Debra Kay Leland by From Whence Came A Stranger... Page A

that night, for his brother could not remember and he himself had pushed Cooper from the rooftop of the mill in Kent making it look like an accident so that no one would have suspected what he had really done.  It was too risky to let him go free, and when he died the secret died with him.
    He glanced down letting his eyes move over the words that told him that William continued to rebuild the settlement and was nothing more than a farmer there…  James tipped his head and smiled at the thought of his brother as a gentleman farmer.  “’ Tis good, William, remain there and if ye do, ye shall remain alive !”
    He rolled the missile up and threw it in the hearth, swearing to himself that if William ever set foot in Whittington again, he would not be so lucky to walk away from it a second time…!
     
     
    M iranda sat talking to old Anna with a soft smile on her face, but a sound at the door made her looked up with a frown hearing Egan’s low voice… again …  She was feeling pressured by him and was afraid that soon he would lose his patients with her and force her into a marriage she did not want!
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter seven
     
    M iranda spent the next few days trying to keep herself busy hoping that she wouldn’t run into Egan, which had become a daily annoyance to her—and hoping that she wouldn’t think of William again, though most of the time she did despite herself.  She couldn’t help but notice that his visits had becoming less and less and of late, for it had almost been a fortnight since he had even showed his face there.  And somehow she missed him, even though she knew she shouldn’t…  If only he’d felt the same way she did, but then why would he?  She was nothing to him, nothing at all… 
    She felt the tears that she had been trying to keep back all day well up in her eyes again, yet she would not let them fall to her cheeks.  She drew a halted breath willing herself not to cry for that which was not meant to be!  And prayed that she would not hold on to something that would never be hers…!  But in the end, she knew she had already let herself fall in love with a man who didn’t want her—while another whom she despised pursued her endlessly…!
                  Alden Blair stood at a distance and watched his daughter, the girl was crying—again, and he was sure he knew why… William of Glenton Moor .  He’d watched his daughter when the man was around and heard her speak of him and knew that she favored him—as did he himself.  The man was all he could ever want for her and more.
    He sighed, wondering if it would be foolish of him to speak to the man of his daughter—she was Welsh after all, with only a poor man’s dowry to give on her behalf, and that only five pieces of silver and a cow.  There was no reason that the man would even want the girl for his bride, unless—unless h e had fallen in love with her.  It was true that he had seen the man glance at her, and it had given him hope; though, the man was careful not to be noticed as he did it, which pleased Alden very much and spoke well of the man’s honor to boot.
    A nd as far as his daughter went, she was sweet and kind and fair to behold, that much was true; but yet, William hadn’t been to see him in over a fortnight and it was that, that made him hold his tongue.  He was sure that if the man were truly interested in his daughter he would have found reason to venture there and see her often…  Nay, it would be foolish of him to go and tell of the girl’s anguish when the man himself didn’t share the same feelings for her.  Yet, who else would bid for her hand here since Egan had marked her as his own!  No one would dare to challenge him for her and he knew it very well!  There would be no other suitor than Egan and it worried him. 
    But if he had a choice of men, he would have chosen William for the girl and no other—English