The Sweetest Mail Order Bride (Sweet Creek Brides Book 1) by Jill Summers Page B

her words. Pumpkin lowered her head, offering her halter to Hope. When she grabbed for it, the pony ran off again.
    “Oh, what a life you have, Caleb.” Clementine looked more than amused. She looked wistful. “Goodbye to you.”
    Just like that, she was walking away with a swish of her skirts and a bob of her sunbonnet brim. Her hair fell in ringlets of gold down her back, emphasizing her slender waist and her feminine grace.
    She made him remember there was more to life than work and responsibility. More to living than putting one foot in front of the other to get through the day.
    And there was more to a woman than her ability to hurt a man.
    It seemed as if the sunlight followed her, trailing her as she made her way down the road. She was leaving. Daisies waved in her wake. Dandelions seemed to bow as she passed by. She walked in sunshine, when it felt like he lived in the shadows. Was it wrong that she captivated him? It certainly went beyond his better sense.
    “Wait!” He shouted, but she was too far away. The wind conspired against him, carrying his call the opposite way. His heart ached, seeing her so clearly—her wholesome charm and whimsical grace—and his feet were moving without conscious thought.
    Surely reality would hit him any minute. But nothing could change the beautiful way he saw her.
    “Girls, here’s the best way to catch a pony.” Clementine reached into her pocket and pulled out a sugar cookie. “Here, Pumpkin. Look what I’ve got.”
    Pumpkin’s head whipped around. Her nose was up, scenting the wind. Her brown eyes sparkled. Her dainty hooves charged forward, and she snatched the cookie with her teeth so fast, she was a blur.
    “You did it!” Gracie came running.
    “You really caught her!” Hope came running too.
    “I learned this trick with my pony.” Clementine slipped her fingers around the pony’s halter, holding her firmly in place. “Here’s a whole bag. I brought them with me from the boardinghouse. Mrs. O’Hurley and I thought they might come in handy for you.”
    “Thanks, Mrs. Clementine!” the girls chorused. Hope took the bag and Gracie grabbed the halter. “Are you sure you can’t stay longer?”
    “Leaving you two isn’t easy, but Mrs. O’Hurley is waiting for me. She wants to hear how well the cookies worked.”
    “Oh, okay.” Gracie sighed.
    Hope sighed louder.
    There was no mistaking the longing on the girls’ faces or the disappointment. He wisely chose to remain silent. Worse, he wasn’t sure if he could trust his voice. Seeing her with his daughters made his chest tight and his heart do funny things.
    “Good night, Mrs. Clementine!” the girls called out as they led the pony away.
    “Good night, Gracie and Hope.” Love warmed her words, made her as luminous as the sun, so bright it hurt his eyes to see.
    His throat ached with emotions he did not want to name.
    “You can’t walk all the way to town,” he called out after her. “Let me get my buggy. We’ll all take you back.”
    “Don’t even think of it!” She whirled around, walking backward, her adorable face framed by her blue sunbonnet brim. “You’ve had a long day, and I rather like walking.”
    “That doesn’t matter. You wait while I get hitched up—” And that’s as far as he got because Jeremiah chose that moment to come rolling out of the barn, reining his team of draft horses down the rutted driveway.
    “I’ll take her,” his little brother volunteered from his wagon seat. He tipped back his hat. “Climb on up, Clementine.”
    Disappointment nearly choked him. Caleb cleared his throat, but a lump remained lodged beneath his Adam’s apple. He didn’t trust himself to speak, so he simply held out his hand to help her up into the wagon. She granted him a smile, and her blue eyes twinkled at him as she wrapped her slender fingers around his.
    Tenderness flared through him like a new sun rising in a morning sky, blaringly bright and full of promise. She’d taken