Read Online Adam's Promise by Julianne MacLean - Free Book Online

now.”
    â€œReally? May I see some dykes?” Madeline could not keep the exhilaration from her voice.
    â€œOf course. I’ll take you to the river.”
    They trotted leisurely across the chilly marsh, the horses’ foggy breaths puffing out of their noses. The scent of wet marsh mud somewhere in the distance touched Madeline’s nose, and she inhaled its glorious freshness.
    Seated high in the saddle, she looked down at the drainage ditches dug into the meadows like deep gashes, carved by a giant, swift knife. She doubted any of this work had been swift, however. All this would have been dug out by hand. Some of it by Adam’s hand.
    She tried not to imagine that. It wouldn’t do her any good to picture him with his sleeves rolled up, his muscles straining against the physical force of driving a dyking spade into the dirt. Just thinking about it now made her body tingle in the strangest places.
    They reached a dyke—a long, narrow hill, stretching like a giant snake along the bank of the meandering river. It went on and on as far as the eye could see.
    â€œThis was all built by hand?”
    â€œYes, by the Acadians.”
    Adam dismounted and helped Madeline down. He took her hand to lead her up the steep side of the grassy dyke. From the top, she peered down into the river.
    â€œThe tide is low,” Adam said. “When it comes in from the bay and the water level rises—almost to where we’re standing—the dyke will keep it from spilling over onto the marshlands.”
    â€œHas it ever overflowed?”
    â€œSeveral times over the years, for different reasons. Neglect mostly.”
    â€œWhat happens to the flooded land?”
    â€œIt’s put out of production for at least two years. The salt water has to be drained off, then rain andsnow has to leach the salt out of the ground. But perhaps I’m telling you too much. I’m sure you’re not interested in the science of it.”
    â€œOf course I am. It’s fascinating, Adam.” Too late, she caught herself using his given name, as she had so many times in her daydreams.
    His head turned. She refused to look up at him. How could she? She was afraid he would see the awe in her eyes, and know how desperately she had wanted him the day she’d stepped off the boat.
    â€œSounds like a risky way to farm,” she continued, trying to keep her tone light, pretending she hadn’t even noticed that she’d used his given name.
    â€œPerhaps.” He finally turned his attention back to the river. She swallowed over her heart, now thumping in her throat.
    â€œBut good management dulls the risk,” he said. “The dykes are well worth the effort. We don’t have to clear forests, there are virtually no stones, and we don’t have to fertilize the marsh soil. It’s already fertile enough. We can even use the marsh mud to fertilize the uplands.”
    â€œSounds like a perfect scenario.”
    â€œNothing is ever perfect, Madeline.”
    Madeline. Hearing him use her given name sent a flurry of gooseflesh down her back. He spoke with such a deep, resounding voice, yet her name spilled past his lips with fluid grace and buoyancy.
    She looked him straight in the eye. “I’m all too aware of that.”
    For a long moment, he gazed at her in the sunshine. She wondered what he was thinking, what he thoughtof her, what he saw. Was he trying to understand her meaning? Was he wondering what kind of a life had shaped her into the person she was, or was he looking into her eyes and wishing he was looking into Diana’s?
    He turned his gaze toward the river again. “Perhaps we should go.”
    â€œYes, we should.” We definitely should, before I feel more of what I shouldn’t be feeling.
    But she didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay here with him—here alone on the dyke with the sun on her cheeks and the breeze in Adam’s hair and the