Read Online Abigail's Secret (A Whimsical Select Romance Novella) by Tamara Ternie - Free Book Online

more resistance, he pulled her flush against his body and kissed her hard and long, as if he had been waiting for that moment as long as she.  When he ended the kiss she couldn’t help but feel disappointment.  Although the kiss was more delightful than she had ever imagined, she wanted it to last forever.  She wanted that moment of feeling loved by him to last forever.  Yet it couldn’t.  And she wouldn’t allow him to think receiving her affections came so easy.  That she came so easy.
    She slapped him.
    Brice rubbed his cheek and smiled.  “Was that for honor’s sake?” he chuckled.  He leaned closer toward her and his grin widened.  “We both know you enjoyed it as much as I did.”
    Abigail had nothing more to say. He was right and it irritated her.  She gathered her skirts and marched to her wagon.  Taking the reins, she hurried the horses toward home.
    Brice’s laughter could be heard loud and strong in her wake.

CHAPTER SIX
                  Abigail didn’t waste time making it to Thomas’s study.  As usual, he sat amidst his journals and papers spread out in disarray atop his desk.
    “Brice claims he had sent me a letter,” she said breathlessly.  She had run the length of the wagon to his study, eager to hear what he knew of Brice’s missive.
    Thomas began leafing through his papers atop his desk.  “If he had left one, I fail to see it.”
    “Not recently, you ninny,” she replied.  “Before I left for Baltimore, ” she added.
    “Why are you asking about that now?”
    “For the reason that I never received it!” she shouted.
    “I most certainly gave it to you , Abigail.  In fact, that is the reason I thought you went running away to Baltimore.”
    “If Brice Winslow gave me a letter back then, do you think I’d have so quickly forgotten?” she replied, aggravated.  “You most certainly didn’t give it to me,” she declared.
    “I specifically recall placing it in your mahogany box that contained your missives.”
    “That chest contained my old letters that had already been received, read, and replied to.”
    “Now how would I have known that?”
    Abigail didn’t waste words.  She ran from Thomas’s study and out into the hall.  She raised her skirts and ascended the steps two at a time.  When she reached her room, she flung open her bureau and pitched old scarves and handkerchiefs that were neatly folded upon its base.  They littered the floor in a ring around her.  Beneath it all was the small wooden chest that contained her personal letters.   She pulled it out and sat the old wooden container in front of her.  Her hands shook in anticipation.  Abigail wondered if she had read the letter five years past, if her life may had been lead differently.  Perhaps the letter would have kept her in Mecklenburg and with Brice.  Then again, she silently countered, had she stayed in town, she’d not have fled Mecklenburg and acquire a bout of melancholy that effectively resulted in her weight loss.
    Taking in a deep breath to steady her hands, Abigail opened the box slowly.  She carefully sifted through each missive and absently recalled bits and pieces of its subject by sender and date.  Then, she came to the letter she sought.  It was his letter.  It had been folded and her name inscribed in large, bold lettering across its center and a small blue ribbon held it closed.  She quietly cursed at herself for not being more observant when depositing her previous letters into the chest. Had she been more attentive, she’d had seen his correspondence.  She swallowed hard and slid her finger beneath the ribbon knot and nervously unfolded the missive.
    Dearest Abigail,
    I send this letter of regret to inform you that I am unable to attend the Charlotte Spring Harvest Dance with you as we have previously arranged.  As we have become closer acquainted of late, and am certain I can entrust you with my private affairs with discretion, I feel I owe you an