An Amish Courtship, COMPLETE SERIES: Amish Novella Read online

  An Amish Courtship

  COMPLETE VOLUME SERIES

  (All 4 Volumes in this book)

  Samantha Jillian Bayarr

  Copyright © 2014 by Samantha Jillian Bayarr

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form either written or electronically without the express permission of the author or publisher.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and are therefore used fictitiously. Any similarity or resemblance to actual persons; living or dead, places or events is purely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or publisher.

  All brand names or product names mentioned in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names, and are the sole ownership of their respective holders. Livingston Hall Publishers is not associated with any products or brands named in this book

  Other Titles by Samantha Bayarr

  Jacob's Daughter Amish Series

  Jacob's Daughter

  Amish Winter Wonderland

  Under the Mulberry Tree

  Amish Winter of Promises

  Chasing Fireflies

  Amish Summer of Courage

  Under the Harvest Moon

  Amish Brides of Willow Creek Series

  Amish Brides of Willow Creek: Sibling Rivalry: Book One

  Amish Brides of Willow Creek: Second Chances: Book Two

  Amish Brides of Willow Creek: Sweet Nothings: Book Three

  Amish Brides of Willow Creek: Snowflake Bride: Christmas Edition

  Amish Brides of Willow Creek: Songbird Melody: Book Five

  Amish Brides of Willow Creek: Sophie’s Honor: Book Six

  Amish Brides of Willow Creek: Sugar & Spice: Book Seven

  Amish Collections

  An Amish Christmas Wish

  Amish White Christmas

  An Amish Courtship: Complete Series

  Amish Harvest: Complete Series

  Amish Love Letters

  LWF Amish Series

  Little Wild Flower: Book One

  Little Wild Flower: Book Two

  The Taming of a Wild Flower: Book Three

  Little Wild Flower in Bloom

  Little Wild Flower's Journey

  The Quilter’s Son series

  The Quilter's Son: Book One: Liam's Choice

  The Quilter's Son: Book Two: Lydia's Heart

  The Quilter's Son: Book Three: Nathan's Apprentice

  The Quilter’s Son: Book Four: Maddie’s Quilt

  The Quilter’s Son: Book Five: Nellie’s Legacy

  The Quilter’s Son: Book Six: Ethan’s Pride

  Christian Romance

  Milk Maid in Heaven

  The Anniversary

  A Sheriff's Legacy: Book One (Historical)

  Preacher Outlaw: Book Two (Historical)

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  Chapter 1

  “Miss, are you hurt?” a concerned male voice asked.

  Of course she was hurt.

  But what had happened?

  Grace Miller lifted her lashes, noting they felt as weighted as bricks resting upon her eyelids.

  A pair of demure blue eyes stared down at her from up-close—improperly close!

  Grace allowed herself to remain in the most un-lady-like pose, enjoying the feel of this man cradling her head in his lap.

  Was this how it felt to be in the arms of a strong man? His musky smell mixed with the scent of freshly-mowed hay and leather. His straw hat lay over the top of sandy-brown hair; the scruff at his jawline indicated he’d spent many a day out in the fields without more than a few hours’ break for sleep, but only enough sleep to give him the energy to do it all over again the next day.

  Grace looked into his sun-kissed face once more. His expression showed true concern for her well-being. A soft breeze blew the leaves of the tree overhead, allowing flickers of sunlight to shine through the branches. Birds chirped and flitted about their business, completely oblivious to the pair beneath the tree.

  It was all beginning to come back to her like a swell in a beaver dam. It flooded her mind to the point of exhaustion.

  On her way to her cousin’s haus, Grace had tried to take a short-cut through a neighboring farm when she’d ran head-on into a set of plow-horses. She hadn’t seen them until she’d rounded the tree which she now lay under.

  It had been too late to react.

  If only she’d been paying more attention to the horses than the handsome mann steering them toward the end of his field.

  “What is your name, Miss?” the kind voice asked her as he smoothed a loose tendril of her strawberry blonde hair beneath her prayer kapp.

  “Grace,” she managed, wincing against the pain in her head. “Grace Miller.”

  He smiled. “I’m Samuel Graber. Judging by your suitcase, and the fact that I don’t remember ever seeing you in the community, I’d say you’re probably here to visit someone—a familye-member, perhaps.”

  Grace cleared her throat, but remained where she was. If he wasn’t going to ask her to move, she would just as soon stay put for the time-being. She was comfortable—he was comfortable, and her head felt a little too dizzy to stand at the moment.

  “I’m here to be an attendant at mei cousin’s wedding.”

  “Do you know your cousin’s name?” he asked.

  Oddly, she did not.

  Chapter 2

  Grace must have given away her confusion at Samuel’s question, for he patted her head affectionately. “We have plenty of time to figure that out once you’ve had a chance to get your bearings back.”

  Even if she could remember, she wasn’t certain she wanted to, given the magnitude of this mann’s affections toward her.

  “The important thing is that you remembered your own name. You rest your head for a little while, and maybe it will come to you,” he went on further, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be holding her in his arms.

  Grace closed her eyes against the late-afternoon sun, resting her head against the expanse of Samuel’s chest. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat could have lulled her to sleep, if not for her need to keep the appearance of control over her virtue. Not that it seemed to matter on the surface. If the two of them should be seen by passersby, one might think their actions to be quite indecent. At the moment, Grace wasn’t certain
she cared what anyone else thought of her; all she wondered was about this handsome stranger’s story.

  Sneaking a peek at him, Grace noted he did not wear a beard. Though his face was unshaven, the scruff distributed evenly over his upper lip. This would indicate he was unmarried. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she felt the need to clarify. The last thing she would ever do would be to make an advance toward a married mann.

  She tried to lift her head, but the pain kept her bound to his arms. “Perhaps I should be on my way, if I could get you to help me stand. I’m certain your fraa would feel ghastly if she should witness my indiscretion,” she offered with hope in her tone.

  Samuel chuckled. “I’m not married. The only other beings that would see you in my arms is my set of bays, and I don’t think they’ll be gossiping about you anytime soon.”

  Grace had to calm her heart down, for it was beating faster than a woodpecker drilling a hole in an apple tree looking for insects.

  “Besides,” he continued. “I wouldn’t exactly consider your being injured and in need of comforting an indiscretion.”

  “I appreciate that,” Grace said quietly. “I do appreciate your kindness.”

  Samuel tipped his hat. “It’s my pleasure. Perhaps when you’re feeling better, and figure out where you’re headed, you’ll allow me to escort you the rest of the way. I hate the thought of you wandering alone out here. I feel responsible since it was because of my bays that you got hurt.”

  Grace opened one eye and squinted the other at him. “I’m the one who wasn’t watching where I was going.”

  Samuel adjusted her closer. “I don’t know what could have had your attention held so close that you could miss those oversized horses of mine.”

  Grace could feel her cheeks heating up. She couldn’t lie to him. There was nothing out here but farmland as far as the eye could see. Nothing that would hold her attention like the sight of a certain good-looking farmer who happened to be holding her in his arms. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see his expression at her declaration.

  “It was you that I was staring at,” she confessed.

  Grace felt Samuel dip his head toward hers, his breath sweet against her cheek. “I must confess that it was mei fault then, because I was so busy watching you walk up the dirt road that I didn’t notice when you rounded the tree at the same time I did. I didn’t see you until it was too late. I’d watched you walk all that way, and then when you disappeared around the tree, I thought you’d taken the shortcut through the neighboring field.”

  Opening her eyes, it was tough for her to keep her concentration with Samuel so close to her.

  “I was taking the shortcut, but I missed the trail when I went around the other side of the tree. That’s when I ran into your bays. I’m so sorry.”

  Samuel bent closer to her. “I’m not.”

  Pressing his lips to her forehead, he lingered there just long enough to make her wonder if she was dreaming.

  Chapter 3

  Before long, Grace surrendered to the pain in her head and drifted off to sleep, Samuel’s arms wound securely around her.

  He pushed back a lock of her hair, fully wanting to unravel her tightly-twisted do. Bending to kiss her soft, warm cheek, Samuel wondered if Gott himself had dropped a little piece of Heaven in his very lap.

  Unfortunately for him, it was just a little too late; his future had already been set for him.

  He’d been feeling out of sorts lately since his bruder had left the familye farm to build his own haus for his bride-to-be, and he had begun to wonder if Gott had chosen the right future for him.

  With wedding season upon them, Samuel wondered if he was ready to face his own future. Everyone he knew was getting married this season, so why did he feel so lost in all of it?

  Perhaps maybe…just maybe, Grace might understand. After all, he had to talk to someone about his feelings—why not someone like Grace, who was incapable of giving any well-meaning advice at the moment? He’d had his fair share of that lately.

  He jostled her a bit. “Stay with me, Honey,” he said to her. “I’m going to carry you into the barn so I can call the doc to come and look at you. I could be wrong, but I don’t think you should be sleeping—especially if you hit your head.”

  He looked down at her pale, angelic face as he lifted her dainty figure. Her green eyes had captivated him; her full, pouty lips mesmerized him. He talked to her as he cut through the field to his barn as he thought to himself that she couldn’t weigh much more than a sack of grain.

  Before her consciousness had slipped away from him, she’d made it a point to ask him if he was married, hadn’t she? Certainly if she was here visiting, she wasn’t betrothed herself. If Grace was his betrothed, he wouldn’t want her attending a wedding and being away from him for such a long time. What mann in his right mind would let such an angel out of his sight?

  He had no right to think such things about her. He couldn’t offer her what she needed, and he felt selfish for thinking even for a moment that he could. His future was set; he’d made his decision, and there was no backing out of it now.

  Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what his life would have been like if he’d met Grace at just the right time.

  Gott Himself knew this was not the right time.

  Grace sucked in a breath between her rosebud lips, causing his heart to flop around behind his ribcage like a freshly-caught catfish on the bottom of his rowboat.

  How could she have such an effect on him?

  He’d only just met her!

  But he could get used to looking into her emerald-green eyes every day, and he would certainly enjoy kissing those lips of hers that seemed to taunt him with every breath she took.

  Samuel chided himself for thinking such impure thoughts about Grace, but he just couldn’t help himself.

  Chapter 4

  Grace startled awake, darkness keeping her from knowing where she was. Feeling disoriented, she sat up in the bed in which she was slumbering. But when she did, the pain in her head reminded her of her mishap only a few hours ago. It was just a few hours ago, wasn’t it? The way Grace felt, she couldn’t even be certain she hadn’t dreamed the entire thing. Perhaps she’d been asleep too long from her trip and she’d developed a kaffi headache.

  Had she dreamt Samuel?

  She’d fallen asleep feeling his gentle hands stroking her hair. She’d even thought she’d felt him kiss her cheek. The sun had warmed her face, but Samuel had warmed her heart.

  Where was she now?

  Her heart quickened at the sound of a doorknob twisting. Instinctively, she pulled the quilt up toward her neck, but to her astonishment, she was fully clothed.

  Dim lantern light seeped through the crack in the door, and Grace’s eyes grew wide with anticipation of who was waiting for her on the other side of the door. It was so dark in the room she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face.

  “Are you awake, cousin?” a woman’s soft whisper inquired.

  “Leah, is that you?” Grace asked.

  She vaguely remembered Leah talking to her in the dark several times during the night—or had she dreamed that too?

  The door opened wide, and Leah stood in the doorway holding the lantern close to her face so as not to startle her cousin. It was too late for that, but Grace would recover. The only thing she wasn’t certain of would be her mysterious encounter with Samuel. She’d fallen in love with him in a matter of minutes, and now she wasn’t certain she hadn’t dreamed the entire thing.

  After all, no one falls in love that quickly!

  Do they?

  Leah entered the room slowly, balancing the lantern and a plate of food. “Did you sleep well? How does your head feel?”

  Grace instinctively put her hand to her head, feeling the large knot to one side.

  It had happened!

  “How did I get here?” she asked, wincing against the pain.

  Leah handed her the hot kaffi from the edge of the p
late after setting down the lantern at the bedside table. “Silo brought you here. He said you had a little accident, and you managed to tell him who you were and that you were visiting me—all while you were knocked out.”

  She’d talked in her sleep!

  Silo had brought her home?

  Grace recalled Leah’s letters to her about her betrothed, and how he’d been nick-named “Silo” after falling into the corn silo when he was just a young boy. Leah had gone on for pages about how much he disliked his given name, and how he hadn’t gone by the name since the incident. Leah claimed she preferred the nick-name, saying she thought it made him seem more masculine to have lived through such a thing at such a young age. Grace only remembered thinking how dumb it all sounded, but had kept her opinion to herself.

  None of that mattered now as confusion set deep in her thoughts.

  The biggest question plaguing Grace’s mind at the moment was how she had gone from falling asleep in Samuel’s arms, to having Leah’s betrothed transporting her to her cousin’s haus?

  She didn’t know why, but that made her a little more than nervous. More than that, now she couldn’t be certain if she’d actually slept against Samuel’s broad chest, or if he was even real.

  The bigger question was—what else had she done?

  Chapter 5

  “What would you like to do today?” Leah asked as she pulled back the thick curtains revealing twilight peeking over the horizon.

  How long had she slept?

  Grace felt a little unnerved.

  She must have slept from late afternoon until morning, but how had she not woken between having Silo deliver her to Leah’s haus and now?

  Grace watched Leah sit down on the edge of the bed and pull the quilt up for her, doting on her the way her mamm would if she was there. Grace could tell her cousin expected an answer from her, but all she could think about was seeing Samuel.