Linda Ford Read Free Page B

family.”
    “You traveled from England without a chaperone?”
    She flicked him an impatient glance. It was easy to see that rules meant a lot to him. She’d prayed he wasn’t like her father. Now he seemed frighteningly so. “Of course not, but Miss Snodgrass was eager to return, and when she saw I intended for Cassie to accompany me, she got on the next boat home.”
    He waited, aware there was more.
    “Cassie is a little...well, I suppose you could say she’s having trouble dealing with her grief.”
    “Trouble? In what way?”
    Words came quickly to her mind, but none of them seemed the sort to make him kindly disposed toward Cassie. Perhaps the less she said the better. “Let’s just say she’s a bit sharp.” She hastened to add, “I’m sure she’ll settle down once the edge of her grief has passed.”
    He scrubbed at his neck again. “Let’s see what you have.”
    She hurried past him, fearing if he thrust his head in the door and ordered the pair out, the ensuing reaction would give them all cause for regret. The kind gentleman who had assisted her from the coach watched for her return, doubtless listening with ears cocked. She wondered how much he’d heard. Not that it mattered. He’d already managed to get most of the story from her as they bounced along for several days with nothing to do but stare at each other. He held the door for her and with a quirk of his eyebrows silently asked if things had gone well.
    She gave a quick nod, grateful for his kindly interest, then turned to the other occupants. “Cassie, we’re here. Come out. Grady, come here.” She reached to take the four-year-old from Cassie’s lap.
    Grady seemed to shrivel into himself. Only at Cassie’s gentle insistence did he let Linette take his hand and lift him to the ground. He took one look at Eddie and buried his face in her skirts. She knew he would stay there until she pried him free.
    Cassie grabbed her small travel valise and paused in the open doorway. The look she gave Eddie blazed with anger.
    Please, God. Keep her from saying something that will give him a reason to put us on the stage again without any regard for where we’ll end.
    “He’s passable, I suppose.”
    Linette’s breath stuck halfway to her lungs. She stole a glance at Eddie. Surprise flashed in his eyes and then he grinned. He had a nice face when he smiled, but more than that, his smile made her feel he would be patient with Cassie, who often expressed her pain in meanness. Relief poured through Linette like a warming drink.
    “Thanks,” Eddie said.
    “Wasn’t meant as a compliment,” Cassie murmured.
    “I’ve been told worse.” He held his hand out to assist Cassie, but she pointedly ignored him and accepted help from their traveling companion.
    Linette’s attention was diverted as the driver handed down the two trunks she’d brought. Grady had only a grip bag.
    Eddie whistled sharply, causing Grady to sob. Two men stepped from the building across the way.
    “Yeah, boss?” one called.
    “Boys, take these trunks to my house.”
    Linette watched the two cross the roadway in long, rolling strides. Their gait reminded her of the sailors on the ship. They had on Stetson hats, worn and rolled, unlike the new, uniformly shaped ones she’d studied back at the trading post in Fort Benton where she’d exchanged her fine English silks and bustles for frocks she considered more appropriate for living in the wilds—simple-cut dresses of calico or wool. She’d procured a dress for Cassie too but the woman refused to wear it. “I am who I am and I’m not about to pretend otherwise,” she’d said. Linette hadn’t pressed the point. Sooner or later the old garment Cassie wore would fall apart and then she’d be glad for what Linette offered.
    She glanced at her own dress. A little the worse for wear after crossing the prairie. She’d clean up once they got settled in case Eddie took note of her rumpled state.
    As they walked, the men