“Daniel, I think perhaps you should go ahead and look for that deer. We’ve come quite a ways and should be heading back.”
“Of course,” he said easily as they turned back towards town. “Will you join me again another day? I’ve enjoyed our afternoon together.”
“I’d like that,” she said smiling pertly, “but perhaps in the spring instead?”
“Yes. Have I earned another sweet kiss yet?”
“You haven’t gotten that deer yet,” she countered, looking away shyly.
“Another reason for me to keep an eye out on the vegetation around us – eh? Not only will I provide for our dinner table and keep us fed - but you would also be proud of me – so much so that I could earn another kiss. The wager is truly set, my lady.”
“We didn’t wager anything.”
“Silly me, I thought we had,” he said with mock disappointment, clutching his heart in an exaggerated fashion. His eyes sparkled in the sunlight that illuminated his face and made his blond hair glisten against his dark tricorn. “What, pray tell, could earn another sampling of those lips?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to answer now but do let me know so I may earn your heart, sweet wife – and join you in your lonely bed.”
“Oh!” Emma said appalled, jerking her hand from his arm. Staring at him, she stood there for a moment simply opening and closing her mouth repeatedly, unable to fathom how he could have said something so crass to her. Wasn’t she his wife? He should be treating her with honor, not like some harlot!
“You are horribly incorrigible!”
“It’s only a natural progression when two people have married,” he said innocently, his eyes dancing.
“Married people enjoy the marital bed; children soon will follow. Wouldn’t you want a child someday of your own? I know I certainly would like to pass on my name. Perhaps a young lad with bright green eyes like his mother?”
Daniel’s warm thumb caressed her cool cheekbone just moments before she slapped it away. She almost felt herself give in to the sensation it caused but his words caused a nervous fluttering in her stomach as she pictured a son with dark golden hair like Daniel’s.
“What is wrong with you, sir? One moment everything is good between us and the very next - you are simply a boar. I swear, I am saddled with a mongrel of a man!” Emma muttered in a huff, causing a cloud to appear in front of her face as she picked up her skirts and walked ahead of him angrily. She could hear his chortling laughter behind her as he tried to smother it.
Chapter Five
Daniel watched Emma as she sat nearby in a chair mending a tear in her woolen hose. Her beautiful face was slightly reddened in the firelight and he suspected it was because she was repairing the undergarment. He felt incredibly blessed that his wife turned out to be more than he could have ever anticipated. She was smart, lovely, and caring beyond measure – but with a determined edge that prevented her from being bullied or coerced into anything.
For a moment when they’d been walking in the woods together, he imagined what it would be like to have her heart. That smile and those dancing eyes when she laughed – he adored the spark in her. It was as if she gave him a look that only he would know and recognize. He liked the fiery temper she kept hidden inside and couldn’t help but goad her at times. The more intimate the suggestion, the angrier she got. Thinking of how feisty she could be, he grinned.
“You know…” Daniel began and braced himself for escape, practically giggling in anticipation of the explosion that was sure to follow when he opened his big mouth. Gosh he adored his new wife already and their lives together had only just begun!
“There would be no repairing those,” he muttered, pointing at the woolen hose in her hands that had suddenly stopped moving, “…if I had torn them in the midst of passion, my sweet wife.”
Emma shot to her feet and Daniel leapt out of the rocking chair, putting it between them strategically. It was almost comical how she scrunched up her face and balled her fists at her side. He couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up inside of him as she stabbed the needle back into the pin cushion and threw it back into the basket near her chair.
“You… are… abhorrent!” she seethed and nearly tripped on the base of the rocker in her rush to get away from him. He heard her muttering under her breath as she stomped away angrily. Hearing her utter a curse word, he burst out laughing as she growled in anger with her answer.
“Don’t run away, Emma. I’m just funning you.”
“I’m apparently quite fatigued from the day and your vulgar company,” she announced and stomped up the stairs to her bedroom with enthusiasm. He noticed that when she left the room, it was as if she took all the warmth with her. He was truly growing to care for the woman and only hoped that maybe someday she could care for him.
Hearing a knock at the door, Daniel started and heard Emma moving around upstairs only seconds before she appeared again on the staircase. They looked at each other silently. Daniel nodded and pointed at her to go back upstairs. Emma shook her head vehemently, causing him to roll his eyes. She was definitely a headstrong woman. Grabbing his flintlock, Daniel moved to the door.
“Who goes there?” he called out strongly.
“Open the blasted door, brother!”
“Alden?” Daniel strangled out, ripping open the doorway to see his beloved brother’s exhausted expression. He threw himself into his arms, feeling tears well up in his eyes. He quickly wiped them away abashedly and saw Alden was doing the same… underneath spectacles? Since when did he wear glasses?
His brother was leaner than ever before, but muscular, something he didn’t remember his brother being. He had always been taller and broader than Daniel, but now it was like a powerful man stood in front of him – not his tender brother. They had both been weathered from the war, just in different ways.
“Let’s get inside – it’s bitterly cold out,” Alden urged, stepping forward and quickly closing the door behind him. “When did you return? How have you fared? Have you been home yet?”
“Alden!” Daniel heard Emma cry out as she ran over and hugged their unexpected visitor. He felt infinitely jealous at the ease in which Emma greeted his older brother and how she reacted to his own attempts at affection. “Have you any news, brother?”
“I suppose there is much to discuss – but first,” Alden interrupted, hugging Daniel again. This time the two did not let go of each other for several moments, patting each other on the back affectionately. Daniel had not hugged his brother in years and the lost time weighed heavily on him.
“We must talk,” Daniel said warily. “Do not trust our uncle.”
“I wondered as much. I suspect he is the one behind the attempt on my life in New York a few years ago.”
“Could it be the guise or the company you keep, brother? I’ve never known you to sympathize with the redcoats. Is this why you are here so late? Is Emma harboring you?”
Daniel felt his temper rise at the thought of his brother endangering them all – he was a staunch believer in gaining their independence from Britain, which made him receive the lash more than once until he learned to keep his opinions to himself.
“I do not – nor would I ever support their cause. Daniel, I am spying on the troops moving in New York for the army. I have already seen one man I cared for, hanged for treason. I would not care to stretch my neck, yours, nor lovely Emma’s. She has given me a few warm meals in the past when I have needed a place to rest and in return, I have helped her avoid some of the taxations levied on goods by putting her in touch with smugglers.”
“You are smuggling in goods?” Daniel turned to gape at Emma who just shrugged innocently. It felt like a blow to the stomach to think that this sweet, innocent woman could be so secretive and clever as to find a way around the fines.
“Have a care with your thoughts, dear husband,” she stressed with a hard look in her eyes, “I have done what I must in order to survive the
se past years that I have been alone. I have lied, begged, borrowed, and stolen to put food in my belly because of the exorbitant tax laws and flagrant abuses levied on us.”
“I am not uncaring of your needs, Emma. I haven’t been here to take care of you and frankly, I am impressed at how brilliant I am finding my wife has turned out to be. Alden,” Daniel said, turning back to his brother, “I… we… cannot let our uncle continue to destroy our legacy. We must take back the business before he ruins it.”
“I have already taken steps towards that,” Alden said softly, with a harsh ferocity in his eyes that Daniel had never seen before.
“We will not be taking the business back. You have always been the one with a head for business, not me. Besides, I have married and need to return to my wife. I wanted to check on Emma to make sure she didn’t need for anything and am quite pleasantly surprised to find you here.”
“You’ve married?” Daniel said, struck again by how much time had passed and how much had changed since his impressment into the navy.
“Yes. Madeline is wonderful and could not leave due to an illness in her family. I told her I would only be gone a few days and must be heading back in the morning.”
“Of course. Once everything settles down, we must meet up again when there are no stresses of war, no threats to us, and no time constraints. I think I should like to meet the woman that has tamed my roguish brother.”
Emma was taken aback as she listened to the two men speak. Alden had evidence that their uncle had been selling secrets to the British for the last few months and had already turned it over to the authorities. He was heading back to New York to check on his bride, but now that he’d discovered Daniel was here and alive – the two were suddenly making plans to return to Baltimore together.
“I can’t leave Lexington,” Emma blurted out, drawing two sets of eyes onto her as she sat there silently.
“Emma, we need to…”
“Daniel, my brother and father…” Emma interrupted, quietly reminding him, but couldn’t finish saying the words. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her family. She had wanted to do something special for them, to remember them, and guilt had eaten at her. She had confessed as much one evening to Daniel over their dinner just last night when they had talked about their pasts. Someday, once everything had settled down and the war was over, she’d promised herself to put stone markers there to remember them that would match her mother’s.
Their graves were marked for her own knowledge, not how she truly wanted them to be. A small cross stuck out of the ground as a reminder. No, she couldn’t leave her family, and there was the storefront to maintain. It had been her father’s and truthfully, she wasn’t sure how they’d gotten by before the war. If she hadn’t had Alden’s insights and aid, the shop would have closed long ago due to financial woes.
“Fret not, my Emma. Perhaps time will give us the answers we need,” Daniel said carefully to Alden, before he laid his hand over hers. It was like he was acknowledging her words, her input, and offering up a silent understanding of what she was feeling. Emma nodded quietly in appreciation, blushing at the show of affection that was unexpected.
Daniel had referred to her as ‘my Emma’, and it was the first time there was any endearment given other than calling her ‘wife’. Maybe things were turning between them? Their lives together didn’t have to be perfect… but being suitable certainly helps things along, she thought silently.
Chapter Six
December 1781
“What mischief is this?”
Emma whispered aloud as she came down the stairs expecting to see Daniel asleep on the pallet in front of the banked fireplace. She was trying her best to compromise with her newly-met husband – and she could tell that he was trying on his end as well. He hadn’t balked at the idea of sleeping on the pallet when she was about to protest at the sudden change in her life. Instead, he’d simply bedded down without argument and had done so each night since his arrival.
They had given each other space aplenty. Her new husband made her a nervous mess of uncertainty. She knew of others that had been married by proxy or thrust into an arranged marriage. Her own friend, Catherine, had been married to a man twice her tender age. The thought of her being in Catherine’s place made her skin crawl for the poor woman – yet here she was now faced with a marriage to a stranger of her own… and Emma realized how extremely lucky she was!
Daniel was everything a woman could have yearned for. He had a pleasant smile that struck a nerve in her. Deep brown eyes with a hint of gold to them, reminding her of the color of roasted chestnuts. His dark blond hair had a tendency to fall over his forehead and she was glad to see that he skipped the fashionable wigs of the time. She hated the stylish wigs as they had a tendency to smell sour after a time. She found herself admiring the way he stood, walked, held himself… and most of all – the way he simply looked at her.
His eyes would turn practically molten and smoldered with an intimacy that made her catch her breath. In the very next second, Daniel would whisper something shockingly forward that would make her blush fiercely. That was when she realized that he enjoyed riling her up.
The way his eyes sparkled was like a child playing a game, she realized one day as she sat outside in the sunlight basking in the last of the autumn warmth before the snow hit the area for the winter. The children were running around on the roads, spinning circles and chasing them with sticks, laughing merrily. Perhaps her new husband was reaching out to her in the only way he knew how? Some men were cold, some were affectionate – maybe her own husband was a tease for his own merriment.
Pranks, comments, and uncomfortable silences she could handle, but this morning revealed something wholly unexpected from Daniel: he was obviously courting her. On the small table that she normally used to prepare meals, sat an orange spiked with cloves.
The colorful pomander was a fond memory she had growing up as a child. Her mother would display one on the mantle, scenting the room. She had always adored the warm spicy yet sweet scents and had forgone the treat since she’d lost the remainder of her family members.
It almost hurt to look at the pomander from the flood of memories that washed over her – but as painful as it was… it was bittersweet too. Oranges were quite extravagant. He’d gone out of his way to surprise her by leaving this where she could find it. Maybe she wasn’t meant to find it just yet? Christmas was coming in a few days and she didn’t want to spoil the surprise. She stared at the decorated orange and wondered if he even realized how special something like this was to her?
Her mother would make snowflake patterns or stars for decoration. This pomander wasn’t for decoration, but rather her new husband was making a show of affection that was blatantly obvious. Daniel’s orange had a heart made out of the cloves emblazoned on the front face of the fruit.
Emma jumped hearing a noise just outside seconds before the door opened nearby. She saw Daniel step inside as his hair glistened with moisture in the dim sunlight beginning to peek through the kitchen window.
“You’re up,” he said easily, pulling off his jacket and hanging it on a peg along the wall. “The temperatures are falling and I’m willing to bet that all of this mist turns into snow later in the day.”
Staring, she nodded silently and glanced back at the orange that practically glowed between the two of them. Daniel smiled shyly at her as he unwrapped a scarf from around his throat.
“I hope you like it.”
“My mother used to make them when I was a girl,” Emma said, nodding. “It was extremely thoughtful of you to make it.”
“I wanted to get you a present.”
“In exchange for what,” Emma said cautiously, watching him. She saw the surprise and dismay on his face only for a moment before it disappeared.
“There are no conditions on a gift from a husband to his wife.”
“Are you certain?”
“What would you have the condition be, sweet wife? Maybe a
nother kiss?”
She felt her breath hitch in excitement as he walked towards her only to stop a heartbeat away, staring down at her. He didn’t say a word, only standing there waiting for her. She wasn’t sure that she could speak, even if she wanted to. Her heart was beating rampantly and the flush of desire she felt at that moment was overwhelming. It would only take the slightest of steps to fall right into his arms.
“If not a kiss,” Daniel said in a whisper, stroking her cheek with his finger, “then maybe it’s just a little something from me to you in order to show my appreciation towards my little bride. I am truly grateful to have such a lovely wife, Emma.”
“Thank you for the pomander,” she breathed, staring at up him transfixed.
“You are very welcome, my sweet wife.”
7
Emma slammed the dough down onto the board in earnest, sending a small cloud of flour into the air around her. Daniel was getting under her skin and they seemed to be falling into a pattern. He would be terribly sweet and kind one moment, making her wonder what it would be like to kiss him again or fully become his wife. The next moment, he would say something infuriating or humiliating. Just this morning, he was standing at the doorway of her bedroom watching her sleep when she caught him.
“Get out!” she shouted in mortified embarrassment.
“Why? I’m quite fond of the view up here in the loft.”
“You are not welcomed in my bedroom.”
“That’s only because you’ve not experienced the marital bed yet, dear. I think we could find such joy in each other, if you’d but let me.”
“You are a pig, sir.”
“Aye, your pig, sweet wife,” he teased, winking at her before leaving her alone and descending the stairs. She sat there for several moments in her shift, feeling exposed. Slipping out from the covers, she hesitated, listening for his footsteps.
They’d fallen into a pattern between them - she lived upstairs and he slept on a pallet downstairs – but just when things would get comfortable, he would shake things up. There was no sense of security with him because he kept rattling her deeply. She quickly donned her stays, her dress, overdress, and the multiple layers that consisted of her daily wear… only to take her frustrations out on the doughy mass in front of her.
A Bride for Daniel Page 4
