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

what Jedediah had said about the horse …
Tried to take a chunk outta my arm when I cut her reins loose. She can be downright mean when she puts her mind to it
.
    It started toward her again, limping, and Olivia fought to free herself. With every step the horse took, Olivia’s efforts grew more frantic. “It’s just a horse, Olivia. Just a horse,” she repeated, words her father had said to her years ago, the day following the accident, her tiny arm throbbing and bandaged. “It won’t hurt you if you treat it right,” he’d said.
    But her father had been wrong. She had treated that horse right, and it had thrown her. She’d treated Charles as best she could too. And he’d hurt her. Over and over and over again. And no amount of bandages or salve was going to heal the wounds he’d left behind.
    Not wanting to, Olivia forced herself to look back, and the painful knot at the base of her throat twisted tighter. The horse was close now — too close — and was sniffing the air, chomping at the bit. No doubt wanting to chomp into her, just like Jedediah had said.
    Tears burning, the scar on her arm aching, Olivia tossed pride and propriety to the wind and screamed for all she was worth.

Chapter

T HREE
     
    R idley shook his head again, smiling. It’d been a long time since he’d met a woman so hard bent on being proper. The years of war and loss had taken their toll on everyone, himself included. And getting by on little to nothing had thinned the starch of even the most properly bred of Southern society.
    Or so he’d thought.
    After all, who gave a horse’s tail about how the woman got out of that carriage? He certainly didn’t. But her expression when he’d suggested she crawl through the window had said it all. And when he’d intentionally asked for her name, able to guess at the kind of reaction that would draw …
    He laughed, recalling how those eyes of hers had flashed. That pert look on her pretty face was enough to make a man —
    He paused, hearing something. He turned back in the direction he’d come and waited, head cocked, listening again.
    But … nothing. So he continued on.
    If he ever had the pleasure of crossing paths with the young widow again, he promised himself he would —
    There it was again. A scream. No mistaking it this time.
Or
the direction from which it came. He reeled and broke into a run. An image flashed into his mind of someone forcing his way into the young woman’s carriage, and Ridley fully blamed himself for leaving her unattended. No matter that she’d made it clear she wanted him to leave.
    He rounded the corner he’d passed just moments earlier and wasn’t prepared for what he saw. And heard.
    The prim and proper young widow was hanging half out the window of the carriage, her skirts hitched high and her petticoats — andother frilly unmentionables — on view for all the world to see. But it was hearing what she was saying and who she was saying it to that made him slow his steps.
    “Shoo! Go away!
Shoo!
” she half-screamed, half-cried at a pretty little bay mare he remembered seeing earlier.
    The mare inched closer, and when Ridley spotted a few apples beneath the carriage, he soon guessed the animal’s motivation. Still, the mare watched the woman with a curiosity Ridley understood and, frankly, shared. The woman continued to give the mare a good goin’ over, as his grandfather used to say. But the only question in Ridley’s mind was why.
    He made a quiet approach. “Ma’am, is everything —”
    No sooner had he spoken than the mare bolted. Ridley tried to grab the horse’s harness as she passed, but she veered away, favoring her right leg as she went. And he soon glimpsed why. Her leg was busted up. But still, she ran. Knowing he’d never catch her now, Ridley turned back.
    The young widow looked up at him, blinked, then quickly ducked her head. Her breath came in staggered sobs. Not knowing what to make of the situation, Ridley stayed his ground,