Spring Brides by Pam Crooks

Author:Pam Crooks
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780373293551
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2005-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

“There are people here you should meet today—and the children, of course. Then you’re free to go set up the schoolroom however you like. The school isn’t as close to the house as I would have wanted, but…we’ll make do,” she said, the determination apparent in her voice, a determination Eleanor recognized immediately that she was expected to emulate. “You understand that you will be residing there, on the premises, as will some of the children from time to time, when sudden weather changes don’t permit their travel back home. Two of them will be coming out from the military post, a good hour’s ride on a fast horse. I believe the wife of one of the Indian scouts will deliver and fetch them. I have been led to believe that you are not a fearful person, Miss Hansen, and that will come in very handy to us both. Now…” She got up from the desk with a rustle of heavy taffeta. “You and I shall go and break bread with our esteemed guests. I am most pleased that you’re refreshed and ready to begin.”

Eleanor followed after her, expecting to be led to a dining room somewhere. But the meal had been set up outside—on long tables placed between two lines of canvas that had been hung on ropes strung post to post, then anchored by more rope and staked into the ground. The canvas shook in the wind, but it did an adequate job of blocking the worst of it. Women young and old either stood expectantly or bustled around the tables, setting platters and bowls of food anywhere they could find room. One manned a huge enameled coffeepot and a stack of tin cups. The serving plates were tin as well, but there were crisply starched napkins and wooden-handled forks and knives and spoons. Children ran and played in the background, and two distinctly separate groups of men—all sizes and ages—seemed to be standing around waiting. Apparently there was no dress standard for ranch workers. They wore all manner of hats, some wide brim, some not. Two even had dandified “city hats.” Some wore coats, the kind that had once been part of a man’s suit. Others had on what was left of a military uniform, blue and gray. Those not wearing coats had on vests, some made of a kind of furry hide and some the formal kind that seemed, like the odd jackets, to be missing the rest of the suit. She noted immediately that there was only one white shirt among them and Ingram was wearing it.

She could feel the stares and the buzz of interest as she walked along. Apparently, they had been waiting for Mrs. Selby’s arrival and her permission to eat—and Eleanor Hansen was considered the entertainment.

Dan Ingram stood back from the others, and on the opposite side, so did Lillyann’s Karl. Ingram nodded and touched the brim of his hat as Eleanor passed, something the other men noticed and seemed to find both interesting and humorous.

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