Chase the Wind Read Online Free Page B

in my room.”
    Ian leaned back against the pillows and pulled Faith up against him. She waited patiently for him to speak, content to have her cheek against the bare skin of his broad chest, listening to his heart beat within. She wrapped her arm around his waist, and he squeezed her closer. She was quite sure there was no better place on earth to be at that moment.
    “There are two possibilities before us,” he began. “The first involves me getting you with child as soon as possible and making the deed right as soon as it becomes known.”
    A smile split Faith’s face at that delicious thought. “I don’t think you would survive the telling,” she replied, poking a slim finger into his bronzed chest to drive the point home.
    “Me either,” he agreed, rubbing his hand over the injured area. “The second involves going to my employer for help. I know he thinks highly of me and would lend me a small amount for us to find a place of our own. I have some money saved, but I will need to buy stock so we can support ourselves. Without an income, we would be sorely pressed in a short time. The only problem with this plan is that we will have to wait until my job here is done. I cannot tell the man I have failed him and then ask for a loan the same day.”
    “I agree, it would not be a good way to start out.” Faith sat up to look at him. “You know that we will have to steal away. My father has hopes I will make a good marriage.” Ian frowned at this. “I mean he wants me to marry a rich man so he will have no worries. I’m actually surprised that I’ve reached the age of twenty without being promised to someone.”
    “I am so glad you have. It would be much more difficult for me to steal you away from some rich old man who would totter after us with his cane.” Faith smacked him with a pillow. He flipped the weapon out of her hand and pulled her back down on his chest. “We could leave right after Christmas,” he mused. “Everyone should be busy enough that they will not immediately notice our going, and perhaps the weather will discourage any chase.”
    “I don’t know if I can wait that long.” Faith sighed. The rain had indeed made her sleepy, and the combination of the pounding on the tin roof and Ian’s heartbeat was lulling her into dreamland. She yawned against his chest, and he kissed the top of her head.
    “The Masons are having a big gathering soon to celebrate their son’s homecoming. Maybe we can spend some time alone together then.”
    Faith nodded in agreement. She felt so at peace. Ian slid down on the bed a bit and rolled over on his side. She fit up against him in spoon fashion, and he reached down to the foot of the bed and pulled the quilt over both of them. His arm went over her and slid under her waist. Faith nestled down in the pillows and felt his soft breath in her ear.
    “I love you,” he whispered.
    Faith nodded her head in perfect agreement. “I love you.”
    He barely heard her.
    When Faith woke up later that afternoon, Ian was gone. For a moment she wasn’t sure that he had actually been there, but the towel was still hanging where he had left it and her window was not quite closed. She wrapped her quilt around her and went to the window. She realized that it was no easy feat for Ian to have climbed the oak tree and opened her window. If not for his height it could not have been done. She decided to make it easier for him next time by leaving the window open.
    She twirled away from the window and flung the quilt on the bed. Christmas was just six weeks away, and then they would be leaving. Oddly, she felt no sadness at the thought of leaving her home. Actually, it hadn’t felt like home since her mother died. She felt absolutely no connection to the man who was her father. He had never treated her with affection, she was just another responsibility to him, someone to be clothed, schooled and married off. Even her looks did not connect her to him. She had her mother’s