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

these?”
    Julia pulled the basket away before he could reach for one of the tarts. “Stop that. Ruth told me to make sure you stayed out of them this time.”
    He laughed, then looked at Anna. “Morning.”
    “Good morning.” The sight of him in nothing but his trousers flashed in her minds eye and Anna turned away in case she blushed. It had taken her hours to go to sleep the night before. Every touch and soft word he’d spoken replayed in her head on repeat until she’d kicked the blankets away in frustration. Every time his image flashed in her head she was reminded why she’d traveled so far and long.
    Gabriel Montgomery was supposed to be hers but here she stood, still unmarried, wanting a man who didn’t want her in return.
    She focused her gaze on the older gentleman with Gabriel and smiled. “You must be James.”
    He grinned and nodded his head. “Heard all about me, have you?”
    “I hear you’re trouble if no one is looking.”
    He laughed loudly and slapped a hand on his leg. “They know me well.”
    Anna liked him instantly. His hair was white, which made his black skin seem all the more darker. Wrinkles covered his face, he’d lost a few of his teeth but his eyes were as sharp and alert as men half his age.
    “Watch yourself around this one, Anna. He’s a shameful womanizer.”
    James laughed again. “I’m too old to be a womanizer.” Anna watched them and knew their relationship was one born of friendship many years in the making.
    Julia swung her basket in Gabriel’s direction. “You should come with us and help me show Anna around the property. She’s quite interested in how the cotton grows.” She smiled and lowered her head a fraction, looking up at her father through her lashes. “You can explain the workings of the plantation better than I can.”
    James looked at Anna and grinned. “That sounds like a fine idea to me. I need a nap anyway.” He started walking away when Gabriel called out to him.
    “I thought you wanted to try and fix the gate on the Cyrus’ stall?”
    “That old horse ain’t going anywhere. He’ll stay right where he is until you get done showing Miss Anna around.”
    James kept walking, never even glancing back at them and Gabriel shook his head as he watched him go. “He works from sun up ’til sun down, every day but Sunday.”
    “Maybe he’s just tired,” Julia said.
    “No. He’s meddling again.”
    “How so?”
    Gabriel looked at Anna and tipped the front of his hat up. “It doesn’t matter.” He turned toward the cabins and said, “Well, let’s go, ladies. We have sweet tarts to deliver.”
    The tenant cabins were all the same as far as Anna could tell. They weren’t very large but held a quaint hominess that any small family could enjoy. They were lined in rows, each with small vegetable gardens beside them.
    Children played in the road and grassy areas just beyond the cabins. When they saw them, they all stood and ran in their direction.
    Julia uncovered the basket to the delight of everyone. The sweet tarts were gone in minutes, the faces of those children covered in the remains of sugar drenched cherries and happy smiles.
    Anna turned to the cabins, watching an elderly woman sweeping dirt from the porch. “Julia said everyone here was a tenant.”
    “They are.” Gabriel moved to her side and crossed his arms over his chest. “These used to be the slave cabins.”
    Anna looked up at him. “You owned slaves?”
    “I didn’t, but my ancestors did.” He inhaled deeply and looked across the fields. “Once they were freed most left but some of the older families stayed to work in the land in exchange for a share in the crop. By then, most of the families here became more friend than tenants and my father worked out a deal so they could keep their homes even though the cotton crop was paying so little. Its worked that way for a very long time but…”
    “But what?”
    Gabriel looked toward the field and sighed. “Cotton