Free Teton Splendor by Peggy L Henderson

argument.
    Lucy shot her a disapproving look. Although her maid acted stern and rigid, Sophia had loved Lucy for as long as she could remember, and the older woman was the closest person she’d had to a mother figure while growing up. Even though Lucy usually upheld the strict social boundaries required of a servant in public, she never hesitated to voice her opinion or disapproval when Sophia acted in a way that she deemed unbecoming of a lady when it was just the two of them. Unlike other people, Lucy had never frowned at her mixed bloodlines, and had encouraged her throughout the years to hold her chin up and be proud of the person she was.
    The maid pulled a satin blue dress from the closet. “You are a grown woman, Miss Sophia. It is hardly becoming that you should be seen without proper attire.”
    Sophia darted for the bedroom door and pulled it open. “Daddy won’t mind,” she called over her shoulder and slipped into the hallway before Lucy could stop her.
     “Miss Sophia, come back here and dress yourself properly,” Lucy called after her in exasperation.
    Sophia hurried toward the stairs. Eating breakfast with her father in her morning robe wasn’t nearly as bold as what she had done yesterday. Sending the note to Andrew to sever her engagement, or seeking out Joseph Walker and asking him to take her out of Boston and into the unknown wilderness was definitely more audacious than anything she’d done before.
    She bounced lightly down the stairs, enjoying the feeling of her unbound hair and breathing freely without the confines of a corset. A rush of adrenaline passed through her.  Even after everything that had happened yesterday, somehow her heart and mind felt light. Cancelling her engagement to Andrew had been the most liberating thing she’d ever done and, even though it hurt deeply, she was glad that she’d overheard him and his father talking in the barn. Marrying him would have been the worst mistake of her life. A part of her wondered if her decision to go west wasn’t an impulsive mistake as well.  She had to believe there was a place for her somewhere where people didn’t shun her or look at her with disapproving eyes.
     Before she parted ways with Joseph at the livery late yesterday afternoon, he had told her that he’d be at the house sometime today to discuss the journey west. She hadn’t told her father of her plans to leave Boston, and she was eager to do so. How would he react to the news? Would he have ever told her about her real parents, had Joseph not arrived on their doorstep?
    “Good morning, Miss Sophia,” James greeted her just before she reached the dining room. He raised his eyebrows at her before his expression turned again to one of indifference.
    “Good morning, James. Is my father taking his breakfast in the dining room?”
    “Yes, Miss Sophia, but there is—”
    “Thank you, James.” Sophia wasn’t in the mood for another lecture on her lack of proper dress. She’d known James all her life, and he often joined Lucy in, what they considered, watching out for her well-being. She rushed past her father’s trusted butler and opened the doors to the dining room herself. No sooner had she entered, when she stopped in her tracks. Her father stood by the fireplace, a cup of steaming coffee in his hand, in apparent deep conversation with Joseph Walker.
    Both men’s heads turned in her direction. Sophia swallowed. Heat crept up her neck and into her cheeks. Joseph’s stare seemed to penetrate right through her. His eyes roamed over her boldly. No man had ever looked at her with such appreciation before. There was no hint of disdain or disapproval in his gaze.  She stepped back involuntarily, her hand groping blindly for the door handle behind her.
    “Sophia,” her father greeted.  “You’re just in time for breakfast.” The warm smile she usually received from him in the mornings was missing, replaced by a look of concern.
    Sophia’s eyes darted back to