Free Her Safe Harbor: Prairie Romance (Crawford Family Book 4) by Holly Bush Page A

here?” he asked and gently reached under her arm.
    She took in a quick, halting breath as his finger touched
her ribs and closed her eyes.
    He picked up her hands from her lap and held them in a loose
grip. “Easy,” he whispered. “Take your time and breathe through the pain.
Easy.”
    Jennifer concentrated on the quiet soothing rhythm of his
voice, taking shallow breaths and allowing her racing heart to slow. “Is this
how you calm horses when they are agitated?”
    Zeb chuckled softly. “It is, but I’d never in a lifetime
compare you to a mare.”
    “I am glad to hear that,” she said, finally opening her eyes
and seeing that his face was inches from hers.
    “How do you know how I talk to horses?”
    “I watched you from my room at the Hacienda when you were in
the corral. I saw you get close to a bucking, agitated horse and rub its head
and soon the horse was calm and putting its nose in your palm.”
    “I’m flattered you paid such close attention.”
    Jennifer’s breathing quickened but not from pain. His eyes
had dropped to her lips as they parted, allowing her to survey his face, his
tan skin against the white of his collar, and the gold flecks in the blue of
his eyes. She smelled shaving soap and lifted her hand to his cheek. He sucked
in a breath.
    “How did you chip your tooth?” she asked as she ran her
thumb over his lower lip. He smiled.
    “Fistfighting,” he said, bringing his eyes to hers. “I was a
hellion.”
     She met his gaze, feeling the heat of his look down to the
pit of her stomach, and lower. She licked her lips, and Zeb stood abruptly.
    “Would you like to go to your rooms? Are you able to walk?”
he asked.
    “Just take me inside,” she said, recovering her composure,
and realizing how very close she had come to kissing him. She nearly touched
her lips to his! And she had touched his lip with her thumb and found it warm
and soft as compared to the bristles of his beard on his cheeks. Zeb Moran
is all that is solid and right , she thought to herself, unbidden.
     
    * * *
     
    Jennifer stopped just before
stepping inside the ballroom, and turned to him. “You have been very kind and
have asked me no questions. Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome,” he replied, gazing down at her. Whatever
her reasons, be they right or wrong, she was bearing her burdens alone, and he
admired her strength. He’d nearly kissed her as she sat on the stone bench and
laid her hand on his cheek. It had taken all his considerable discipline to
remember this woman was in pain and bearing some hidden terrors, and he had no
right to upset her fragile equilibrium. If she chose to tell him, he would
listen patiently, and be her champion if she asked. But then it occurred to him
that the bruising he’d seen in the moonlight at the Hacienda months ago would
have likely faded. Meaning she had been hit again. How could he allow it to
continue?
    “Why don’t we find the punch bowl and a place to sit down?”
he asked.
    Zeb seated her at one of the small tables in the anteroom
where uniformed staff were serving lemonade and stronger spirits.
    “How have you found Washington?” he asked after being served
cold drinks.
    “Max took Melinda and me to the Capitol building and to some
other sites nearby. I find the history of the city very interesting. And I’ve
accompanied Jolene, and my sister Julia, and her daughter Jillian, now that
they have arrived, and Jolene’s sister-in-law Eugenia, to some of the famous
shops.”
    “I am glad you are enjoying yourself. I wonder how Jolene
had the time to arrange my house and its furnishings and staff with the
festivities she needed to supervise here, but I have seen my sister in action
managing my father’s household and our family’s obligations at church and in
the community. I stay out of her way unless I am given a direct order,” Zeb
added with a smile.
    “Jolene is very good at all that. I am not, and thankfully
am not called upon to do it often.”
    Zeb