Kathryn Albright – The Prairie Doctor’s Bride (страница 12)
He was teasing her in that way of his. Nothing seemed to ruffle him. In every moment, he was confident and strong. She wished she could soak up some of that. It would be nice to feel that sure of herself again. Guess when Thomas left her, any sureness she possessed had evaporated.
She smiled slightly at his quip. “Thank you kindly for your help.”
He stepped onto the ferry and slipped the tether line off the stump. Taking hold of the heavy rope that was suspended across the river to the opposite bank, he put his back into it and pulled hard. The flat raft eased out into the current and carried him across the water.
* * *
Once ashore on the north bank, Nelson followed the wagon trail toward Oak Grove.
The early-morning sun warmed his back and quickly melted the thin crust of snow into a slushy mess. After he brushed past, the weeds and grass lining the trail sprang back to attention with only a few casualties bent and crushed under his boots. He was vaguely aware of this while he walked and mulled over the strange encounter with Miss Marks.
He could have wrestled the gun away from her at any time. Why didn’t he? What had held him back every time that he’d thought to try it? Was it the desperation of the act? Tommy was worth everything to her. She would go to any lengths to make sure he was well and safe. He couldn’t imagine his own parents breaking the law in order to take care of him. They had packed him off to boarding school when he was Tommy’s age—with a formal, undemonstrative goodbye. Miss Marks would never have let her son go away at all.
It had to be impossibly hard for her to survive on that piece of land. Almost any other woman in her situation would have moved into town long ago. What was it that kept her there? That plot of land or her unmarried status?
She was an interesting woman—very different than any he’d ever met before. She was self-sufficient, stubborn and emotional all wrapped up under that ugly, floppy hat. And oddly enough, charming in an unsophisticated way. She had her pride. And she had certainly been worried about him being there all night even though it was her fault he was there in the first place. Guess she hadn’t thought that all the way through until morning came—another indication of how desperate she’d been about her son’s condition.
He stopped walking as a new thought occurred. Maybe it wasn’t her own reputation that she had been worried about. Maybe it was ruining his reputation that concerned her.
He started walking again.
Now, there was an interesting concept.
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