Homespun Bride

Jillian Hart 191He clamped the blade into place on her shoe andchecked to make sure it was on good and tight. Heignored the chill seeping through the knees of hisdenims and the gnawing of regret.She reached forward as easily as if she saw him, andher fingertips brushed the collar of his coat, then thescarf at his throat and finally cupped his jaw. “You leftme thinking something had happened to you. You leftme waiting, stubbornly believing in you. Even after Ilearned you’d left the county for good, it took me a longtime to give up believing that you had to leave for somereason and you would be coming back to me. That’s howstrongly I believed in you. In noble, good, unfailingyou.”My dear, beloved Noelle. He pressed his jaw againstthe fuzzy sweetness of her gloved hand. Here was thechance he’d always wished for—to tell the truth, toright the wrong and win her back. He gently movedaway and climbed to his feet.There was nothing more precious to him in all theworld, and there never would be. Her loveliness wassomething he would never tire of, the sight that wouldrefresh his weary heart the most. She was everythinggood and womanly and rare in this world, and the heartof his deepest dream come true. A dream he would nothurt for any reason.Her happiness was more important than anything hecould ever want for himself. Maybe bringing her here,where mist swirled around the frozen pond like lostdreams, hadn’t been the best idea. “You might thinkthat breaking my promise to you that night came prettyeasy.”“It had once been my impression.”