The sternness in his mother’s voice stopped him.
Halfway up the stairs, he balanced the trunk on his knee and turned his head toward his mother.
She shook her finger at him. “You be nice to my guest, and don’t you dare make her feel uncomfortable.”
Make her uncomfortable!
“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he turned and trudged up the stairs. This whole stupid mess stuck inside him like an infected splinter.
At Leah’s bedroom door, he stopped and called, “Rainee.” He made every effort possible to keep the irritation from his voice, when what he really wanted to do was take her and her trunk into town and drop her off at Mrs. Swedberg’s boardinghouse. But the older widow woman never had any available rooms. Besides, even if she did, his mother had already made it clear Rainee was her guest now, and that was that.
“Come in,” she said in that sweet Southern drawl of hers that drove clean through every part of him.
“I’m here with your trunk.” He pushed the door all the way open with his back and turned inside. “Where would you like this?” He refused to look over at her. Refused to let her get under his skin any further.
“Over here, please.”
He had no choice but to look now as she pointed to the end of the bed.
His gaze snagged on her hands. She still had on those lacey gloves. Why would she wear such fancy gloves in the house? This wasn’t some fancy ball.
Fancy balls.
Melanie.
Thoughts of his wife were always one careless notion away but exactly what he needed to keep from being drawn in by Rainee. For that, he was almost grateful to the memories. As fast as he could, Haydon set her trunk at the foot of the bed and turned to leave.
“Haydon?”
He looked back at her. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Thank you.” She put her head down and played with the tips of her fingers. “I want you to know that as soon as I can, I will be leaving. I am truly sorry for what your brother has put you through.”
“Put me through?” Haydon was instantly chagrinned at his uncharitable thoughts. Rainee was the real victim here. “What about what he put you through? You came all this way for nothing. When I think about what you must be feeling right now…” He shook his head. “I still can’t believe it. I’m really sorry, Rainee. Truly.” He found he meant it. No one deserved to be treated like that.
“It is okay, Haydon. I have a home for now. And one of the other Christian gentlemen who answered my advertisement offered me a home as well, so I am not completely without options.”
One of the other gentlemen? How many men had actually responded to her ad? Were there that many desperate men out there?
“I shall contact him as soon as I can send a post off and see if he still wants me.”
Haydon’s gut twisted into a hard knot. Who was this guy, and would he be good to her? Haydon gave himself a mental tongue lashing. What did he care what happened to her? He didn’t want her. What did it matter to him if someone else did? Then he made the mistake of looking into her eyes again. The vulnerability he saw there touched him deeper than he wanted it to. Although he didn’t want her, the truth was he hated the thought of this beautiful young woman, who was clothed with despair and innocence, traipsing all over the country to who knows where and into the arms of who knew what kind of man.
Against all rationale and his better judgment, right there, Haydon made up his mind to not let her go. To protect her from undesirables and to provide for her. “Rainee, I—”
“Rainee.” Leah burst into the room. “Oh. Hi, Haydon.”
He looked at his sister, then back at Rainee, who was gazing up at him with a tilt of her head as if she were waiting for him to continue. “I’ll—I’ll talk to you later.”
She gave a quick nod. “Thank you again, Haydon, for retrieving my trunk.” She offered him a sweet smile and to his utter surprise and horror his heart tipped like a schoolboy with a crush.
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