Free The Abolitionist’s Secret by Becky Lower

skin where he caressed her through the cloth of her riding jacket. His fingers encircled her wrist and he grazed his thumb over her sensitive flesh. Heather struggled to catch her breath.
    “I can’t seem to help myself, Heather. When you and I are alone together, all I want to do is to hold you and lavish you with kisses.” To demonstrate what he had just said, he wrapped his arms around her and grazed her lips once more.
    She hoped time would stand still for the afternoon and they could be locked in this embrace for hours. Heather ran her hands down his broad chest, feeling the muscles bunch in response to her touch. Her breath caught in her throat. She stifled a moan of delight. After all, she may be acting like a wanton, but underneath, she really was a good and proper young lady. With some reluctance, she broke off the caress.
    “Well, that was unexpected,” she whispered.
    “But not unwanted, I hope.”
    “Well, no. Unsettling, maybe. But nonetheless, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression of me.” She slid over a couple of inches, just out of his grasp, and glanced around, looking for some other topic of conversation. “Why don’t I tell you about this big tree instead?”
    David sighed. “Well, it is a very large tree, and I suppose it has some significance. Alright then, tell me.”
    “It’s called ‘Hangman’s Elm’ for obvious reasons. The city fathers have determined it’s been here since the 1600s, making it the oldest tree in the city.”
    David studied the tree, under whose branches they were sitting. “I can envision people being hanged here, for treason, maybe, during the Revolutionary War. Fascinating.”
    He turned his gaze from the tree back to Heather. “But not as fascinating as you are. To ease your mind, I don’t believe I have the wrong impression of you at all. You’re a beautiful young woman with a thirst for life beyond what New York can provide you. People may overlook you because you are more reserved in comparison to Jasmine, but the passion you have for life lies just beneath the surface of your quiet demeanor. You question how to improve living conditions for everyone, not just the privileged, and I love that about you. I’d like to show you the frontier. A woman of substance such as yourself would fit in well there.”
    “But I thought you were on your way home to the south to live on the plantation with your father.”
    “He thinks so, too, after I capture our slave and take care of that business. But I don’t know if the life of a plantation owner is the right life for me.”
    Heather glanced up at him, surprised and hopeful. “You mean, if it were up to you, you’d let all your slaves go free?”
    David’s smile melted her heart. “I don’t know if I’d go that far. The slaves are not yet equipped for life on their own.”
    “Well, then, perhaps it should be your obligation to teach them the skills they need to live by their own means. To read and write and add sums. That seems to me to be the honorable thing to do.”
    “Possibly, if I decide to stay in Georgia. My parents are counting on me marrying the young lady at the next plantation over from ours and combining our estates. But I can’t do that, especially since I’ve already given my affections to another.”
    Heather’s heart fluttered wildly at the course this conversation was taking. “To whom would you be declaring yourself, pray tell?” She crossed her fingers behind her back as she waited.
    “You have bewitched me from the moment we met.” To emphasize his statement, he leaned in and captured her lips once more.
    A bit breathless, Heather pulled back, placing her hands on his chest, and asked, “Would your father welcome a northern lady coming to live on the plantation?”
    David leaned against the side of the gazebo. “He might, but Mother never would. Therein lies the problem. Since we were born, Blanche Beaufort has been assumed to be a partner for either my brother or me.