Chapter 10 #5
“Yes, ma’am.” Behind his scarf he was grinning.
Only four weeks had passed since the first snowfall, and Jane’s view of winter’s white blanket had changed somewhat.
She still enjoyed it from behind a windowpane, but she had no appreciation for it when it came in on a pair of boots. Morgan dutifully stamped his feet.
Jane looked him over before she raised her broom like a tollgate and let him pass. “I thought you were going to ride out with Max. Did something happen?”
“No.” He unwound his scarf but let the tails hang over his shoulders.
“Max said he could handle it. Truth is, sometimes he just likes his own company. Jem, Jake, and Jessop are fanning out past Settler’s Ridge to make sure the cattle have water.
” He took the broom from her hands. “Come outside with me.”
“Morgan, I am in the middle of baking bread.”
He glanced at the green-and-white striped towel covering a bowl on the table. The towel was still noticeably concave. “Dough hasn’t started to rise. Come on. I want to show you something.”
Jane did not offer a second objection. Even though there had been no sign of the rustlers in weeks, it was not often that Morgan invited her outside.
She had resumed some chores that took her past the lip of the back porch and into the weather, but she rarely went as far as the barn, especially if she was unaccompanied.
Morgan waited in the kitchen while Jane collected her coat, gloves, and scarf.
There was a pair of black leather riding boots secreted away in the barn loft that he intended to give her for Christmas.
It was tempting to present them to her early when he saw what she was wearing on her feet.
The dainty calf boots with the pointed patent toes were good for digging up dandelions, he supposed, but not much else.
They looked pretty enough, though, and that was as good a reason to wear them as any.
He took the red woolen scarf from her hand and wound it over her dark hair and loosely around her throat. A few wayward strands of hair required tucking under the scarf, and her mouth required kissing before he covered it. She used the pointed patent caps on her shoes to gently prod him.
When they stepped outside, Morgan took her gloved hand in his. They walked that way to the barn. He only dropped her hand when they reached Sophie’s stall.
“She’s saddled,” said Jane. “When did you—” She put up the flat of her hand for Sophie to nuzzle and spoke to the mare. “He gentled you after all, didn’t he? Sweet Sophie. How pretty you are. Have you let him on your back?” She looked askance at Morgan. “Where are the apples?”
Morgan got one for her and cut it into quarters that he gave to Jane one at a time.
Jane laughed as Sophie took each slice from her palm with the refined manners of a New York debutante. “She’s so polite, Morgan. Is that your doing?”
“She’s showing off for you. She snorts and roots like a piglet when I put something in front of her.”
“Well, I think she is a lady.”
“Good. She’s your lady.”
“Have you—” Jane turned her head sharply to look at Morgan, and Sophie used that moment’s inattention to butt her temple. Jane pushed Sophie’s nose back. “My lady? What does that mean?”
“It means Sophie is yours.”
Jane stared at him. “Mine? Do you mean it?”
“Yes. She’s always been yours. Maybe that’s why you knew her name.”
Jane put her hands on Morgan’s shoulders, stood on tiptoes, and kissed him full on the mouth. “It still amuses you that I knew her name, but I don’t mind.” She kissed him again before she dropped back on her heels. “When will I be able to ride her?”
“I brought you out here to have a lesson.”
“Really? Will she take me as a rider?”
“She will. We’ve all been on her.” He pointed to the barn’s back door. “Everyone took her out through there so there was no chance that you would see. I wasn’t sure they could keep the secret much longer. Jem was near to bursting with it at breakfast.”
“I have never had so fine a present at Christmas.”
“She’s a wedding gift. I meant what I said, Jane.
She’s always been yours. I cut her from the herd for you.
” Morgan saw the sparkle in Jane’s emerald eyes fade ever so slightly.
He shook his head as if he could stop the direction of her thoughts.
“For you,” he said again. “For my wife. Forget Rebecca. Sophie would dislike her as much as I do.”
Jane only offered a mild challenge. “You do not know that.”
“I do. They share the same features, and Sophie wears them better.”
Jane blinked. “What?”
Morgan tapped Jane’s chin and pointed her to Sophie. “Look at her. Long nose. Flaring nostrils. Muscled cheeks. Strong neck. Broad shoulders. She’s a beautiful animal.”
“I don’t understand. You think Rebecca looks like Sophie?”
“Don’t you?”
Jane stared at Sophie. In her mind’s eye she overlaid it with Rebecca’s bold features. She saw her cousin’s face in a new light, one that did not flatter Rebecca in the least. Jane put her hand to her mouth as her lips parted. “No wonder you thought she could pull a plow.”
Morgan chuckled. “I never said that. You’re the one who mentioned plowing. I said I wanted a strong wife.” He nudged her chin back in his direction. “And I got what I wanted. And she’s beautiful, too.”
Jane batted his hand away and shook her head. “Don’t.”
“Why can’t I say it? It’s true.”
“You don’t go into town enough. It’s easy to forget what a pretty woman looks like.”
“I never said you were pretty. Well, maybe I did, but I didn’t mean it.
I just couldn’t say the other.” He shrugged a little diffidently.
“About you being beautiful and all, I’m saying.
Partly I kept my tongue in my head because it hurts a mite to look on you that way, like there’s a radiant light coming from you that could blind me if I stare too long.
Mostly, though, I didn’t say anything because you wouldn’t believe me.
I thought maybe that had passed some, but I guess not.
That family of yours sure did twist the way you see yourself.
The reasons I want to take a swing at them just keep piling up. ”
Jane searched his face. She said quietly, “I never know what you are going to say, Morgan Longstreet.”
“Is that good?”
“I don’t know about good, but it keeps me on my toes.” She came up on them again and kissed him. It would have been easy for her to allow it to linger, but she kept it short and full of promise. “Now, about that riding lesson.”