Rebecca (Angel Creek Christmas Brides #15) - Lily Graison Page 0,6

the stagecoach. She scooted forward on the seat and stood up.

The coat she'd found in the trunk with Diana Hale's name on it was a size too big and so long on her short frame, she knew she looked ridiculous in it, but it kept her warm. She buttoned it before grabbing the doorframe of the coach and held out a hand so the driver could help her down. He scowled as usual. That surly expression had been on his face since the moment he helped her up into the thing. Even the heels on the fancy kid boots she’d found packed inside the trunk did little to help with her height situation, so she didn't know why the driver was so mad about it. It wasn’t her fault she was so short.

Her too-big boots made a loud pop against the wooden sidewalk when she walked away from the stagecoach. She put a hand to her back and stretched, leaning to the right, then left, before arching her back to get the stiffness out of it.

Over the long weeks of travel, she’d tried to imagine the town she’d end up in. Another city as big as Charleston was ideal. It was easier to hide that way, but the town of Angel Creek wasn't anything like she’d expected it to be. The streets here were all dirt, not cobblestones like back home. All the sidewalks were made of wood, as were the buildings she saw. The air didn’t hold the scent of the sea, but it was so clear and fresh, she inhaled a deep breath to take it all in.

Someone cleared their throat behind her. She turned to find a man and a little girl staring at her. Was she in their way? Stepping away from the stagecoach, she headed for her trunk. What she was supposed to do with it now, she didn't know. Dragging it around town would look suspicious. She was just glad Hazel wasn't here to ask her another hundred questions she didn't have the answer for. The girl being put onto a stagecoach when they reached the next train station had been a blessing, in her opinion. At least she could hear herself think now and not be bombarded with Hazel's nonstop questions.

The latch on Diana's trunk had come undone. Probably from being loaded and unloaded multiple times, so she squatted in front of it and fiddled with the hasp lock. It had been all but broken when she'd found it in the private cabin on the steamboat and wondered if someone hadn't tried to get into it. Good thing seeing how she didn't have a key for it. She would have had to break into it herself if the lock hadn't already been damaged.

She stood once the latch was closed and turned to find the man and girl still standing there watching her. Not that she minded. The man was incredibly handsome, and she knew, if she'd still been in those rags she'd been wearing at the start of this adventure, a man like him wouldn't have given her the time of day. Now, in her fancy—although too-big—dress, she had finally earned the attention of a man, and this time it wasn't because she'd stolen his purse.

The smile tugging at the corner of her mouth ticked up a notch when he continued to stare at her. When the little girl poked him with her elbow, he startled, as if he'd been in a trance.

He cleared his throat again. "Are you Diana?"

Rebecca froze. Diana. The sound of that name made her pulse start pounding so hard, she could hear the blood rushing past her eardrums.

He blinked and straightened to his full height, which was considerable compared to hers.

"Diana Hale?"

Rebecca had wondered since the steamboat what she'd do once she got to wherever it was Diana was going. Hazel had talked nonstop on the train, and she’d learned the girl was a mail-order bride. A few others were as well but two of the ladies traveling with them were heading out hoping to land a husband, and that's what she'd told them she was doing as well. Seeing this man and the little girl staring at her, and him calling her Diana, made her racing pulse stutter. Was he the reason Diana was coming out here? Was she a mail-order bride as well?

"Are you Diana Hale?"

Rebecca bit her bottom lip, weighing her options, which weren’t many. She had no money and no place to stay, and