The Amish Bride of Ice Mountain Read Online Free PDF

bed.
    “Mary, Mary, what is it?”
    She trembled beneath his hands, her hair slipping through his fingers like ocean waves. He knew he was affected by her, never would have let himself make out with her in the first place if he wasn’t, and he hated to see her upset. He put a knee on the bed and half turned from her, but she grasped at his arm.
    “Mary, sweetheart. Let me turn up the lamp, okay?”
    She continued to hold him, putting her mouth against the sleeve of his shirt, and he felt her teeth chatter. He fumbled with the lamp, got it going, then moved to sit beside her, drawing her into his arms. She was half-in, half-out of his sleeping bag and her eyes still held that stark look of somewhere between dreaming and waking. He kissed her instinctively on the forehead and she turned to meet his mouth with her own. He heard the strangled sound that came from his own throat as if far in the distance and slanted his head to deepen the kiss. Comfort, you idiot. Comfort her.
    But when she twined her arms around his neck and clutched at his hair, he knew he needed to stop. Must stop. Must . He broke away with a painful gasp, his breathing ragged. “Mary, it’s all right. It’s all right. You were dreaming. That’s all.”
    She whimpered and pushed closer to him, as if she were trying to burrow inside his shirt. “It—it was Isaac, not you. I thought we were kissing that day, but then it was him. Ach , Jude, I was so scared.”
    I’m scared too . . . scared to death. What am I going to do with a wife, an Amisch wife who makes my arms ache and my mouth burn? Never touch her. Just never touch her. He stiffened with resolve and tried to move from her.
    “Please, Professor,” she begged.
    Please? Please what? What does she want me to do?
    “Please sit here with me for a minute until I fall back to sleep. I want to sleep. I promise. I want it all to go away when I wake up.”
    “All of it?” he couldn’t help asking.
    “Mmm-hmm . . .” She laid her head on his shoulder and he resolved to sit for a minute or two, stiff and unresponsive.
     
     
    The song of the first morning bird woke her and she realized that she was snuggled tight against the professor’s side. His white shirt was half-undone and she ducked her head away from the glimpse of his tanned chest. His blue-jeaned legs were tangled around the sleeping bag and his breathing fell slow and even near her ear. She tried to remember how they had got this way, and then the horror of the nightmare came back to her. She remembered Jude holding her, and now as she adjusted her neck with the slightest movement, she found his blue eyes, languid and sleepy.
    “Hello, beautiful,” he whispered.
    She felt herself flush at his words and he grinned, a secret, knowing smile that did something to her insides.
    “Hello.”
    He blinked then, almost as if coming to himself, and he pulled away from her, rolling off the bunk. He stood up and ran a hand through his hair, then grabbed his spectacles from the bedside table and hastily buttoned his shirt.
    “You—uh—had a bad dream and I, um . . .”
    “You slept by my side, Jude. Thank you.”
    He nodded. “Right. That’s all right.” He clapped his hands together. “Looks like the stew will be dried out, but how about some fresh scrambled eggs?”
    “I really can get it for you,” she said.
    “No. I insist.” He smiled at her, grabbed an old basket, and headed outside, leaving her deep in her thoughts.
     
     
    “My girl, how’s my girl?”
    Jude looked up as the anxious voice of his new father-in-law cut across his thoughts.
    Undoubtedly after the night’s passing, the mountain’s amazing and mysterious communication grapevine had brought news to Abner about Mary and Isaac Mast.
    “Mary’s fine.” Jude set the basket on the grass and rose to his feet.
    Abner passed a ham-like hand across his brow, tilting back his straw hat. “ Gut . . . gut . I heard you ran Isaac Mast off the mountain—saved me the