Rebecca (Angel Creek Christmas Brides #15) - Lily Graison Page 0,19

having either but one case of mistaken identity later, and here she was. She wondered when it would happen? No one had mentioned it yet and Caleb didn’t seem like the sort of man to have a ‘kept woman’ living in his house. With him sleeping on the sofa, she knew that wasn’t the case.

“So, what do you want to see first?”

Rebecca studied the town. There were several streets branching off from the main road. She spotted Caleb when she scanned the other side of the street, her heart thumping at the sight of him. “Is that where your father works?” she asked, pointing to the building beside the stagecoach station.

“Yeah. That’s the livery stable. He works there every day. Come on,” Amanda said, taking her arm. “I can introduce you to Willie. He owns the livery.”

She followed Amanda across the street, both of them running to the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road to avoid being hit by a wagon. They crossed in front of the stagecoach station. Rebecca peeked inside the building as they passed by it, smiling when an older gentleman inside the door tipped the front of his hat to her. For the first time in her life, people greeted her like she was somebody and not just some worthless homeless girl trying to pick their pockets. It was a heady feeling.

The livery stable was like the many others she’d seen. Several wagons and buggies sat in the space beside it and a small fenced-in corral wrapped around the building. The barn was cool when they stepped inside and smelled of hay and manure. Rebecca took in all the stalls of horses and hurried to the row on her left to the first one. She saw Amanda runoff out of the corner of her eye but she stayed put. She knew nothing about these animals and didn’t want to spook them.

Long minutes passed as she made her way down the row of stalls, looking into each one at the horses boarded there. Caleb came inside as she reached the end of the line, Amanda right on his heels.

“Hey,” he said, coming to a stop beside her.

The morning sun was at his back. It drew her attention to how broad his shoulders were, something she hadn’t noticed until now. “Hi.”

He reached toward the horse she stood in front of, rubbing a hand over its head. “This is Clem. He’s old and slow but he’ll get you where you’re going. He’s mine. I’ve had him a long time.”

Rebecca tentatively reached out and rubbed the horse as Caleb had, the old gray lowering his head to allow her to. “I’ve never been on a horse.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “I—” She snapped her mouth shut right before she said, there wasn’t a chance to do so living in the orphanage. Her heart started pounding. She had no idea what Diana Hale had told Caleb about her life. Spilling any detail about hers might clue him into the fact she isn’t who he thinks she is.

“You what?”

She smiled in an attempt to not look as if she was about to lie to his face. “I’ve always been scared of them.”

“Nothing to be scared of.” Caleb rubbed his hand over Clem’s head again. “Maybe when the weather gets warm, I can teach you how to ride.” His voice lowered as he said, “That is if you decide to stay.”

Rebecca met his gaze and froze. How did he know she’d thought about leaving?

Caleb cleared his throat and glanced at Amanda before lowering his voice. “I know we’d discussed waiting until the new year before deciding if getting married was something we still wanted to do or not, but I can already tell, Amanda will be heartbroken if you leave.”

Rebecca stared at his profile, noticing a small curl of hair by his ear. The sandy blonde strand stood out and her fingers itched to brush it down like the rest of his hair.

She’d not had time to get to know her bridegroom and now she may not get a chance to. If she didn’t misunderstand what he was saying, he and Diana had an agreement to wait before getting married. She hadn’t known that. Not that it mattered. She’d not yet decided if she really wanted to stay but knowing he might send her away left her feeling—adrift. Where would she go? With no money to leave, she would be as homeless here as she had been in Charleston and even though the last