The Vow Read Online Free PDF Page B

clean.”
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    The Vow
    Hannah smiled to put him at ease. “Then you must be James Shaw, the inventor.”
    His brows rose and he blushed again. “Inventor is too grand. Tinkerer is a more apt description of what I do.” He glanced back at the rearing shed. “Would you like me to fetch my brother? That is, if I can pull him away from his worms.”
    “Please. It’s very important that I speak with him.”
    James nodded and went back into the shed. A minute later he emerged, followed by his brother.
    The moment Reiver Shaw’s blue eyes held hers, Hannah became acutely aware of the man. When she had first met him in the tobacco field, he was like any other man she had happened to pass on the streets of Coldwater, a presence, but one kept at a distance. Now that he was to be her husband, that distance shrank alarmingly. Hannah wanted it back.
    “Good morning, Miss Whitby,” he said. “I didn’t expect to see you until this afternoon.”
    So he knew why she had come.
    Hannah tried to smile, but her face felt stiff and frozen. She managed to force out, “I’d like to speak with you, if I may.”
    James said to his brother, “Go ahead. I’ll tend the worms.” He smiled shyly at Hannah and went back into the shed.
    Reiver glanced at her. “Let’s walk down by the brook, shall we?”
    She fell into step beside him, and they walked in awkward silence like the strangers they were.
    Finally Hannah stopped and turned to face him. “My Uncle Ezra told me that you’ve asked for my hand in marriage. May I ask why? You don’t even know me, nor I you.”
    “I didn’t ask for your hand in marriage,” he said. “Your uncle offered it.”

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    Lindsay Chase
    Stunned, Hannah rocked back on her heels. “Uncle Ezra approached you?”
    Reiver Shaw nodded. “He told me that it was time you married, that he couldn’t trust Naomi’s boys to keep their hands off you. He thought I’d make you a suitable husband.”
    “And you accepted his offer?”
    “I did.”
    Hannah gave him a sharp, assessing stare. “You must forgive my bluntness, Mr. Shaw, but you don’t strike me as the kind of man who would enter into an arranged marriage without something to gain.”
    Her bluntness did surprise him, and he regarded her with respect in his eyes.
    “I won’t insult your intelligence by claiming that I fell in love with you from the moment we met, Miss Whitby”—his gaze raked her up and down—“though you are a comely young woman. No, I accepted your uncle’s offer because he agreed to give me something I’ve wanted very badly for a long time.” He turned and gazed out beyond the brook. “Some land I’ve coveted.”
    The land that Uncle Ezra said was to be her dowry.
    Hannah took a. deep, tremulous breath. “Mr. Shaw, I don’t want to marry you.”
    He turned back to face her, a smile of amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth. “May I ask why? I’ve been told I’m quite a catch.”
    She ignored his teasing tone. “I’m sure you are. But we are strangers who only met several days ago. You have no idea what I’m really like.”
    “Then why don’t you tell me?”
    Hannah took a deep breath. “Why, I’m headstrong, rebellious, argumentative—”
    “A virtual virago,” he added, suppressing a smile.
    “Yes! And I could be a drunkard, for all you know.”
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    The Vow
    He froze, his expression hardening. “I know you’re not a drunkard, Miss Whitby.”
    “But that is my point; you don’t know.”
    “And as for you being rebellious, you seem to obey your Uncle Ezra well enough.”
    Hannah didn’t know what to say to that observation.
    He grew solemn. “Are you trying to discourage me because there is someone else? One of Naomi’s boys, perhaps?”
    Hannah thought of Nate and her lip curled in revulsion. “There is no one else.”
    “Ah, now I understand. You were hoping for a love match.”
    “Yes, Mr. Shaw, I