Free ToLoveaLady by Cynthia Sterling Page B

her.”
    “The woman rancher. She owns the property between the A7 and the Ace of Clubs.”
    A picture flashed into Charles’ mind of a young woman wearing trousers. They’d been introduced at the fall roundup. He’d been struck by her odd appearance, which had been dismissed merely as ‘Abbie’s way.’  
    “A woman rancher?” Cecily’s question drew everyone’s attention to her end of the table. “Do you mean she owns her own ranch?”
    Gordon nodded. “Miss Waters grew up on her ranch. She inherited it last year from her father.”
    “I would love to meet her.” Cecily laid aside her fork and clasped her hands together. “Promise me you’ll introduce us. I want to learn everything I can about ranching. I’m sure she’d be just the woman to answer my questions.”
    Charles and Gordon exchanged a knowing look. Hadn’t Gordon suggested they introduce Cecily to some local women? “That sounds like an excellent idea,” Charles said.   Abbie Waters could sell her land to Madame LeFleur, thus getting the prostitutes out of his house. And she could show Cecily the real side of ranch life. Once Cecily met Abbie Waters, and saw what difficult, and unfeminine work ranching was, she’d be ready to abandon him and the life he’d chosen and run back to England, where she belonged.

    * * *

    The following Tuesday, Cecily, Madame LeFleur, Alice, Nick and Gordon set out to visit Abbie Waters on her Rocking W Ranch. The weather remained unseasonably warm, more like spring than any January Cecily had ever seen in England. The only other thing needed to make the day perfect would have been Charles’s company. He had declined to accompany them, saying he had to supervise the selection of two dozen calves he’d arranged to purchase from Alan and Bryce Mitchell.
    Alice and Madame rode in a buggy, driven by Nick, but Cecily had chosen to travel on horseback. When she saw how badly the buggy jostled its occupants as they made their way across the prairie, she knew she’d made the right choice. “Haven’t these Texans heard of proper roads?” Alice complained as the buggy jolted through the bottom of a rocky ravine. “I daresay I’ll be bruised all over afore the day’s done.”
    “I have some salve that’s good for bruises,” Nick said, a twinkle in his eye. “I’ll be happy to favor you with a good rub-down, if you like.”
    “You keep your cheeky hands to yourself, Nick Bainbridge!”
    “And who was to say I was speaking to you, Miss Rogers?”
    Alice flushed and darted a look at the woman on the seat beside her. Even on the rough terrain, Madame LeFleur managed to look regal. She smiled at Alice. “It would seem your young man is quite the flirt,” she said.
    “He’s not my young man!” Alice pressed herself closer to the side of the buggy and averted her eyes.
    Ignoring the maid’s rudeness, Madame turned her smile on Gordon, who rode alongside the buggy on a sable gelding. “Complaining is such an unattractive quality in a woman, non ?”  
    “I do not think it would be gentlemanly of me to answer that question, Madame,” he said with his usual diplomacy.
    “Alice is just out of sorts from too much sunshine,” Nick said. “We never see the likes of this at home.” He inhaled deeply. “Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? If I’d known there was a place like this, I’d have quit England a long time ago. I can’t wait to go off on my own, exploring.”
    “Getting thrown from that horse must have addled your brain.” Alice sat up and leaned toward him. “How can you even think Texas is half as pretty as England? England is green and full of flowers and proper trees. Texas is brown and what they call trees wouldn’t suffice for a decent hedge at home.”
    “Perhaps when you have been here a while, you’ll feel differently,” Gordon said. “I’ve grown fond of the land, even though it is very different from my homeland.”
    Cecily gazed out across the prairie that stretched