The Wicked North (Hearts Touched By Fire Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

gentlemen.”
    She laughed. “Oh, do call me Caroline.”
    “Miss Caroline,” he bowed his head to her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Emma near the refreshments. She rolled her eyes. Yes, this summer would be quite pleasant.
     
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    The celebrations lasted well beyond a week. Jack always found it amusing how the South’s hospitality continued for so long. Of course, in an agricultural community such as this, with people spaced far apart, what other diversions were there but to visit and entertain?
    More fancy dinners were arranged. A few more dances. Musical quartets played. Lawn parties and teas. And for the men, Charles’ father arranged hunting matches and horse races. The men laughed with the ladies at dinner and danced and played Graces and other lawn games. Jack enjoyed the archery matches, the one sport dominated by the ladies. He considered it comical that Society found it acceptable for ladies to shoot arrows, but not bullets. While both can prove deadly, the latter was considered unladylike.
    But who did he find at the gun shooting match? Emma. He was surprised to see her, as she had avoided him after the first evening’s celebrations. In fact, he hardly saw her at all in the brief moments he freed himself of her sister.
    Caroline was very pretty, very feminine and, as he suspected, very spoiled. She clung to his arm at various functions. If it weren’t for Emma’s occasional appearance and the bored expression on her face when she saw him with Caroline, he might have enjoyed Caroline’s enticements. Jack was there only for the summer and he wasn’t interested in wooing anyone. But why did Emma’s dismissal bother him?
    On this day, Jack had risen early to go to the stable and saddle Windswept. The thoroughbred nickered to him, rubbing his muzzle on Jack’s arm.
    “Yes, boy, today, we’re goin’ for a run,” he told the stallion as he groomed him and put the saddle and bridle on. Leading the horse out of his stall, Jack, reins in hand, grabbed a lock of the horse’s mane and leaped into the saddle.
    The morning air was crisp for summer in Virginia. Jack inhaled the slight breeze and closed his eyes. He found himself alone and savored the experience. The Point kept him with his class. On this trip, Charles was his companion at all times. The Silvers family planned a busy schedule to keep their company entertained. It made him relish moments like this—peaceful, only a man and his horse. He exhaled and scanned the horizon. Finding the copse in the distance, he nudged Windswept at a fast walk and then into a trot.
    It felt good to be independent, just him and Windswept. Charles’ sister pursued him constantly. Last night had been more than he could handle. After dinner, the older adults left Jack, Charles, Caroline and three of their neighbors in the parlor. They considered playing various games but finally picked charades, with the winner to get a kiss from whomever they chose. All fun and laughs.
    But Emma was absent. Jack missed her not being with them. Later, he did catch a glimpse of her on the staircase, bent down and watching. He grinned up at her…about the same time Caroline won the match and came to him for her kiss. As she reached up to meet his lips, Jack saw out of the corner of his eye Emma pull back and stumble up the staircase.
    Kissing Caroline in the parlor games was fun, he had to admit. But a shudder washed through him as he could still feel her pressing on his lips, her tongue set to enter his mouth. She was too bold and he didn’t comply. Obviously, she wasn’t pleased but withheld from making a scene over it. Still, it racked his nerves, and now Windswept picked up on the tension of his rider and increased his speed.
    As Jack reined the horse toward the trees near the stream, the area where he first met Emma, he slowed his mount. Something about this area drew him. Maybe her presence in his memory. Maybe because its trees concealed him from anyone else who might