Read Online An Amish Wedding by Kathleen Fuller, Beth Wiseman, Kelly Long - Free Book Online

in reply, and he shifted his weight fully onto his back. “Rose, listen . . . I’m sorry. I’ll prove it to you. Come here.” His eyes burned like dark blue flame as he reached out for her.
    Rose leaned forward and reached one purple fingertip to trace the contour of his mouth. She brushed her lips against his, following the trail of her finger. His arms drew her closer and he deepened the kiss, and she felt his chest rise and fall in uneven rhythm.
    Rose pulled away. There was more she wanted from him . . . answers, for a start.
    “Luke, tell me about the thefts,” she whispered. “And the Englisch ways of dress and doings. You were baptized last year.”
    “I know.”
    “And?” She trailed her lips to the line of his throat, finding a spot behind his ear and tasting the salty sweetness of his skin.
    “And I can’t go hobbling out there in the dark anymore . . . at least, not until this ankle heals up.”
    She broke away from him at his words, forcing herself to focus on the matter at hand.
    “What were you doing in the first place? Why would you steal from your own people when they’d gladly give you anything you asked for?”
    He opened his eyes with visible reluctance. “Would they?”
    “ Ya , you know that.”
    He shook his dark head slowly. “They’d give for me, but maybe not for someone else.”
    “Someone else?” Her heart began to pound in dismay. “Who else?”
    “I can’t say, Rose. I’m sorry.”
    “You can’t say?”
    “ Nee , but I do need your help.”
    Rose was rapidly losing patience. “You need my help—but you can’t say why? Are you wanting me to pick up where you left off—rebuilding tumbledown shacks, thieving from the neighbors, and pretending I’m Englisch ?”
    “Actually, something like that.”
    Rose bounced upward so fast that the bedsprings twanged.
    Luke grimaced with pain as the pillows under his foot shifted. “Just sit down and listen.”
    “ Nee . Not until you start telling me your secrets.”
    “It’s not my secret to tell,” he said finally.
    She bristled at his words. “Then whose secret is it?”
    “Another woman’s.” He looked grim. “An Englisch woman.”

    L UKE’S CALLS TO R OSE WENT UNHEEDED, AND EVENTUALLY he sank back against his pillow and covered his face with his bandaged hand. He looked up in surprise when the door creaked back open.
    “What’s all the fuss?” Mark asked, almost apologetically. “I was next door fixing that windowsill for Daed .”
    Luke lowered his hand, feeling like his mouth still burned from Rose’s attention, and glanced at his bruder . “What?” he asked finally.
    “She sure gets riled,” Mark offered.
    Luke smiled. “I like that.”
    “It’s no wonder—you like thunderstorms too.”
    “Did you hear much?” Luke’s brow furrowed.
    Mark shook his head sheepishly. “Told you I was fixing that sill. I wasn’t trying to listen.”
    “All right. And?”
    “Josh and I have been talking. We know you don’t like being cooped up in that office all day. And—well—now that you’re about to marry, you might find the place even more confining. Women can be a passel of trouble sometimes . . .”
    “And you know this how?”
    “Shut up. I’m trying to help you. Josh and I want you to tell Daed how you really feel.”
    “How I really feel?”
    “ Ya , you know, about fooling with the books and the customers. Tell him you want to do woodworking—even if it’s just part of the time. It’ll be gut for you.”
    Luke smiled, but rolled his eyes. It felt good to be cared for and thought of with such kindness, even though his brothers could drive him narrisch . But he didn’t want to listen to another lecture on doing what was true to himself. He had enough trouble just being true, or so it seemed.
    “I’m fine, Mark. Really. Somebody’s got to do it, but danki for caring.”
    His brother snorted. “You’re not going to brush me off that easily. After I got over Daed ’s praise—which