Free Harlequin Historical November 2015, Box Set 2 of 2 by Lynna Banning Page B

into his arms, then made his way carefully across the tracks to where Zane waited.
    â€œSlippers thin,” he explained. “Not good for cold, so I carry.”
    He spoke a few words in Chinese and the girl nodded at Zane. The sign pinned to her blouse read “Dougherty. Smoke River.”
    â€œThis is Yan Li,” Sam said, his voice reverent.
    Zane inclined his head and led the way to the buggy. Sam deposited Yan Li onto the seat, then stripped off his cloak and wrapped it around her. He sat shivering as the horse trotted all the way up the hill to the house.
    When they arrived, Sam leaped to the ground, motioned Yan Li to the edge of the buggy seat and snatched her up once again. He carried his bride up the porch steps and into the house. Zane remembered carrying Celeste the same way.
    Winifred had hot water ready for tea and some soup warming on the stove. Sam set his burden down in the front hall and lifted the cloak away from the slim figure.
    â€œYan Li,” he said proudly. He spoke words to the girl and Winifred caught her own name, which she carefully pronounced aloud.
    Yan Li lifted her gaze to Winifred’s and smiled. My heavens, she was a beauty! “You have done well, Sam. Your bride is lovely.”
    Sam beamed and translated her words.
    â€œShe must be starving,” Winifred said. The girl was probably too terrified to get off the train and purchase food at the stops along the way. What a brave thing to do, board a ship and travel thousands of miles from her home to a new country, and a new life with a man she had never seen before.
    â€œSam, tell her I am glad she has come.”
    Sam chattered to Yan Li in his own language.
    â€œNow tell her she is safe here.” Sam translated and was met by a spate of Chinese from the girl’s lips.
    â€œShe say happy to be here. Not want to marry old merchant in village.”
    Winifred laughed softly. “Tell her she is most fortunate to come here and marry a fine man.”
    Zane burst into the hallway. “And for God’s sake, Sam, feed her!”
    Sam bustled Yan Li into the kitchen and seated her at the small table while he poured a cup of tea and began ladling the thick potato soup into a bowl. The white kitten pounced on the tassels dangling from his black slippers.
    â€œWe marry tomorrow,” he said to Zane. “In church. Both Christian. But tonight, not proper to be together.”
    â€œWe have another guest room, Sam. Yan Li can sleep there. I’ll take her travel bag up now.” He lifted the girl’s small sack and headed upstairs.
    Winifred sought Sam’s eyes. “Is that all she brought with her?”
    He spoke a few words to Yan Li. “She say that all she own. Mother’s wedding dress inside and sleeping robe. Family very poor in China.”
    Winifred made a note to herself to visit the dressmaker and arrange for more clothes for the girl. Surely Verena Forester could sew Chinese garments? They were a thousand times more simply cut than the ruffles and bows American women were wearing these days.
    As the girl spooned up her soup and Sam danced about the kitchen waiting on her it began to grow dark outside. Night came early in winter, and Winifred’s apprehension began to gnaw at her.
    Tonight she and Zane would drive out to the Jensens’ farm for a Christmas dance. Zane thought Sam and his bride should get to know each other with no one else around, and besides, Zane said he’d been asked to attend.
    But a dance? Surely she had no place at a gathering of Zane’s friends and neighbors. She knew no one except for Rooney Cloudman, the man who had left those yellow roses on Cissy’s grave, and Rita at the restaurant next to the Smoke River Hotel. And the only formal dress she’d brought was the green velvet hanging in the hall closet. It had a bodice that buttoned up to her neck and long sleeves with no lace at the cuffs. She wondered what women out West wore