"He's remarkable." He nodded to the buckskin as he handed her the package.
He'd been glancing around from the train platform, his writer's nose itching to jot a sketch of the small town with its mix of clapboard and brick storefronts, when he'd seen her on horseback with another young man.
He'd noticed the teen boy sneaking up to her horse. He'd tried to shout a warning but the train whistle blew and cut off his voice.
And she'd been off like a shot.
Riding without the use of the reins was a trick itself. Not many riders would trust a horse without reins at that speed. But then he knew she was remarkable. Even more so than the horse, which didn't actually look like much.
"He is. I trained him myself."
She went back to securing her packages behind the horse's saddle.
Adam was aware of the group of teen boys nearby and the curious looks he was getting. After the threat she'd delivered to the one who'd slipped off her bridle, he saw no competition there. But the question remained: did she have a beau? Or a husband, even?
"Where'd you get him?" Adam asked.
She frowned a little at the knot she was tying. Or maybe at him?
"My brother raises horses. Trains them. From the moment Buster was born, I knew." Buster. Somehow, the name fit.
When he'd met her in Philadelphia, she'd made claims about her horse sense. Apparently, she hadn't exaggerated.
She finished with her knot and put her hands on her hips. "Why are you really here?"
For a moment, his thoughts flitted to Father, to Reggie, who was trapped in darkness. He forced them out on a breath and leaned against the platform, waited until her gaze flitted over him and away again. "I told you. I came for you. I can't seem to forget you."
It was the bald truth. Maybe he shouldn't have said it. Or he should've waited until he had more information.
But with her hair slipping from its braid and her eyes still a little wild from the race, he was more intrigued than ever. Good thing it was his job to dig up information.
"You're not married, are you?” he asked. “Engaged?"
She sent a glance past him to the boys still nearby. Then her chin came up, and she shook her head slightly. The flush that had been confined to her cheeks now spread down her neck. "I have no wish to return to Philadelphia. None in the least."
Maybe not, but minds could be changed. She was attracted to him. He knew it.
And he wasn't one to back down. Not when it was this important. "Can I call on you tonight?"
She was not unaffected. He could see the shifting thoughts in her eyes. And then her lips spread in an unexpected grin.
"I have seven older brothers. You'd better wait until Sunday service tomorrow, so there'll be witnesses."
She quickly stepped into the saddle and rode away without a goodbye. He was left standing there looking after her.
There was no doubt that his decision to come all this way had been the right one. He'd left Philadelphia with a mission. If she was unattached, he intended to bring Breanna home as his wife.
And he'd brought a secret weapon with him, one he knew she couldn't resist.
He almost started whistling as he made his way around the train platform to climb the steps and retrieve the bag he'd left behind. There had to be a boarding house or maybe even a small hotel in a town this size.
He stopped short of the boardwalk as something she’d said penetrated his skull.
Sevenolder brothers?
2
When Breanna had issued her invitation—challenge—that Adam attend church services the next morning, she hadn't really thought he'd come. She didn't believe for a minute that he'd traveled over fifteen hundred miles for her.
