Adele (Angel Creek Christmas Brides #18) - Cynthia Woolf Page 0,1

into eyes so blue they seemed violet. “Uh…er…yes, yes I’m Adele Jensen.” In her correspondence, she signed her real name, not wanting the marriage to be invalid because she used an alias. “Mr. Wharton?”

“I am.” He extended a hand. “Edward Wharton, at your service.” Looking at her feet he lifted his eyebrows. “Is this all the luggage you have?”

She lifted her chin and raised an eyebrow. “Yes. Is that a problem? The stage company only allowed me forty pounds. I managed with two large carpet bags.”

As he stared at her luggage, he ran a hand behind his neck. “No problem.”

Taking pity on him, she pointed at the bags. “I know they look very full and they are, but it’s really not as much as you think. You’ll see when I get unpacked.”

He nodded and then smiled. “Would you care to get a bite to eat at The Eatery before we get married?”

Gazing up at him, she would almost say yes to anything he asked. Those eyes, the chiseled jaw and then that smile, with the dimple winking at her…she shook her head a tiny bit, closed her eyes and took a short breath. She looked down and brushed some of the dust from her skirt of her hunter green travel suit before returning her gaze to his face. “What I’d really love is a place to get cleaned up even just a little. The dust during the ride in that stagecoach was awful and I’m sure I look a wreck.”

He smiled again showing straight, white teeth and the small dimple in his left cheek she saw before. It was the nicest smile she’d seen in a long time. “Well, in that case, we should probably get married first, then. You can clean up at the reverend’s home. Ginger…er…Mrs. Carroll is always happy to help. You’re not the first mail-order bride needing to refresh herself before the wedding.”

“Oh, good.” She pointed at the carpetbags sitting on the packed dirt of the street. “Did you bring a conveyance large enough for my luggage?”

He chuckled. “A conveyance? Yes, I brought my wagon. I did my regular Wednesday grocery trip as long as I was in town. It will save me a trip back.”

“Shall we go?”

He looked over the two bags and then nodded once. “Reverend Carroll’s house is at the other end of town from here. You wait right here and I’ll get the wagon.”

She clasped her hands at her waist and nodded.

He turned and walked back the way he’d come.

Adele stood on the dirt street next to the stagecoach parked in front of the stables. She watched him until he was swallowed up by a crowd of people standing in front of a store. She couldn’t make out the name from where she was. When Edward disappeared from view she turned to watch the horses changed on the stagecoach. The new horses were fresh and feisty, prancing a little as the harness was placed on them.

None of the buildings as far as she could see were more than two stories high and all appeared to be made from wood. None were like the tall concrete buildings in New York. The streets weren’t paved unlike the streets in New York which were paved with layers of crushed rocks called macadam.

She waved her hand in front of her face to blow away the dust. They could use some macadam here.

Edward returned in short order with the wagon pulled by two matching black horses. He pulled to a stop, climbed down and joined her.

She pointed past him at the crowd milling around on the boardwalk in front of the store. “What’s happening down there?”

He followed the direction she pointed. “The mercantile started carrying tinned food and everyone wants to try it.”

Adele lifted her brows. Tinned food was something she was aware of, but Richard refused to allow it in the house. When she cooked, she did everything from scratch with the freshest ingredients possible. Sometimes he simply came for dinner…nothing else. “Oh, how convenient. Have you bought any?”

“I have. Actually, the sellers are calling it canned food…vegetables and fruit. The varieties were too many to try them all, although I did get some of each kind of fruit. Two cans of most. I was hoping you’d know how to bake a pie or cobbler, maybe. All of us at the ranch have a bit of a sweet tooth.”

“How is it you managed to get it before anyone else? Who are all of us?” How many