Free Tracie Peterson by Bridal Blessings Page B

just as easily slip into that lazy American style that one finds so evident here in the West.”
    Logan grinned and gave his horse a nudge. “And I though she didn’t notice me.”
    Amelia frowned. “How is it that you are this way?”
    Logan shrugged. “I had folks who saw the importance of an education but held absolutely no regard for snobbery and uppity society ways. I went to college back east and learned a great deal, but not just in books. I learned about people.”
    “Is that where you also took up religion?” she questioned.
    “No, not at all. I learned about God and the Bible from my mother and father first, and then from our local preacher. The things they taught me made a great deal of sense. Certainly more sense than anything the world was offering. It kept me going in the right direction.”
    Amelia nodded politely, but in the back of her mind she couldn’t help but wonder about his statement. Most of her life she had felt herself running toward something, but it was impossible to know what that something was. Her mother had tried to encourage her to believe in God, but Amelia thought it a mindless game. Religion required you to believe in things you couldn’t see or prove. Her very logical mind found it difficult to see reason in this.
If God existed, couldn’t He make Himself known without requiring people to give in to superstitious nonsense and outrageous stories of miraculous wonders? And if God existed, why did tragedy and injustice abound? Why did He not, instead, create a perfect world without pain or sorrow?
    “I’ve answered your questions, now how about answering some of mine?” Logan’s voice broke through her thoughts.
    “Such as?” Amelia dared to ask.
    “Such as, why are you really here? I have a good idea that Lady Bird has very little to do with your traveling to America.”
    Amelia saw her sisters move to where Jeffery stood and smiled. “My father wanted me to come, so I did. It pleased him and little else seemed to offer the same appeal.”
    “Is he still mourning your mother’s passing?”
    “I suppose in a sense, although it’s been six years. They were very much a love match, which was quite rare among their friends.”
    “Rare? Why is that?”
    Amelia smiled tolerantly. “Marriages are most generally arranged to be advantageous to the families involved. My father married beneath his social standing.” She said the words without really meaning to.
    “If he married for love it shouldn’t have mattered. Seems like he did well enough for himself anyway,” Logan replied. He nodded in the direction of her father in conversation with Mattersley. “He is an earl, after all, and surely that holds esteem in your social circles.”
    “Yes, but the title dies with him. He has no sons and his estates, well—” she found herself unwilling to answer Logan’s soft-spoken questions. “His estates aren’t very productive. My mother had a low social standing, but she brought a small fortune and land into the family, which bolstered my father’s position.”
    “So it
was
advantageous to both families, despite her lack of standing?”
    “Yes, but you don’t understand. It made my father somewhat of an outcast. He’s quite determined that his daughters do not make the same mistake. It’s taken him years to rebuild friendships and such. People still speak badly of him if the moment presents itself in an advantageous way. Were we to marry poorly it would reflect directly on him and no doubt add to his sufferings.”
    “But what if you fall in love with someone your father deems beneath you?” Logan asked moving in a step. “Say you fall in love with a barbarian instead of a twit?” His raised brow implied what his words failed to say.
    Amelia felt her face grow hot.
He is really asking what would happen if I fell in love with him.
His face was close enough to reach out and touch and as always that pesky mustache drew her attention.
What if?
She had to distance herself.