Wild Roses by Hannah Howell Read Free Book Online

was that Harrigan Mahoney was the reason she did not feel joyous about her freedom. Ella was slightly horrified when she realized that she regretted leaving him. The man had snatched her from her home, shackled her, and was determined to take her to Harold. He was in the pay of her enemies. She should be delighted to see the back of him, but she was not. Ella decided that her poor confused mind wanted it all—freedom and Harrigan Mahoney. She was going to have to push such mad thoughts aside. Harrigan Mahoney wanted to take her back to Philadelphia and Harold. Reluctantly, she admitted that she was intrigued by the man and strongly attracted to him, but he was a real threat to her. Her interest in him only added to that danger. She was determined to kill that reckless attraction.
    â€œI would have thought you’d look a bit happier,” murmured Louise as she rode up next to Ella.
    â€œI am happy, and deeply grateful to all of you.” She included Joshua and the others in her glance. “I cannot believe you put yourself in front of a train.” Ella shook her head, glanced down at her aunt’s foot, and gasped when she saw how swollen Louise’s bootless foot was. “My God, you were really trapped on those rails!”
    Louise looked at her foot, tried to wriggle her swollen toes, and winced. “That was not part of my plan. I was standing there thinking that my foot didn’t look trapped enough, wriggled it about and, lo and behold, got myself well and truly stuck. Never mind that. It will heal. Now, I know you’re glad to be free, but you didn’t look too happy. I want to know why. Did that bastard hurt you? Besides shackling you in that barbaric way, I mean.”
    â€œAh, so you were told about the shackles. It was just a small manacle around my wrist. You can’t really blame the man for fearing that I would run away. We all made it abundantly clear that the last place I wanted to go was Philadelphia.”
    â€œAlright, I will grant him that. He’s no better than some bounty hunter, however, so that is all I will grant him.” Louise studied Ella closely for a moment. “I know you, girl, better than you might like. That is because we are so much alike. Something is gnawing at you. If you would just spit it out, we could chew it over together, and then the problem might not seem so big.”
    Ella smiled faintly, saw that the men were too far ahead to overhear them, and said, “I’m not sure it’s a problem. More of a puzzle, really. I am delighted to be free yet I find that I regret seeing the last of Harrigan Mahoney.” She gaped slightly when her aunt began to laugh. “I don’t see the humor in this conundrum.”
    â€œYou will some day.” Louise struggled to subdue her amusement. “Child, even as I was aiming my Henry at that tall fool, I could see that he was a fine figure of a man. A woman doesn’t see many like that in her lifetime. You wouldn’t be a woman if you didn’t appreciate a man as beautiful as that.”
    â€œAuntie, he was taking me to Harold, to my death. He thinks I am a spoiled, rich child given to lies and fancies. He shackled me to my seat. He carried me to the train like a sack of meal.”
    â€œAnd I bet that, for one brief moment, you thought it was a fine broad shoulder.” She laughed again when Ella blushed faintly. “It might seem mad to give him any thought at all, but, I swear to you, any other woman with eyes in her head would find herself in the same quandary. You’re still running away from him, aren’t you?”
    â€œOf course I am. He was taking me to that pig, Harold, who desperately wants me dead before his guardianship of me ends.”
    â€œExactly. True madness would be if you walked back to him. Thinking about a handsome man yet still protecting yourself and your heart is just natural. What you’re regretting right now is that you