The Preacher's Wife ; Marrying the Preacher's Daughter ; Winter of Dreams by Cheryl St.John

Author:Cheryl St.John
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Elisabeth’s heart stopped momentarily before hammering against her ribs at the thundering speed of a locomotive. Irene stifled a cry. Pressing both hands against her midriff, she stood on her toes as though the position elevated her from harm.

“Irene!” he barked. “Don’t ever sneak up on a man like that.” He tucked the gun away and moved to a sitting position.

“You scared ten years off my life,” she told him. “Who did you think had come into your room?”

Elisabeth was now wondering the same thing.

He ran a hand over his eyes. “You took me unaware, is all.”

“Well, I was unaware, too,” she said with an accusatory tone. “You neglected to tell me you’d been in a gunfight and were shot.”

He glanced at Elisabeth, and she shook her head to say it hadn’t been her who told. “It wasn’t precisely like that,” he denied.

The incident had been exactly like that, but Elisabeth kept her mouth shut.

“You shot men who were robbing the train?” his sister asked.

“Not until the situation turned dangerous and lives were at stake. Then I did the only thing I could.”

“And one of them shot you?”

“I wasn’t quite fast enough.”

Elisabeth studied him in the dimness. Hadn’t been fast enough? He’d felled half a dozen men in the time it took her to draw a breath!

“What if you’d been killed?” Irene asked, her voice breaking. “What if I’d arrived in Jackson Springs to that news?” She raised a hand to her brow and stood like that, half shielding her eyes from view. “What would I have done without you?”

“It was my fault,” Elisabeth said then, surprising herself and apparently Gabe, because he turned toward her with his black brows in the air.

Irene turned to face her.

“When those men held up the train and asked for all of our valuables…” She touched her fingers to the ring under her bodice. “I hesitated. I didn’t mean to put anyone in danger. It was instinct, a protective reaction to the possibility of losing my mother’s ring.” She looked at Gabe. “He warned me to hand over my belongings so no one got hurt, but I dragged my feet too long. If I’d simply complied, the bandits would have taken their booty and left us in peace.”

“You can’t know that for sure,” Gabe interjected.

“But you said—”

“At the time going along peacefully seemed the reasonable thing,” he said. “We have no way of knowing if they’d have shot passengers or not. Thieves are an unpredictable lot.”

Elisabeth blinked. This day had been full of surprises. His summation was the extreme opposite of anything he’d said regarding the holdup until now. He’d blamed her for all the injuries, including his own. She didn’t know how to react to the pardon. But perhaps his understanding was only for his sister’s sake. Elisabeth didn’t care why he’d changed his tune. Irene was a gently raised young woman, who had traveled all this way to unite with her brother. Elisabeth understood firsthand what it was like to leave behind everything familiar and comfortable and face the uncertainty of starting over.

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.