Adela's Prairie Suitor (The Annex Mail-Order Brides Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

appearance set to memory.
    She sat, looking down at her hands clasped in her lap until she heard a conveyance stop. Byron jumped down from his buggy and strode to her. There was no mistaking his dark hair and eyes, but he was taller than she’d envisioned.
    “Miss Mason?”
    Her lips curved into a smile as she stood. “Mr. Calhoun.”
    A wide grin revealed firm white teeth. He doffed his hat. “Sorry I’m late. Didn’t mean to. Welcome to Crabapple.”
    Should she give him her hand? She wasn’t wearing gloves, so maybe she shouldn’t. “Thank you. I haven’t been waiting long.” She sensed he was as uncomfortable as she was.
    “Let me get your luggage and we’ll get going.”
    She followed him to the buggy. After he’d put her trunk and carpetbag away, he touched her elbow, obviously to assist her into the buggy. She lifted her skirt with one hand and reached for the buggy seat with the other. Then she missed her footing and fell back against Byron’s chest. Heat flooded her face as he clasped her about the waist and lifted her onto the seat as easily as if she’d been a kitten.
    While he ran around the horse, she took the opportunity to press her palms to her cheeks, hoping to cool her face and bring it back to a normal shade. He climbed into his seat and took the reins. Adela drew in a deep breath to calm herself, and got a whiff of an earthy mix of hay, horse, and manure with a hint of men’s cologne. Anyone else might have found it offensive, but it brought back memories to Adela of greeting her father at the end of the day.
    It didn’t take long to get out of town, and Byron pointed out the farms of his neighbors. The cultivated fields were all surrounded by brown prairie grass. “That’s the McClinok Ranch, the M, double Bar,” Byron observed. “Pa bought up a large parcel of land of the other side of our farm, and I’d planned to start a ranch, but we weren’t counting on Pa…leaving.”
    His mention of his father reminded her. “I’m so sorry you lost your father. Both of my parents died when I was ten, but I well remember how bad it was.”
    “I can imagine. That was mighty young to lose your parents. What happened?”
    “They went to nurse my uncle, who’d come down with typhoid. Uncle Hector was my mother’s brother, and she insisted on going. Papa wouldn’t let her go alone. As it happened, Uncle Hector lived, but both Mama and Papa died.”
    “That was tragic. I believe you wrote you went to live with your aunt and uncle after that.”
    “I did. Aunt Alma died several years later, and Uncle Hector never remarried. He was a circuit judge and was away much of the time. I was really raised by the servants, a housemaid and a cook. Oh, they were very kind, but still not like parents.”
    Byron was busy making a turn in the road, so she added, “I’m looking forward to meeting your mother.”
    Maybe it was her imagination, but she thought he stiffened. “She’ll enjoy having another woman around. She’s been lonesome since Pa died.”
    Adela wanted to mention Hilda Jane Lynstrum, but couldn’t think of a polite way to do so. At any rate, she suspected the subject would present itself before long. A rock of discontent had settled in her middle when Mrs. Hawkins mentioned that Byron was romantically involved with Miss Lynstrum.
    They approached a whitewashed wooden house with a red barn and corral beside it. When Byron drove into the yard, Adela assumed this was his farm. She swung around in her seat to take it all in.
    A few chickens pecked in the dirt at the side of the house. The corral was separated in two sections. A horse hung its head over the top and a colt frisked about in circles. The other section contained several cows.
    She looked down and found Byron holding his hand out to her. Laying her fingers in his palm, she managed to disembark without mishap. As they walked to the front porch, she glanced up to the sloping roof and weathervane. The whole place was picturesque.