Surrendered on the Frontier Read Online Free PDF Page B

from him and glared. I didn’t like being hauled to the barn like a naughty child.
    Samuel crossed his arms on his chest, his eyes stern and inflexible. His lips thinned, and his voice was curt. “Tell me what happened. If you run, I’ll catch you and you’ll wish I hadn’t.”
    Continuing to glare silently, I crossed my arms and stared at him.
    His voice softened a bit. “Ruth, I want to hear your side of the story.”
    He was not judging. He was not criticizing. He’d given me space to talk, and wanted to understand what was going on.
    I took a deep breath and tried. “Well, that good for nothing—”
    “No. Tell me what you did and why.”
    Though I knew my actions were childish, and I disliked having caused dissension, I was unrepentant. I would tell the story my way.
    “Geraldine poked fun at me. She does it all the time, to both me and Pearl. Thinks she is better than us, and that she has the right to demean us. And I’ll not put up with it, Samuel. I won’t !”
    A muscle twitched in his jaw. He was still wearing his wide-brimmed hat, which caused a slight shadow to darken his eyes. “Did I ask you what she did, little Ruth? Or did I ask you to tell me what you did?”
    “It’s the same!” I said, throwing my hands up in anger.
    He sighed. “All right, then. What happened today ,young lady?”
    There it was again: young lady. Only for some reason, this time it made me feel a twinge of guilt. “I… she said I read heathen books. I referenced Saint Patrick making the snakes leave Ireland. It was in your father’s book I read, and she has no right—”
    “Ruth.”
    I sighed. “And then she had the nerve to tell me to be sure there were no chicken bones in our supper.”
    He nodded. “Go on.”
    I suddenly felt very small. “I… well. That was it.”
    His brows shot up in surprise. “She said you read a heathen book, and asked you to be sure there were no bones in the chicken? And you thought that reason to toss water in her face? To provoke my brother’s wife?”
    His tone of voice stoked my barely tempered fire and I stepped toward him, my chest heaving with anger. “Don’t you dare take her side!” I hissed.
    Though he moved quickly, it seemed later that it was all in slow motion. The way his arms uncrossed and his large hand came to my jaw, grasping me firmly, tilting my face up to his. The way his eyes narrowed and heated. Grasping me gently but firmly, he made me look into his eyes.
    “Woman, hold your tongue,” he whispered. I yanked my face away from him and shoved him back. In seconds, strong arms wrapped around my torso, and though I fought with all my strength, he was so much stronger than I, he could’ve bested me with one arm tied behind his back. He lifted me clear off the ground, and to my shock, fairly tossed me over his head, where I landed on a bed of soft hay. He’d put me straight into the loft.
    It was a low-hanging loft, much lower than the typical ones in barns in our little town, and it served as a sort of storage place for Ma. She was small, like me, and could easily reach atop it without having to climb the taller ladder on the other side of the barn. So there I sat, tumbled in the hay, Samuel just below. His hands grasped the edge.
    “Little Ruth, I’ve already explained that if your past was different, I’d have taken you across my knee long ago. But woman, does my palm ever itch to tan your backside.”
    I scrambled to the edge of the loft, but his voice made me freeze. “You’ve been warned, young lady. You get down from that loft before I give you leave, and past be damned, I’ll toss you over my lap, lift your skirts, and spank you until you beg me for mercy. Understand?”
    I paused. I was angry at my inability to control the situation, yet still attracted to his strength. Not knowing what else to do, I crossed my arms angrily. I wanted to fight him. I wanted to push him. I didn’t like the torrent of emotions within me. My skin felt like it was on