A teamster cursed and yanked his team to a halt. Dust flew as she swerved in front of him.
A girl in the middle of crossing the street dropped her basket of eggs.
“Hey, lady, slow down,” a man yelled behind her, but she pounded past a carriage, goading the mare toward the edge of town and beyond.
Slow-poke cotton wagons clogged the rutted road outside town. Tents lay ahead to the south and east. Too many soldiers. She veered into the other lane, bypassing the cotton freight and cutting ahead between the front two wagons to avoid another rider. The road was too crowded. She steered the mare off the path and into the brush. Hoots and hollers echoed behind her. Wind smacked her face as she inhaled fresh air.
Buffalo grass swooshed against her ankles in a field beyond the bushes. She slowed a bit. Was that horse hooves behind her? She headed the mare toward a patch of trees. The river gurgled nearby.
Her mare was at a walk by the time Devon pulled up alongside of her. His hat askew and out of breath, he reached over and snatched her reins. “I ought to hogtie you and throw you across my horse for pulling a stunt like that.”
She lifted her chin. “I saved you the trouble of having to wrestle me to the ground this time.”
He muttered and swiped his forearm across his brow. His knee brushed her skirt as he tightened his grip on her reins. “Why in the devil did you run off like that? Where in the world were you headed?”
She shrugged and ran her hand over her hair. No hat. When had she lost that? Her aunt would have a fit for her going about with her head uncovered. “I felt like a ride by the river before I head back to prison.”
“You help put yourself there, pulling stunts like this.” He smacked his hat against his thigh.
She nailed him with a glare. “I’m sorry I spoiled your lemonade.” Had she really just said that to him? That and about half a dozen other things that had blurted out of her mouth in the last hour. What in the world had come over her?
Devon blinked wide. Morning Fawn was jealous? Ridiculous. No. Impossible. She couldn't care less. But what if she did? He leaned back in his saddle and scrubbed his hand across his jaw.
She put her hand on her hip. “What’s that look about?”
“Nothing.”
“It doesn’t look like nothing.”
He fought against the smile that threatened to erupt. “Don’t you think we should head back? Your aunt will be worried.”
She dropped the reins and glared at him. “I’m not moving until you tell me what you’re thinking.”
He chuckled and grabbed the reins. “I reckon I’ll have to do it for you, then. I wouldn’t want both of us to be banished from coming near a horse again.”
She held the saddle horn as her horse shifted into motion beside his, passing through the field and back toward the ferry. “Are you going to tell them what I did?
“Of course not.” He tossed her reins into her lap. “See if you can keep up and behave yourself all at the same time.” His glance trailed over the fading pink in her cheeks. What if he was right? What if her remark in the harness shop about bits had to do with more than just the land?
Couldn’t be. But it felt as if his world had tilted.
CHAPTER 13
Was it Morning Fawn’s imagination, or was the whalebone corset squeezing the breath out of her? Obviously,civilizedsociety hadn’t figured out that there were better uses for animal bones than suffocating women.
Piano music drifted up from the parlor—Thea’s attempt at charming their guests.
Morning Fawn frowned in the mirror and twirled a ringlet of hair around her finger. “I don’t like the idea of getting all fancied up for Mr. Moyer—or any man, for that matter.”
“Not even for Lieutenant Reynolds?” Lucy stood behind her, tugging the back of Morning Fawn’s hair into a loose coil.
Morning Fawn narrowed her eyes at her friend’s reflection in the mirror. “I’d probably have to march downstairs in a buckskin dress and buffalo robe before that man would notice.”
Devon had been polite but distant since they’d returned from Columbus three days ago. Maybe his guilty conscience was absolved now that he’d rescued her from the laudanum and permanent confinement in the attic.
“I think he notices plenty, especially when it comes to you.”Lucy smiled and nudged the lace neckline a couple of inches below Morning Fawn’s collarbone.
“You have a wild imagination.” At least he managed not to go weak-kneed over Thea’s constant flirtations. But maybe that was because he preferred Miss Perfect Hostess in Alleyton.
