The Seeker Read Free

stake.”
    “Marriage is not sinful,” Charlotte said. “I fear you have been listening to bad advice from those who simply want to gather your land in with theirs.”
    Edwin stiffened at her words, and in the moonlight, the lines of his face looked chiseled out of stone as he stared down at her. The man in front of her little resembled the Edwin she had grown up with. That Edwin had hidden behind his grandmother’s skirts until he was well out of knickers. That Edwin had been afraid of his shadow when she pulled him out into the garden to play hide-and-seek. That Edwin listened without argument to her plans for their lives.
    When he finally spoke, his voice was harsh. “And why have you always said we must wed, Charlotte? Isn’t it to join our properties? Hasn’t that always been your primary purpose? To do your father’s bidding and make his holdings the largest in Mercer County.”
    “Not his holdings, Edwin. Ours. Grayson and Hastings farms together.” She pushed the words at him. “We’ve talked of nothing else for years.”
    “ You’ve talked of nothing else. Perhaps it is time you listened for a change,” he said shortly.
    Then without waiting for her to say more, he stepped off the path to go around her as if even the touch of the ruffles on her hooped skirt must be avoided. She stared after him, astounded by his rudeness. And by the determined set of his shoulders. That old Shaker elder with his insidious words of peace was the cause of this, but she wouldn’t let it be the end. Edwin would marry her. Of course he would. He’d come to his senses and crawl back to her, begging to carry out the plans they had made. She’d find a way to see that he did.
    When he opened the veranda door, the noise of the party drifted out. He stepped inside and snapped the door closed behind him, clipping off the sound, but through the glass door and window she could see the guests milling about. Her guests. She was neglecting her hostess duties. Edwin could wait. She touched the pile of hair elaborately styled on top of her head to be sure no strand had escaped its pins and started back toward the house.
    A man’s deep voice stopped her before she had gone a dozen steps. “He must be an extremely foolish man to turn his back and run from such beauty.”

2
    Charlotte whirled to face the man who stepped up on the path behind her. He must have been sitting out of her view on the stone bench in the shadow of the dogwood that reached its limbs toward the veranda.
    “Forgive me,” he said. “It wasn’t my intention to startle you.”
    In the moonlight it wasn’t hard to see the amused smile playing across his lips under his mustache that gave lie to his words. That had been exactly what he’d intended, Charlotte thought as she stared up at him with no pretense of demurely lowering her eyes. He was tall, even taller than Edwin, but while Edwin slouched to try to keep from towering above his companions, this man stood straight, completely at ease with his height. He was quite handsome with thick dark hair brushed back from his forehead and a strong profile. She had no idea who he was.
    “I don’t think we’ve met,” she said in her most reserved, yet still civil voice. He could be a new political friend of her father’s who had arrived at the party late and unannounced. Best to be polite until his importance was determined. He wore a dinner jacket, so surely he was a guest and not just a passerby attracted by the lights and music.
    His smile was full now. “My introduction got a bit overlooked after the presentation of the new Mrs. Vance. It’s very like her to do a little grandstanding, but your father could have extended the courtesy of letting you in on their little surprise prior to the carriage’s arrival. That way you could have been prepared with your smile.”
    “I smiled.”
    “That you did,” the man said with a half nod of agreement. “Bravely. Staunchly. In spite of the way the color drained