In Your Arms (Montana Romance) Read Online Free

smile for her young ones. “The children love when Singing Bird reads to them.”
    Prickles of heat spread from Lily’s face to her gut at the name.
    “Snow In Her Hair,” she began, twisting her mittens in her hands, “I’ve instructed the children to call me Miss Lily.”
    Snow In Her Hair ’s expression was flat. “I see.”
    “It’s just that I wouldn’t want to confuse them,” she rushed to explain.
    Snow In Her Hair stared at her. “No, we wouldn’t want any confusion, would we.”
    The silence that followed threatened to swallow Lily whole . Any minute now Snow In Her Hair would start judging. Any minute she would start laughing.
    “Miss Lily, Miss Lily, what does this book say?” Meadow rushed to her, a shiny new volume in her hands.
    Grateful for the interruption, Lily answered, “Ah, this one is called The Jungle Book . It’s a collection of stories about a boy, Mowgli, who was lost to his family and raised by animals in the jungle.”
    “Lost to his family?” Meadow cocked her head to one side, unconvinced.
    “It does sometimes happen,” Lily answered. Her glance flickered to Snow In Her Hair, who had returned to her work. “Sometimes very small children are taken away through no fault of their own and raised in a strange jungle and don’t know who they are.”
    Snow In Her Hair lowered her head.
    “What’s a jungle?” Meadow asked.
    “It’s a place full of trees and dangerous animals, like tigers and snakes.”
    “Ooo!” Meadow squealed. She rushed back to the other children. “It’s about tigers and snakes!” she announced. “Miss Lily and I will read it to you.”
    Lily smiled. She followed Meadow to the corner of the tiny house, near the smoky fire. There were no chairs to sit on, so she sat cross-legged on the floor. Meadow and her siblings cuddled around her, peering at the illustrations as Lily opened the book.
    “The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling,” she began.
    A sense of normalcy settled over her as she read the story aloud. It didn’t matter whether it was reading literature or teaching sums, the act of filling young minds with knowledge both soothed and excited her. She was born for it. In a world that had been at best indifferent to her, the classroom—whether in a school or on the dusty floor of a simple house—was the one place she knew she truly belonged.
    She had been reading for half an hour, Meadow taking turns now and then, when there was a knock at the door.
    “Come,” Snow In Her Hair called from where she had moved to sit and sew.
    The door opened, letting in a gust of frigid air and Christian Avery.
    Lily’s heart beat in double-time. She frowned at the uninvited sensation, at the uninvited guest.
    “ Afternoon, Snow In Her Hair. I’ve brought you that liniment for your back from Sadie McGee,” Christian said, holding up a small sack. He wore a gentle smile, so different from the tight lines and hardened planes of his face that Lily was used to seeing that she couldn’t help but stare. His cheeks were pink with cold over the dark stubble of his beard.
    When he noticed Lily sitting with the children, he blinked. Without a scowl he was as handsome as the ladies of Cold Springs continually gossiped about.
    “What are you doing here?” he asked.
    “I….” She fumbled her answer, as if she’d been caught out of bounds with no way to explain herself.
    “Singing Bird drives the children to and from school every day,” Snow In Her Hair explained, taking the liniment from him.
    Christian stare d at her, expression hardening. The kind, handsome man Lily had seen for half a second went back to being the rigid justice of the peace.
    “Is that what all that talk back at the school was about?” he asked. “ You’re the person Hal wants to pay to drive the school wagon?”
    “I am not.” She stood, taking little Brook with her. She held onto the toddler as though she was a shield against the whirlwind. “The school wagon is another matter. I