Capital Bride by Cynthia Woolf Read Free Book Online Page B

came the voice from above.
    She looked up and saw him standing in the loft. “What are you doing up there?”
    “Working. Moving Hay. What are you doing down here?”
    “I came to ask you a question. Can you come down so we don’t have to shout?”
    “Sure. Give me a minute.”
    He disappeared from view and Sarah started looking around her. There were five good sized stalls. In one of them were a mother horse and her baby.  
    “Oh, aren’t you just adorable,” she said when the baby came to investigate. With his mother so close he was emboldened and sniffed at Sarah’s open hand.
    “Here give him a little sugar. You’ll have a friend for life.”
    “Oh!” Sarah jumped back. “You startled me.”
    “Sorry. Here,” he placed a sugar cube in her hand. “Give the colt the cube. He also likes carrots and apples if you’re so inclined.”
    “Here boy,” Sarah urged him, then held the sugar cube in her fingers.
    “Flatten your hand and put the cube on it. He could bite your fingers the other way and we don’t want that.”
    She did as he said and the little colt came over, sniffed then brushed her hand with his soft lips as he scooped up the treat.
    “His lips are so soft.”
    “Not as soft as someone else’s I know.” His eyes were dark and she knew if she wanted they’d make love right then and there. She glanced down and saw that he was definitely ready.
    “You have to stop that. I’m in a perpetual state of embarrassment. My daughter thinks I’m suffering from the heat because I’m red all the time.”
    “So?”
    “So? It’s your fault.”
    “Really? Why is that do you suppose?”
    “I don’t know. I’ve never had this response to anyone before. I don’t normally blush.”
    “You don’t?” He crossed his arms and leaned up against the stall door. “Just with me?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good. I’m glad to hear it. I’d hate to think you were sexually attracted to other men.”
    “What?! I’m not….”
    “Yes, you are. I knew the minute you blushed the first time.”
    “Awfully sure of yourself,” she teased.
    “Yes. I am.” He pushed away from the stall and took her in his arms. His lips found hers for a scorching kiss. “When it comes to reading you.”
    She hoped that wasn’t true. She hadn’t been completely truthful with him about her background. Oh, she’d never actually lied with words, but she lied by omission. But surely, Mrs. Selby told him about her background. A little voice in her head said that probably wasn’t true. She hadn’t shared that fact that Katy was so traumatized by her mother’s murder that she refused to speak. That was different, she told herself. Different than being a fallen woman.
    Closing her eyes she chased the doubt away.
    He pulled back but kept his hands locked behind her back. “What did you need before I so rudely interrupted you?”
    “You weren’t rude.” She leaned back allowing him to support her and put her hands on his shoulders. “But what I wanted was to see if someone can take me to town for supplies. I need food stuffs if I’m going to feed us decently.”
    “Make me a list and I’ll have Bertha go.”
    “Well, I thought maybe the girls and I could go with her and make an outing of it. I understand a lot of farmers bring their produce to town and it would be good for the girls. And I could get to know the suppliers.”
    “I’d rather the girls stay here. I’m not ready for Katy to go to town without me. She might see the outlaw. They don’t always were masks you know. She could go even deeper into trauma if I’m not there to protect her.”
    “I hadn’t thought about that. I’m sorry, I should have thought about Katy’s safety first.”
    “You’re new at this. You haven’t had to think about MaryAnn’s safety in the same way. Besides that the girls are just fine here. They’re getting along and learning how to play with one another.” He thought about it for a minute. “What about this? You go with Bertha