Counterfeit Courtship Read Online Free PDF Page B

admit it was nice to see a few gray uniforms again after two years of occupation by the Union army.
    Susanna’s cloying smile turned to a frown as she caught Ellie’s gaze.
    â€œShe’s going to cause trouble.” Ellie kept her own smile intact until Susanna and her partner danced across the room and out of sight.
    Graham’s grimace might have meant he thought any trouble Susanna could cause would be minor compared to Ellie’s plan.
    She snatched his arm and pulled him closer to the gaslight to see his face better. “I know what that look meant. I’m doing only what you asked me to do—helping you get rid of the girls. They aren’t bothering you now, are they? Think what tonight would have been like if I hadn’t done as you asked.”
    In the brighter light, his eyes blazed like the flame. “I shouldn’t have hung the distress flag. I should have camped out in the old hideout until the party was over.”
    So much had happened that day, it seemed she had seen the signal last week rather than twelve hours ago. Just this morning, she’d had no idea Graham would come home, that she would enter a fabricated courtship with him, that a baby would enter her life—
    â€œThe baby... What did you learn about her this afternoon while I was out at Magnolia Grove?”
    â€œFor one thing, I found out why the baby is your namesake.” Graham swirled the punch in his cup as he used to when in deep thought. Then he looked up and met her gaze, the trace of an undefinable emotion in his eyes. “I didn’t know how much you did for Francine before she and Stuart got married and moved to Harrisonburg.”
    Ellie sipped her punch, a little tart for her taste. “All I did was show kindness to her, a girl I liked, at a time when others in this town did not. She was a Ballard, and you know how most people in town viewed that family.”
    â€œOutlaws, thieves, drunkards—but I think most of that was exaggerated. Your friendship apparently meant a lot to Francine. And I appreciate it too, for my stepbrother’s sake.” Graham tasted his punch, and then he swallowed another big gulp. “Want me to get rid of yours?”
    After all these years, he remembered that she liked her punch as sweet as her coffee. “Don’t let Miss Ophelia find out.”
    â€œThis isn’t the first time I’ve rescued you from having to eat or drink something you didn’t like.” Moving nothing but his eyes, he scanned the gallery and gardens, then turned his back to the house and drank her sour punch as fast as if it were the best raspberry cordial. “Lilah May never knew that you didn’t eat a single pea the entire time you and your uncle stayed in town.”
    She laughed at that. “Yes, I owe you for eating many a helping from my plate when no one was looking.”
    Graham set both punch cups on the wrought iron table in the corner. “Noreen told me what happened when Stuart announced their engagement.”
    â€œIt was shameful. She was a good girl, no matter what kind of family she came from.” Ellie unfolded her fan and waved the effects of the humidity from her neck. “I don’t understand why Francine never let Miss Noreen know about the baby.”
    â€œFrancine’s father disowned her for what he thought was shameful behavior on her part. He thought Stuart, a man far above her station, was toying with her, using her for nefarious reasons. But he was wrong. According to Noreen, Stuart loved Francine and intended to marry her from the day they met.”
    â€œThat’s how I saw their relationship too. Francine lived by her Bible.”
    â€œShe was afraid her family would try to take Betsy from her if they knew about her. So she continued to run the store Stuart’s father left him, just as she had after he went to war. Harrisonburg is far enough away that no one in Natchez, including Noreen, found