Last Bridge Home Read Free

back, and I’m afraid the power to run it is a luxury, now that the stream has turned into a pleasant trickle. You wouldn’t beable to hear it anyway. These stone walls are over a foot thick and the wheel is on the other side of the house.”
    “Outside your bedroom window.” It was a statement, not a question.
    Her eyes widened in surprise. “Mark must have written you in great detail. I wouldn’t have thought he’d bother to describe the cottage so precisely.”
    “He didn’t want to. I insisted. I wanted to know everything.” His gaze flickered to her stomach. “Everything.”
    He couldn’t mean … Elizabeth felt the hot color of a flush stain her cheeks, but she realized quickly how foolish she was being. Mark would never have shared the intimate details of their relationship even with his closest friend. She took another sip of coffee. “That’s understandable, I suppose. We always want to know about the people who are close to those we love. What did he tell you about me?”
    “Not enough.” He was studying her with moody intensity. “Not nearly enough.”
    “Well, there wasn’t much to tell,” she said lightly. “I was a twenty-eight-year-old spinster with a house and a dog and three years to go on my bachelor’s degree in library science, when Mark swept into my life. He came, he saw, he conquered.”
    “So I understand.” Once again there was aninexplicable harshness in his tone. His lids lowered to partially veil his eyes, as he caught the uneasiness of her expression. “You were happy with him?”
    “Oh, yes.” Her eyes glowed softly. “He was the kindest, gentlest human being I’ve ever met. We only had six months together before the accident took his life, but they were the happiest I’ve ever known.”
    “You didn’t have many men to compare him with. After all, you were practically house bound nursing your father all those years.”
    So Mark had told him about her father as well, she realized. “Those were happy years too. I loved my father and wanted to help him. I wasn’t a victim of circumstances, I chose to live my life that way. I’ve never regretted the choice.” A brilliant smile illuminated her face. “And then Mark came into my life, and now the baby. Isn’t it wonderful that when one love is taken away we’re given another to replace it?”
    The hard lines of his face softened as he studied her eager expression. “Wonderful,” he echoed quietly.
    The odd breathless feeling returned, and her hand trembled as she set her cup down in the saucer. “I’m afraid Mark didn’t tell me very much about you. I didn’t even know you existeduntil shortly before he died, and even then he wasn’t very informative.”
    “What did he tell you?”
    She held up two fingers as she enumerated the facts she knew. “That you worked out of the country. That I would be able to trust you as much as I trusted him.” She held up a third finger, her brown eyes dancing. “And that you weren’t as tough as you seemed. I got the impression you were some kind of mercenary or something.”
    “No.” He was silent for a moment. “It was generous of Mark to speak so favorably of me. I don’t think I would have been as generous under the circumstances.”
    She frowned in puzzlement. “Generous? Why shouldn’t he—”
    “Never mind.” He made an impatient motion with his hand. “It’s not important right now. What’s important is that you trust me as Mark asked you to.” He paused. “I’ve rented a place in the mountains near Saranac Lake. I want you to pack a suitcase and come with me right now. Tonight.”

“W HAT —” S HE BROKE OFF, HER EYES WIDENING in shock. “You have to be kidding?”
    He shook his head. “I don’t find the situation at all amusing. Unless you come with me, I believe you’ll be even less amused.” He leaned forward, the muscles of his shoulders coiled, vibrating with tension. “Gome with me. Trust me. You won’t be sorry.”
    “Just like