Free The Preacher's Bride (Brides of Simpson Creek) by Laurie Kingery

as everyone in the hall began to laugh and clap, she smoothed some curls that had been knocked askew before she picked up the ribbon-bound cluster of wildflowers.
    “Better wake up, Faith!” Caroline teased, merriment dancing in her eyes. “Looks like you’ll be the next bride!”
    Faith ducked her head to avoid the stares and amusement as she returned to her seat next to Gil. She should have stuck to her guns about staying put at the table.
    “Well done, Miss Faith,” Gil praised, grinning.
    “Don’t laugh, your turn is coming,” she said darkly. “I see the groom getting up, so the garter toss will be next.”
    “Oh, I’m sure that members of the clergy are exempt,” Gil protested, but without any real alarm.
    Sure enough, just then Jack Collier invited the bachelors to gather up front.
    “Go on up there, Reverend Gil,” Milly urged Gil. “There’s not all that many bachelors. That’s why I started the Spinsters’ Club after all.”
    “Yes, go on, Reverend Gil,” the mayor urged.
    “Why, Mayor Gilmore, you’re unmarried also,” Gil retorted. “Seems like you need to be right up there with me if I go.”
    “Ah, but my lady and I have already set a date, as we spoke about with you a little while ago,” Gilmore countered, giving Maria Fairchild a fond look. “So I have nothing to prove.”
    Eventually, Gil let himself be persuaded and joined Caroline’s younger brother, Dan, a couple of other youths and Anson Tyler, who had ambled back into the hall with Polly just in time to join the others.
    “Oh, pooh, Cousin Anson can’t bear to lose any contest, whether it’s horse racing or a shooting match,” Faith heard Prissy fuss. “Why did he have to come back right now? He’ll grab that garter whether he has any intention of marrying or not.”
    And so he did, jumping for the backward-thrown garter as if he were part bullfrog. Gil made a good effort, but he was a little too far to the right to reach it, and Anson plucked it neatly out of the air. Everyone clapped and the other men slapped Prissy’s cousin on the back and congratulated him. Waving the little article triumphantly, he returned to where Polly jumped up and down, clapping her hands.
    “I was counting on you, Reverend Gil!” Milly said in mock reproof as Gil came back to the table. “You let us down!”
    “Don’t listen to my sister,” Sarah told Gil. “You gave it a good try—that’s what counts.”
    Faith was secretly relieved. If Gil had won as she had, there would have been far too much attention paid to the two of them. Before she even had a chance to explain to Gil why they could not be a courting couple, the gossips would have it that she and Gil were as good as wed.
    Perhaps she was getting ahead of herself, though. Gil had sought out her company today, but it would be presumptuous of her to assume he would ask to call on her until he actually did so. Looking across the hall, she saw that Prissy’s cousin Anson was once more deep in conversation with Dan Wallace and a couple of other men, while Polly hovered uncertainly at his side, as if uncertain whether he expected her to linger.
    Deep within her, however, Faith knew that she had not imagined the way Gil’s eyes had lit up when he approached her, or the warmth in them when his gaze was focused on hers. He was attracted to her, she could feel it in her bones. It would just be a matter of time until he asked Faith to accompany him to dinner again, to some event or even just on a walk.
    And until he did make the next move, she would be in an agony of anticipation, wanting to accept, but knowing she must refuse.
    “Miss Faith?” Gil murmured, and Faith realized with a start he had been trying to get her attention for a moment or two.
    “Oh! I’m sorry,” she said. “You were saying?”
    He smiled. “I was saying, I think Papa’s getting tired. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll help Miss Louisa get him home. But I’ll be back,” he added, and she did not miss the