"I'll claim a kiss," he said, his voice lower this time so that she barely heard him over her gelding's hoofbeats.
Or maybe that was the pounding of her heart.
A flush heated her chest and rose up through her neck into her face. She'd done her level best to forget about his kiss. To keep from thinking about the warmth of his hand cupping her cheek, the roughness of his stubbled chin abrading her smooth one, the wild swirl of delight that she'd felt all the way to her toes.
Thinking about it was pointless. They would never end up together. Weren't a match in any way except the chemistry that sizzled between them.
Better to forget the kiss had even happened.
If only she could.
Dear Emma,
I don't wantto take Lottie to the church social. You're the only one I want to be with. We didn't have a lot of time together before you left, but I should've told you anyway. I'm in love with you. I love you so much and I ain't ever going to stop. Tomorrow I'm gonna ask Pa if I can build in that little grove I showed you. He'll say yes, I know it. And then I'm going to start building our house. You let me know when you're good and ready, and I'll come fetch you home. If Daniel's the one keeping you away, I'll speak to him man to man. Nothing can stand in the way of us being together. Write me back a real letter this time. I miss you.
Love,
Seb
Emma heardDaniel's tread across the floor before he hit the squeaky floorboard beside her desk. He placed the letter on top of her desk. She heard the paper rattle, the soft slap as it hit the hardwood.
"One kiss, was it?" her brother asked. "Because he sure makes it sound like there was more."
She wished she could see his face. If she could, she'd know whether his voice was carrying that fine tension because he was angry or because he was worried.
She blushed and turned her face away so he wouldn't see. But she wasn't ashamed. Not of loving Seb. She turned her face back to her brother.
But she couldn't see more than the vague shape of him. She'd never see her brother's dear face again.
And she'd already shed rivers of tears over her fate, so she bravely sucked back the ones that threatened now.
"One kiss," she confirmed to Daniel, doing her best to sound calm and unruffled.
I'm in love with you.
For three years, she would have given almost anything to hear those words from Seb White. And now... now it was too late.
"We both know I'm easy to love," she said to her brother, trying to sound as if she could tease again.
It was a complete lie. There was no joy inside her, nothing but barren, empty darkness.
She stretched her hand over the desk, allowed her fingers to run over the surface until she touched the letter. Seb's dear letter.
She tucked it into her lap. She wouldn't ask Daniel to read it again. Wouldn't have asked him in the first place if she'd known what it contained.
A love letter. The only one she'd ever received.
She hadn't even expected Seb to write back after the short missive she'd dictated to Daniel two weeks ago.
"You are lovable," Daniel said, and she heard the husky tone in his voice. "Even now. You should tell him."
"No, thank you." She tried to keep her own tone crisp, but tears caught at the back of her throat, tears she knew Daniel heard.
She pinched her lips together, straining for normalcy.
She never wanted Seb to see her like this. Blind, thanks to a high fever that had almost taken her life. She should be thankful to have lived. That's what Seb's older brother Maxwell had said.
Be thankful for being robbed of her sight? She couldn't fathom it.
