The Lady and the Cowboy (7 page)

Ruth’s muscles protested terribly the next morning, especially her thighs, but she was determined to ignore them and carry on. She had gone to bed early the nigh
t before, tired from her day of riding, so she was the first up this morning. She quickly dressed in her outfit from the day before and headed for the tool room. She collected a wheelbarrow and pitchfork and headed to the closest barn.

She had never actually mucked out before but she had watched many times as the grooms did it
, and it didn’t really seem that hard. She tethered each horse outside of their stable with a head collar, then picked up the muck and wet straw and placed it in the barrow, before returning the horse to their stall. When she had done the first row of stables, she emptied the barrow onto the manure pile. Some of the manure was ploughed into the kitchen garden and the rest was sold to local farmers.

She returned to the barn and mucked out the opposite row of stalls. She was already feeling hot and sweaty by the time she was done, despite the early hour and relative
cool and seeing a kerchief hanging around, grabbed it and wiped her brow. Like the others, she then tied it around her neck, for easy access.

She topped up the straw in the stalls that needed it, then she began to empty the water buckets and refilled each one at the water pump. She was just putting the bucket back in a palomino horse’s stall when Sam found her.

“What the devil are you doing?” he demanded.

Ruth placed the bucket in the stall, bolted it behind her, pushed the hair off her face and wiped her brow before turning to him.

“What does it look like?” she asked.

She hadn’t emptied the second barrow yet, so it was blatantly obvious what she had been doing.

“Mamma’s got breakfast ready. We thought you’d overslept.”

“I woke up early
, so I thought I’d make myself useful.”

He narrowed his eyes, wondering what was going on with her. When he didn’t speak again, she headed for the next stall, picking up the water bucket.

“Breakfast is ready,” he repeated.

“I only have three more stalls to go,” she answered calmly.

Sam took the buckets from the last two stalls and accompanied her to the drain and water pump so she would be finished quicker.

To Ruth though, it appeared that he was showing her that since he could carry two
buckets, he could work faster and better than she could, proving how inferior she was.

When all the horses in the first barn were watered, she followed him back to the house.

“My,” Mamma smiled when she saw Ruth. “Looks like someone already worked up a sweat.”

“She was mucking out the barn,” Sam said, his tone indecipherable.

“Good honest work,” Mamma proclaimed. “Bet you’re hungry now though.”

Ruth nodded and proceeded to tuck into a large breakfast.

Now as well as her thighs aching, her arms were protesting too, but she ignored it.

“We have a rota for mucking out,” Sam explained as they ate. “Two hands take one barn each every morning. I’ll put you on it if you want.”

Ruth looked at him, trying to decipher if he was humouring her or teasing her, but his expression was inscrutable.

“It’s only fair,” she answered.

Sam nodded. “You still want to go into town tomorrow, Mamma?”

“I do,” she smiled. “We need some kitchen supplies and beeswax and… well I have a list somewhere.”

“Do you want to come?” Sam asked Ruth.

“Please,” she smiled politely at Sam.

She had already realised that work on the ranch was usually at a minimum on Saturdays as Sam liked to give most of the horses two days rest a week. Besides, she should probably see the local town, then she’d know how to get there on Angel when she wanted (she hadn’t paid much attention on the carriage ride out here).

She should probably write to her family as well. She had written a few days after the boat docked but not since she’d arrived at the ranch. She certainly wouldn’t be telling them about her recent riding antics but she should give them her address
, if nothing else. And she had to tell her solicitor where to send the small stipend that she received from her paternal Grandmother’s estate.

Mamma
informed her that the local post office had a Western Union, where the funds could be sent and picked up in cash.

***

When it became clear that Ruth intended to work a full day exercising and training the horses, Sam pulled her to one side.

“I thought you were going to work up to things slowly?” he said as she came out of a stall.

“I feel better today than I thought I would.”

Sam narrowed his eyes again and she felt
as if she were being sized up.

“Fine, I’ll put you on next week’s roster so you’ll know which horses you have to exercise each day
. We like to mix it up, get them used to a variety of riders, especially the young ones.”

“That sounds fine,” she answered, turning away from him as she gathered up the horse
’s tack.

“Let me help,” he said, trying to take the saddle from her.

“I can manage, thank you,” she snapped and Sam backed off.

He watched her as she walked out of the barn. He had identified what was wrong with her, she was angry but not like when she yelled at him, more like she was quietly seething.

As much as he had tried to provoke her up until now, after their ride on the trail yesterday, he found that he didn’t want her to be angry at him any more. He liked it much better when she was friendly and open, so they could talk like friends.

She seemed to be making an effort to engage the ranch hands in conversation today, and they were all eager to chat to her. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be, Sam wondered. It remained to be seen if she could be firm with them when needed, as well as friends. He didn’t think most of them would try to take advantage of her in any harmful ways, they feared
Mamma’s wrath too much but it was human nature to try and get away with things and Ruth was new, therefore easier to fool.

She remained very cool towards
Sam for the rest of the day, refusing all offers for her to take a break or finish early.

Over dinner that evening, she looked dog tired, hardly able to hold a
coherent conversation. After washing off the dirt and grime, she had considered not going down for dinner and just curling up in bed, but she was really hungry.

As much as she
annoyed him since she’d come to the ranch, Sam had to admire her spirit. She had done everything that he and his other hands had, without even blinking. He doubted that many English ladies (or American ladies for that matter) could have done the same. He knew that her muscles had to be killing her by now but she didn’t complain at all.

Knowing that it would help with her pain and lethargy, Sam got a bottle of wine out to have with dinner,
although he gave it to Mamma to serve, since Ruth would probably refuse if it was his suggestion.

“Wine?” Ruth asked as
Mamma handed the bottle to Sam to open.

“To toast your
first two days on the ranch,” Mamma lied. “You did well and we should celebrate.”

“I think I’d rather have a brandy,” Ruth muttered softly.

Sam and Mamma shared a smile at her comment.

“You’ll fit into life out here in no time,”
Mamma declared, pouring her a large glass of the white wine. Ruth didn’t tell her that you should serve red wine with beef.

Ruth’s muscles were almost screaming with pain by the next morning but she ignored it and got dressed for her day.

She hesitated over her wardrobe for a long while, wondering what to wear. All the dresses she’d brought with her were too ‘fancy’ for the ranch and she didn’t want to alienate the locals. There was no way she was going into town wearing her breeches, no matter how often she was assured that a lot of women in these parts did. In the end she opted for her riding habit, although she wore bloomers below the skirt as they would be cooler than breeches, and she substituted the Stetson for the top hat. She tied her curly hair back with a ribbon.

Mamma
smiled approvingly at her and served a big plate of food. To her own surprise, Ruth ate it all.

“I’ll be as big as a horse in a few months,” she teased.

“Horses are hard work,” Mamma said. “You can’t go doing a man’s work on a woman’s portions.”

Mamma
’s portions weren’t much smaller but she too worked hard, in the house and the kitchen garden and when she wasn’t helping Cassy with the washing or ironing, she was cooking up jam or preserving some beef. Mamma was rarely still until after dinner.

They took the cart into town, so that they could load the supplies in the back for the return trip, but Sam,
Mamma and Ruth could easily fit on the bench. Three of the ranch hands wanted to come but rather than sitting in the cart, they rode behind them. It puzzled Ruth since they had ridden in the back to attend the barn dance, so she asked Mamma once they were in town and the hands had ridden off.

“It’s so they can return in their own time. Chances are they’ll spend the day in the tavern and the night in the arms of one of Miss Ellie’s girls.”

Ruth blushed.

“And you
trust them?”

“Sam does,”
Mamma answered. “He says they need to blow off steam sometimes and he knows they’ll look after the horses. Chances are they’re being stabled behind Miss Ellie’s tavern right now. She does a brisk trade in ranch hands.”

Ruth didn’t know how she felt about that. Men had needs, she knew, and at least the hands weren’t
tricking these women into bed. It was an exchange of money for services, just like with a house maid. Her brother had kept a mistress since he returned from university, as had her brother-in-law whilst she lived with him and her sister. In fact, the only man that she would bet money didn’t have sex outside of marriage, was her father and that was only because he spent most of his free time with her, so she almost always knew his whereabouts.

She pushed such thoughts aside for the moment, so that she could focus on the town. Almost everything was made of wood and covered in a layer of dust,
although in all honesty, it did look like people tried to keep their homes nice, or at least clean, it was just so difficult when the ground was so dry and dusty.

Horses rode up and down the street, pedestrians nodded to each other as they passed or stopped for a chat. It would look much like any day in London, were it not for the unusual buildings and dirt road.

They dropped Ruth off by the post office so she could send her letters and she arranged to meet up with them at the general store, a few shops down. The first thing she noticed about the shop was the sheer volume of Wanted posters. Ruth paused for a moment to peruse them. Some looked brand new, whilst others had clearly been up a while and were faded and slightly torn. The crimes ranged from cattle rustling and horse theft, to murder and bank robbery, and each picture of the outlaws seemed even more unsavoury than the last. Ruth turned away and headed for the counter.

To the letter for
her lawyer, she added the details he would need to send her grandmother’s stipend then sealed the envelope, handed the letters over, paid and left.

When she entered
the general store, Mamma was at the counter with a long list of supplies and Ruth joined her, although she soon grew tired of listening to Mamma read off an item and amount, then watching the shopkeeper fetch and measure it, so she began looking around the store instead.

It had everything, seemingly.
Mamma was ordering things such as tea (Ruth would thank her later) sugar and salt but there were many other things available too, like bolts of cloth and stockings in one area, pots, pans, crockpots in another, and then she found tools and farming equipment. Nothing large but it wouldn’t surprise her if there was a plough out the back. Everything was stacked high to fit more in.

She continued to the next section and found Sam looking at guns.

“…about the easiest handgun to fire. It comes with a seven and a half inch barrel normally, but we do have one four inch barrel in stock,” a middle aged man was explaining to Sam.

They were sta
nding in front of an open, glass-fronted case, which was filled with guns and Sam turned to her as she approached.

“Is this the young lady in question?”

“It is,” Sam confirmed. “This is Mrs Adams, Ruth, this is Mr Grant.”

“You’re buying me a gun?” she
sounded surprised.

“I am. Every one of my hands carr
ies one so if you’re going to work with us, you need to learn to shoot.”

“I hear you’re a dab hand with a horse,” Mr
Grant said congenially.

“Well, I…” she blushed. “I'm not sure I want to learn how to shoot.”

“It’s a wise thing to do in these parts,” Mr Grant informed her. “Never know who you’ll run across. Better safe than sorry, I say. Anyway, as I was saying, this is the wife’s preferred gun, we always keep a gun under the counter, never can be too careful. This one is the Colt Single Action Army revolver; it’s easy to use, easy to load and the .45 bullets pack a decent punch. In fact the four inch barrel is often called the ‘Banker Special’ or the ‘Storekeeper’ because they’re perfect for personal protection. It holds six cartridges, so there’s no messing about with gunpowder.” He opened the chamber so she could see where the bullets went, then flipped it closed, aimed, pulled the hammer back and fired on the empty chamber. “Couldn’t be easier!” He handed her the gun.

Ruth took the gun because she didn’t know what else to do, but she held the grip between her thumb and index finger, as if it might fire even without any bullets.

Mr Grant laughed and took her hand, placing the gun in it as it should be gripped and moving to stand behind her, making her point the gun at the store window.

“Now it’s real easy, Mrs Adams, just pull the hammer back,” he did so, “and pull the trigger.
”

She didn’t pull it, just stood there.

“You don’t need to worry about hurting anyone, we don’t keep these guns loaded, or some desperado would use them against us. We keep the bullets locked in a safe out back.”

Alt
hough it went against her instincts as a lady to do so, she did feel a thrill at holding a powerful weapon. She bit down on her lip as she squeezed the trigger, letting out a sigh of relief as nothing happened.

“See, easy,” Mr
Grant smiled, released her and turned to Sam. “So do you know which barrel length you’d like to go for? We’ve got a five and a half inch, as well as the four and seven and a half.”

Sam turned to Ruth, who was holding the gun in her hand, seemingly weighing it up.

“Ruth?”

She looked up at him, warring with what she had been taught and what she knew she needed to do out here.

“The four inch,” she said decisively. “This has to be almost a foot long!”

“That’s 13 dollars.” Mr
Grant told them. “Usually 1000 cartridges would set you back 15 dollars but I can let you have both for 25. What do you say?”

“We’ll take it,”
Sam nodded to Mr Grant. “And we’ll need a gun belt and holster.”

“Be back in a moment.” He
locked the gun back in the cabinet and disappeared into the storeroom.

“
Mr Wakefield, I didn’t bring twenty five dollars with me!” Ruth hissed.

“Relax, this is
a business purchase and we have an account here.”

“I can’t let you buy something so expensive for me!”

“I’m not buying it for you, I'm buying it for the ranch.”

‘
More like, to make me feel indebted to you so I’ll let you race Angel
,’ she thought but held her tongue.

“I’ll pay you back as soon as
we get home,” she said, suddenly wondering when the ranch had become home.

“Fine.” Sam headed to the counter to wait with his mother and now she felt bad for turning him down, but she couldn’t become beholden to him. She wouldn’t! She drifted back over to them a few moments later. Mrs
Grant was wrapping the gun belt and holster in brown paper, chatting to Mamma as she worked.

The bell above the door rang and everyone turned to see who had entered. He was a short gentleman but well dressed and he had an important air about him. He smiled when he saw her.

“My, who have we here, a new face in town?” he asked approaching her and offering her his hand to shake as he removed his hat. “I’m Tobias Middleton, and who might you be, miss?”

She wasn’t sure if she was sorry to correct him or not. “It’s Mrs, Mrs Adams.”

“Well, delighted to make your acquaintance, ma’am.”

Ruth didn’t notice Sam glowering at the man over her shoulder.

“You would be Ivor’s widow?”

“That’s right. Did you know my husband?”

“Oh yes ma’am, I knew him well. Unfortunately he never mentioned how beautiful you were.”

Ruth felt a little disquieted but she couldn’t say why.

“I understood that he didn’t tell anyone about me at all.”

“Well truth be told, he didn’t, I was just trying to be polite.
I apologise.”

Sh
e now felt a little foolish for correcting him.

“So how are you finding life on the ranch? I have to say, it seems like a hard life for a beautiful lady such as yourself.”

“I’m adjusting well,” she said, slightly irked that he seemed to answer his own questions, as if schooling her on how she should answer.

“I'm sure,” his smile widened as his gaze shifted. “Still, it’s a hard life, right Sam?”

Realising that Mr Middleton still held her hand, she extracted it and turned to Sam, finally realising that he didn’t look happy.

“Not for those who aren’t afraid of a little hard work.”

“I prefer to work smart rather than hard.” Mr Middleton chuckled. “Don’t you agree, Mrs Adams?”

“I’ve never been afraid of hard work.” She sounded timid even to her own ears, wondering why she felt
as if these men were fighting over her.

“Of course not, but there’s no need to break your
back, is there?” Tobias asked.

“I suppose not,” she conceded.

“Can we help you with something, Tobias?” Sam asked.

“Oh no, I'm just here for some essentials. You go about your business.”

Sam put an arm around Ruth’s shoulder and pulled her closer to him and Mamma. Ruth shrugged out of his grip, uncomfortable at being manhandled.

“Will you be in town for long?” Mr Middleton asked.

“We have a few more stores to visit,” Sam answered.

“Then perhaps I could show Mrs Adams around our fine town?”

“We can show Ruth around,” Sam insisted.

“Oh no, really,” Ruth weakly protested.

“No, no, I insist. You don’t want to spend your day in shops, let me show you the sights, maybe buy you a little lunch in Brannigan’s?”

“Oh, I'm not sure-“

“You’ll be here a while, won’t you Sam?”

Ruth turned to look at
Sam who was glowering at her. Who was he to glower at her? She hadn't done anything wrong, she was just trying not to be impolite!

Then she realised that Sam really disliked this man an
d right now, she really disliked Sam.

“Very well, Mr Middleton, I’ll take a short walk with you
, but we must stay on the main street, I don’t want to get lost.”

Tobias beamed at her and offered her his elbow to guide her from the shop. Ruth glanced back as the door closed after them to see Sam now glaring at the
m.

‘If looks could kill,’
she thought,
‘I’d be writhing in agony right about now.’

She wondered what caused the animosity between them but daren’t ask.

As she held Tobias’s elbow, she began to feel that she should act like a lady once again, a thought which saddened her a little. He led her up Main Street, pointing out the different shops, such as the saddler and the dressmaker, the coffee house and the doctor’s surgery (which was in his home).

When they seemed to be coming to a more residential
rather than commercial area, Ruth suggested they turn back.

“Oh, there’s no rush,” he assured her.

“I don’t want to keep Mamma waiting.”