Free Rancher Wants a Wife by Kate Bridges Page B

to get a feel for where the bed linens and other essentials were kept, Cassandra was feeling more herself.
    They were outside hanging laundry on the back line when the dogs ran over. Cassandra bent down and patted Queenie. “Hi, girl.”
    She found a stick and threw it for the sheepdogs. Queenie and Caesar tore off to retrieve it, bounding through the long grasses.
    “Grandma!” a child’s voice shouted. Cassandra whirled around to see a boy around eight or nine and a girl in her early teens approaching. They had to be brother and sister because they had the same red hair, wide nose and massive freckles.
    “Hello!” Mrs. Dunleigh finished pegging a towel to the line, then embraced the children. “Come meet the new lady of the house, Mrs. McColton. Ma’am,” the housekeeper said in her formal British accent, “these are my grandchildren, Julia and Ronald.”
    “Pleased to meet you,” said the boy, his own accent strictly American. He stared boldly at her scarred face.
    The girl turned a friendly smile to Cassandra, but was much quieter and withdrawn than her brother. She settled behind her grandmother, almost totally shielded from view, but peeking around at Cassandra’s scar, as well.
    “Now, children,” Mrs. Dunleigh said curtly, obviously willing them not to stare.
    “Hello,” said Cassandra, glad to be among young people. “Can you show me any tricks with the dogs?” she asked Julia.
    The adolescent instantly brightened. “They can jump over that stick, if you hold it steady.” She proceeded to show her how Queenie did it, while her brother rolled on the grass with Caesar.
    “Ronald,” called Mrs. Dunleigh. “You’ll stain your pants. What on earth will your mother think of me? Get up this instant!”
    He jumped up and started playing tag with the dog. “Did it hurt?” he asked Cassandra. “When you got burned?”
    “Ronald!” said his grandmother.
    “It’s all right, Mrs. Dunleigh.” Obviously, thought Cassandra, they’d been forewarned about her injury. “I don’t remember,” she told the boy. “I don’t remember anything about that day. When I woke up, the doctor gave me something for the pain and then it didn’t hurt too much.”
    The children seemed satisfied with the answer.
    “See?” Julia held a stick a foot off the ground. Queenie made a dash for it, looking as if she’d run straight into it, then at the last minute lifted her legs and cleared the hurdle. Julia and Cassandra chuckled.
    “The laundry’s finished, Mrs. McColton,” said the housekeeper. “If you’d like to join your husband now, I’m sure he’d be pleased to show you the horses.”
    Cassandra couldn’t see the stables from where they stood, but figured Jack and his men would see her as she approached. She didn’t relish making a grand entrance, for she’d never enjoyed being the center of attention. But if she stayed away any longer the men might consider her rude. She wanted to meet them, she truly did, but so many people all at once in the last twenty-four hours was intimidating.
    Julia must’ve noticed her deliberating, for she offered, “I can go with you. It’s easier with two.”
    Cassandra turned in mild surprise. “I imagine you know the stables much better than I do, since you spend so much time with your grandmother. Would you like to be my guide?”
    Julia shrugged as if she didn’t truly care one way or another, in true adolescent fashion, but then came readily. They left the housekeeper, and her grandson and the dogs near the laundry lines, and proceeded around the ranch house.
    “We came on our own in the buggy. Father lets me drive it in the daytime. Mother’s getting more used to seeing me with the reins, but she won’t allow Ronald yet. She said he has to be able to see over the horses first.”
    “How lovely that you live so close to your grandparents. What does your father do in town?”
    “Works on the railway. He’s been away since Tuesday. Supposed to come home