A Headstrong Woman(86)
Alexandria waved and started out of town behind her parents.
“You had to open your mouth didn’t you?” Anna asked in a clipped tone as soon as they were on their way.
“Excuse me?” Alexandria was lost.
“’They’re my favorite,’” Anna mimicked. “He would have asked me to dance…”
“Don’t start on me!” Alexandria snapped back. “Jonathon is a grown man with a mind of his own.”
Anna turned on the seat and ignored her sister. Alexandria focused her attention on Lilly.
Her parents stopped at the end of the drive upon reaching it and waited until she had pulled alongside them.
“Want me to escort you to the house?” her father offered.
“Go on, we’re fine,” Alexandria waved to him and started down the drive.
They reached the end of the long drive where she parked the buggy, took Lilly into bed and stepped into her room to change. She stripped her beautiful new dress and carefully put it away. She removed her corset and rubbed at her sides where the corset had been pinching her all-night and stood dressed only in her shift for a moment as she considered what to wear to see to the horses. She finally pulled on a plain button down and simple skirt after deciding not to bother with the multiple layers of under clothes she usually wore. There would be no one around to see her anyway.
Alexandria opened the barn doors, pulled the buggy in and released the horses from their harnesses before closing the doors. She started grooming the horses, her mind on the evening she had just enjoyed. She was more than a little put out with her sister’s attitude. Spunky stepped back and snorted.
“What is it boy?” she asked a moment before a hand closed over her mouth.
Jonathon returned to the dance but found that with Alexandria gone he wasn’t interested in remaining. He mounted Raven and started from town; he found himself contemplating his actions this day and what he intended to do about his feelings for Alexandria. She very well might order him off her property if he told her how he felt. She had made it clear she wanted her independence despite admitting she needed help. Jonathon chuckled. She was spirited and he admired her for it. He liked watching her chin come up in challenge, liked the way her eyes sparked when she was mad, and he liked the way she felt in his arms. But what to do about it, Jonathon mused as he rode into the yard.
He let himself into the barn and frowned. Why was there a lantern burning? He dropped Raven’s reigns and moved through the barn. When he heard a muffled sound from the back, he moved toward it. The lantern was hung from a nail on a post not far from the last stall. Spunky and Sparky, the matched pair who pulled the buggy were stabled almost in the back. Had Alexandria simply forgotten to extinguish it after she turned them into their stalls? That seemed unlikely.
His heart accelerated when he noticed Spunky loose from his stall and enjoying his fill from the feed bin. He stepped into the door of the last stall. The sight that greeted him made his stomach churn with fury. Nick had Alexandria pinned and his hand clamped over her mouth. Jonathon reacted in anger and grabbed the man by his shirt to slam him against the wall of the barn.
He released the man who stumbled for his footing and charged at Jonathon. Jonathon caught him under the chin and sent him sprawling to the floor. Jonathon grabbed him by his shirt before he could scramble up from the floor and again slammed him into the wall. Jonathon released Nick and watched the man struggle with his falling pants and the sight made him angry all over again. Jonathon grabbed him by the neck and pinned him to the wall and watched with satisfaction as the man’s face turned red and then purple; his hands were clawing at Jonathon’s hold on his neck.
“I ought to kill you,” Jonathon threatened in a voice that was deadly calm.
“Jonathon, I don’t know what he’s done and I’m sure he deserves to die, but don’t do something you’ll regret,” Chris said from behind him. He had just returned from the dance himself.
Jonathon slowly loosened his grip on Nick’s neck and watched the man gasp for breath. Jonathon kneed the man in the groin and Nick sank to the floor in a heap.
“If you show your face around here again or so much as look at her wrong I will make you wish you were dead or worse,” Jonathon threatened.
Jonathon entered the stall where Alexandria sat huddled in the corner with her knees hugged to her. Jonathon squatted in front of her and fought to rein in his emotions. Blood trickled from one side of her nose and her busted lip and a bruise was starting to color her cheek. Her eyes, filled with tears, still showed the terror she felt.