Read Online Rebellious Heart by Jody Hedlund - Free Book Online

the earnestness of his expression spurring her on.
    “Therewith young girls ought to sit alongside their brothers and gain the same knowledge while they are in their youth. Why are they any less deserving?”
    “Am I to surmise you’ve been denied this very thing?”
    She pushed down the bitter disappointment that surfaced whenever she thought about the education her parents had given to William but refused her. “My father has always been lenient about my use of his library. And Grandmother Eve has done her best to take me under her limited tutelage.”
    “But that hasn’t been enough, has it?” he finished for her softly, his expression almost tender.
    The question echoed the pain in her heart and sent a lump into her throat.
    Amidst the glow of the fireplace and dim light of several candles, the intense lines of Mr. Ross’s face had disappeared. And when he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, she had the urge to scoot her chair closer to him.
    Mary’s happy laughter drifted toward them, followed by Mr. Cranch’s.
    His eyes went to the couple, and Susanna’s followed. “I certainly hope Mother will approve of Mr. Cranch,” she whispered. “Otherwise I’m afraid Mary shall have a broken heart.”
    Mr. Ross’s eyebrow quirked. “Ah, yes. Your mother has great aspirations for whom you marry, doesn’t she?”
    The sudden tense undercurrent in his tone brought Susanna back to reality and to the fact that she was conversing with Benjamin Ross, whom she’d so foolishly degraded those many years ago.
    “I wish I could say Mother doesn’t have such high standards,” Susanna said, “but I’m afraid that wouldn’t be truthful.”
    A chill from the September evening slithered across the floor and wound its way between them, chasing away the warmth.
    “Surely your standards aren’t much different than hers.”
    She hugged her arms to her chest. “I admit, I’m caught in the trap of having to make a beneficial match.” As much as she longed to be free from the constraints of the way things had always been done, some chains were not meant to be broken.
    “So you’re still waiting for your rich prince after all.”
    The truth of his words pierced her and pushed her to her feet. “And just how are you different from me, Mr. Ross? I saw you with my cousin Hannah Quincy last evening. You weren’t hanging over every word she spoke because of their brilliance.”
    He sat back as if surprise over her words had pushed him there.
    “Don’t pretend you aren’t interested in status. An important Quincy like Hannah would be a fine catch for an aspiring lawyer like you.”
    He didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I call for a truce, Susanna.”
    At the sound of her given name, all traces of her indignation blew away.
    “In fact, I concede to your superior skill at arguing a case.”
    Somehow in an instant all the earlier warmth returned with the heat of a late summer day.
    “Please.” He motioned at her chair. “Sit back down.”
    “Very well, I accept the truce.” He was infuriating and intriguing and altogether likable at the same time. And she felt helpless to do anything but lower herself.
    He slid off his chair and onto one knee before her. With a devilish grin, his eyes glimmered with unspoken challenge. “Since we’ve called a truce, then I guess you won’t object if I view your foot.”
    Her breath caught in her throat.
    “If we want to keep the peace”—he dangled the measuring tape Mother had given him after dinner—“then we dare not disobey your mother’s wishes that I take your measurements.”
    “If you think I’m still overly prude to bare my foot, then you’re sorely mistaken.”
    “Then let’s see you do it.” His voice was low, and the blue of his eyes darkened to the shade of the sky at eventide.
    She knew she couldn’t refuse his challenge, that she needed to prove she was no longer the same silly girl who’d denied him a look at her foot.