by Emily Woods
Finally, the other man spoke. “How long have you been here, sir?” he asked politely.
Maddie couldn't identify the accent, but the man's voice was smooth and soft, and she imagined that he was one of those fine gentlemen that John was mentioning, perhaps a buyer. When she was able to sneak a peek at him from behind Spark, however, she nearly gasped.
Dressed much as the other hands at Triple Range, this newcomer was by far the most attractive man she'd ever seen, not that she had much experience beyond the ranch and its neighbors. Dark curly hair poked out from under his obviously new hat, and even though he wasn't as broad as John nor as tall, he held himself with confidence. His lean form was relaxed, but he somehow seemed alert at the same time. She thought it had something to do with his dark eyes. When he turned a little, she caught a glimpse of his profile. His nose was straight and his lips full. His chin looked strong, but not aggressive. Maddie's eyes widened and her stomach felt like it was filled with jumping frogs. Never had she seen such a man. Who was he?
Her mind was roaring so loudly that she barely heard what they were saying, but then the words, “You're hired,” reached her ears, and she nearly shouted with joy.
Although she managed to keep a rein on her mouth, her knees suddenly felt wobbly, and she tripped on the brush she'd left on the floor of the stall the night before. When she fell, there was a large clatter and then silence.
“Who's there?” John demanded. “Show yourself!”
The sound of footsteps approaching made her wish fervently that there was some place to hide or a hole to swallow her up, but of course there wasn't.
“It's just me, Uncle John,” she replied feebly. “I, uh, came out to see Spark.”
She hated how her voice sounded, weak and shrill at the same time.
Two faces appeared over the top of the stall door, one grinning and the other detached.
“Hello, Maddie darling,” John boomed. “Sneaking away from your ma again?”
Nodding sheepishly, she tried to keep her focus on the man who was like a second father to her, but her eyes betrayed her and skipped over to the younger man. Any excitement she'd felt at seeing him faded the instant she caught his eye. There was such disdain in them that she actually winced. What must she look like, dressed in her father's clothes and sitting in horse muck? However, she was the daughter of the owner, and as such, was entitled to some respect from a mere ranch hand. As gracefully as she could, she rose from the floor and gave him a cool nod.
“I'm Madelyn Winston,” she informed him primly. “How do you do?”
The man seemed a little taken aback at first, but then nodded, one quick jerk of his head as a finger poked the brim of his hat, a token sign of respect. “Cole Reynolds.”
“He's going to be working here, Mads,” John told her. He glanced down at her dirty clothes. “Uh, why don't you head on back to the house? I won't tell your mother I saw you.”
She felt like a five-year-old who'd been caught sneaking cake before dinner. Even though she knew John was just being affectionate and protective, it annoyed her. “I'm not a child,” she replied with a pout. “If I want to see my horse, I can.”
The voice that she tried to make sound mature came out as rather petulant, and it was received with a look of indulgence by the man she called ‘Uncle.’ He shot her a toothy grin and nodded. “Sure thing, but I'll just keep the visit to myself in any case.”
Any pride she had left was ground to dust with that kind comment, but Cole didn't seem to notice. He was looking at Spark.
“Nice looking horse,” he acknowledged, his voice still coolly indifferent. “Arabian?”
“Yes, she is,” Maddie answered proudly, looking him boldly in the eye. “She's mine.”
Cole nodded, but still didn't look at her. His eyes were on the horse, taking in her features. “She's a bit small. Still a filly?”
She was, in fact, four years old, given to Maddie on her fourteenth birthday. “She's a mare,” she replied a little sharply. “Not all full-grown horses are fifteen hands tall.”
Now he looked her full in the face and smirked. “No, they're not. What is she, about thirteen and a bit?”
That was her height exactly, but for some reason, Maddie didn't want to admit it to him. His superior attitude annoyed her to no end. Why, he couldn't have been much older than she was, maybe a year or two at most. How dare he act like he knew everything while condescending to her? She'd been on this ranch for twelve years! He looked fresh off the train from some big city.
“Alright, let's go,” John said, clearly done with the chitchat. “You can talk more about horses at dinner tonight.”
And with that, they were gone.
2
Shaking his head a little as they left the barn, Cole contemplated the tiny urchin that had been sitting in the pile of horse manure. She was a little thing, probably not more than about ten or twelve years old, playing cowboy in what was probably her dad's or maybe a brother’s clothes. How could they let her roam around the ranch like that? It wasn’t safe.
“Aren't you worried about leaving her there?” he inquired of his new boss. “She could get hurt.”
John drew back a little and then laughed. “Maddie? Aw, she'll be fine. She grew up around horses and her mare's as gentle as a lamb.”
“If you say so,” he mumbled. Really, what business was it of his to worry over the child? If John wasn't concerned, he wouldn't be either. “So, I'll meet Mister Winston at dinner?”
“Yep, but you can call him Luke, and you can call me John. We're not too formal around here.”
Cole gave a nod and shouldered his bag. “That's the bunkhouse?”
A long, cabin-like building sat no more than fifty feet from the main house. He was surprised to see how close the two were. He would think that the family would want to keep their hired help at a bit of a distance. That was the way it was among rich folks back where he came from.
“Sure is,” John replied easily. “You'll be comfortable there. It's better than most.”
“How long have you been here?” Cole asked, figuring it must be more than thirty years, given that the man was probably over fifty.
“Going on seventeen years pretty soon,” he answered. “I wasn't exactly a young man when I started out here.”
“Oh. But you like the bunkhouse?”
John laughed and nodded. “I did, when I stayed there, but I've been in my own house for more than ten years now. Got a family and all.”
Not wanting to show his surprise, Cole looked in the direction of the mountains. Most foremen he'd heard about were old bachelors, married to their work. “It's different out here,” he said, changing the subject. “Nice.”
“Yep, it is. Real nice.”
After showing him where to put his belongings, John had him bring his horse into the barn. “I'm sure you know what to do. You can put him in the fourth stall on the right. That one's empty.”
He nodded and walked Knight back to the barn. Thinking that the young girl was gone by now, Cole was nonetheless very cautious when he entered. To his relief, it was quiet, signaling that he was likely alone.
However, he had barely gotten the saddle off Knight's back when he heard her voice. “Brushes and whatnot are out here. There's hay and a barrel of apples too.”
As much as he didn't want to have a conversation with the rebellious tomboy, he had to at least acknowledge her presence. He didn’t want to make a bad impression on her and then have her running off to her father complaining about him.
“Thanks,” he muttered, hoping his curt reply would cause her to leave, but no such luck.
“So, where are you from?”
Suppressing a sigh, he turned his head ever so slightly and answered, “Philadelphia.”
“Huh. What's out there?”
Focusing his attention on currying his horse, he kept his reply to the point. “Buildings, stores, museums, street cars, factories, houses, apartments.”
The sigh
that came from just outside the stall was familiar to him: deep longing. He’d expressed it himself when he used to think about coming west.
“I wish I could go there. I don't know why anyone would leave a big city to come to a place like this. All we've got here is land and sky.”
The boredom in her voice annoyed him. “That's exactly why a person would come. In Philadelphia, you can hardly find any big open spaces. The horizon is blocked by buildings and there's so much smog you can hardly breathe. You don't appreciate what you have here.”
But why should she? It was clear she wasn't much more than a child. Forcing his voice to be gentler, he turned to look at her, hoping he hadn’t offended her. However, her face reflected interest more than irritation.
“All you can see is people, buildings, streets, and smoke,” he continued. “The sky always seems gray in town, and you can hardly hear yourself think. It's not what you believe from whatever you’ve been reading or hearing.”
The expression on her face told him that she didn't believe a word he was saying. She shrugged a little. “You may think you've found paradise, but this ranch isn't what you think either. It's work from morning ‘til night, worrying about the weather, animals, and being in each other's pockets so much you want to scream. But you'll see that soon enough for yourself.”
With a little twirl, she flounced away as though wearing a fine gown instead of grubby castoffs. Now he did grin, but only because her back was turned. She was going to be a handful when she grew up, but he would be long gone by then, so it was none of his concern. He just wouldn’t wish such a contrary female on anyone.
“He might be good-looking, but he's more infuriating by far!”
Maddie stalked up to the house, first making a stop by the rain barrel to wash up, and then kicked the mud off her boots. It didn't do too much good because she was really filthy from having fallen in the muck, but she had to at least try.
“Madelyn Victoria Winston!”
She cringed at the sound of her mother's voice reaching her from around the corner of the house.
“Hi, Mama,” she replied, keeping her voice purposely calm and respectful. “Just washing up.”
“Yes, I can see that,” Kate Winston replied dryly, pushing her blonde hair streaked with gray back up in the handkerchief that kept it in place. “But what I want to know is how did you get so dirty? I think I can guess, but I want to hear it from your mouth.”
Not wanting to explain all that had happened, but knowing that she had to give her some version of the truth, Maddie said, “I wanted to see Spark, and I fell down in her stall.”
Kate looked at her skeptically. “ You...fell? Did Spark kick you?”
“No! Well, the truth is, I was startled a little. Uncle John was talking to someone, and I didn't expect to see them there.” That was true enough. Her mother didn’t need to know she’d been spying.
“Hmm. Well, you know very well that I don't appreciate you sneaking off into the barn like that, especially not by yourself. At the very least, you should tell me where you’re going.”
Although she tried to look contrite, Maddie felt a streak of rebellion rise up. “Because I'm a girl? The hands all go into the barn without supervision.”
Kate issued a short laugh and walked over to the rain barrel to help her daughter get some of the mud and grime off her hands. “No, silly, because you're my daughter, and I would be absolutely devastated if anything happened to you.”
Tears came to her eyes as her mother spoke. “Mama, I'm sorry. I just hate being inside, and I knew there was no one who would go riding with me. I wasn’t planning on taking her out. Honest. It’s just I get so bored with embroidery and baking and such.”
Without looking in her eyes, Kate nodded seriously. “I know. I've known for a long time that you're not satisfied with the ordinary life of being a woman on a ranch.”
“I just like the outdoors more.” She knew that sulking wasn’t going to help, but she’d always had a hard time covering up her feelings, and right now, she felt beyond annoyed.
Taking the rag out of her daughter's hand, Kate continued to clean flecks of mud off her daughter’s face. “I know. I’ll overlook this minor disobedience, but you need to be patient with me. Having a grown daughter is still new to me.”
Maddie’s heart softened a little. “Okay, Mama. Thank you. I guess I’d better go change.”
“Good idea. Leave those dirty clothes on the floor in the front room. I don’t want you tracking mud all through the house. There’s no one about now.”
“Yes, ma'am,” she joked. “I'll be quick as a flash.”
She was just in the process of shedding the clothes when she heard the front door open.
“You're going to have to burn these to get rid of the smell...” she started to say, but then she heard some scuffling and the door slammed shut again.
“Mama?”
Peeking out the window by the front door, she saw the shape of a man jogging away.
Her face flamed as she realized who it was. Of course it was the new ranch hand, Cole.
His heart was hammering in his chest. What had he just seen? He'd barely opened the front door before realizing that there was a woman undressing in the front hall. Quick as rabbit, he'd closed the door and run away.
The woman had her back to him and was in her undergarments. The camisole and pantaloons weren't particularly revealing, but before he knew what he was looking at, he'd spied shapely calves and white shoulders and arms.
“Who was she?” he muttered, hoping that it wasn't John's wife, or even worse, the owner's wife. What a mess that would be. Would he be kicked off the ranch before the end of his first day?
John had told him to go up to the house and introduce himself to Kate, Luke's wife, and said just to go right in. People out here didn't knock much. If he did, he might be pulling her away from some work she was doing.
Although he hadn't felt comfortable in doing so, he'd eased the door open and was about to announce his presence when he'd seen a waterfall of blonde hair cascading down a woman's slender back.
Please, he thought, nearly prayed, please don't let that be Luke's wife.
“Did you meet Kate?” John asked when he saw him.
“Ah, no. I thought it might be better if you introduce me at dinner. That way I can meet everyone at the same time.”
“Oh, alright.” He gave him a skeptical sideways glance. “Jill will ring the bell pretty soon and we can go in.”
He'd found out that Maddie was not the only child Luke had. There was also a son, Lucas, and two more daughters, Jillian and Susanna, or rather, Jill and Susie. The family was growing and growing in his mind.
After the bell was rung and the men came in from the range, John introduced him and they all went in for dinner. It was loud inside the large house with children, adults, and young men all talking and laughing together. Finally, a tall man stood up and got their attention.
“Alright, everyone. Let's settle down. We have a newcomer to Triple Range. John?”
“Yeah, some of you met him already, but this here is Cole Reynolds, and he's going to be working here for at least a month.”
There was a bit of a murmur, but Cole didn't mind. He’d been preparing himself to be the center of attention. As long as he could apologize for walking in on the woman in the hall and keep his new job, he was content with everything else.
Little did he know that his comfort was about to be very short-lived.
3
“Where are you from?” Luke asked, his smile friendly and open.
“Philadelphia,” he replied.
Luke nodded and cut into the thick steak on his plate. The other men in the room were respectfully quiet as the boss chatted with him. “That’s a long way from here,” he commented, popping the bite of meat in his mouth.
“It is, but I wasn’t sad to leave.”
“What made you come all the way out here?”
It was a question that he
had a good answer for, but before he could give it, the conversation was interrupted.
“Sorry I'm late for dinner.” A feminine voice floated into the dining room and most of the men either grinned or nodded. Cole had noticed that the preteen daughter was absent from the meal. He figured that she was washing up after her encounter with the horse muck. However, when he glanced in her direction, he nearly choked on the mouthful of food he'd just taken.
This was no child. She was petite like her mother, but the clothing she'd been wearing when they met had hidden a womanly figure. And now that her face wasn't covered in dirt, he could see that she wasn’t the tomboy he’d pegged her for. Her hair was no longer tucked up in a hat, but tumbling in waves around her shoulder.
“I hope you like the steak, Mister Reynolds,” she said politely. “And I'm very sorry about the circumstances under which we met. I can assure you that I'm not a spy or a sneak. I just happened to be in the barn when you and Uncle John came in.”
He had no words. Her turn of phrase made it clear that she’d been educated, and her bearing was confident, nothing like the irritating waif he’d met in the barn.
“But you didn't make yourself known there, did you, missy?” John teased. “At least not right away.”
Kate frowned a little. “What's all this?”
“Nothing to worry about, Mother,” Maddie replied primly. “I was caring for Spark when they came into the barn. I didn't want to interrupt what seemed to be some kind of interview, so I kept quiet. However, both Mister Reynolds and Uncle John are misconstruing my actions with those of an eavesdropper.”
Now he was sure. If she wasn't already out of her teens, she was very close to it, likely near his age or possibly even past it. With a sinking feeling, he realized that she'd been the one in the front foyer when he'd entered the house. Thankfully, she hadn't seen him.
