No One's Bride (Escape to the West Book 1) by Nerys Leigh Page A

after the night she’d had, but she needed to find a job as soon as possible. “I’m OK. Now I’m on solid, not moving ground I feel so much better. I would like to go out today, if that’s all right.”
    “You can do whatever you want to, you don’t ever have to ask my permission. I want you to be comfortable here. While you’re staying here, this is your home.” He smiled. “I could make that my rule number two if it would help.”
    She laughed. “I’ll do my best with it being a suggestion rather than a rule.”
    He nodded and placed the pan into the dresser cupboard. “Just let me know if you need me to make it official.”
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
    It was after nine by the time they left the house, and the main street of Green Hill Creek, while not exactly bustling, still had a smattering of people going about their daily business.
    “Mornin’, Adam.” A man sat in a rocker outside a store two doors down from Adam’s post office, tilting slowly back and forth. He raised the pipe held in one weathered hand in greeting.
    “Morning, Isaiah.”
    Isaiah moved his gaze to Amy, a network of wrinkles forming in the dark skin at the corners of his eyes. “And a good mornin’ to you, missy.”
    “This is Amy Watts,” Adam said. “Amy, meet Isaiah Smith. He’s the town’s best cobbler.” He indicated the building at Isaiah’s back with its sign depicting two pairs of shoes, one men’s and one women’s, either side of the words ‘SMITH’S QUALITY FOOTWEAR’.
    “I also happen to be the town’s only cobbler,” Isaiah said, his eyes twinkling, “but that don’t make me any less the best.”
    Amy stepped forward, holding out her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr Smith.”
    Isaiah’s smile grew as he grasped her hand and shook it. “Just call me Isaiah. Everybody does. So, you two off to get hitched?”
    Amy glanced at Adam, her smile disappearing. Caught up in the emotional whirlwind of the last couple of hours as she’d been, she hadn’t given much thought to how they were going to explain the situation to his neighbours and friends.
    Adam looked like he was trying to think of something to say. “The truth is...” he began.
    “The truth is,” Amy said, “I didn’t come here to marry Adam. I needed to get out of New York and he is kindly allowing me to rent his spare bedroom for the time being until I can pay him back for the train fare and get together enough money to continue my journey to San Francisco.”
    One of Isaiah’s eyebrows raised slightly and he nodded. “Well now, that explains all the fuss.”
    Adam grimaced. “Fuss? What fuss?”
    “’Bout an hour ago, Matilda Vernon comes out of the church,” he waved his pipe towards the cross just visible above the roofs of the buildings along the road, “and runs over to Violet Winters across the street. They have a talk, are joined by two more of the upstanding ladies of our community in the meantime, then all four of them rush down here and stand right there,” he used the pipe to point at a spot directly opposite the post office, “staring at your place and whisperin’ to each other for ’bout ten minutes. Then they all hurried back up the road like somethin’ was on fire.”
    Adam groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
    “What’s wrong?” Amy said, touching his arm. She looked around nervously.
    He heaved a sigh. “Nothing. It’s just, Mrs Vernon can move faster than a jack rabbit when she has some gossip to spread. And I imagine the news that a young woman I’m not wed to is staying in my house unchaperoned made her day. Possibly her year. It’ll be all over the town by now, and probably not in any form approaching the truth. I’m sorry, I should have thought of this.”
    Her stomach curled in on itself. “Do you want me to move out? I’ll ruin your reputation.”
    His eyes widened. “ My reputation? Oh no, I don’t care what they say about me. Besides, I’m a man, it’s very hard to ruin a man’s