Love by the Letter Read Online Free PDF Page B

exuberantly when she saw Everett.
    Dex sighed. His friend wouldn’t be able to do much beyond strum and stare now. “I’m going to find Neil. He can’t be far behind his sister.”
    “Sure.” Everett made an effort to sort of glance at him before fastening his gaze on Patricia and flashing her a silly grin.
    Dex walked up to her and she frowned, as if his obstructing her view of Everett would make him disappear in a puff of smoke.
    “You look lovely, Miss Oliver. Where’s your brother?”
    “There.” She didn’t even look, just pointed behind her at the food-laden tables where Neil stacked a plate while juggling punch cups.
    No Rachel. “And your sister?”
    Patricia cocked her head to the side, causing a ringlet to slide off her neck. “You need to talk to her?”
    More than he’d admit. He rubbed the slight stubble on his upper lip. “Not really.”
    “Well then, I suppose it won’t make any difference if I say she’s not coming?”
    Why was she looking at him like that? He ran his tongue over his teeth. “I thought she said she was.”
    Neil sidled up beside his sister and held out a glass of punch.
    “She doesn’t dance anymore. Said if she isn’t getting married, there isn’t any point in dancing and she’d rather study.” Patricia rolled her eyes and took the drink. “Which she finds fun for some odd reason.”
    Never marry? He’d known she’d go to school, but he hadn’t thought she was that dedicated. For a second he’d thought maybe he could write her, but she’d evidently perused all the bachelors around town and found them wanting—including him. And that was before she knew he couldn’t read or write for nothing. “Of course she wouldn’t marry someone from around here. She’s too good for any of us.” Oh, how he wished the woman’s standards weren’t so high. But what had he expected?
    Neil took a sip of red liquid from an etched-glass punch cup, his eyes pinning Dex to an invisible wall.
    He needed to excuse himself before Neil figured out what he’d been thinking. “Too bad she isn’t here. I wouldn’t have minded a dance about the floor with her. Save me a dance if you would, Miss Oliver.”
    “Of course. I have plenty free since Everett’s stuck in the band.” She sighed.
    He’d stay long enough to dance a jig with Patricia and then go home and make sure his wagon was ready for the long, lonely drive over the Kansas plains.

Chapter 3
    “I thought you and Allen said turning small words into pictures would help.” Dex growled, fidgeting in the straight back chair.
    “It’s not magic.” Only his fourth lesson and he wanted her to conjure a miracle. Rachel clamped her hands under the little table, almost afraid to look at him. He turned downright trying with a book in his hand.
    “But I still missed the word.” He slapped the book down and glared at her as if she were a five-year-old questioning his authority. “And I know what the word from is. I use it all the time.”
    “Of course you do.” She hadn’t said anything to produce this testiness. Should she growl back at him? The mirth fighting to upturn her lips and the chuckle stuck in her throat were not helping the situation. “How about we move to the settee? Maybe if you were more comfortable—”
    “You think I’m stupid.” He raked a hand through his hair and winced when a split fingernail stuck in a strand. He grumbled while disentangling himself.
    “No, I don’t.” Her lips fought against her determination not to smile. She wouldn’t let them get the best of her, not if she wanted to suppress the laughter. She pressed her lips together hard. Really hard.
    “How can I not be?” By the way his hands snatched up the book, he was a second or two away from throwing Robinson Crusoe across the room.
    “Shh.” He needed to be gathered up and held tight. Like she’d do for a frightened little kitten. Three feet taller than his nephew, Dexseemed a hundred times more vulnerable. The laugh