Adele (Angel Creek Christmas Brides #18) - Cynthia Woolf Page 0,8
faster.
She faced the front but then faced him as another question occurred to her. “How far is it to your ranch?”
Will Lissa be there to greet us? What if she hates me right off? How will I win her trust?
CHAPTER 3
“Maybe I should ask how much longer until we get to your ranch?”
He smiled. “Not long. You’re already on it.”
Her jaw dropped. “But there are no buildings. Where is your house?”
“Oh, in another twenty minutes or so you’ll see it.”
“How big is your ranch?” Hundreds maybe thousands of people live within twenty minutes of New York City. Ginger said Catherine couldn’t live this far from town, but I’m looking forward to it. She realized if she was living this far out in the country, Richard wouldn’t be likely to find her, should he come looking, though she couldn’t fathom why he would come looking since he’d tired of her charms.
Letting her go would save him money. He wouldn’t have to keep up her house and her servants, but she also knew that he was rich enough the amount he paid for her upkeep was a pittance to him. Besides wouldn’t he be more interested in his new mistress rather than come after his old one?
Something in the back of her mind, a memory perhaps, told her he would never let her go until he was good and ready and maybe not even then. That was it. He’d paid her parents for her. He believed he owned her and he never gave up the things he owned. Never.
“Big enough that the tour of the property I want to take you on will be an overnight trip. That’s the reason I don’t want to bring Lissa. She wouldn’t be comfortable and wouldn’t want to sleep alone. That’s my fault. I’ve let her sleep with me when we are camping…at least since her mother left.”
Adele looked through her eyelashes. At the mention of his wife, his mouth closed and his jaw clenched. Not that she blamed him. Though she never would have wished harm to the woman, at least she wasn’t around to make Edward’s life miserable any longer. Still Adele knew Edward wasn’t over Catherine, he either still loved her or felt guilty because she left in the first place. Neither boded well for Adele winning his affection.
As the wagon turned onto another road, Adele saw a small bunch of buildings. One was very large and red. She thought the structure might be the barn. The next largest building was two-stories and painted white. As the wagon got closer she saw the windows had green shutters.
In addition to the large buildings a long one-story building also with green shutters, a variety of small structures were situated on the property.
“Tell me about your land. I see a lot of buildings but I don’t see any people.”
“It’s after lunch, so the men are probably working in the corral with the horses for the Army or out riding the fence, looking for places that need repair.”
“Oh, that explains it. Now, I can identify the barn and the house, but what are the others?”
He pointed at each as the wagon closed the distance to the house. “We have a chicken coop, icehouse, smokehouse, and bunkhouse. Next to the barn is a corral where we break horses, if we need to. Sometimes we get an Army contract for green-broke horses.”
She furrowed her eyebrows. “What does green-broke mean?”
“That the horse tolerates a saddle and rider. It’s ready to be trained to do whatever the Army needs.”
Adele cocked an eyebrow. “I’ve obviously never ridden a green-broke horse. The only animals I ever rode were very well-trained and reliable mounts. That’s not to say they were slow, because they weren’t. They were, in fact, quite spirited.”
One side of his mouth lifted, as did his eyebrows. “Spirited, you say? Well, I’m glad, because the only horse on this ranch that isn’t spirited is Lissa’s pony. And you’re much too big for a pony.”
The mental picture of her on a pony made her laugh. “You’re quite right. I’m afraid I’d break the poor pony’s back.”
“Lissa wouldn’t let you ride her, even if you were no larger than she is. She’s very protective of her pets.”
“How long ago was that? I mean since your wife left?”
His mouth flattened. “Eleven months ago.”
She put her hands in her lap and her gaze on him. “I’m sorry that happened, but if it hadn’t, you wouldn’t have sent for me. So to be completely honest, I’m glad.