Homespun Bride by Jillian Hart Page A

Aiden shook his head. “You’ve been riding the trail too long. You’ve forgotten what females are like. They’re not like us.”
    â€œAnd you’ve been working in the fields alone too long.”
    â€œThen there’s no doubt about it, little brother. We are a pair.”
    That was something he couldn’t argue with. He did his best to steel his heart, to let go of what was past and hope that there would be a new start in life awaiting him. The truth was, he could never forget the pain he’d put on Noelle’s lovely face. He had to do his best to stay away from her, for both their sakes. Knowing his luck, there wouldn’t be land he could afford—at least the kind of land he wanted—and he’d be moving on after things on the home place were better.
    The land office was nearly empty, he noticed as he yanked open the door, but the potbellied stove in the center of the room glowed red-hot. Thankful to be out of the bitter cold, Thad shook the snow from his hat and stepped inside.
    Â 
    â€œI can’t tell you how this cheers me up!” There was no disguising the joy in Uncle Robert’s voice from atop the mare he’d just bought for himself at the sale. “I feel alive again, I tell you.”
    Henrietta tsked as she pulled closed the dressmaker’s door. “Robert, of course you are alive. You are driving me to distraction with this nonsense. You are no longer a young man, no matter how many ill-mannered horses you purchase.”
    Noelle felt a strange chill shiver down her spine, although perhaps it was the turn of the wind. Another storm was on the way, she could smell it brewing in the air. While her aunt and uncle battled good-naturedly, which was not unusual for them, her cousins spilled ahead of her down the steps and into the family sleigh. Their footsteps and chatter, lively and pleasant, counterbalanced the worry she had for her uncle. She wanted to ask Robert to dismount and join them in the sleigh, but it was hard to get a word in edgewise.
    â€œ Two more horses?” Henrietta sounded stunned. “How many horses will we need to pull our sleigh?”
    â€œNow, Henrietta, you know I’m trying to start my own ranch.”
    â€œYes, but you’re a banker,” Henrietta pointed out. “This is lunacy, Robert.”
    â€œOur Matilda is old enough to drive. The gray mare is for the girls’ use.”
    â€œWhat? For us?” The chatter halted and footsteps herded away from the sleigh, Noelle presumed, where the old mare was tied.
    â€œWhat’s her name?” Angelina cried out.
    â€œShe’s sweet!” fourteen-year-old Minnie cooed.
    â€œShe’s really ours?” Matilda’s hand slipped from hers.
    Noelle froze in place on the sidewalk. So, Robert really had taken Thad’s advice. That was a relief, but now she felt, well, grateful toward the man. She didn’t want to feel the hint of gratitude toward the man. A hard knot coiled up in her stomach, and she wished, how she wished, it would stop. Her normally placid emotions were all snarled up ever since Thad had ridden back into her life.
    Without Matilda to guide her, she dared not take a step for fear of falling on a patch of ice. She stood alone, waiting while the family inspected Matilda’s new mare. Why was one ear searching the sounds on the street for Thad? Searching for his confident, steady gait, and for the low rumble of his voice?
    Longing overtook her. Longing for those sweet, carefree days of her youth, for the dizzy happiness she’d felt when Thad had been beauing her, and for the shining future she’d wanted with him. The shining future she could not have now.
    It was all Thad’s doing, she realized. Making her remember her lost dreams. Making her look at memories filled with color and love. He made her realize how dark her life and how alone her future. Because of him, she saw her future so clearly—a