Ecstasy's Promise (Historical Romance) Read Online Free Page B

you?" she asked softly. She searched his eyes and knew she had found the truth. She placed her hand on his. "Now I know why you never married."
    "I did not need to marry, Imp. I already had a daughter."
    Her eyes widened.
    "No, not that. You are John Farraday's daughter, though he was kind enough to share you with me."
    "Yes," Victoria said. "I have been lucky, for I have known the love of two fathers. I do not want to be disloyal to my father, but I think I love you best." Bodine drew in his breath. Trying to cover his feelings, he turned his back to her. "Why did my grandmother not keep in touch with me?" Victoria asked, tactfully changing the subject.
    "I don't really know," Bodine said. "I guess the thread was broken when your mother died. It is hard to explain. Your father and grandmother were from two different worlds. They simply did not correspond."
    "Tell me about Texas," Victoria said. "I only know what I have read. To me it seems a place full of wild Indians and cactus."
    He sat down beside her again. "It is big and wild and untamed. There is a ranch next to your grandmother's that is so big, it would take you a week to ride across it. It is called Rio del Lobo. Texas has a beauty that you will find nowhere in the world. Not the lush green you have in Georgia, but a subtle beauty, exciting and teeming with life. You have not seen a sunset until you have stood on a mesa in the middle of nowhere and watched the sun go down. Since you like to paint, honey, you can let your artist's imagination run away with you there."
    "You love Texas, don't you, Bodine?"
    "Yeah. Guess I have been like a cactus in the snow since I left her."
    "Yet you stayed in Georgia."
    He smiled at her. "Yet I stayed, Imp. Now enough talk. We are going to the O'Brians', if there are no Yankees about. We need supplies, for we have a long trip ahead of us."
    It was a little before noon when they rode up to the O'Brian Plantation. They dismounted just as Mr. and Mrs. O'Brian came out on their veranda. Mrs. O'Brian ran down the steps and enfolded Victoria in her arms. Her eyes were brimming with tears.
    "Victoria, you are safe!" she cried. "We saw the fire last night and knew Farraday Plantation was burning. Tom told me that you would be safe in Savannah. Oh, my dear, I am so sorry you have lost your home. You must come and stay with Tom and myself." Martha O'Brian was talking so fast, she had no chance to answer. Victoria smiled at the gentle woman who looked so much like Paul.
    "Have the Yankees been here?" Bodine asked Tom.
    "Yes, they rode in last night. They took everything that was not nailed down. I tell you, Bodine, if I could have laid my hands on a gun, I would have killed me a Yankee or two."
    Bodine and Victoria exchanged glances.
    "They made Martha and I stand out in the front yard while they ransacked the house," he continued. "I am glad you talked me into hiding the livestock or they would have taken that, too."
    "They did not hurt you, did they?" Victoria asked quickly.
    "No, not physically," Tom answered. "But you cannot imagine the indignity of standing at gunpoint while they went through all our personal belongings."
    "Will they return?" Bodine asked.
    "Yes, they said they were going to set up headquarters here tonight. They could come back at any time," Tom O'Brian replied.
    Victoria gave an involuntary cry. "We must hide, Bodine. We cannot let them find us here."
    "What has happened?" Tom asked, feeling that something was amiss.
    "I will tell you in a moment. First," Bodine said, turning to the O'Brians' stable boy, who was standing nearby, "Jackson, will you get the horses out of sight?" The black boy nodded and led the two horses toward the swamp. There was an urgency in Bodine's voice that the O'Brians could not fail to recognize, and Victoria was acting very peculiar. "Let us go into the house and you can tell us what has occurred," Tom O'Brian said.
    When they were in the entryway, Bodine turned to Mrs. O'Brian. "Martha, we