Lori Austin Read Online Free

scrambled for a solution.
    If he stayed, she couldn’t. Live in a house with a Yankee? What would folks say?
    She knew what they’d say. She’d never be able to hold up her head in Winchester again. Not that she had any hope of marriage or family. Even if there were any eligible men left alive, which one would want to take on the burden of five children who weren’t even hers? But, husband or not, she had to live in Winchester. She had nowhere else to go.
    “You can head on back to your place in the morning, Miss Fontaine.” He lowered his head in a formal dismissal that made Ella grit her teeth. “I’m sure you’ve neglected your duties since taking up mine.”
    She had no duties to neglect, no one to go home to. But she wasn’t going to tell him that.
    The candle flickered, dancing with the shadows in the hall. As if in answer to a prayer, an idea bloomed, so wonderful, so devious, so perfect, she smiled.
    The major blinked and stared, which made Ella pause. She’d forgotten how it felt to dazzle a man. That he could be dazzled when she stood before him in a four-year-old gown, her feet bare and baby spit on her shoulder, told Ella one thing—Yankee women had to be dog ugly and fashion foolish.
    “You’re so right, Major. I’ve let my place go something awful. In the morning, I’ll just be on my way home.”
    She’d leave, all right. But she wouldn’t stay away. She didn’t trust any Yankee as far as she could spit, and she certainly wouldn’t trust this one alone with her children.
    Ella left Major Torrance in the hall and returned to the baby’s room, her smile widening on the way. She wouldn’t have to do anything to get rid of him. There were five experts just waiting to do it for her.

Three
    Seth was dragged from sleep by the thud of muted marching as the sun spread light and warmth across his face. At first he thought he was back at war, his men trotting off to die as he lay sleeping.
    He leaped from the bed, forgetting it was merely a rough mattress placed on the floor of the room where Georgina Elliot had died. Misjudging the distance, he stumbled and smacked his knee against the wall. Cursing, he yanked open the door.
    Four curious, yet hostile, pairs of brown eyes met his. The explanation for his marching dream stood in the hall in various states of undress—the little girls still in their nightdresses, the younger boy in pants but no shirt. The elder boy had both. None of them possessed shoes, which explained the muted nature of the marching.
    “Uh, hello,” he began.
    “Ella says you’re our new keeper.” The oldest boy—Cal, Seth recalled—spoke for them all. “But I’m here t’ tell ya, we don’t need none.”
    Seth winced at the child’s choice of words. One of his first duties would be to hire a governess. The Elliot children, as well as many others in the area, no doubt, had had their educations sadly neglected. He doubted schooling was high on the list of priorities when food was at a premium. But now that he was here, that would change.
    He studied Cal. The boy studied him.
    “I’m sure you don’t need a keeper,” Seth allowed.
    “No nanny, nor governess neither. Not that you look like one.”
    Well, thank goodness for small favors.
    The wail of the baby made all of the children flinch. Without further comment they turned tail and ran, thundering down the stairs with all the grace of wounded buffalo.
    Figuring Ella would get the baby, Seth stepped into his room and quickly dressed in another of the new suits his mother had bought for him. When he’d returned from the war thinner at the waist and broader at the shoulders, none of his old clothes had fit, which gave his mother leave to order more new clothes than he’d ever need and twice as many as he’d ever want.
    Seth scowled at the array he’d hung in the small armoire last night. His mother had planned for him to attend business meetings, balls, and other nonsense. So his selection of dark frock coats and