Read Online Always and Forever by Beverly Jenkins - Free Book Online

manners earned him a smile from them both.
    A seated Tulip looked over at Grace and directed, “Grace, dear, why don’t you sit there, and Mr. Blake can sit beside you.”
    Grace would’ve preferred to sit on the far end of the table, but moved to the chair Tulip indicated.
    As she pulled out her chair, Blake came up behind her, enveloping her in his body’s heat and the faint spicyscent of his cologne. “Let me help you with that.”
    Once again finding herself lost in the eddy of his gaze, Grace shook herself free and replied, “Thank you.”
    As he sat down beside her, Grace swore she’d cut off both of her hands if they didn’t stop shaking.
    Dahlia took her linen napkin from the table and spread it across her lap, saying “Now, isn’t this nice?”
    Grace smiled politely.
    Tulip said grace, and afterward, everyone helped themselves to the aunts’ fare. Tonight’s menu consisted of succulent slices of spiced ham, potato salad, and steaming fragrant mustards. Dahlia’s dinner rolls were light as clouds and as always seemed to melt in Grace’s mouth. Savoring that first bite, Grace sighed pleasurably, but didn’t realize she’d made the sound aloud until Blake looked her way.
    Jackson wondered if she remembered giving that same throaty sigh the night he’d kissed her. Probably not, he answered himself, and if she did, she certainly wouldn’t want to be reminded.
    Thinking the look he’d given her was one of censure because of the sounds of pleasure she’d just made, Grace apologized. “I know ladies aren’t supposed to make noises at the table, but Dahlia makes the best rolls I’ve ever tasted.”
    His eyes were lit with humor. “I understand. They are good.”
    Dahlia buttered a roll and said, “When Grace was ten, she could eat a dozen of my rolls in one sitting.”
    “Never gained a pound,” Tulip added, as she forked up a portion of her sister’s potato salad.
    Before any more of her history could be revealed, Grace turned the conversation to safer realms. “How long ago did you leave Texas, Mr. Blake?”

    “Almost ten years ago. Came east after my father’s death.”
    “Any other family?”
    “An adopted brother. Mother died of cholera when I was still young.”
    “Sorry to hear that,” Tulip put in genuinely, adding, “Grace grew up without her mother too.”
    Grace could see the question in his eyes, but rather than elaborate, she focused on cutting into a slice of ham.
    Jackson sensed Grace’s withdrawal and wondered how old she’d been at her mother’s passing. Jackson had been so young when his own mother died that he had no memories of her. Judging by Grace’s silence, she’d been older.
    “How long do you think the wagon train will take to get to Kansas City?” Tulip asked, interrupting his thoughts.
    “I’d like to try and do it in thirty to thirty-five days,” he replied, before taking a sip of the water in the glass by his plate.
    They spent the remainder of the dinner talking about the wagon train’s journey, but as the dinner concluded and the apple pie and ice cream were placed on the table for dessert, Grace’s thoughts on the journey were set aside. Her awareness of Blake took its place. All evening she’d been trying to pretend that tonight’s meal was no different from any other meal she’d shared with the aunts, but it was a lie, and she knew it. Her vow not to be moved by Blake’s presence had proven to be as worthless as Confederate money. She was as aware of him as she was of her own heartbeat. She found herself covertly watching the long, dark fingers of his hands, the cut of his ebony jaw, the way he smiled at the aunts. She listened to the varying intonations of his voice, in-haled the faint scent of his cologne, and hastily looked elsewhere whenever his eyes strayed her way. At one point during the meal, they’d both reached at the same time to pass Tulip the plate of rolls and their shoulders had brushed inadvertently. Now, nearly twenty