looked up at the sky and all around. “It’s sure a lovely day today.”
Jake shifted his focus from her sleek, graceful neck and placed it upward, glad his hat shielded the bright sun from reaching his eyes. “Sure is.”
“Well...” Her eyes collided with his. “I’d better go now. Mother wants me to pick up a few things for her, and I need to mail my letter.” Her face brightened at that, and his outlook dimmed.
Pushing his own stupid feelings aside, he offered her a hand into the buggy, even though he really didn’t want to aid her reason for going. “Mind picking up my mail while you’re there?”
“No. I’d be happy to.” She sat down and faced him.
“Leah.” He gathered the lines but didn’t hand them to her. “You sure you wanna do this?”
“Do what? Go to town? I have to. Mother needs—”
“No,” he interrupted her, unable to keep the frustration from his voice. “Answer that man’s ad.”
“Of course I’m sure. Otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it.”
“How can you be so certain?”
Her eyes brushed over his face as if she were contemplating her answer. She looked away and then her attention settled on him. “For years I prayed for a man like my father and Mr. Darcy.”
“Mr. Darcy? Who’s that?”
Her eyelids lowered to her lap.
Jake watched as she nervously tugged on her fingertips. In a bold move, he reached for her hands and held on to them. “Leah, look at me.”
Slowly, she raised her head toward him. “We’re friends. You can tell me who Mr. Darcy is.” Jake wondered if Mr. Darcy was the man who had just bought the livery stable. He couldn’t remember the man’s name, only that it started with a D.
“Promise you won’t laugh?”
“Promise.” He hiked his foot up, set it on the phaeton step and rested his forearm on his leg, waiting for her answer.
“Mr. Darcy is the hero in Pride and Prejudice.”
“What’s that?”
“A novel.”
Jake forced his eyes not to bounce wide open. A novel? She wanted a man like some imaginable character out of a book? Whoa! He hadn’t seen that one coming. Right now, laughing was the furthest thing from his mind.
“I know it sounds silly. But the man reminds me so much of my father.”
“So this Mr. Darcy is a rancher?”
She shook her head and her bouncy curls wiggled with the motion. He longed to wrap his finger around one of them, just to see if they were as soft as they looked. “No. He’s not a rancher. He reminds me of my father—before we moved here, that is.” She clamped her lips together tightly.
Jake thought he saw a shimmer in her eyes but wasn’t sure because she looked away. He placed his foot back onto the ground, not sure what to say or do.
Seconds ticked by. With a slow turn of her head, she dropped her attention onto him. “I’d better go, Jake. I have lots of errands to run.”
That was it. No explanation. He scanned her face. Though she tried to smile, he could see in her eyes that she was upset. He hated to see her leave like this, but he didn’t know what to say or do to make it better because he didn’t even know what was wrong.
She reached for the lines. Reluctantly, Jake laid them in her hand when what he really wanted to do was snatch them back and ask her what was wrong. But he didn’t. She said she needed to go, and he needed to respect that. He stepped back, out of her way. “Be careful.”
“I will. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For helping me with my horse and for not laughing at me.”
“Nothing to laugh at.” His grin was meant to reassure her.
She nodded and flicked the lines. Jake watched the buggy pull out of the yard. Curious about what type of person this Mr. Darcy fellow was, he decided that he needed to purchase a copy of that book. What was it called? Oh, yes. Pride and Prejudice. The title alone made him nervous. He’d never been much of a reader in school, but this was important. He could only imagine what was stuck in between the pages and who this Mr. Darcy fellow was. The sooner he found out, the better.
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