Free Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss Page A

murmured wryly. She propped her elbow on the rim of the tub and leanedher chin in her palm. She could almost spell out what was coming next.
    “The way he looked at me,” Roberta sighed, her eyes half closed with the blissful memory. “And right in front of Daddy, too! You saw that, didn’t you, Alaina?” She ignored the girl’s perplexed frown and rushed on. “Oh, he’s a bold one, that Cole! And I tell you, Lainie, I’m going to wrap that long-legged Yankee right around my little finger.”
    She rose with a delicious giggle and kicked the ruffled lace at the hem of her nightgown before she danced out of the cubicle.
    “Would you mind closing the door?” Alaina called in exasperation.
    Roberta leaned in with a smile on her face. “Right around my little finger!” she crooned, crooking the mentioned member to make the point. Waving her fingers coyly, she pulled the door shut, leaving Alaina at last to her bath.
    Alaina climbed from the now-cool water and ruefully regarded her own water-wrinkled fingers. “Right around my little finger,” she mimicked with sarcasm. “Right around—” She suddenly scowled and stamped her bare foot, hissing to herself, “Jaybird Yankee!”

Chapter 5
    I T was not difficult for Alaina to avoid the busy doctor, yet far too often for total peace of mind, she found herself forced into his companionship. A certain animosity flourished between the boy, Al, and the man, Cole, and more than once Alaina felt the bite of the captain’s reproof. Though it gave her some assurance that he had not yet guessed her secret, she wondered if all he saw was the soot on her face, for it was there his criticism thrived. He could not know, of course, of the effort she took to smudge her face every morning or of the treatment her short mane received. The dirt and grease had proven an excellent replacement for the old battered hat that he had forbidden her to wear in the hospital, but it only aggravated his ambition to see the urchin clean.
    “One of these days,” he threatened, “I’m going to teach you how to properly wash yourself. Look at your hair! It’s so stiff you could pound a strand through a fence post.”
    “Betcha you was born with a chunk of soap in your mouth,” Alaina retorted with a fervor to match the doctor’s. “I ain’t never seen a body so attached to washing as you.”
    “That raises the question of what you were born with,” Cole returned with sarcasm before stridingaway beneath her glare.
    The night the captain came to call on Roberta, Alaina took herself far from the house. She had no intention of joining the group for dinner. Dressed as a filthy boy, she would simply be subjected to the Yankee’s disapproval if it didn’t arouse his curiosity as to why Angus would allow the child to appear in such an untidy state at their table.
    If Alaina managed to escape that evening’s festivities, she was not able to avoid hearing all about them from Roberta. The older cousin sought her out as soon as possible, not caring that Alaina was just dozing off to sleep when she burst into her room.
    “Oh, Lainie, it was the most exciting evening ever! And do you know, Cole’s father is also a doctor and has been a widower since shortly after Cole was born. I’m sure they’re rich, too.”
    “Did you ask him?” Alaina yawned sleepily as she snuggled deeper into the soft bed.
    “Of course not, you silly child. That would be rude. But I know they are,” Roberta smiled slyly. “Cole has traveled abroad and was educated in the East where he and his father have properties, besides their home in Minnesota. I imagine when the old man dies, Cole will inherit all of his fortune. Why, he already owns properties of his very own. Now tell me, what man without money can boast of that?”
    Alaina peered up at the ceiling thoughtfully. “He boasts?”
    “Oh, Lainie, you’re exasperating!” Roberta snapped. “Of course not. But I know how to ask subtle questions to find out