Abigail's Secret (A Whimsical Select Romance Novella) by Tamara Ternie Page A

met swine with more manners than he beheld.
    “ Don’t be fretting,” Brice said.  “He’s like that with everyone.  He has a better temperament once you get to know him.”
    “I surely don’t intend to be around long enough to get acquainted with him,” Abigail harshly whispered.
    “ That’s probably good, because I think it was a bad idea that you came here, and the sooner you leave, the better.”
    Abigail wondered if something more recent had happened to Brice that threatened his life or if he simply wanted to avoid her.  She supposed that her confusion and hurt unwittingly crossed her face when Brice’s tone softened and he smiled.
    “It’s not that I’m not happy to see you,” Brice admitted, and he encased her hand into both of his.
    Her heart instantly skipped a beat and heat radiated from her head to heel. Yet as if he regretted the action he caused her, he immediately let her hand go.
    “It’s best that you stay away from me until we figure out who is trying to kill me.”
    He stared at Abigail for a few moments .  Several expressions crossed his face but Abigail couldn’t read him well enough to know whether it was sincerity or regret.  She thought about his touch and the desire he revealed when they had lain together on her mother’s bed.  Not many other thoughts entertained her mind since it happened.
    “Abilene,” he began . “I don’t want to see you hurt.”
    Abigail cringed inside. His tone was soothing and tender, but to hear words coated with such sweetness to a name that wasn’t her own bothered her.  Again, she thought about telling him the truth.
    “ For the time being, it’s best I stay away from you and Abigail. The other night placed you both in harm’s way.  Either or both of you could have been injured, or much worse,” he continued.
    “Yes , and we wouldn’t want anything to happen to your future coffers.”  Although she silently agreed she’d not want anything to happen to Tess, she wondered if his concern was more for the dowry than her safety.
    “Do you really think that ill-will of me?  That I would care more about money than someone’s life?” he asked.  He held a smile but Abigail noticed the humor didn’t reach his eyes. She almost believed he was genuinely offended by her accusation.
    “Mister Winslow, have you forgotten that you won her in a ga me of chance?” she sniped out.
    “That very well may be, Abilene, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t a sincere fondness for Miss Abigail.”
    “You’re fond of her?” she asked suspiciously and then scoffed.
    “Indeed, I am ,” he declared.  “And not due to her dowry,” he added.
    “Am I to believe that if Abigail didn’t possess such a bountiful endowment that you’d still want to court her?”
    “ Yes,” he quickly and easily replied.  “Now that I’ve been reacquainted with Abigail, I see she has greatly changed since I knew her last.  She is by far more agreeable now.”
    His statement piqued her interest.  “And what ways would that be?  How is she different than the woman you rejected so many years ago?  She is just as large now as when you saw her last.”
    “Is that what she told you?” he asked.  He cocked his head and looked perplexed.  “ It never had anything to do with her figure. I’d have thought my letter would have clearly explained it.”
    “ A letter?” she rushed out.  In all the time she had known Brice, she hadn’t ever received a note from him.  She wondered if he was lying in order to cover his true intent at wanting her dowry.  “And what of its content?”
    Brice smiled at her.  “Well, that is a conversation I shall have with Abigail as it was, and still is, a private matter.”  Abigail suspected he saw her disappointment and added.  “I’ll say this much; Abigail has emerged out of her shell and now lives life instead of waiting for it to come to her.  That makes her far more attractive than she once was.  It makes a man want to