Last Promise Read Online Free Page A

blasted thing was so heavy he thought that lovely little lady might have dead bodies stored in there. It was large enough to hold three or four. When he reached door number six he didn’t have a free hand so he banged on the door with the toe of his boot.
    Standing at the mirror brushing her hair, Mary Ann jumped at the knock. Collecting herself, she said through the door, “Yes?”
    â€œYour luggage.”
    â€œOh, certainly.” She hurried across the room and turned the key in the lock. To her dismay, when she cracked the door open there stood the very man she’d faced outside. The desperado. What in heaven’s name was he doing with her luggage?
    Once again, when Luke looked at her face, her sheer beauty caught him off guard. She had removed her hat, and he didn’t know what he expected, but it definitely wasn’t the wealth of red hair hanging over her shoulder. It wasn’t a bright red like L. B. Ditty’s, but a soft red, with strands of gold running throughout it. The kind of hair that gave a man a lot of thoughts. Thoughts he shouldn’t be having right now. After he stopped staring at her hair, his eyes moved back to her unusual silver eyes. If he was reading her expression correctly, she was surprised and not pleasantly so, that he was the one carrying her luggage. He thought she might slam the door in his face. “Do you reckon I can put this inside your room? I don’t think I can hold it much longer.”
    Not only was the man a mischief-maker, he was also quite forward. She assumed he must work at the hotel, so surely her uncle wouldn’t hire someone who was a danger to his guests. But at the first opportunity tonight, she planned to let Uncle George know that this . . . this scoundrel needed his manners polished like the glistening furniture. Opening the door wider, she stood back to allow Luke entry.
    Luke had been in this room before with another young woman, but right now he couldn’t even recall her face much less her name. He placed the trunk on the floor near the wardrobe thinking it would be convenient for her, and the valises on the long bench at the foot of the bed. He noticed her pink hat on the bedspread. Finished with his task, he didn’t want to leave. What he really wanted to do was turn around and get a good long look at her. He glanced at the fireplace and saw the wood was already laid and ready to be lit. “The nights can be a bit chilly this time of year, would you like me to go ahead and light the fire? Eb probably won’t make it up here anytime soon.” He was proud of himself for thinking of that. Yep, gallantry could go a long way.
    Perhaps he wasn’t as ill-mannered as she first thought. She appreciated his consideration. “Yes, thank you, a fire would be lovely.”
    Luke noticed how she hovered by the open door, looking something akin to a lost calf, a bit skittish, uncertain of which way to go. It was understandable why a little thing like her wouldn’t want to close the door with a man in her room. He thought maybe if he talked to her it would put her at ease. Plus he liked the sound of her proper English accent. After removing his hat, he tossed it on the bed and it landed right beside her frilly pink hat making the feathers flutter. “You must have traveled a long way,” he said conversationally.
    She wasn’t accustomed to servants speaking so freely. That didn’t happen in her father’s home, no one dared speak out of turn. But she must remember she was in America now, and attitudes here, as she had learned, were vastly different. As Luke went about lighting the fire, Mary Ann covertly observed his physique. He was a very large man, tall and muscular, with legs that seemed to go on forever. When he squatted down in front of the fireplace and leaned over to add more logs, his shirt stretched over his broad, muscled shoulders and she half expected the seams to tear apart. She