To Whisper Her Name by Tamera Alexander Read Free Book Online Page A

needs.”
    “Is that right? So you’re privy to General Harding’s business, are you? You must be close to the family.”
    Olivia read bemusement, rather than disappointment, in his expression and found it irritating. Same as she found him. Yet she hesitated, not wanting to overstate her relationship with the Hardingfamily, especially considering the conditions of her coming to live with them. “I’m acquainted with the general, sir. But I enjoy a much closer friendship with his wife. It’s through her knowledge of her husband’s dealings that I’m privy to this fact.”
    He nodded, obviously weighing the information. “I thank you for your counsel, ma’am. But with all due respect, I’ve come a long way to get here. I think I’ll take my chances.”
    Olivia bristled at her advice being so summarily dismissed. And by someone like him. “I was simply trying to spare you further wasted effort. It seems such a shame” — she peered over the window’s edge and down at his mud-covered trousers —”considering how far you’ve apparently traveled.”
    He smiled even as the bluish hazel of his eyes darkened. “Your
kindness
is duly noted. And while I may not get what I’ve come for, ma’am, I won’t consider my effort in getting here wasted.” He looked up the road toward Belle Meade, then back again. “If I’d never tried to get here … now
that
would have been the real waste.”
    Reaching up, he tipped an imaginary hat and strode on without a backward glance. She followed him with her gaze as he rounded the bend and disappeared from sight. But his words resonated inside her.
    I may not get what I’ve come for …
    She hadn’t wanted him to stay with her. She preferred him gone. So why this unexpected interest in knowing what had brought the man to Belle Meade? She couldn’t account for it, but one thing she knew. She wasn’t waiting for Jedediah to return. She wanted out of this carriage.
    Spotting Aunt Elizabeth’s letter below her on the seat, she retrieved it, stuffed it in her skirt pocket, then hiked up her skirts. Gripping the door, she maneuvered her leg through the window, more smoothly this time than before. She smiled. This wasn’t going to be as hard as she’d thought. But the trick was … how did she get the rest of her through without falling?
    The mounds of fabric only served to slow her progress, bunching around her waist and making it hard to get a good hold. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, she tucked her chin against her chest and tried to make herself as small as she could. Then she forced her head through the narrow space and was almost through when her shoulder caught.
    She tugged and pulled, but it was no use. The opening was toosmall. She groaned, the muscles in the back of her neck burning. She was loathe to admit it, but her plan of escape was ill-concocted.
    Tucking her chin again, she ducked her head to push it back through — but her hair caught. She huffed a breath, wishing she’d never started this. She managed to free her hair only to discover she was hung on something else from behind. She reached around, feeling for where she was snagged when she caught movement from the corner of her eye.
    One of the horses.
    It broke through the pine trees lining the opposite side of the road and limped toward her. Blood ran down its leg from a gash, ugly and deep, and another line trickled down the side of its neck. The horse paused near the middle of the road, lowered its head, and exhaled a blast of air that sent dust and dirt flying. Olivia went weak inside. Scarcely able to breathe, she made herself go perfectly still. If she didn’t move, maybe the animal wouldn’t see her.
    As if reading her thoughts, the horse raised its head and looked directly at her, then snorted and pawed the ground. All Olivia could think about was that stallion nearly trampling her. And though the thought was absurd, she knew, she sensed accusation in the mare’s actions and recalled