The Lone Rancher - By Carol Finch Page 0,17
purchase a bathtub for the bunkhouse.
“Don’t concern yourself with me, Ches. I can take care of myself when it comes to dealing with Cahill.”
He inclined his shaggy head, then touched his hand to the rim of his grimy hat. “Yes, ma’am. Just wanted you to know that me and some of the other boys are here to back you up if Cahill tries to pressure you.”
Adrianna watched the bowlegged cowboy stroll off to tend his chores. It sounded as if Ches Purvis and the other hired hands envied Cahill’s wealth and influence in the area. She wondered how many of her employees shared his opinion that Cahill deserved all the bad luck that came his way. Then she wondered if Cahill’s hired hands resented her for hiring away Rocky Rhodes and not them.
Well, in some ways she supposed she was like Cahill. She didn’t give a whit about public opinion. She was following her father’s policy of surrounding herself with exceptional employees. That, according to Reuben McKnight, was the secret to financial success.
An hour later, Adrianna entered the house, anxious to devour one of Elda’s delicious meals, then sink into a relaxing bath. She ambled into the kitchen, surprised to see Bea and Butler slicing bread, cheese and some sort of meat she couldn’t identify.
“Where’s Elda? She isn’t feeling ill, is she?” Adrianna asked in concern.
“No, she’s fine,” Bea replied as she grabbed the whistling teapot off the stove. “She took a new job.”
“What?” Adrianna crowed in astonishment. “After all her years of loyalty to us? Why would she do that?”
Butler pivoted to face her. “Cahill showed up at the back door and lavished Elda with so many sticky-sweet compliments I developed an instant toothache just listening to them.”
“She joined the enemy’s camp?” Adrianna howled in dismay.
Bea calmly took the supper tray and whizzed into the dining room that now boasted a china cabinet, table and chairs that had once graced the lavish mansion in Boston. “Now, now, dear, don’t fret. There is method to Elda’s defection. Although Cahill promised to pay her exceptionally well to cook and clean for him, she intends to remain there only temporarily to see what goes on at 4C. She plans to report her findings to you.”
Adrianna scoffed. “Since when does Elda engage in clandestine espionage?”
Butler snickered as he toted cups of steaming tea into the dining room. “You’re aware the household staff at the Boston estates provide a network of information. How do you think rumors about who was cheating on whom and who was going bankrupt on an ill-advised investment began circulating? For a fee, you can find out the dirt on the highest echelon of aristocrats and politicians. Elda is using that tactic.”
“But still…” Adrianna mumbled. “Elda is family and family is supposed to stick together.”
Bea arched a brow. “You hired away Cahill’s foreman to whip this ranch into shape, but mostly you did it to annoy your neighbor, didn’t you?”
“Well, yes,” she admitted begrudgingly.
“Then there you go,” said Butler as he plunked into his chair. “Now sit down and eat. Bea and I will be better prepared for tomorrow’s meals.”
“No need,” Adrianna replied. “Tomorrow we will purchase supplies in Ca-Cross and arrange Rosa’s wedding celebration. There are several restaurants in town. We’ll try their fare.”
“I’m ready for a day away from painting, dusting and cleaning,” Bea said enthusiastically.
The threesome ate in companionable silence but Adrianna inwardly fumed over Cahill’s audacity of charming Elda out of the kitchen and escorting her to his house. Blast that dark-haired demon! First, he had kissed her senseless, then he had swiped Elda, who was an honorary aunt, same as Beatrice.
Later, while Adrianna was lounging in her fragrant bath in her private quarters—that she had painted herself and spiffied up to feel like home—she wondered if loneliness was part of the reason Cahill had lured away Elda.
According to Chester Purvis, Cahill’s siblings had left him to manage the ranch alone. Maybe he’d grown tired of rattling around in that big three-story stone-and-timber home by himself. The conflict between her and Cahill might have been the perfect excuse for him to have someone else in his house.
Adrianna was cautious not to sympathize with Cahill’s problems because she did not intend to soften toward him. He had insulted her, after all. He deserved to find himself living next door to a neighbor from hell. And just because that impossible man had kissed her—and she had liked it—didn’t mean she had the slightest respect or affection for him.