Adam's Promise Read Online Free PDF Page A

realized he had been more determined to get rid of her than she’d thought.
    And more determined to keep Diana at his side.
    â€œI’ll be frank with you,” Adam said. “There isn’t much here for a young, unmarried woman. Very few settlers can afford a live-in governess and the chances of finding work, outside of keeping house for someone, are slim. The winters are long and severe—the icy winds over the marsh can take a bite out of your skin if you’re not careful. And the mosquitoes…well, I guarantee they’ll come close to driving you mad. Their bite feels like a hot needle prick in your skin and it swells up like a big boil for days afterward and itches insufferably.”
    â€œYou’re exaggerating.”
    He tilted his head at her. “Just wait and see. In a month, you’ll be jumping into the muddy Tantramar just to escape them. Sometimes, they’re worse than a black cloud around your head and—”
    â€œYou’ve made your point, Mr. Coates, but I’m not going home. I don’t know what I’ll do, but don’t worry, I’ll find some means to make my way. If not here, then perhaps in Halifax.”
    â€œThere’s no road to Halifax. It’s all Indian trails and bridle paths.”
    She huffed in frustration. “What would you have me do, then? Go home on the next ship? Go home to a father who wanted me gone so badly that he deceived both of us to get rid of me?”
    Adam removed his hat and ran a hand over his dark, backswept hair. “You don’t know that.”
    â€œYou said you asked him for Diana’s hand. The man could read.”
    The horses snorted and tossed their heads. “Well, perhaps he simply thought it should be your turn. Diana had already been married. I doubt he was that determined to get rid of you.”
    Madeline chose not to correct him on that point.He didn’t need to know the truth, and at least he was no longer insinuating that this scheme was her doing.
    â€œI still think it would be in your best interest to return to Yorkshire and be with your father,” he told her. “Cumberland is no place for a young woman alone.”
    â€œI’ll consider it,” she replied, just to end the discussion.
    A few minutes later, she watched a brown squirrel shimmy across an evergreen bough overhead and leap onto a taller tree. “How did you learn about Diana’s widowhood?” she asked, curious about how this deplorable situation had come to pass.
    â€œNews makes its way over here eventually. And I may have made inquiries about her over the years.”
    Inquiries. Beautiful Diana. Men were always making inquiries….
    Madeline gazed at Adam’s mature face beside her, and even now, after all that had happened, her childish heart found it difficult to believe that she was actually sitting beside him, alone here in the forest, their thighs bumping every so often. She felt an unwelcome, impetuous thrill over it, and a twinge of hope that perhaps one day, he might forget about Diana and see Madeline differently.
    Her skin tingled beneath her dress, and she wished she could throttle the sensation. She didn’t want to start fantasizing again about this man who was not what she remembered. She would only wind up getting hurt, for she had yet in her life to experience otherwise.
    â€œDid you love her that much, then?” She hopedher tone hadn’t revealed how hurt she’d been over all this, but she wanted to hear how he felt.
    No. After that thigh-bumping thrill, she needed to hear it.
    He clicked his tongue at the horses. “Yes, I did.”
    Madeline tried to crush the unwise pang of jealousy she did not want to feel.
    Adam continued. “And I still wish to marry her. Perhaps you could help me?”
    Help you? She tried to keep her voice light, to sound obliging. “How?”
    â€œYou could give me her address in London. I plan to notify my