After too much tea and women's talk, Jonah excused himself to the stable, although he was well pleased at Tessa's happiness. She'd not argued overly much at the new clothes, and once she'd stepped foot inside Mistress Briers' parlor, her eyes glimmered with a rare happiness.
Aye, without the mantle of hardship heavy about her slender shoulders, she was a beautiful woman. He wagered others could see it now, too, and he was glad. There were other reasons to have married Tessa, not just for his father's sake. He wanted to protect her, wanted naught but good things for her. After the way she treated him as her husband and how she aided Father, she deserved all he could give her.
Even now, through the open stable door and across the yard, he could see her in the lighted kitchen window. She sat at Rachel's trestle table, sipping another cup of tea over more talk of ribbons and buttons and bows, no doubt, or whatever it was women discussed.
Even from here, he could see how happiness lit her face, all paleness gone, replaced by rosy cheeks and a quiet smile and eyes that sparkled a vibrant blue. How relaxed she looked, at ease. Her dark hair tumbled out from its braid in places to twist around her heart-shaped face, to brush at her dark collar.
Aye, she deserved all that he could give her. He could not deny a warmth, a feeling that made his chest hurt every time he looked at her.
'Major Hunter.' A breathy, childish voice spun him around in the stable. He blinked, the image of Tessa replaced by Violet Bradford. She fluffed styled curls with one hand, plumping them near her face.
A shot of alarm pierced his gut. 'Where's your chaperone?'
'My mother, you mean?' Violet tilted her head to one side, working her eyelashes as if a bug had flown into both eyes. 'She's currently across the street at Mistress Hollingsworth's.'
'Then go there directly.'
'But Mama is inquiring about hiring the oldest girl to come work for us. She told me I was in the way.' Violet arched her back, seductively, as if to show off her bosom.
'I don't care if she is conferring with the king himself. I want you out of my sight.' He dared not be caught alone with a girl like this, and started off on a brisk walk toward the house. He'd seen too much of dark hearts not to recognize one now.
'Everyone knows you were going to propose to me.' Violet trotted after him and reached out. 'Don't deny it.'
He twisted away from her bold touch, anger rising. 'I expect you to obey me, little girl. Go find your mother.' Violet only smiled. 'I know that awful Tessa tricked you into marriage, but that doesn't mean we can't be together.'
'Enough!' he roared, hearing his voice echo against the bare-limbed trees.
Violet slapped her hand to her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. 'But you c-came by at m-meeting day-'
'To see Tessa, not you.'
Tears sluiced down the girl's ruddy face. She turned, wailing, kicking up flecks of earth and mud as she darted across the road and disappeared into the house. A door slammed with a show of temper.
He headed inside the stable, considering Violet Bradford's mistake. Or maybe manipulation. Aye, he was sorely glad he did not give in and choose a woman that young, self-absorbed, and conceited.
The lighted window drew his gaze. He saw Tessa rise from the table, laughter touching her lips. Like ice cracking on a thawing pond, his chest hurt. How it hurt in places long untouched by spring.
' 'Tis lucky Mistress Briers had a dress just your size.' Jonah's gaze flicked over her, his eyes hot, his smile seductive.
'You should not have bought it.' The dress she held in her arms, folded in paper, was too much. But Jonah had insisted. Rachel had sewn the dress for Thankful Bowman, but the Bowmans didn't want the dress after all, now that Major Hunter had chosen a wife.
'Why shouldn't I buy gifts for my wife? I'm glad to do it, Tessa. Besides, you look beautiful in soft colors. Look, we're home. Go upstairs and change into it. I want to see you in something besides homespun.'
Her heart beat with love for him. Strong and stoic, his jaw a tight line, he offered her his hand to help her to the ground. His touch was solid, but his eyes were shadowed.
Something troubled him. He treated her well, keeping a hand on her elbow in case she slipped in the mud, although she was perfectly capable of walking by herself, and complimenting her in the wagon when he'd told her how good she'd looked in the colors they had chosen. Yet something was changed.
'Jonah, Tessa.' The colonel greeted as they stepped through the door.
Tessa set down her package on the small stand by the door and, still wearing her cloak, marched across the polished floor. 'Samuel, I left strict orders for you to stay in bed.'
A healthy pink blushed the old man's cheeks.
'Aye, I've not needed to follow orders in a long time. I am sorely out of practice.'
'Nay, you're just obstinate, that's what you are.' Tessa was not fooled. She loosened the ties on her cloak. 'You could catch a chill.'
' 'Tis why I am sitting by the fire.'
'You are still in danger of overstraining yourself.'
' 'Tis why I am sitting in this chair and not dancing around the parlor.'
Tessa saw the same devil's gleam in her father-in-law's black eyes. 'The lot of you are rogues through and through. What am I to do with you?'
'Are you angry with me, Mistress?' Wide-eyed Anya stepped into the room, a dishtowel twisted between both work-chapped hands. 'I told him he was to stay in bed, but he would not listen.'
'Nay, I don't blame you. I blame this slick-tongued old man and his sons.' So, affection warmed the words. She didn't have the practice in teasing that the men in this family had. 'Where are the other guilty parties?'
'Master Thomas is checking on the cows in the stable. Master Andy is upstairs.'
Jonah's boots knelled on the wood floor. 'Upstairs?'
'Aye, his head is troubling him still.' Anya stared hard at the towel she held. 'Will you be needing any tea?'
'Nay, Anya.' Tessa allowed Jonah to take her cloak, touched at his thoughtfulness. 'Twas good to be loved by such a fine man. 'But the colonel will be needing his afternoon medicine.'
'Fie on your wicked brews.' Samuel waved one big hand, his face crinkling in a show of bitter distaste. 'I've not tasted such foulness in my whole life.'
'That tea is the reason why you're alive to complain about it.' Tessa could not help laughing. 'Get accustomed to following my orders, Samuel.'
'Why did you have to marry that one? She is fearsome and bossy. Have you not taken the spark out of her yet, boy? Take her to bed some more, then, and wear her out.' Humor sparkled in those old eyes.
Tessa blushed and Jonah's hand settled on her shoulder.
'Father, my wife has been too busy tending to a demanding old man who thinks he knows everything. But he doesn't.'
The colonel laughed, his chest rumbling, but there was no cough. 'It does me good to think I may yet live to see my first grandson. Jonah, fetch me a new book. I've finished this one, and Andy is resting.'
'Tell me which book you prefer.' Jonah shouldered over to the bookcase, leaving her side.
She loved the way he walked, strong like a lead wolf, each step one of confidence and power. Her heart ached simply gazing at him. 'Anya, are you feeling familiar with the house?'
'Aye.' The servant trailed behind her to the kitchen. ' 'Tis a larger place than where I came from.'
The fragrance of the warm fresh loaves greeted her when she stepped into the kitchen. How tidy everything looked, from the dishes washed and stacked in the glass cupboards to the scrubbed work counter to the clean cloth on the board table. The wood shone from floor to wall to cabinets with the polish of hard work.
'Anya, even I could not have done so much cleaning in just a single day.'
'I want you to be happy with me.' The pain on the young woman's face reminded Tessa of what it was like to have no home of her own, no family, no one who valued her for more than her work. 'This is such a fine position, much better than where I came from.'
