Hill Country Cattleman by Laurie Kingery

Author:Laurie Kingery
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2013-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

How silly she must have seemed to Raleigh, assuming he’d had a change of heart and come to claim the last dance with her, when instead he had come on a much more important mission. It was a gaffe worthy of a girl still in the schoolroom. He would probably have laughed out loud at her, if he hadn’t already been so worried about the old cook.

He’d said, “I’ll send word,” not “I’ll come and tell you what happened.” Clearly, he’d found her mistake ridiculous, or he was still angry at her for jumping Lady, or both. At least he had discouraged Allbright when he wanted to insist upon escorting her home, but he was only being chivalrous, nothing more.

She felt her lip quivering, and the sting of tears in her eyes, but she could not give way to them here in front of everyone. She would have to wait until they were back at the ranch and she was finally alone in her room. But it would take so long to get there—she wasn’t sure if she could maintain her composed facade so long.

“You know, with everything that happened I purely forgot to mention my surprise, ladies,” Nick said as they reached the wagon.

“Surprise?” Violet heard Milly ask.

“Yes, ma’am. I’ve arranged for us to spend the night at the hotel and booked us a couple of rooms. As late as it is, I thought we wouldn’t want to ride all that way home, then try to come back for church in the morning,” he said.

“But little Nicky—” Milly began to object.

“Will be fine with Mrs. Detwiler until they join us at church in the morning,” Nick said. “She was in on the surprise, so don’t worry. You saw how he took to her when we dropped him off there before the barbecue. She’s a born grandma. This way we can have a nice breakfast in the hotel tomorrow morning that you ladies don’t have to cook, then go to church.”

“But the expense! And I haven’t brought so much as a hairbrush,” Milly said. “Let alone—”

Nick held up a hand. “We can afford a little luxury once in a while. And I managed to smuggle both your hairbrushes into a poke after you ladies went out to get in the wagon,” he told them.

Violet saw her brother grin, clearly very proud of himself. And she watched the idea of the surprise night at the hotel take hold of Milly’s imagination. She imagined Milly hadn’t had much time away from the ranch since marriage and motherhood had brought added responsibility. The Simpson Creek Hotel wasn’t the equal of the fancy hotels in London, of course, but it would be a nice break for Milly and Nick.

And she would be free to give way to tears in the privacy of her room at the hotel so much sooner than if they had to travel all the way back to the ranch.

“What a nice surprise, brother,” she said. Perhaps, if

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