An Amish Man of Ice Mountain (The Amish of Ice Mountain Series Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

he could without yelling above the noise.
    “Are you crazy?” Priscilla cried. “She’s terrified!”
    Joseph didn’t feel like arguing as hail pelted his neck, but he kept his calm. “I know that. Let me take her inside where it’s quiet until this passes. You come too.”
    “I can’t! Someone will see.”
    “Not in my room. Kumme on.”
    He waited precious moments while he watched her struggle to decide; then she rolled the window back up. The rear door opened and he moved to quickly grasp the blanket-wrapped, screaming child in his arms. He watched Priscilla struggle out, then turned to run back across the parking lot.
    Once under the awning of the inn, he gently rocked Hollie against him. “Shh, shh, boppli . I want to take you inside, but you must be still. Nothing will harm you.”
    Priscilla had joined him, and he took in her shivering form and her red hair clinging to the perfect oval of her face. Still beautiful; maybe more so . . . He bounced Hollie against his hip and was amazed when the child began to giggle. His ears rang with the abrupt change in decibels and he had to smile. “All right, there’s a gut girl. Now, we must be very quiet because my bruder , Edward, is sleeping and we don’t want to wake him.”
    He paused when Priscilla grabbed his coat sleeve, and he looked down at her.
    “We’ll be all right,” she said. “We can go back to the car.”
    He raised an eyebrow when Hollie’s mouth began to pucker. “Really? I think not.” And then he shouldered through the wooden door of the lobby. He sensed Priscilla’s presence behind him, but he still turned so that Hollie could see her mother.
    “There,” he whispered. “Now remember, kind , very quiet. My bruder turns into an ogre if he’s wakened.” He took the stairs to the next floor two at a time, feeling Hollie’s soft hair brush his cheek, and he caught the sweet, baby scent of her. Ach , Gott, but life was fragile. What kind of fater would leave a child and mother such as these to . . . He swallowed and managed the card key to his room with one hand, then switched on the small bedside lamp.
    Thankfully, Edward’s door was closed, and Joseph moved to lay Hollie in her bundle of blankets on his bed. But, like an errant puppy, the child rolled out of the covers and sat up, fully alert. Joseph drew off his coat and hat, tossing them over a chair, and went to the bathroom to fetch dry towels. He handed one to Priscilla, who was standing stiffly, the closed bedroom door behind her. Then he gave the other towel to Hollie, who giggled.
    He quickly put his finger to his lips and Hollie did the same, quieting immediately. He turned to smile at Priscilla, who was assiduously applying herself to drying her hair, so he went to the closet and found another towel for himself.
    He watched between swipes at his hair as Priscilla finished and went to his bed to begin to unbundle Hollie from her outdoor clothes in the warmth of the room.
    “That’s quite a storm,” Joseph whispered as the lightning continued to illuminate the room.
    Priscilla nodded, clearly not wanting to speak for fear of being overheard. Then she turned from Hollie and stopped still, gazing at Joseph with some emotion he couldn’t fathom . . . Was it anger? Confusion ?
    He looked down at his person to find his shirt all askew and mostly undone. Dismay filled him. What must she think? He hastily worked the pins in the dim light. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I was in a hurry—well, to check on you both—and I threw my clothes on.”
    Again, Priscilla gave a stiff nod, and he wanted to groan aloud . Twice now, this woman has seen me in a state of undress. And why? Because of my carelessness.
    Then he noticed that Priscilla was shivering in her soaked clothes. He turned to the tall closet and pulled out the long nightshirt he’d packed but had never worn since he’d first come to the rigs.
    “Here.” He crossed the room and handed it to Priscilla, then backed