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Authors: Jillian Hart
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could only belong to Meredith. How he could ever have mistaken her for a sweet country miss was beyond him. He didn’t have to look over his shoulder to know she had her chin up and a regal look on her beautiful face.
“The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree?” he asked.
With a gasp, she fell silent. He gave thanks for the whipping wind and thick snow sailing into the buggy. He had his opinion on many things, such as a fancy summer buggy being used for winter driving, but he kept his tongue. He tried to convince himself it didn’t hurt that she obviously didn’t like him. As he guided the mare down the snowy landscape, doing his best to guess where the higher ground beneath the snow might be, he felt her disregard like the beat of the wind.
Admit it. You don’t like disliking her. He’d been captivated by the country beauty in the road yesterday, but what he’d told Braden was also true. These days he was a working man, not his father’s son, and pretty debutantes like Miss Meredith Worthington had to stay out of his reach. He’d learned his lesson about debutantes the hard way. His brief fiancée, Patricia, had only cared about having material things and more of them than her friends, and he did not want to go down that path again. Regardless of how beautiful Meredith was or how fascinating, she was not the kind of woman who could capture his heart.
Not that he was looking for one.
The mare heaved, struggling with the weight she pulled. The ground was not fully frozen, and mud sucked at the wheels, making the going rough. Without a word of reassurance for the fine Worthington girls in the backseat, he hopped out of the buggy to lighten the load and gripped the icy trace. He walked beside Sweetie the rest of the way to town, glad to be battling snow and the road instead of thoughts of Miss Meredith and her cool disdain.
The school’s bell tower could be seen from the town of Angel Falls’s main street, rising like a ghost above the two-story buildings and playing peekaboo through the veils of snowfall. Meredith thought of her friends and wondered if they would already be gathered in the schoolhouse, or would Providence be with her and she would arrive first so that no one would be able to notice the new driver. Watching the stiff line of his back and the way he purposefully ignored her had not put her in a pleasant mood. She wondered if she should ask him if she could help, too, but could not summon up the will to speak to him. If only she was as tough as she wished to be.
They turned the corner and the schoolyard came into view. Well-bundled students marched along the streets. Horses and vehicles clogged the roadway as parents dropped off their children for the day. Screams and shouts rose like shrill music as snowball fights dominated the well-covered lawn, gangs of girls clustered together to laugh and share news, and the first series of bells tolled from the tower.
“Shane is a really good driver.” Minnie clutchedthe lap robe and shivered in the cold. “We didn’t get stuck once and we got here really fast. Ooh, look, there’s Maisie.” She leaned over the side to wave at her friend.
Not only was he a good driver, but he was kind to their dear mare. His soothing tone, his care when she struggled, the way he laid a hand on her neck when a snowball from the schoolyard flew into her path all spoke well of him. She’d paid attention to the way he’d handled the horse all the way to town, realizing that as a driver he had done so much more than hold the reins and tug on them now and then. It bothered her greatly that she could learn much from him, the one man she did not ever want to talk to.
Sweetie stopped in front of the school. Finally. Meredith hopped down, not bothering to wait for the new driver’s assistance, and slung her book bag over her shoulder. She did not require his assistance. Her dignity may still be smarting, but he did not seem the least bit affected. He stepped
“The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree?” he asked.
With a gasp, she fell silent. He gave thanks for the whipping wind and thick snow sailing into the buggy. He had his opinion on many things, such as a fancy summer buggy being used for winter driving, but he kept his tongue. He tried to convince himself it didn’t hurt that she obviously didn’t like him. As he guided the mare down the snowy landscape, doing his best to guess where the higher ground beneath the snow might be, he felt her disregard like the beat of the wind.
Admit it. You don’t like disliking her. He’d been captivated by the country beauty in the road yesterday, but what he’d told Braden was also true. These days he was a working man, not his father’s son, and pretty debutantes like Miss Meredith Worthington had to stay out of his reach. He’d learned his lesson about debutantes the hard way. His brief fiancée, Patricia, had only cared about having material things and more of them than her friends, and he did not want to go down that path again. Regardless of how beautiful Meredith was or how fascinating, she was not the kind of woman who could capture his heart.
Not that he was looking for one.
The mare heaved, struggling with the weight she pulled. The ground was not fully frozen, and mud sucked at the wheels, making the going rough. Without a word of reassurance for the fine Worthington girls in the backseat, he hopped out of the buggy to lighten the load and gripped the icy trace. He walked beside Sweetie the rest of the way to town, glad to be battling snow and the road instead of thoughts of Miss Meredith and her cool disdain.
The school’s bell tower could be seen from the town of Angel Falls’s main street, rising like a ghost above the two-story buildings and playing peekaboo through the veils of snowfall. Meredith thought of her friends and wondered if they would already be gathered in the schoolhouse, or would Providence be with her and she would arrive first so that no one would be able to notice the new driver. Watching the stiff line of his back and the way he purposefully ignored her had not put her in a pleasant mood. She wondered if she should ask him if she could help, too, but could not summon up the will to speak to him. If only she was as tough as she wished to be.
They turned the corner and the schoolyard came into view. Well-bundled students marched along the streets. Horses and vehicles clogged the roadway as parents dropped off their children for the day. Screams and shouts rose like shrill music as snowball fights dominated the well-covered lawn, gangs of girls clustered together to laugh and share news, and the first series of bells tolled from the tower.
“Shane is a really good driver.” Minnie clutchedthe lap robe and shivered in the cold. “We didn’t get stuck once and we got here really fast. Ooh, look, there’s Maisie.” She leaned over the side to wave at her friend.
Not only was he a good driver, but he was kind to their dear mare. His soothing tone, his care when she struggled, the way he laid a hand on her neck when a snowball from the schoolyard flew into her path all spoke well of him. She’d paid attention to the way he’d handled the horse all the way to town, realizing that as a driver he had done so much more than hold the reins and tug on them now and then. It bothered her greatly that she could learn much from him, the one man she did not ever want to talk to.
Sweetie stopped in front of the school. Finally. Meredith hopped down, not bothering to wait for the new driver’s assistance, and slung her book bag over her shoulder. She did not require his assistance. Her dignity may still be smarting, but he did not seem the least bit affected. He stepped
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