Free LoverforRansom by Debra Glass

he heard Jenny whisper a heartfelt
apology to her teacher, and then utter, “I’m afraid he won’t want me when he
realizes what I’m like now, Miss Ryan.”
    He didn’t remain behind to hear the reply. His heart broke
for his sister. And Jenny’s words had sparked a different view of Cathleen
Ryan’s hard shell. Did all her bravado stem from the fact she didn’t feel
desirable?
    Is that the life to which he’d doomed his sister? A life of
making brash statements to cover insecurities?
    Because they were only statements. She was dead wrong if she
didn’t think she was desirable. After that night in the parlor, he’d been
unable to get her out of his head—even when he’d put Harriet Bostick on her
knees and covered her like a wild stallion.
    Cathleen…
    He inhaled deeply, letting her given name slip through his
thoughts. A little thrill rippled through him at even thinking of giving voice
to that name, of whispering it in her ear while he moved sensuously above her.
    Even last night with Harriet, it had been Cathleen’s moans
he’d heard. It’d been her soft flesh he’d plied and gripped. And it had been
her body in which he’d utterly lost himself.
    He shook his head, trying to wrest free of the thoughts that
threatened to render him unable to walk down the stairs and present himself in
mixed company. Tugging at his trousers, he tried to adjust his semi-erection.
    Realistically, he wasn’t attracted to the Yankee teacher.
She merely presented a challenge. All her talk of carrying on as she pleased
had incited him in myriad ways that he couldn’t sort out in his mind.
    Like him, she’d chosen to walk this world alone and he could
do nothing but admire her for that decision.
    It would be easy to marry one of the Tennessee belles who so
readily flung themselves at him, to take the reins from his father and continue
the business of breeding horses. But something prevented him. He’d fought for
this land. He’d watched friends, cousins and neighbors die on the soil of his
home state—all in vain. When the war was lost, he realized a piece of his soul
had died with the Southern cause .
    If it weren’t for Jenny, he’d have already gone.
    But now it looked as if she were on the road to some
semblance of a normal life. Thanks to Cathleen Ryan.
    Soon, he promised himself. Soon, he’d be able to leave.
    He bounded down the steps and back into the dining room to
let Andy know Jenny wouldn’t be joining them.
    * * * * *
    “No one can see you except for Sally and me,” Cathleen told
Jenny.
    “You better hurry up, child,” Sally said from her perch on
the piano stool. “Aunt Chloe’s gon’ give me what for if she catches me in here
dawdling.”
    “I can’t,” Jenny protested.
    “You’ll never know until you try, will you?” Cathleen said,
taking the girl’s hands and dragging her to her feet.
    Jenny stumbled two steps forward. “I can’t even walk across
a room without bumping into something.”
    “That’s where trust in your partner comes into play,”
Cathleen explained.
    “Andy’s going to take one look at me and turn tail.”
    “No he’s not,” Cathleen said and turned toward Sally. “Can
you play something in three quarter time?”
    “I don’t play by lookin’ at a page, Miss Ryan.”
    “A waltz then. Ba-bum-bum, ba-bum-bum.”
    “Ah.” Sally spun on the stool and began to plunk out a
waltz.
    “For this dance, you will never leave your original
partner,” Cathleen said, taking Jenny’s hand and placing it on her shoulder.
    “I know how to waltz,” Jenny mumbled miserably.
    “Then we are one step ahead of the game,” Cathleen told her
as she assumed the part of the male and urged Jenny into motion.
    True to her word, Jenny tripped over her feet.
    “Try again,” Cathleen said firmly but patiently.
    Jenny’s head bobbed in time with the music before she tried
again. This time, she trampled Cathleen’s feet.
    “I should have worn a pair of trousers,” Cathleen said