Whispers on the Wind (A Prairie Hearts Novel Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

wouldn’t have this curiosity burning in her mind and making her waste hours in her day.
    She needed to stop daydreaming about the new man in town and drum up interest in her shop! She couldn’t just wait for customers to stumble in on their own, she had to go out and cultivate them. Plant the seed and water the ground. Bring them along like a new crop of wheat.
    Reading was foreign to many in the Wyoming Territory, and yet their lives would be so much fuller, richer, if someone taught them a love for literature. Cowboys, miners, and even drifters, she thought with a smile.
    Has God sent me here to do just that?
    The door downstairs jingled, and she glanced at her bedside clock. Six o’clock. She’d come upstairs and neglected to turn the sign and lock the door.
    “Tabitha?” A knocking on the door frame. “You upstairs? Your door is unlocked.”
    Hannah. She heard Thom, Hannah’s husband, who was deputy sheriff, laughing in his deep voice at something his wife had said.
    “Yes. I’ll be down directly.” Putting away her rambling thoughts, she picked up the hem of her skirt and hurried down the stairs. The couple stood arm in arm.
    “I hope you don’t mind I brought Thom along.” Hannah glanced up at her handsome Irishman, her face full of smiles. “Susanna is finishing up at the restaurant, and Thom wanted to spend a little time with me before I headed for home. He’s on the evening shift tonight and won’t be home until later. We’re taking a walk.”
    “Of course I don’t mind. But it would be better if the two of you go along without me. It’s a beautiful evening. Who knows how many more like this there’ll be before the weather sets in. I’m so far behind in my work I shouldn’t be taking time off anyway.” In reality, she didn’t want to be a third wheel. Sometimes witnessing their obvious romance incurred feelings of loneliness in the long evening hours. Best they go alone.
    Hannah raised a brow, glancing around at her perfectly ordered shop. “Just try and tell me what you have to do in here, Tabitha. Not a thing is out of place. I insist you come along.”
    Even though she hadn’t known Hannah long, the two had quickly grown close. Their family hailed from Ohio, but when Tabitha’s grandparents died in an influenza epidemic, it had been up to Uncle Frank to support his two sisters. In his early twenties he’d taken a job as a teller in a bank. Marigold, Tabitha’s mother, then nineteen, married a distinguished young man and moved to his family home in New York. A few years later, an opportunity arose for Uncle Frank to buy a bank in a small western town. Thrilled at the opportunity to make something of himself, he’d packed up his youngest sister, Roberta, and headed west. Soon after they arrived, Roberta met and married a young farmer, but he’d died when Hannah was only fifteen.
    “Tabby, I’m not taking no for an answer,” Hannah teased. “We planned this visit, and I’ve been looking forward to it all day.”
    Once Hannah set her mind to something, that was that. Tabitha sighed. “Fine then. Let me go fetch a wrap.”

CHAPTER FOUR

    W ith his knife gripped firmly in his left hand, Hunter sawed at the can of peaches with anticipation. He’d eaten one can earlier, and couldn’t resist another. Prying the lid back, he licked the sugary liquid that spilled onto his fingers, then picked up his fork as he stretched back against a log.
    All the comforts of home .
    He stabbed a thick yellowy-pink slice of goodness floating at the top of the syrup. Forking the fruit in to his waiting taste buds, he wiped the drops that had landed on his chin with the back of his hand. His mouth exploded, and his eyes closed in ecstasy. Swallowing, he repeated the process, making fast work of the treat.
    After he’d set up camp, he’d stabled his gelding and mule at the livery, knowing he’d draw less attention if they weren’t staked out in the meadow. Win Preston, owner of the large barn and