Page 2 of A Soft Kiss in Summer
She glanced back out the window again before bypassing the chair in front of his desk and hurrying across the jail to the cell, walking inside to sit on the cot.
He turned in his chair and leaned over, putting his elbows on his knees, and watched her with a raised brow, his amusement growing by the second.“Well?”
“I saw someone who should not be here.”She laughed again, shaking her head before burying her face in her hands.“My life is over!”
“And who did you see?”
“Edwin Wright.”
“And who is Edwin Wright?”
Her face scrunched in misery.“His family owns the mercantile over in Elkin.”
When she said nothing else, he twirled his finger in the air and said, “Go on.I know there’s more.”
She heaved a deep breath and blew it out before turning to lie on the cot, throwing one arm over her head as if she were in a full dramatic swoon over something.
“When my parents were alive, my pa used to take me with him to Elkin to get the supplies he ordered when they’d come in.Well, Edwin was always there and my ma said it was rude to ignore people trying to talk to you so, I always sat and talked to him while my pa was loading the wagon.”
She sat up and leaned back against the wall.“Well, the foolish boy took a liking to me and used to say he was going to marry me one day, and doing what my ma said, I played nice and just smiled at him whenever he said it and now he’s here.”
“Okay.What makes you think he’s here for you?”
“Because he yelled my name when the stagecoach came through.”
“Maybe he was just being friendly.”
She laughed again.“No, he wasn’t.He has no reason to even be here other than for me.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he’s never stepped foot in Silver Falls as far as I know and he always said, the moment he was ready to marry, he’d come for me.”
He sat back and crossed his feet at the ankles.“Well, he could be coming to pick your brain on how to run his mercantile.”
“He knows how to run one.He’s been helping his pa since he was old enough to pick up a broom.”
“Well, maybe he has business elsewhere and is just passing through.”
“I couldn’t get so lucky.”
He laughed and turned his head to look out the window.A few people were milling around in front of the mercantile now.“What does he look like?”
“Skinny as a stick with an enormous head.”
He grinned.“Well, there is a tall fellow over at the mercantile by the door.”
He heard the sound of her feet shuffling across the floor before he felt the heat of her body and the brush of her hair against the side of his face.
She was leaning over him, bent down to look out the window.“Yep, that’s him,” she said as the man stepped inside the building.
Josiah turned his head and was surrounded by wildflowers.Her hair covered his face now.He inhaled deeply and was disappointed when she straightened and stepped away from him.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Their eyes locked, and for a brief moment, he couldn’t get his tongue to work.She really was too beautiful for words.He cleared his throat and looked back out the window to distract himself.“You asking for advice or just talking it out to yourself?”
She scowled at him.
