To Honor and Cherish Read Free Page A

petrified.
    Meg stopped short, and covered her front with her gown. “Rose, this is Jax, our new foreman.” She panted from her rush. “Jax, this is Rose, my closest friend and housekeeper.” Meg finally took control of her emotions.
    “Ma’am.” He lifted his cup to Rose.
    “You stayed…here… last night?” She stammered.
    “Yes ma’am. Meghan assures me the bunkhouse’ll be done soon.”
    “Meghan?” Rose’s forehead crinkled and she shook her head, looking confused.
    “Yes, oh right, she told me ma’am would work, too.” He smiled at her and took a sip of the cold, stale coffee, grimacing at the brew.
    “She did, did she?” Rose smiled at Meg like a sly fox now warming to the situation. “Let me fix you some breakfast and fresh coffee, cowboy. My name’s Rose.”
    Rose went to work on breakfast, and Meg made herself scarce to get dressed. She’d seen Rose’s look and knew she was in for some teasing. Maybe she deserved it. She could hear Rose chatting away with Jax as she prepared breakfast.
    Meg took her time getting ready. She had no desire to face either Jax or Rose after the introduction this morning. She sat in front of her mirror brushing her hair, when Rose said in an overly loud voice,
    “You don’t need to wait for Meghan if she’s taking too long. I’m sure my Pete could show you around. He’s right outside.”
    Meg blushed from her hairline to her neck. Of course Jax would’ve needed her to take him around the ranch and tell him what she expected of him. Drat, this was all new to her.
    She came out a minute later. Rose looked up, giggling at her.
    “Good morning, Meghan. Is there anything I can get you for breakfast, Meghan ?”
    Meg scowled. “Stop teasing me. I wanted him to give me some respect. Maybe Meg sounds like a child’s name.” Meg crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her, which made Rose laugh even harder.
    “Oh, so Meg isn’t old enough? As if the black clothes didn’t age you enough, now you want to be older sounding, too?”
    “I don’t know…yes. I guess. You can still call me Meg, though.” She smiled, trying to get Rose off the subject.
    “So, I get to think of you as a child? No. No, I don’t think that’ll work. If you want to be Meghan, you shall be. It’s just interesting that it took a handsome, young cowboy showing up in the night for Meghan to come out when Meg was just fine before.”
    Meg’s jaw clenched in frustration. Rose laughed all the more.
    “Come, Meghan . Let’s have some breakfast and go check on the men. We have to keep them in line, you know.”
    Meg was fit to be tied. Every time she turned around Rose teased her. Meghan this and Meghan that, always with a teasing little sing-song voice. The new foreman wouldn’t give her any respect if Rose continued like this. Sure, she’d made a mistake. It was time to be done with it and move on.
    ~~~
    Meg saddled up her horse to visit Chase’s grave when Jax came up behind her.
    “Ma’am?”
    She jumped and turned around. He’d been so quiet she hadn’t heard him behind her. “Yes, Jax?”
    “If you’re headed into town, I’d like to ride with you. I have a few friends that might make good hands if you’d like to meet them?”
    The idea of spending an hour with this man sounded like pure torture. If she could make such a fool of herself after only a few minutes, she would have the entire family embarrassed in a one hour ride.
    “Jax, I’m making…more of a social call.” She stammered and looked away. “I… have a friend who is…ill.” She looked away from him, knowing it was a terrible lie. “I’d like to meet your friends and you are free to go into town and bring them out if you believe they’ll be good for the job.” She reached for the saddle and wound the reins around the pommel. “In fact, I will leave the hiring of the five men to you. You’re the one who will be working with them and it will be a good test to see if you can spot strengths and