwards. She was adamant about leaving to him all the chopping off of chicken heads.

As she told the story, her eyes sparkled and her cheeks blushed pink. Her genuineness drew him and he couldn’t resist leaning close and kissing her lips. She drew in a breath, but didn’t pull away, so he gathered her closer and savored the moment. When they pulled apart slightly, he snuggled her

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.