Anna: Bride of Alabama (American Mail-Order Bride 22) by Lily Graison

James was right. That he was a fool for not taking Anna up on her offer of marriage, regardless of his feelings about it.
    It had only been a day and he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He wasn’t sure why he thought he could. He’d spent the entirety of the train ride from South Carolina watching her. Memorizing the way the curls at the nape of her neck brushed against her skin. How she blushed when she looked back at him and caught him staring at her.
    If she were the type of women to bed a man whether she were married or not, this little arrangement they had would be the closest thing to heaven he could imagine. He’d have her in every way a man could and not be tied down to any sort of rules but he knew without asking she wasn’t that type of woman. She didn’t look as if she were willing to be a man’s mistress.
    He turned, pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the chair next to the fireplace. Anna finding him in nothing but his trousers had taken them both by surprise. One moment he was undressing, trying to figure out a way to make the profits higher, the next, an angel fell at his feet wearing nothing but a thin shift he could see clean through and chestnut locks that tumbled down her back in curls he wanted to sink his fingers in.
    What he wouldn’t give to have slipped that shift off her shoulders and kissed every inch of exposed skin he could find.
    He passed the bed and opened the double doors to the balcony. The summer heat was made bearable by a breeze blowing in from the river. The trees had grown so tall he couldn’t see it from his room now but he knew it was there. It had been ages since he’d sat on the banks. The last time being when Evelyn was still part of their family and Julia was learning how to swim.
    The moon was bright, its light bouncing across the cotton fields and reminding him how dire things were. He needed to think of something to help increase profits this year or they would all suffer. It wasn’t just him and Julia, it was the share croppers who owned the pieces of land they farmed. Some of them had worked this land their whole life. Letting them down wasn’t an option.
    Gabriel left the doors open but went back inside. He looked toward the hidden door separating the two master bedrooms. He’d let Anna down and Julia and he didn’t even flinch. Why was it so easy to disappoint family but not friends? He’d have to find a way to make it up to them both.
     
     
     
    * * * *
     
     
     
    Anna entered the kitchen to find Julia and Ruth in a heated conversation. Franklin sat at the small work table eating a plate of eggs fried with onions and small pieces of bacon. He looked up at her and motioned her into the chair across from him. “Have a seat, Anna. Ruth will whip you up something to eat as soon as she sees things Julia’s way.”
    “I most certainly will not!” Ruth shook a chubby finger his way. “She needs to learn she can’t have everything she wants and you need to stop encouraging her.”
    Franklin laughed. “Simmer down, woman. I’m too old to be fighting this early in the morning.”
    “Well, you should have thought about that before you promised to take this one with you to Camden. She has chores to do, not to mention a new governess to occupy her time.”
    Julia rounded the table and stopped beside Anna. “She can go with us,” she said, smiling while looking between the three adults in the room.
    “And what will you father say about you taking off all day?”
    She shrugged. “If I’m with Anna, it shouldn’t matter.”
    “Oh no, please don’t drag me into this.”
    “Please, Anna. I never get to go and if you’re here, father may just let me.”
    Anna looked to where Ruth stood by the stove. The woman’s lips were pressed closed so tight they were nothing but a white slash across her face and she was shaking her head emphatically. Anna didn’t know what the trip was about but from the look on Ruth’s face, Julia didn’t need to