He'd made a mistake. A terrible, horrible mistake. Jonah gazed down into dreamy blue eyes, as clear as dreams, and saw how wrong he'd been. He should have guessed that the woman who had tended Father with gentle hands and an angel's light was the same woman who instilled fear in the strongest men in this village with her sharp bold tongue.
Beneath the determined shell lived a tender heart. He had assumed a spinster who had seen as much of life and death as Tessa had would see his proposal as the practical arrangement he'd intended.
But how tremulous she looked, as if she could melt against his chest in disbelief.
Guilt speared him. Hero, they called him. Major, a leader of men. Hell, he gazed down at Tessa Bradford, saw a rare beauty brushing her face with the same luminous light as the pale sun, and turned coward. Full-fledged, yellow-bellied coward.
He knew he should tell her the truth. But how could he? She looked amazing, like the first blushing light of dawn. Crisp breezes ruffled her ebony curls and painted her cheeks pink. He could not take his gaze from the sight of her beauty so rare; he'd never seen the like before.
Then the light so blue in her eyes dimmed, the joy ebbed from her face until there was no light, no beauty. Only the plain face of duty and hardship. 'I want to marry you, but I cannot. I am already promised. Money and livestock have changed hands and it can't be undone. Besides, there is no way Grandfather would ever let me-'
She held out the cloak to him, regret so dark on her face 'twas as if something precious inside her had died. 'I'm sorry I got carried away. I just thought-I mean, I would have liked to marry you. Even if-'
'Even if you hate me?'
She blushed. And he saw the truth then. She didn't hate him. The taste of her kiss, heated velvet and passion, the feel of her slim woman's body held tight against him, the silken luxury of her curls, and the music of her voice came to him, memories that would haunt him this night and for many to come. She was an enchantress beneath her hard spinster image, one that she wore like a cloak to disguise the woman beneath.
He was no longer fooled. She was no child half his age, no whimpering female full of wiles and manipulations. Her hands, rough from harsh lye soap and chapped from the cold winter temperatures, testified she was a woman who knew how to work and did so willingly. And she loved his father.
He could think of no greater gift to the man he loved above all, the man he owed his life and his loyalty and all that he was.
'Keep the cloak, Tessa.'
' 'Twould not be right. Others will say-'
'I don't give a damn what others say. All that matters is that it is cold outside and you have no serviceable cloak. It would make me happy knowing you wore it, someone who values my father so. Besides, he would want you to have it.'
Were those more tears glimmering like rare diamonds in her eyes? ' 'Tis too fine for me to wear. I will save it as a treasure.'
She bowed her chin and simply walked away, her shadow slim and elongated from the low slant of the sun. Birds pecking for their sustenance upon the frosted ground scattered at her approach.
'Tessa.'
She stopped, then turned. 'What is it now?'
He stood squinting into the brightness, one hand at his brow to shield his eyes. Even simply dressed in black trousers and a dark tailored shirt, with the collar open to expose the strong column of his neck, he looked every bit the heroic major, a commander of men, brave and loyal.
He had proposed to her. To her, Tessa Bradford. His fine house towered behind him, two stories of well- constructed clapboard and a dozen diamond paned windows that winked and gleamed at the touch of the day's lemony light. It was hard to admit, but 'twas all too fine for her. If Grandfather knew, if Violet or her step- grandmother knew, how they would laugh at her.
'Let me take you home.' He strode toward her, mighty and powerful. ' 'Tis the least I can do for keeping you from your chores again.'
' 'Tis a long walk,' she conceded, daring to take a step toward him.
'What? Can it be that the feared spinster is being agreeable for once?' Humor glinted in his coffee dark eyes.
'I shall only be agreeable to you, and only this once.' She took another step, and it was easier accepting his offer of help, of kindness. She had grown never to trust such gestures, for she had learned the hard way that she could never trust a man's motives. 'Grandfather is likely to be angry that I'm so late.'
'I will speak with him. Mayhap I can convince him out of his anger.'
Gratefulness shone in her eyes. She had worked so hard tending his father, and the reason the frail old man now lived was in great part due to her quiet, tender, and knowledgeable care.
As Jonah led the way to the stable, he did not know what to say. Now that he'd made his mind up, he thought Tessa adequate for his wife. Nay, not just adequate, but the best choice he could make.
He hitched up the mare, a fine bay, one of Father's favorites, then offered his arm. But she climbed up onto the high seat herself, the cloak still folded around her shoulders, her chin down, her face unreadable.
'My brother Andy likes your berry tarts,' he said, to break the silence as he took the reins. 'He might eat like a horse, but he has a discerning palate.'
She blushed with pleasure. 'I noticed you did not sample my pastries.'
'I had little appetite. If I had eaten anything, it would have been your tarts. 'Tis the frosting, I think, that makes them appealing.'
'The frosting is a family secret from my mother's side.' She almost smiled as the wagon rocked over the rutted patches in the road. 'I believe I'm the only living soul who still knows the recipe.'
The wind caressed loose dark tendrils across her alabaster brow, touching the satin softness of her face. Jonah well remembered the soft lustrous feel of her skin, and blood heated his veins, warming him despite the cool temperatures. 'I didn't know my father went to dame school with your mother.'
'Neither did I. Not until she was gravely ill and Grandfather refused to let us stay in his home any longer.'
'What happened then?'
Shadows from a tall grove of trees blocked the light and cast her in shadow. 'The colonel came and convinced my uncle to take us for a time. I shall never forget how he simply appeared at the door one day, even though neither my mother nor I summoned him. He made our lives better. His servant came with a cart to carry our few possessions and Mother, since she was not strong enough to walk.'
'And he provided a doctor.'
'A fine surgeon from Boston who stayed for three weeks, until he could do no more.' Sadness swept across her face like the shadows of the trees, translucent and without color. ' 'Tis why I must do all I can for your father. What he did for my mother- why, she was so good and kind, and very beautiful before she grew ill. I was her only child, and she loved me.'
Jonah recalled a young girl, not quite a woman, always taking in laundry to earn enough money whilst other girls attended husking bees and socials and teas, did charity work, or were being courted by young men. He knew now her harshness was meant to drive away those who teased her for being so distant, although he could see now it was her circumstances that kept her from what others her age had enjoyed.
'I remember your mother.'
'You do?' How she lit up, like sunlight peering through trees, like hope coming to dark places.
'Aye. My best recollection is when I was ten and Thomas and I were put in the stocks for mischief and she was in the crowd with you.'
'You were put there for throwing rocks at a cow. I remember. You were a horrible little boy. If only you had been punished for pulling my braids in dame school, you might not have turned to more serious crime.'
'Aye, right you are. I wonder what the penalty would be now if I gave your hair a tug?'
'Tug on my braids and you will likely find yourself bottom first in that mud puddle up ahead.'
'Some things never change. I recall landing in many a puddle or snow patch when I was young. And all because of you.'
'Well, you deserved it.'
They laughed together, and how good it felt. But then the curving road twisted around a final corner, and she
