Free Chevonne: Bride of Oklahoma (American Mail-Order Bride 46) by Leighann Dobbs

the letter quickly and sealed it in an envelope to be addressed at the post office.
    Chevonne rushed downstairs, out the front door, and made a dash for the barn. The buggy was unhitched and the buggy’s horse was in a stall munching on hay. The horse gazed at her with velvety brown eyes and swished her tail nonchalantly.
    Behind the horse was all the tack. Chevonne’s eyes flicked from the buggy to the tack to the horse and back again. Unfortunately, when Luke had shown her how to drive the buggy, she hadn’t thought to have him show her how to hitch the horse up to it. She had no idea how to do it.
    Chevonne stroked the horse’s velvety muzzle. “Well, I don’t know how to hitch you up to the buggy but I guess now is as good a time as any to learn. It can’t be that hard.” She opened the stall door.
    “Are you going somewhere?”
    Chevonne whirled around to see Trey standing in the open barn door. Her letter crinkled noisily as her fist tightened around it. She unobtrusively moved her hand behind her skirt as she racked her brain for a good excuse as to why she was in the barn about to hitch the horse up to the buggy.
    “Yes, silly me.” She waved her free hand in the air. “I forgot to pick up something when I was in town with Celia. I was so excited to go fabric shopping that it clear slipped my mind.”
    “What do you need? We have most things here on the ranch.”
    An inspiration came. “Gelatin for a fancy dessert, a ribbon jelly. I thought I’d try it out on you before making it for company, if we will be entertaining.”
    Trey went to her side. “I suppose we’ll have to have my family over sooner or later. I can get you gelatin from the slaughter house.”
    She recalled the sheds dotted around the ranch and probably turned a shade of green. “I thought the sheds were for cheese.”
    Trey smiled. “One is. The cheese is made with rennet from the--“ he stopped when her eyes grew large. “Gelatin comes from the cows,” he explained patiently and gently.
    Chevonne knew all that, somewhere deep down, but being a city girl she’d never dwelt on it more than necessary. She didn’t even use intestines to wrap her sausages. She used muslin.
    Probably sensing her discomfort at country life realities, Trey offered, “Or we could get some store bought gelatin in town while we’re there to buy canvas for an idea I had and fabric for curtains. I wanted to ask if you’d run up some curtains for the house on your new sewing machine.”
    “Yes. I’d love to.” She was feeling a bit guilty at requesting such an expensive purchase her first day there. Making something useful and beautiful for the house would help assuage those feelings. “But not for upstairs.” She saw his confusion, so she rushed to explain, “I love the view from the window when I wake up. I stay in bed a while and savor it.”
    Chevonne blushed when she realized she’d put the image of her in bed into his mind. She rambled on, “It’s a much better view than the brick wall from the last boarding house room I had.” Trey frowned at her. She hoped he hadn’t seen through her ruse... or that he’d found the thought of her in bed distasteful.
    “You can keep your curtains open. I have a count of the windows and their measurements, and the precise measurements for three sheets of white canvas I need for an idea I had.” He took a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. “I need to pick up roller shades I mail-ordered that have come in to a shipper’s by the station. They’ll keep the house cooler in summer and warmer in winter.” He led the horse by her mane to the center of the barn. “The druggist’s will have the gelatin.”
    Shoot. If he came with her, how was she going to get the letter mailed in the post office without him noticing what it was all about? “That would be lovely. The druggist’s in town is better stocked than the one I frequented in Massachusetts.” Chevonne shoved the letter into her