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sonality as his eagerness to forget his years of servitude and become a landowner. |
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Francis was kind-looking, with a nose too large for the rest of his face. He was short and lanky, with pale eyes hardly darker than mushrooms, and his bright red hair was closer cropped than the style of the day. Even if she made a fool of herself over Francis, Thorn wouldn't care. Mariah didn't understand his peevishness. Maybe she was comparing the lightness of Francis's demeanor with the heaviness of her employer's. |
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"So, Miss Walker, what brings you to the wilderness?" Francis stood near her as he briskly toweled a wooden plate. |
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"Fate," she said. And a nasty, conniving little man called Pierce, she thought. |
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"Myself as well. I am fated to become my own man. Own a farm. Build a house, take a wife, raise a family. Enjoy life." |
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As he'd said take a wife, he'd tried to catch her gaze, but she didn't meet it. She didn't need another complication in this time. She would not even hint of leading this sweet man on. |
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Besides, he'd need someone with all the day's skills. Holly would make him a better wife. Their backgrounds were even similar. Mariah nodded toward the woman working diligently beside her. "Holly came out here as a settler, too." |
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"Really?" Francis's attention turned to the other woman, who was clad in Mariah's gray dress and one of the caps she refused to wear. He questioned her about her travels westward. As she spoke of the ill-fated expedition that had led to her brother's death and her own capture by Indians, tears came into her eyesjust as René entered the room. |
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The squat, beefy man stared angrily at Francis, then strode forward. "Do not upset yourself, Miss Smith." |
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Oh-ho. So that was the way things were. Mariah had suspected as much. Despite René's outward hostility toward the woman he called Anglaise, he was attracted to her. |
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Mariah allowed the tiniest of grins to raise the comers of her lips as René put away the dishware. She wouldn't worry about Holly, who trained her hazel eyes first on the surpris- |
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