Catherine sucked her breath in, glaring at him as she spun the offer over in her head. It would give her a chance to check on the teaching position, and to see some of her friends. On the other hand, it would mean several hours spent with Wade in the wagon. What was the blasted man up to?
“I thought you didn’t want me pursuing that job,” she said finally. “Why would you make it easier for me?”
He smiled at her benignly.
“You aren’t a prisoner here, Catherine,” he said. “I don’t want you taking the job, but I can’t force you to do anything. And you mentioned you wanted to buy some material for a dress.”
“I don’t have any money,” she said flatly, raising an eyebrow at him. “Remember? I work for free around here.”
“That’s an oversight,” he said. “You’re a family member. You can buy whatever you need. Just put it on our tab at the store.”
She shook her head, wishing she could make him understand. Putting something on the ranch tab was not the same as having her own money.
“Oh, and here’s this,” he said, sliding a handful of gold coins across the table. She scooped them up, and then gave him an incredulous look.
“That’s fifty dollars!” she said. “You’re crazy. I didn’t know you had this kind of money lying around.”
“We didn’t trade our gold for Confederate script during the war,” John said, looking a little sheepish. “The family actually came through all right, although we don’t advertise that. No reason to give thieves any reason to come poking around here. I buried it myself out on the range, and only the boys knew where to find it. But you’ve earned your share, and that’s enough to give you some spending money. Or save it for something special, girl. You’ve taken good care of us, and we appreciate it.”
“Thank you,” she said, meaning it. She’d never had that much cash of her own in her life. Neither had her parents, at least not that she knew of. Her father had been a hardworking cowboy, and while they always had enough to eat, there was never any extra.
“I’m sorry we didn’t give it to you earlier,” Wade said. “But you need to understand, as long as you’re part of our family, what we have is yours, Catherine. You don’t have to worry about money. I just assumed you knew that. Now are you up for a trip to town?”
have to worry about money. I just assumed you knew that. Now are you up for a trip to town?”
She nodded her head, still feeling a bit stunned. Back in the kitchen she wrapped the gold eagles in a bit of cloth, then stuck them in her pocket. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with them, but she figured she should put them away for now. No reason to make any decisions just yet.
She had their lunch packed and ready by the time Wade pulled around to the kitchen in the platform wagon. She thought of the chores she should be doing today, but shrugged her shoulders. They’d still be there tomorrow, and a trip to town in the middle of the week was a treat. She often made it in on Sundays, but not always.
Everything depended on the weather and the needs of the stock. Wade gave her a hand up and they set off.
In the wrong direction. “What’s going on?” she demanded. “Is this some kind of trick?”
He gave her a hurt expression, patently false. “Of course not,” he said. “But I promised George Watson I’d stop by his place and look at a horse.”
“That’s six miles out of the way,” she snapped. “Wouldn’t it be faster and easier to ride over some other time?”
“I’m already losing a day to go after supplies,” he said. “Makes sense to combine the trips.”
“We won’t get to town until this afternoon,” she replied. “I think you planned this.”
He shot her an unrepentant grin.
“Of course I did,” he replied. “I don’t get a lot of time just with you. Figured this was as good a day as any to grab some more.”
She snorted, and turned her head away from him. He’d gotten her, no question of that. A trip to town was too good to pass up, and he’d been so nice this morning she’d figured he was feeling guilty about last night. Stupid thing, to imagine Wade Masters capable of shame…
But after twenty minutes her foul mood dissolved. The sun was shining, and while the spring air was still a little brisk, all around her birds sang and tiny flowers bloomed. She loved springtime—especially since the end of the war. They’d all lived in fear for so long, and now it lay behind them. She wasn’t happy that Texas had been defeated, but she was glad to be finished with the bloodshed. Let other people be bitter—there were too many opportunities ahead of her. After a while she broke the silence.
“It was a dirty trick to lie to me about this trip,” she said. “Especially since I would have come, anyway. I’m not afraid of you, Wade.”
“I didn’t think you were,” he replied. “So far as I can tell, you aren’t afraid of anything. It’s always fun to rile you up, though. You look pretty when you’re mad.”
“You shouldn’t talk like that,” she snapped at him automatically, but the compliment made her glow a little inside. Like the land around her, his touches yesterday had awakened something within her after a long winter. She raised her arms up and sighed happily, thrusting her chest out a bit as she stretched.
“You’re the one who chickened out last night,” she replied. “I don’t remember saying no to you. Like I said, I’m not afraid.”
“Aren’t you worried about your reputation? I thought you said the school board wouldn’t hire a loose woman.”
“I know you too well, Wade,” she said, smiling. “Anything that might happen between us would stay between us, as long as we weren’t obvious and it didn’t last for long.
You don’t tell tales about women.”
Unlike Ryan. The words hung unspoken between them.
“I think I made my position clear last night,” Wade said. “I’m looking for a wife, not a mistress. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to do my best to convince you to marry me.”
“Well, I don’t see quite what you have to offer,” she replied, laughing. “I already have access to the ranch, and so far as I can tell, being your wife would be a lot of work. Work I already do.”
“You do the work, but you don’t get to do the playing that comes with it,” he replied, his voice dropping in tone. “I know how to make a woman happy, Catherine. Very happy. You should let me show you sometime.”