The Homesteader's Sweetheart Read Online Free PDF Page B

White and Penny, obviously sensing the sudden tension. If Penny told her mother the truth, she would never agree to let Penny ride along to her grandfather’s homestead, Sam’s presence notwithstanding.
    But perhaps accepting a ride from a man with such loose moral standards wasn’t the best idea, either.
    She’d brought this conundrum on herself—her impulsiveness in pushing for a ride. If she’d waited for her father to figure out a way for her to visit her grandfather’s homestead, this never would have happened.
    But she still needed to escape Calvin—and Mr. Abbott—for a while.
    The front door slammed, and Sam tromped down the steps, a satchel slung over his shoulder, scowl etched on his face.
    Time to decide. Stay in Calvin and attempt to ward off Mr. Abbott’s advances, or go with this man and hope for the best.
    * * *
    This was a bad idea.
    Jonas had known it the moment he’d agreed to give Miss Penny Castlerock a ride out to Walt’s place. And he thought it again as recognition flared across her expressive face.
    Now she remembered him. And although she carefully schooled her expression, he saw the flash of derision cross her features. He knew what she thought: the same thing that all those folks who’d believed the scandal back in Philadelphia thought. That he had fathered Breanna out of wedlock.
    He knew the truth, but what if she mentioned his past, or at least what she knew of it, in Philadelphia in front of Breanna?
    He should never have agreed to allow her to ride along, but he’d been concerned for his friend and mentor, Walt, who had seemed a bit under the weather lately. And Walt’s place had been getting more run down; Miss Castlerock’s brother could help him get things back in order. Although the boy, who was obviously related to Miss Castlerock with that shock of auburn hair and the same bright blue eyes, didn’t look as if he knew the first thing about working on a homestead.
    Jonas’s last hope that Miss Castlerock would change her mind dissipated as she reached out and embraced her mother. “I’ll write a note when I can to let you know how Grandfather is doing.”
    Jonas turned away to check the horses’ harness. “Seat’s not too wide. One of you will need to ride in the back.” He and the general store proprietor had arranged the goods to leave enough room for someone to sit back there.
    It was too much to hope that Miss Castlerock would sit in back. Instead, the boy grumbled as he climbed into the wagon. His attitude reminded Jonas of his son Edgar when Jonas had found him on the streets of Cheyenne and taken him in. Unwilling to help, sullen…but Edgar had responded to Jonas’s steady presence and the hard work that had been assigned to him.
    It had taken a bit longer for Edgar to settle and realize he had a permanent home with Jonas, Breanna and the other adopted boys. Over a year to erase that sense of worry about where the next meal was coming from, where he’d sleep tonight, having a place of his own…
    Jonas blinked away the memories. Perhaps working on Walt’s homestead was just what Penny’s brother needed to settle him as well, but Jonas hoped the older man was equipped to handle a sulky teen.
    Jonas glanced up and realized Miss Castlerock was waiting for him to help her up onto the wagon’s bench, an inscrutable look on her features. Her gaze reminded him of being eighteen again and having a flock of tittering girls in colorful dresses watching him lay bricks. The same mortification—embarrassment that he was so far below their station, unease because he thought them beautiful—filled him now, but he stuffed it away. He was a grown man, a man with a family to take care of. If not respected by the people in his community, he at least made his own way. And that was something to be proud of.
    As he boosted her up onto the seat, he wasn’t prepared for the heat of her hand in his, even through her soft, white glove.
    “Thank you,” she murmured.
    He