Free A Ransomed Heart by Alex Taylor Wolfe Page B

on the food and Annabelle was pleasantly surprised at how eloquent it was.  She eyed him over the table, but his face still held the cool, calm demeanor she was quickly becoming accustomed to. He showed no signs of his conversation with Mama earlier in the evening.
    The stew smelled wonderful and Logan focused his attention on it.  Annabelle had looked lovely when he had come in just now and his interrupted confession to Mama was still fresh in his mind.  His friend could tell there was something wrong, but Logan had given him a quick scowl in the barn letting him know to drop the subject before it was breached.  It had been a rough few days for all of them and Logan hoped a good night’s sleep tonight would cure the cloudy mood which had settled over him.  A warm meal and the feeling of home was already helping. Everything changed when Kit spoke:
    “So M iss Casey, tell us a little bit about yourself?”
    Logan tried to kick him under the table. Annabelle looked shocked and then a little shy. Mama smiled.
    “Oh there isn’t much to tell.” She tried to look uninteresting.
    “Do you have a family where are you from?”
    “What does it matter?” Logan snapped, he didn’t like where this was going.  He had already felt things for this girl that he had no business feeling, if she became any more human to him he would lose the professional edge he so desperately needed. 
    Annabelle glared out at him from under her thick eyelashes.  Logan stared back for a moment then went back to eating.  Looking back at Kit she gave him a ravishing smile. “I am the youngest of three, I have two older brothers.  My mother and father live on a farm about two days from here in Destitution.”
    Kit looked warily down at Logan, but his friend did not look back, only kept his nose in his bowl. He looked at his mother for some support and she in turn spoke:
    “And your family, how do they know Mr. Sevier?”
    Logan’s spoon hovered in mid-air, somewhere between his food and his mouth.  The muscles in his shoulders tensed and he felt the dull ache creeping down his back. He waited, afraid of what he knew he would hear.
    Annabelle hesitated. The mood in the room had shifted and both Mama and Kit were staring her down. “Mr. Sevier and my father are business partners.” A half-truth, but it was better than the real answer.
    Mama nodded her head then her eyes went to Logan’s hunched form. He had put his spoon down but refused to look around the table. 
    Annabelle hoped there were no more questions.  She would hate to have to tell them the real cause for the marriage, and even more humiliating , tell them she had never actually met the man.  Her appetite was dwindling.  Quickly she studied the bite of stew resting on her spoon. The once warm kitchen seemed chilled and Annabelle unknowingly shivered.  The silence hung heavy in the room and no one dared to speak.  Finally Logan slid his chair back and he stood.
    “I ’m going to bed,” he growled, and then headed for the ladder.
    Mama cleared her throat. “You and Kit will be sleepin ’ in the barn tonight, Annabelle gets the loft.”
    He froze in his tracks his hands clenching and unclenching.  His plan had gone terribly wrong, and now this woman was sucking the life out of him.  His emotions raged within him.  She had admitted she was exactly who he thought she was.  Her father was a business partner, therefore she was rich, and probably had no idea it was because of men like her father that he and his people were suffering.  It was because of their filthy business practices she was here in the first place.  She should be the one sleeping in the barn, getting a taste of what these honest people lived with every day. But instead of spewing out his insults he drew a deep breath, and turning on his heel, he marched to the door and jammed his hat back on his head.  The sooner he could get away from her, the better.
    Kit, Mama , and Annabelle finished their meal in