His Defiant Wife, the Adventures of Linnett Wainwright, Book 2 Read Online Free PDF

head still
further! Seriously, though John, I do love you and I am
beginning to understand you and what you need from me as your wife.
I promise not to knowingly put myself in danger...but only if you
will promise me the same.”
    John nodded. “I
hope you mean your promise to me, Linnett, because, in return, I
promise to protect you in whatever way I can... but if that means
risking danger then so be it. I also promise to blister your behind
whenever I think you require it.”
    Linnett pouted
but reached out and wrapped her arms around her husband, crying,
“ John!”
    He held her
tightly against him before kissing her soundly and releasing her.
“Now please can we find this eating house Hans mentioned because I
am absolutely starving and my ribs are sticking to my vitals!”
    The eating
house John led them to had a glass front, unusual in a small town
establishment; however, the glass was of a thick green variety
unlike the fine thin glass to be found in the buildings of New York
and Boston. Nevertheless, the presence of glass at all gave the
eating house a prestige that the other premises within the town
envied, and business was booming.
    Inside there
were wooden benches and long tables set out in lines across the
width of the room. When someone vacated a space, the next in line
sat down and was served. There was a simple menu; the meal
consisted of soup, fried chicken or stew and a hunk of bread,
followed by a cup of strong black coffee. Pie was optional when
apples were in season.
    Linnett was
surprised at how tasty the meal actually was. The girl that served
them smiled, simpering at John, and asked him if they were here for
the hanging and from whereabouts were they from?
    John sat back
in his chair and told her they were staying with Hans and Sarah
Lammers. The girl, a carrot-haired freckled miss, with wide blue
eyes and an overdeveloped bosom, was pressing herself far too close
to John’s side for Linnett’s liking. She then proceeded to gush
with verbal enthusiasm about Hans’ size and good looks, asking John
whether Hans would be joining them for lunch, batting her gingery
eyelashes at John as she spoke. Just like a demented butterfly,
or more like a carrot fly, thought Linnett sourly.
    John puffed out
his chest and sat back in his chair, going on to explain about the
shipwreck that had landed them here. Linnett kicked his ankle under
the table, giving him a sharp shake of her head. John glanced up at
her in surprise. He raised an eyebrow at her and then turned away
to listen to some flippant comment the carrot top made about the
hanging.
    It seemed that
the lad who had been hanged was one Tom O’Cleary, who had come upon
a half-caste girl who had rejected his advances. In a fit of
drunken rage, he had raped and murdered the poor girl before being
caught red-handed by the girl’s father who had been looking for his
daughter, concerned when she had not appeared in time for her
supper. The town had been in uproar ever since. Half the town’s
folk thought that the lad should be hanged; the other half did not,
based on grounds that the girl was half Indian. In the end a trial
was held, and Tom was sentenced to hang by a jury of twelve
men.
    As they were
finishing their meal, Hans strolled in and joined them. He greeted
the carroty girl with a big hug and she squealed with delight,
kissing his cheek and pulling his whiskers. Linnett glared at them
both as she stood up to leave. “I am leaving,” she stated regally.
“Are you coming with me, John?” she asked coldly.
    John looked up
at his wife in some surprise “Of course I’ll come with you,” he
said standing up.
    Following
Linnett’s retreating back, he shrugged at Hans, who laughed and
called after him, “I will see you at the wagon my friend as soon as
I have eaten my fill.”
    John caught up
with Linnett, catching her by her upper arm and stopping her in her
tracks. “Whoa there! What’s got into you all of a sudden?”
    Linnett raised
her