A Headstrong Woman(47)
“The boys teased Alexandria unmercifully, Mr. Stewart. She could out run them, out ride them…they didn’t take that kindly. Then I think some of them were just too scared to approach her. She has this way of making herself unapproachable if she’s threatened.
“Then when she was fifteen she actually had what I would say was probably her first crush on this boy at school. He was a couple of years older and staying with his grandparents; we later learned why. Anyway, he offered her a ride home from school one afternoon and I watched her struggle really hard with that decision. He actually had a little buggy his grandparents let him use.
“She came running home in tears a short time later. He had stopped the buggy on this turn off and tried kissing her. He told her if she wanted to capture a man’s attention she needed to learn ways of doing so because her looks wouldn’t.” Anger sparked in Anna’s blue eyes as she fell quiet.
“Who was this?” Jonathon demanded.
“He doesn’t live here any longer, Mr. Stewart,” Anna smiled in amusement; she knew why he had asked. “Our brother beat him up pretty badly the next day. That was the only time my brother was actually in a fight at school. But it turns out this boy was at his grandparents because he had pulled something similar back home, only worse, apparently.
“That was the last time I recall Alexandria expressing interest in a man until Elijah.” The smile she offered now was brittle, “You know how well that went I’m sure.”
Jonathon was quiet as he digested this information.
“Thanks for sharing, Ms. Cannon. I can’t understand her sometimes. She turns heads everywhere she goes but she’s either trying to disappear into the back ground around her or she’s transmitting stay away signals so strong they carry to the next county.”
“I know,” Anna nodded sadly. “I don’t know what it’ll take to convince her she isn’t an awkward, ugly duckling.”
“A man treating her right,” Jonathon predicted.
“Good luck to any man who tries. I think Elijah was the nail in the coffin as they say.”
“I don’t think she’s a lost cause.”
“You think Tristan or Lane will win her over?” Anna asked speculatively.
“I can’t see Tristan being her type and I don’t think she’ll ever take Lane seriously.”
“Well, I know from the buzz around church that they aren’t the only ones interested. Right now most the men are respecting her being in mourning but I figure that won’t last too terribly long. Not out here.”
“Probably not,” Jonathon agreed.
“Do you miss your family, Mr. Stewart?” Anna watched him closely as she waited for his answer.
“I do,” he admitted.
“Why did you stay here?”
“I have my reasons. I made a promise to Elijah for one thing and for another, I don’t think I want to return at this time.”
“I just wondered,” Anna tried to shrug casually. She was relieved that he wasn’t interested in leaving.
Alexandria entered the room still looking more asleep than alert and the conversation ended. Anna returned to the stove feeling exhilarated. That was the longest conversation she’d ever had with Jonathon!
Chapter Eleven
Alexandria startled awake as a hand clamped over her mouth. Before she could react she had been hauled from her bed and her arms pinned against her captor.
“Listen here, I gotta gun it won’t hurt me none to use it; ya hearin me?” the man demanded in her ear; Alexandria nodded. “Good we’re gonna take us a little ride,” the man was forcing her down the stairs and Alexandria managed to struggle free long enough to scream before his hand was back over her mouth. The man was cursing in her ear as they made the yard and she found herself thrust into another set of arms. A handkerchief was shoved into her mouth and her hands tied behind her back; she was no match for the two men combined.
“What are ya doin?” the man who now held her demanded.
“Hand her up!” the man snapped from where he sat on his horse.
“We was just suppose to scare her,” the man argued.
“She is scared and she’ll be even more scared.”
Alexandria had no more than been yanked onto the saddle in front of the man than the horse shot forward. Alexandria was aware of the second man following them, though she could see nothing; not even her captor’s face. At moment, heavy clouds obscured the moon and the night was cast under a heavy pall.