Carol Arens - Rebel with a Heart

Until six months ago, that is, when Bethany’s husband had died suddenly of a fever.

Lilleth kissed Jess good-night and stroked the curly hair at Mary’s temple. Her nephew would be a good man. Bethany would raise him to be like his father.

“Uncle Alden can’t get to us here. Mr. Clarkly is downstairs.” Jess yawned and turned on his side, facing the blaze that Clark had laid in the small upstairs fireplace. “We’ll get Mama out of that place, just see if we don’t.”

“We will, I promise we will,” Lilleth said. Firelight cast shadows on Jess’s face, making him look like a miniature of his father, Hamilton.

How Alden and Hamilton could be twins was a mind-twisting mystery. Hamilton, older by a few moments, had been a good man, as honorable as he was handsome. Alden was a nervous little fellow who, unless surrounded by a group of fawning minions, was frightened of his shadow. And of ghosts...especially ghosts.

It was understandable that the wealthy Hanisprees, upon their deaths, had willed Alden a monthly allowance and Hamilton their entire fortune.

For a man as greedy as Alden, an allowance was not nearly enough. He coveted his brother’s inheritance, which now belonged to Bethany.

Lilleth was certain that, had he not been petrified that she would haunt him, Alden would have killed Bethany to take control of the fortune. But now, having incarcerated Bethany, all he need do was control her children.

That he would never do. Lilleth vowed it on her life. Why, she would tear him to shreds with her bare hands if he got within arm’s reach of them.

All at once the wind stopped and snow swept past the dormer window, silent and beautiful. She took a cleansing breath to banish Alden from her mind.

She walked to the window, unbuttoning the bodice of her gown and watching snowflakes sailing past. Sometimes when she was stressed she would try to bring her childhood hero’s face to mind. But time had blurred his image; she couldn’t see him anymore.

It didn’t matter, really. He would have changed a great deal. Even if she ran into him on the street he’d be altered beyond recognition, and so would she.

Yes, life was what it was. All those years ago she had cried for weeks, before tucking Trace Ballentine into a precious corner of her heart.

Aside from her brother-in-law, Trace had been the only bone-deep good man—boy, really—that she had ever met.

Until Clark Clarkly, that is. So far he seemed to be quite decent.

The poor man didn’t know he was sheltering a criminal. For his own good, she would have to be out of his house as soon as she could get her bearings. Hopefully, tomorrow morning.

Lilleth Preston didn’t like being on the wrong side of the law. She was a singer, a sister and an auntie. Three things that she adored and had built her life around.

Curse Alden Hanispree for forcing her to kidnap her sister’s children.

* * *

It was late. On any other night Trace would have been asleep hours before. Early to bed and early to rise and all that. But Lilleth was upstairs, abandoned and unprotected.

He lurched out of his chair for the tenth time in under an hour to pace before the dying fire. The fact that she was, for all accounts, unmarried was a torment and a temptation, but he would deal with that.

Unprotected! Now that was a problem more difficult to cope with.

Yes, she had grown to be a capable and resilient woman.

And no, he was no more able to leave her to the whims of fate now than he had been when she was a child.

“Well hell, Lils,” he muttered. “What am I supposed to do?”

He stomped to the front door and snatched it open. Icy air bit his nose and chilled his ears. It did not, however, do much in the way of clearing his head.

He couldn’t give her safe harbor without compromising the secrecy of his mission. He couldn’t send her and the children out into the elements.

He could try to get some sleep. Occasionally, the answers to perplexing problems came to him while he slumbered. More than a few puzzles had knit together in his dreams.

He closed the front door, shook off a shiver and tried once again to fold his body in a too-small chair.

Knees up, shoulders hunched, neck twisted, with eyes closed and sheep counted...this time he would make it work.

“Stars shine bright, sleep tight tonight,” he whispered. His eyes popped wide-open.

From what dusty part of his brain had he remembered that? Years ago it had been Lilleth’s nightly farewell when, far past the time when most girls were allowed out, she would peck his cheek and dash through the trees toward home.

“Stars shine bright, sleep tight tonight,” he repeated, dusting off the phrase and polishing it. Amazingly, he began to get sleepy.

Behind his eyelids he saw young Lilleth in the woods.

Summer heat shimmered off the ground even though it was hours after sundown. Leaves on the trees drooped, looking wilted under the light of a full moon.

She ran toward Red Leaf Pond holding the hem of her white nightgown in her fists.

She didn’t appear to see him sitting on the rotting tree trunk at the edge of the pond. She must have been trying to escape the heat, just as he was.

His own ma and pa didn’t mind their boys running loose after dark. His sister complained to high heaven, but she was a girl, and therefore confined to the safety of home.

But Lilleth didn’t live by those rules. Her mother wouldn’t care that she was out, even if she knew.

Just now, Lils ran barefoot and free. Her red hair streamed out behind her, winking at the moon.

At the water’s edge she waded in past her ankles, then began to lift her shift, clearly intending to draw the thin, worn fabric over her head.

“Hey, Lils!” He stood up quickly and strode into the moonlight. “Mind if I come in, too?”

She dropped the hem of her nightgown and grinned at him. “I’ll race you to the middle,” she called.

She waited for him to strip to his underdrawers before she dived in. She didn’t need a head start, for she swam like a tadpole.

They met in the center, circling around each other and laughing. Moonlight dappled the surface of the pond where they kicked and splashed.

“Oh.” Lilleth ducked under the water, then surfaced again. “The day’s been blistering. This feels so good.”

“Yeah, but Lils, you shouldn’t be out by yourself at night. It’s not safe.”

“Safer than home, I guess.” She brushed her hand across her face, sluicing water from her eyes and nose. “Mama has a new man and Beth and I haven’t got him figured out yet. Besides, I’m not alone, you’re here.”

“I might not have been.” He ducked under the water and came up blowing out a mouthful, pretending to be the spout of a fancy fountain. “What if Horn and Pard Higgins are slinking about?”

“Well, they aren’t. And you are here.”

With that she flipped beneath the water and grabbed hold of his feet. She yanked him under. He caught her around the middle, feeling ribs under cotton, and then hoisted her up. He surfaced in time to see her flying through the air, laughing and sputtering.

They played like that for a long time before Lils began to shiver and they swam for shore.

He put his clothes on while she wrung out her hair.

“I’ll walk you home,” he said.

“I’m going to run.” She flashed him a grin with pond water still speckling her lashes. “You won’t be able to catch up.”

“My legs are longer.”

“Mine are quicker.” She bounced up on her toes and pecked his cheek. “Stars shine bright, sleep tight tonight.”

Then she was off, a streak in the moonlight. He laughed out loud. His longer legs never were a match for her quicker ones, but at least he’d get there in time to see her close her front door safely behind her.