Surrender at Orchard Rest by Hope Denney, Linda Au Read Free Book Online Page A

day, and the katydids’ continual whirring made Somerset’s ears ring even when they were at a lull. She paid close attention to Joseph. He smiled in anticipation, but she could tell by the squint of his eyes that he was in physical pain. She hoped that Fairlee would be kind after what Joseph was putting himself through to get to her.
    A figure on horseback approached them, and Somerset pulled on the reins to slow Hector. It was Sawyer, she knew, from the size of the horse and the dappled gray coloring. Her heart thudded in her chest.
    He approached them, the corners of his mouth twitching because he guessed where they were going.
    “Hello, ladies. Good afternoon, Joseph.”
    “Where are you headed in the middle of the day?” asked Joseph.
    “I’m headed to Orchard Rest. Mr. Forrest and I were going to look at a draft horse over at Old Man McKennasaw’s farm this afternoon.”
    Somerset clenched her fists and groaned inside. Just as she had worried, she was going to miss an opportunity to talk alone with Sawyer because she was kind enough to take Joseph courting. She looked up at him, shielding her eyes with her hand. She would have given anything to be back at Orchard Rest and it showed as she stared at him. She thought he looked down on her as if he could read her mind.
    “Draft horse?” said Joseph. “What do you need with another draft horse?”
    Sawyer and Joseph launched into an animated discussion of how many horses Sawyer thought he needed versus how many Joseph thought he could get by with. Victoria laughed in all the right places at their jokes, but Somerset held the reins taut in both hands and concentrated on not glancing too often at Sawyer.
    “I maintain you’re too picky,” finished Joseph. “I would have bought the last animal and been done with it. I’m glad the war didn’t turn me into a connoisseur of horse flesh.”
    “Ladies, this is the only way in which he’s ever failed me as a friend. He’s ignorant of horses,” said Sawyer in an aside.
    “We’ll argue about it later. I have somewhere I have to be,” retorted Joseph.
    “Ah, yes. Well, Mother and I saw Miss Buchanan step off the train this morning. She looked well. I’ll leave you to your mission. Good seeing you all. I’ll call on you later in the week, Somerset.”
    “I’ll be seeing you,” said Somerset.
    Somerset whipped the lines across Hector’s back.
    “He must be a nice beau,” Victoria said when she was sure Sawyer was out of earshot.
    “He isn’t moving things along like I thought he would,” said Joseph.
    “We don’t all get engaged after a couple of months like you,” said Somerset.
    Joseph was not deterred.
    “Have I ever told you about the first time I saw Fairlee?”
    “No,” said Victoria at the same time Somerset declared she knew the story by heart.
    “Oh, Somerset, sit through the story one last time. Victoria hasn’t heard it. I was out riding with Eric Rutherford. The two of you weren’t courting yet, Somerset, although it would just be a matter of time. We had been racing all afternoon, and we were hot, tired, and starving. It was almost time to go home when Eric remembered he had something in his saddlebags—a quilt pattern or something else frilly—that his mother wanted dropped off at Buchanan Loft. He didn’t want to go up there so he was determined that I go, too.
    “I didn’t want to go either. I can’t think of a man in Century Grove who can abide Mrs. Buchanan, and I made excuses to get home. So Eric just turned it into a competition. He said he bet he’d win in a race against me to the Loft. Well, he’d beat me all day. Somerset, I never did win a single race against Eric. Just the same, I couldn’t stand the idea of forfeiting a race to him, and before I could speak, he offered five dollars if I won so I took him up on his bet. We set off down Marauder’s Lane at breakneck speed. He stayed a good five yards ahead of me the whole time—I’ll never know how he could