John turned and paced back across the room. “They didn’t even bother to appoint officers. A total waste of time.”
“When’s the next meeting?” Samuel asked. The sooner the better.
He needed to keep his brother away from Ella as long as possible. At least until…
How long exactly?
“Next week,” John said. “You should come. They’ll listen to you.”
“Listen to me about what?” Samuel finished off his drink. He had nothing to say to a bunch of riled up farmers ready to fight the first person who came along.
John turned and paced some more. “To tell them we need to get our officers elected. Be ready to fight when the call comes.”
Samuel didn’t share his brother’s enthusiasm. But there was no need in telling him that. He didn’t want a bunch of hot-headed southerners turning their energy toward him.
If he wasn’t careful, he’d be the one getting tarred and feathered.
Besides, right now, he had Ella to focus on.
And now he had to worry about just how long she was going to be here. In the past. And just how he was going to protect her.
21
Ella ran a hand along the leather books on a shelf in the study.
It was as close to a library as she could get right now.
She needed her phone. The Internet.
She swallowed what felt like a bubble of panic.
There was no Internet. No way to research time travel.
She laughed to herself.
Even if she had her phone or her computer, she wouldn’t find anything about time travel.
She would probably find about as much in these old books as she would on the Internet.
She randomly pulled a book from the shelf. It had that new book smell.
Sat down in the nearest chair.
Flipped the pages randomly, not reading.
She already knew she wasn’t going to find any answers here.
Was this what had happened to Daniel?
Had he gone back in time?
He could have gone to a completely different year.
How did it work anyway? Were there different timelines?
A likely explanation if she were to believe the movies.
She rolled her eyes.
The problem was all those movies came from someone’s imagination.
She closed the book and set it aside.
Truth was, she was on her own here.
This was one of those times when she’d have to figure things out for herself.
Supposedly that was the point of getting a college education. Not to just learn facts, but to learn how to solve problems as they came up. Critical thinking.
Since she couldn’t solve the problem of the time travel, she needed to think about the problem of Samuel.
She couldn’t stop thinking about him.
He had bottomless blue eyes that seemed to see into her soul.
He wasn’t like the men she was used to who only saw her long mermaid hair, green eyes, and curvy body.
No. He seemed to see deeper.
Or maybe it was just her imagination.
She looked up with a jolt as she realized the very object of her thoughts was standing in the doorway watching her.
Her heart did little flips and she squeezed her hands together to keep them from shaking.
“Good morning,” he said with a small lopsided smile. “I trust you slept well.”
“I did actually.”
She’d been surprised. The air here seemed so much more pure. Like there was more oxygen in the air. And it was just… quiet. And so dark.
It was funny how researchers now recommended that people sleep in a dark, quiet room.
They had no idea just what that was really like.
Of course, they also said it was best to sleep in a cold room. That wasn’t going to be possible once the summer heat hit.
“You want to talk?” he asked.
22
Samuel hadn’t slept much last night.
He’d spent a lot of time thinking.
Thinking about Ella.
Not just wondering how long she would stay here in this time before returning to her own time.
Wondering if she had any control over it.
But also wondering if she could remember… things.
In some ways, she could be a fortune teller in this time period.
Not that she could let anyone know that.
People were still afraid of things they couldn’t explain.
If people found out she knew things about the future, she’d be the one getting tarred and feathered. Not him.
Or maybe both of them.
He sat in a chair across from her.
Though they were only a few feet apart, they were farther apart than he wanted to be.
She watched him warily.
He didn’t care for that.
He wanted her to trust him.
But really, how could she?
Knowing that she was from the future made her vulnerable to him.
He would have to find a way to convince her that she could trust him.
Or maybe it would simply take time.
“You have bad news?” she asked.
“What? Why would you think that?”
She smiled tentatively.
“Usually when someone says we need to talk, it translates into I’m about to say something that you won’t like.”
He raised an eyebrow. “The meaning of language changes over time,” he said.
“Maybe,” she said. “So what do you need to tell me?”
He chuckled. “Nothing.”
She sat up straight, her hands clasped in her lap.
“Maybe you need to talk,” she said, her head tilted to the side.
He smiled slowly. “Maybe.”
They sat for a few seconds, their gazes locked.
“So you think your brother—stepbrother—is here?” he asked. “In the past?”
“I don’t know.” She lowered her gaze. “He’s missing.”
“And you came here to look for him? It must have been a long journey.”
“It took me all day to get here from Denver.”
“Wait,” he shook his head. “The Denver in the western territory?”
She bit her lip. “Yes.”
* * *
“You came all the way here from Denver? In one day?”
She smiled a little. “Transportation has changed quite a bit.”
“I can’t imagine how someone could travel so far so quickly.”
“It is a little bit like magic,” she said.
He leaned back in the chair and stretched out his legs.
“Please,” he said, then lowered his voice with a quick glance over his shoulder. “Tell me a good story.”
23
Ella told Samuel a little about automobiles. Then she told him a little bit about airplanes.
He listened silently so she wasn’t sure if he believed her or not.
And honestly if their positions were reversed, she wouldn’t have believed him either.
Trying to explain that people could get into a steel tube and fly across the sky to a man whose primary mode of transportation was horseback sounded outlandish even to her own ears.
She wasn’t sure she was supposed to be telling him this.
But he asked.
And she couldn’t imagine that it would hurt anything.
It wasn’t like she was giving him winning lottery numbers.
There was absolutely nothing he could do with the information other than listen.
Unless, of course, he did something like write a book about it or go out and tell people that she was a witch.
If he did that, they would probably burn her at the stake.
Or was that a different century?
Either way, she trusted him.
She couldn’t explain why. Maybe it was his kind eyes. Or the way he seemed to hang on her ever
y word.
Ella considered herself to be a fairly good judge of people.
And she judged Samuel to be a good man.
After she’d finished explaining how she’d gotten from Denver to Natchez in one day, he went to a cabinet that held a water pitcher and brought back two glasses filled with water.
“Thank you,” she said, as he held out the glass to her.
His fingertips brushed hers as she took the glass from him.
That simple touch sent a jolt of electricity through her.
He smiled and sat down across from her.
“Do you know how to ride a horse?” he asked.
“A little.” She’d ridden a few times when she’d visited a friend who lived on a ranch outside of Denver.
“Good.” He finished his water and leaned forward. “You’ve told me about your world. I’d like to show you something of mine.”
“You want to take me riding?” she asked.
He grinned. “Do you mind?”
“Um… no…. but…” She ran a hand along her skirt. “How am I supposed to ride in a dress?”
He stood up and held out a hand. “You’ll be surprised what you can do in a dress.”
With her gaze locked on his, she put her hands in his and he pulled her to her feet.
The feel of her hand in his sent her thoughts scattering into a thousand different directions.
When she was standing in front of him, he didn’t release her hand.
She had to tilt up her chin to keep her gaze on his.
His clear blue eyes pulled her in and she was lost.
24
Samuel saddled two horses and led them out of the stables to where Ella waited.
He’d given some serious thought to taking just one horse so that she would have to ride in front of him.
But that seemed manipulative so he didn’t.
He’d chosen a gentle older mare for her ride. He didn’t want to take any chances.
Father had bought the mare, a horse named Peaches, when Samuel was just a lad, so the horse had been around long enough that she didn’t need any direction to get herself around.
Ella stood next to the horse and looked at her with doubt plastered all over her face.
“Here,” Samuel said. “Just put your foot here and I’ll help you over.”
He held the stirrup for her and help her swing over the horse’s back.
“Shouldn’t I be riding side-saddle?” she asked, but her face was flushed and she was grinning.
“Probably,” he said. “But neither my mother or my sister do, so we don’t even own a side-saddle.”
Her skirts were hiked up, showing her calves. He wouldn’t have minded, but he was taking her onto a public road and others weren’t so forgiving.
He pulled her skirts down over her legs.
“I guess I’m not a very lady-like rider,” she said.
He looked at her sitting on the horse and he couldn’t imagine a more beautiful lady than she was.
“I think you’re lovely,” he said, enjoying the pretty flush that spread across her cheeks.
He mounted his own horse and together they started down the lane that led to the main road.
She looked at everything, her gaze flitting from side to side.
“We’re going to the river road?” she asked.
“I thought you’d like to see some of the area,” he said.
“It looks the same,” she said. “but different. So different.”
She looked over at him.
“It’s so unreal.”
“What’s different,” he asked. He really, really wanted to know. Not just out of curiosity about the future, but also because he wanted to see his world through her eyes.
He cared what she thought.
“Well… There should be a highway right here.” Her voice had gone a little wistful.
“What’s a highway?” he asked, wanting to hear her talk more.
“It’s a paved… um… very firm and smooth road that the cars I was telling you about ride on.”
“They just drive on the ground like a carriage?”
She shook her head. “Sometimes. This driveway is pretty much the same. But once we get to the highway, we can go anywhere.” She turned and looked at him with those lovely green eyes.
“Anywhere?”
“Absolutely anywhere in the whole country. From the east coast to the west.” A smile lit her face. “It’s really absolutely amazing how it works.”
Her smile sent tingles along his spine.
“And yet,” he couldn’t resist saying with a little teasing tone. “you all prefer to fly in the air.”
She shrugged. “It’s not always convenient to fly. An airplane can’t land just anywhere. For example, I had to fly into Alexandria and drive the rest of the way here. In my car.”
“Alexandria? In Louisiana?”
That was several days ride from here.
“Yeah,” she said, rolling her shoulders. “It was a really long drive.”
“And you drove by yourself?” he asked, though he already knew the answer.
“Of course. I made the whole trip by myself.”
He was overcome by protectiveness. Imagining her traveling so far all by herself. Anything could have happened. She could have been set upon by bandits.
A lady as beautiful as she was at risk for all sorts of mishaps. Men would notice her. Be drawn to her.
Just as he was.
But he wanted to protect her.
To keep her safe.
It occurred to him then, that in spite of the dangers she must have navigated to get here, the fact that she traveled alone was actually a good thing.
It meant she didn’t have a man to travel with her.
So it had to mean that she was available.
25
Samuel was looking at her… funny.
That was the only way she could think to describe that look he was giving her.
His expression was blank, but she could almost see the questions swirling behind his eyes.
Psychology majors were often teased about their ability to read minds.
It was silly, of course. If only it worked that way.
But right now, Ella really wished she could read Samuel’s mind.
Without thinking, she’d told him she’d traveled here alone.
But in retrospect, she could see how that could trouble him.
Things were different in his… this… time.
Ladies probably rarely traveled alone.
And in truth it most likely wasn’t safe.
Oh no.
Had the fact that she’d traveled alone changed his perception of her?
Did he think she was one of those women with a bad reputation?
In the 1800s a woman’s reputation was just about all she had.
“Travel is really safe in the future,” she said. In comparison. “There’s a lot of security, so women are expected to travel alone.”
He nudged his horse forward a bit.
“It must be quite a bit different,” he said, pulling his gaze from hers.
“It is,” she said, relieved that the tense moment had passed.
Her horse followed his and a few minutes later they reached the edge of the river.
The river didn’t look so much different.
It was still a wide, muddy river.
Then she saw two steamboats coming toward them, side by side.
“Not again,” Samuel said, watching the boats.
“What are they doing?”
She didn’t know much about steamboats, but even she could see that they were traveling much too fast.
“They’re racing,” he said. “And one of them could heat their boilers too much.”
“What happens then?” she asked.
“It will explode.”
The boats would be reaching them in a few minutes. They were close enough for her to hear people cheering.
If she closed he
r eyes, she could imagine being at a football game.
Instead of cowering in fear that their boat might explode, the passengers were cheering.
They were actually cheering for their respective boats.
“Is this common?” she asked.
“It happens all the time,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s why I was certain you must have been involved in a steamboat explosion.”
He looked pointedly at her. “And, of course, that you were soaked through and through.”
Ella felt a blush heating her cheeks.
There was something about the way he looked at her.
As though he couldn’t quite figure her out and he really, really wanted to.
It was a new experience to be looked at like this.
Even Thomas, the man she’d thought she was going to marry hadn’t looked at her with such intensity.
The steamboats continued down the river. Without exploding.
But the thought of Thomas startled her.
She’d barely thought about him all day.
That was quite unusual for her.
They said that the spirit of those who had passed lived on in the minds of those they left behind.
Thomas most definitely lived on in her mind.
But today, her mind had taken a break.
And instead, she’d found herself focusing on a man who’d lived and died hundreds of years ago.
A man who sat in front of her. Watching her every expression.
26
Samuel had to admit to himself, at least, that he liked looking at Ella.
Her face was so very expressive.
Ladies of his day were schooled from the moment they left the womb to control their overt emotions.
They kept their feelings to themselves, pulling them out only when they saw a need.
The women he knew could cry at the drop of a hat.
Or could be raging with anger on the inside, yet not a person would know.
How did he know this?
One of the unexpected benefits of him not living in the garçonnière—after his visit from Vaughn—was that he’d watched what his mother had taught his sister, Beatrice.
Samuel was the kind of man who noticed that sort of thing.
When the Moon Falls Page 5