course sheâd been anxious. But if his forthright looks and bedazzled grins were anything to judge by, she neednât have worried.
Adam truly liked her. The proof was all over him.
And she liked him, too. Perhaps foolishly. There were so many things she didnât know about him. But sheâd taken to Adam Corwin in an innate, gut-level way she couldnât deny. She didnât trust himânot yetâbut she did trust her instincts about him.
Everything else she needed to know she would learn quickly, Savannah assured herself. Perhaps by tossing a burlap sack over Adamâs head when they were together, so she could question him without being distracted by his wonderful brawny muscles and his manner of watching her with captivating, enthralled attention.
It was a good thing Doc Finneyâs tincture had made him so loopy, she decided. If Adam had been the least bit sensibleâif thereâd been any chance he would remember her hasty admissionâshe never would have found the courage to be so bold. As it was, she could scarcely believe sheâd whispered the truth to him.
Itâs been all I could do not to swoon over you.
The remembrance should have been mortifying. Instead, for a lifelong romantic like Savannah, it wasâ¦thrilling.Sheâd thought sheâd settled for a practical, arranged union. Now she almost dared to hope she and Adam might find something more.
âI donât often lapse in my etiquette. Not these days, at least.â Savannah edged past Mose, then sat at her telegraphy desk. The wires were silent, so she hugged herself, remembering. âBut thereâs something about Adam! I plumb forgot about showing him how ladylike I could be. And when I remembered to put my good manners on displayâwell, I could tell he appreciated it.â
Heâd greeted her curtsy with something very much like hushed reverence. Savannah had savored that. And although sheâd wobbled a bit while performing the maneuver, she felt proud of herself for having carried it offâjust like her book instructed.
It was important to her that she erase all traces of her unconventional upbringing. She didnât want Adam to know that sheâd grown up backstage at dozens of grimy theaters like the Orpheum. She didnât want him to discover that sheâd learned to read by perusing playbills or to know that her mother and father had tossed her onstage like a living prop when she was scarcely more than an infantâand had gone right on doing so when her babyish antics had earned them bigger laughs and more pay.
With a significantâif stageyâcough, Mose interrupted her reminiscencesâ¦or maybe that was too grand a word to use for them, Savannah reasoned sadly. Most of her memories were disreputable, after all. Not that sheâd had a choice in that. At least not until sheâd grown to adulthood.
Even after thatâeven after sheâd struck upon the notion of forming a new life for herselfâsheâd stayed mired in her old one for a time, Savannah recalled. It had taken her several hardworking years to save a nest egg large enoughto allow her to escape the stage and prosper after sheâd done so.
âI heard what he said.â Mose crossed his arms, giving her one of his most fearsome looks. That same expression and pose had, over the years, driven away dozens of no-good backstage Jonnies. âHe just told you heâs a bad man, Savannah!â
She scoffed. âHe didnât mean that the way it sounded. Itâs obvious heâs gotten some wrongheaded notions about life out here in the Wild Westâprobably from those dime novels people read. Heâs worried that I want some sort of gun-slinging hero for a husband. I find his attempts to fit that mold quite endearing. Heâs doing it to impress me. Adam is clearly aââ
âThatâs another thing.â Appearing further disgruntled, Mose frowned.
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