saw grandfather's stout wooden house. All the brief gaiety faded. She did not want to go home. Gray smoke crept from the stone chimney in a lazy curl, and she wondered if the morning meal was waiting for her, or, if not, a messy kitchen.
No matter that Jonah could make her laugh or had proposed marriage to her in the frosty air, this was her life. She did not like it, but she could not change it. A wedding promise was binding by law.
Nay, it was best to put her feet back on the ground and keep them there where they belonged. She could not be pining after a man she could not have. How her family would laugh if they knew she harbored a secret want for the heroic major. 'Thank you for the cloak. I know it was your mother's, and I will cherish it.'
She stepped down and hurried around the horses, not daring to raise her eyes to see if he was sad or relieved.
The front door snapped open and Grandfather's short rotund figure filled the frame. 'Horace stopped by to retrieve his ironing. I told him you would be here at suppertime to take care of it. Hurry up, work is waiting.'
Tessa felt shame creep across her face, shame because she knew Jonah watched and listened. She could feel his gaze heavy on her back. She did not want to know what he thought, what opinion he formed.
If Jonah Hunter harbored tender feelings for her, as he claimed, they surely would be changed now that he saw her life, saw what she was to become: Horace Walling's wife.
Tears burned in her throat and she raced around the back of the house before anyone could see them fall.
He watched her avoid him that evening when she returned, after tending to her chores at home, to sit by Father's side. She kept to herself, her chin down, shielded by the fall of dark curls across her face. She kept him and Andy running after more wood and fresh water and clean towels until the moon slid behind dark clouds and there was nothing but darkness.
Aye, he'd made a mistake proposing to her. No doubt about it.
'Let me guess, all did not go well with Mistress Tessa this afternoon.' Thomas poured two cups of coffee at the hearth, a smirk shaping his usually serious mouth.
'Do not dare laugh at me. I have had a bad enough day as it is.' Jonah snatched the sugar bowl from the shelf and set it on the table. There were so many cakes and baked goods it was hard to find room. 'How many women visited today?'
'I would say nearly thirty. Some were already married and just being neighborly.'
'Aye, but how many looking for a wedding ring?'
'Twenty, mayhap.'
'And not one offered to look after Father.'
'Ah, so now you see the flaw in your logic.' Thomas shook his head as he carried the steaming cups from the hearth. 'Tell me, Tessa Bradford didn't accept.'
'Nay.'
'She could not. Rumor has it she is to marry Horace Walling next Sunday.'
'She is merely betrothed.'
'Aye, but you have been gone from Baybrooke too long. You have forgotten how binding those agreements are. Which is why I'm extremely careful whom I propose to.'
With a wry wink, Thomas set the cups on a free corner of the table and dropped into a chair. 'What will you do about Father? He has not shown much improvement. The doctor came this afternoon whilst you were away. You know he holds little hope. It saddens me, but 'tis only a matter of time until Father passes.'
'And little time for me to keep my vows.' He did not need reminding. Jonah shoveled a few heaping spoonfuls of sugar into his cup and stirred, considering.
'How will you choose another woman?'
'I don't want another. I have to figure out how to keep the one I have.'
'What?' Thomas spilled coffee down the front of his shirt. 'Damn. I can't believe you had all evening to reconsider and you still want her.'
'Then tell me what I should do?'
'Marry a more agreeable woman. Tessa does not know her place, as a proper woman should. She's been a spinster too long. I fear you've made a mistake, brother.'
'A mistake? Why, you wagered Andy five pounds over my mistake.'
Thomas groaned. 'Do not remind me, brother. I'm not proud of myself. I only meant to jest. Why, Tessa is an honest enough woman, but there isn't one man in all of Connecticut Colony who wouldn't blame you for choosing another.'
Troubled, Jonah faced the window, studying the night-black windowpanes and his own reflection within.
'Besides, she is too much like our stepmother, sharp-tongued and harsh. Can't you at least remember how our stepmother nearly destroyed our father? With one sharp-tongued demand after another. And her suffocating selfishness.'
'Tessa is not selfish.' Jonah spun from the window. 'She is always compassionate and tender with Father. She would never harm another.'
' 'Tis you that I'm worried about.' Trouble darkened Thomas' brow. 'How will you handle such a woman? She is not sweet and biddable.'
'Nay, but she's the only woman I can see myself in bed with.' Amazed at his frankness, Jonah paused.
Thomas stared open-mouthed. 'So, I see. Been sampling the goods?'
Not as much as he would like to. Jonah felt heat creep across his face and desire pulse through his blood. Tessa's kisses had tasted as seductive as the night. He wanted her. All of her. Every night in his bed. She would give him the son he needed.
'She is an upstanding woman,' Thomas agreed. 'Above reproach morally. Why, there's no doubt she's an untried virgin. Between her mother's long illness and then slaving in Ely Bradford's home, she has had no spare time for dalliances of any kind.'
'Trust me, Tessa is no untried virgin.' Not a woman who kissed as she did.
'It cannot be so! Why, I know of no man who would-'
'Some man has. And I'm determined to be the next one to lift her skirts.'
He watched his brother's face slacken and the regret creep into the creases at his eyes. The very air seemed to change. Thomas cleared his throat. 'Good evening, Mistress Tessa.'
She saw how Jonah turned around in his chair, dread clear on his face. He looked guilty and apologetic, but his words still rang in her ears. She had been wrong to let him kiss her, to let her own desire for such a man overshadow her better judgment 'I have your father settled for the night. I'll be back to check on him after midnight. I have some business to attend to.'
'Would you like a ride home?' Jonah stood abruptly, and his chair scraped against the wood floor. ' Tis cold outside tonight.'
'As it has been all winter. I will be fine. Stay with your father, who needs you.' She grabbed her old cloak from the peg by the back door, the bloodstain prominent and the patches new. 'Excuse me.'
The cold wind felt good on her face. She hadn't wanted to come here this night. For once she wanted to stay and work in her grandfather's home because she wanted to avoid seeing Jonah. She never wanted to lay eyes on him again. No matter how hot his kisses or how he made her dream.
She broke into a run when she reached the road and kept on going.
'I think she overheard.' Thomas set aside his cup.
'I know she did. She would have to be deaf not to hear.' He rubbed his hands across his face. Lord, what had he done? How much had she heard?
'We can hire a couple of nurses.' Thomas turned his attention to a plate of cornbread. 'Father will have care, you can pick a better woman, and you will be free of this harebrained idea of yours. No one will offer to help with Father, Jonah.'
'Tessa did.'
'You said yourself she has a lover. And you plan to be next. That doesn't have to change.'
'That's not what I meant.' Jonah snatched his cup and carried it to the board counter and stacked it beside the other dirty dishes. 'I have decided on Tessa. Accept my decision, Thomas.'