The Lady and the Cowboy (10 page)

Ruth didn’t think that she looked particularly like a boy with her hair tucked into her hat and her brea
sts strapped down, courtesy of Mamma. On the other hand, no one had called her out on her deception yet. Maybe they realised she was a woman and just didn’t care? Either way, she was happy to stay with Angel at the moment, out of the way of the crowds.

Sam’s racing silks were
actually quite attractive; dark blue, with black arms and a black cap. She had dressed at the hotel before they left this morning, so she didn’t have to use the communal jockey changing room.

“Nearly time,” she
told Angel, stroking the soft end of his nose.

The trip here hadn’t been very relaxing for poor Angel, trapped in a horse cart
for a day, being pulled over rutted roads by two other horses. Sam, Ruth, Mamma and Joe then stayed overnight in Fort Worth and travelled by train to Oklahoma City on the Thursday.  The train took just three hours to get them there and Angel had been able to rest ever since. Ruth had stayed with him as long as she could the day before, wanting him to feel at home in this strange stable.

Mamma
and Joe had come with them and Joe spent much of his time in the stable too, whilst Sam took care of paying the entrance fee and arranging for them to race.

Nervous, she picked up the dandy brush and began brushing
Angel’s neck again.

“If you brush him much more, he’ll go bald,” Sam teased as he came into the stable.

Ruth smiled but it was weakened by her apprehension.

“Hey, you’re going to be fine,” he assured her coming into the stall and taking her into his arms. Until now, he just hadn’t realised how truly nervous she was; he could see her shaking.

Ruth clung to him, taking strength from his calm attitude.

“If I didn’t think you could do this, I
would never have suggested it,” he told her, rubbing her back gently to sooth her.

“I know.”

“Once you’re in the saddle, you’ll be fine. You belong there.”

“Thank you,” she said, pulling away from him and looking up into his kind eyes.

Suddenly she felt trapped by his gaze again. Desire gripped her entire being, so strong that its intensity scared her but as he lowered his head to hers, she didn’t fight it, just closed her eyes and accepted his kiss.

His lips were dry but soft
, and she just had time to wonder that she still didn’t know what his stubble felt like, since he had shaved before they left the hotel this morning.

The next moment his tongue sought entrance to her mouth and as she allowed it, all coherent thought left her.

This was unlike any kiss she’d ever received before, it was affectionate and passionate, soft but demanding and she tightened her grip around his waist. When he finally pulled away, she felt breathless and opened her eyes to see the most tender expression that she had ever seen him wear. He smiled slightly and she returned it.

She wasn’t sure what had just happened but she certainly didn’t feel nervous any more.

Angel whinnied beside them and they both laughed.

“
Is someone getting jealous?” Sam asked, reaching one hand out to pat his neck as Angel tossed his mane under the praise.

Ruth brushed a few of Angel’s white hairs off his suit jacket, thinking how nicely he scrubbed up in his black suit and white cambric shirt. Overall though, she preferred him in his denim, with a dusting of stubble and his black Stetson. Not that this didn’t make a nice change.

They heard footsteps and reluctantly separated. Being discovered kissing as man and woman would have been bad enough but two men kissing? They’d likely be thrown off the grounds.

Sam quickly ducked under Angel’s head to the other side and ran his hands along Angel’s neck, just as a groom passed the stall, saddle in hand.

“Is it time?” Ruth asked.

Sam pulled out his watch and checked. “Yep, race starts in an hour. I’ll get the saddle so you two can get warmed up.”

***

Ruth thought she would feel uncomfortable in the enclosure as the bookmakers studied the horses
’ form and decided odds, but she didn’t. No one even seemed to look at the jockeys, just the horses.

For some reason, many people consider a grey horse to be weak and the whiter they look
ed, the weaker they were deemed to be. As a completely unknown as well, Angel’s odds were 100-1.

Ruth had given Sam two dollars to place a
bet for her and he was placing a modest wager too so with odds like that, they could be rich. Well, slightly better off.

Soon they were ordered to make their way to the starting line and Ruth happily cantered off with the other horses.

They lined up between the poles at the start line but Angel was over eager and she had to approach the line twice. He wasn’t the only eager horse and five of the other eight jockeys had needed to circle back around to the line at least once. Finally the horses were all lined up and the starter pistol fired.

Angel shot forward without needing to be told, Ruth sat so far forward that her bottom rose o
ff the small saddle and she squeezed her feet together, urging Angel to go faster.

She was aware of movement around her but she couldn’t
think about that or how close they might be; she kept her attention focused on Angel and the finishing line ahead.

She crashed through the finishing line to thunderous applause from the stands
, but she had no clue if it was for her and Angel or not.

She slowed Angel to a canter,
a trot then a walk and looked over to the results chalk board. Her heart dropped when she didn’t see Angel’s name in the winning spot. She took her feet from the stirrups and dismounted, then led Angel around to help him cool and calm down.

They could try again, of course, maybe train harder.
Or perhaps Ruth had been the problem and her nerves had transferred to Angel.

She saw Sam coming towards her, a huge smile on his face and she wondered what had made him
so happy. Before she could ask though, he swept her off her feet and into a hug.

“Sam! Put me down!” she cried, wary of making a spectacle of herself.

“But you won!” He said, putting her back on the ground.

“What?”

“You. Won.”

Ruth looked to the blackboard and in first place was Voodoo. It took a split second to remember that Voodoo was Angel
’s stud name. A smile broke out on her lips, almost in slow motion.

“We won? We won!”

She was about to hug Sam again but others had caught up to them and her hand was being shaken by total strangers as they congratulated her.

The next few hours were a bit of a blur
, as person after person came up to her with words of praise or asking questions. One face melded into another and Ruth knew she would never remember all these people. Sam was in a similar position and they hardly seemed to see each other. People told her where to go, Joe took Angel from her, although she couldn’t remember why and when the hubbub finally quietened down, Ruth found herself in the stables, with Mamma, Sam and Joe.

“Don’t you want to change, honey?”
Mamma asked.

Ruth looked down at her silk and breeches. “At the hotel,” she asserted. “They only have one changing room.”

Mamma nodded her understanding.

As this was just a small race, they had only won $200 in prize money but between them, Ruth and Sam had won
$700 on their $2 and $5 bets. Mamma and Joe had bet a dollar each too and were thrilled with their windfall.

“We made a fortune,” Ruth said with something akin to awe in her voice. She wouldn’t expect
Mamma and Joe to give their winnings to the business but she was prepared to invest her own winnings.

“You made a fortune,” Sam reminded her. “You bought him, broke him and rode him.”

Ruth gave him a look that asked if he was serious. “You’re the one who worked out his exercise schedule, matched his feed to his new needs and showed me how to get the most speed from him. I’m just an enthusiastic amateur, you’re the professional, I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”

Sam smiled, pleased that she believed in him.

“So, are we staying another night,” Mamma asked. “Or should we make the first leg of the trip, back to Fort Worth? It’s still early.”

“I think I’d like to go home,” Ruth said.

“Me too,” Sam agreed.

“Joe and I will go to the hotel and start packing then,”
Mamma said, pulling Joe away by his arm.

Ruth smiled once they had gone. “I think she knows something happened.”

“I think she’s been wanting something to happen since you got here,” Sam answered, raising one hand and stroking the back of his index finger across her cheek.

Ruth didn’t know how she felt about their kiss earlier. She had enjoyed it very much and she wanted to do it again but kissing led to other things, dangerous things. He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers.

“We’ll talk when we get home,” he assured her.

Ruth smiled and nodded, grateful for the chance to think things over before they talked about it.

“Come on, ‘Lucky’ Adams,” Sam said, throwing an arm around her shoulder. “Let’s get you and Angel home.”

Angel had two days off once they got back and Ruth was also given strict instructions to take at least one day off too.
That night they were to hold the barn dance though and as she watched the hands lifting, carrying and wheeling the equipment out of the barn, she couldn’t help but change into her riding clothes and go out to help them.

The Wakefield
s preferred to hold their dance on a Saturday night, knowing that Saturday was a light day on the ranch as many of the horses were being rested.

They swept the barn out then set up as many trellis tables as they had and throughout the day, a few neighbouring farm
ers turned up with additional tables and chairs.

The equipment that was removed was chained together and padlocked, to deter thieves.
Mamma produced as many cups, mugs, glasses and plates as she possessed, as well as pitchers and bottles filled with lemonade and other cordials.

“How often do we have to do this?” Ruth asked
Mamma, taking her hat off and wiping her forehead with her kerchief.

“Oh this should see our duty done for the best part of two years,”
Mamma assured her. “Just be glad that the hay loft doesn’t have to be emptied too. Besides, it’ll all be worth it once the dancing starts.”

“I somehow don’t think I’ll feel the same way tomorrow, when it’s time to put everything back.”

Mamma laughed. “You may have a point there.”

Ruth headed inside at four o’clock to wash up, and give her hair a chance to dry, then she went
to help Mamma and Cassy in the kitchen. Considering that everyone brought a dish with them, Mamma had gone to an awful lot of trouble. She had three types of rice and bean salads, slaw, cornbread, pickles, preserved onions, eggs and what looked like cucumbers, biscuits (which were more like savoury scones than a biscuit) and nut cookies (which actually were like English biscuits).

When the food had all been transported over to
the barn, covered in dish cloths, Ruth headed upstairs to get dressed. She had um'ed and ah’ed over what to wear but finally decided on one of her nicer gowns. It was dark green with a pinched waist (with a little help from her corset) a full skirt (although she wore only one of her smaller petticoats underneath) short ruffled sleeves and a sweetheart neckline, that revealed only a decent amount of cleavage.

It
made her stand out from the locals but then, she wasn’t like the other women around here, and trying to imitate them just seemed foolish. Besides, they had all accepted her the last time despite her dress and she was hopeful that they would be just as friendly this time.

Sh
e didn’t put her hair up though, but pinned the front back with two ornate combs so it didn’t get in her way. With the number of pins that she had to use to hold her wayward curls in place, more complicated hairstyles often became painful and besides, she had gotten used to just tying her hair back with a ribbon. Plus, a lot of people around here seemed to like her curls.

It might also have something to do with the
Grant’s garish daughter having said that she would attend the next barn dance. Ruth didn’t really understand why, but she wanted to look her best if this woman was around.

Finally, she pinched her cheeks a few times to give them some colour,
then rubbed a little beetroot on her lips and a thin coating of petroleum jelly.

She headed downstairs just before seven to find that people were already arriving and mingling in the barn, until the musicians arrived and began playing.

Ruth looked around for Sam as she entered, unwilling to admit that she had gone to all this trouble for him but wanting his approval nonetheless. He was nowhere to be seen though, so she headed to the refreshments table and poured herself a glass of lemonade. Someone had already brought a cask of homemade ale and the lemonade she was drinking tasted a little different from Mamma’s usual recipe.

Sh
e wondered idly how long, on average, it took them to spike the drinks. She vowed to finish this glass but then she would switch to water. Even if it wasn’t for her mother’s teachings, she had no desire to appear drunk in public.

She was chatting with the very
pregnant Bea when the other woman suddenly frowned, her gaze drawn over Ruth’s shoulder.

“Oh no, what’s he doing here,” Bea complained.

Ruth turned to see Tobias Middleton entering the barn, having left his horse with the ranch hands, as if they were his servants or something. As Ruth had quickly seen at her first barn dance, the hosts were happy to give guests room to store carriages and stables for horses, but you had to see to your own.

Ben and Willy were looking after Tobias now and if their expressions were anything to go by, thinking some very unchristian thoughts.

“Oh no, he’s coming this way!” Bea lamented, looking for an escape but with her stomach so swollen, she couldn’t get away without moving the people around her, drawing attention to herself.

“Just look away and hopefully he won’t notice.” Ruth said, determinedly turning back to her friend before Tobias spotted her.

They both shifted subtly so they were looking towards the barn wall, without actually standing side by side like idiots.

“So, I was asking when the baby is due?” Ruth reminded Bea.

“Oh, another two weeks, but we have a tendency to be late in our family so it could be another month. God, I hope not, I can’t wait to see my feet again.”

Ruth smiled.

“My dear Lady Adams, you look simply stunning this evening.”

Ruth closed her eyes as her heart sank; Tobias had found them. Plastering a polite smile on her face, she turned to him.

“Mr Middleton, I wasn’t aware that you were coming tonight.”

“I thought these things were open invitation.”

“Oh they are, but they really don’t seem like something you would enjoy. Perhaps I was being presumptuous.” Ruth watched from the corner of her eye as Bea sloped off, and wished that she could do the same.

“I have been
a few times, I'm just usually so busy, you know how it is.”

“Quite,” Ruth smiled
tightly. “Did you bring something for the table? I’ll take it to Mamma if you’d like.”

“The table?”

“Yes,” Ruth pointed to the tables where food and drink were lined up. “To save the hosts work, everyone brings a dish of some kind. I understand they call it a ‘pot luck’.”

“Oh, no, I'm afraid I wasn’t aware of that custom. It’s terribly rude of me, I could easily have had my cook prepare something, if only I’d known.”

“Perhaps it’s a new custom,” she suggested, with a sugary sweet smile.

This was a trick her mother had taught her, to develop a façade of sugary sweetness when communicating with someone you dislike. The worse they behaved, the more sickly sweet you acted. It was certainly preferable to how she had told him off last time,
although part of her dearly wished to read him the riot act.

“Yes,” he smiled, seemingly relieved that she had come to his rescue. “So my dear, how have you been since we last met.”

His eyes roamed over her figure as he spoke, devouring her and she desperately wished that she’d worn something plainer. She had meant the outfit to help her look attractive but she had attracted the wrong eyes.

“
Very well, thank you. And you, Mr Middleton?”

“Oh, I can’t complain, you know how it is.”

“Quite.” She looked about, hoping to spot Sam and that he would rescue her but although she thought she caught glimpses of his dark hair, the barn was rapidly filling up and it was hard to see over heads when you were just 5’3”.

“If I'm honest, Lady Adams, I wouldn’t have though
t that this kind of gathering was really your cup of tea either.”

“When in Rome,” she said, because she really didn’t want or need to explain herself to this man. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I see
Mamma calling for help.”

Tobias turned to see
Mamma over by the barn door, waving her hand over her head.

“Oh, of course. I hope we can have a dance later on?”

“Yes, of course.” Anything if he would just let her pass.

He stepped aside to let Ruth
leave (although his tone implied that he resented the interruption) and Ruth made her way over to Mamma.

“You’re welcome, child,”
Mamma smiled as Ruth approached. “Now go on in the house and fetch me a pitcher of water.”

“Yes
Mamma.” Ruth smiled and happily headed over to the house for a few minutes’ respite.

She walked slowly back to the house, smiling at the new arrivals as they passed her and enjoying the cool night air. She headed in through the front door, quickly grabbed a jug and headed out to the rear yard to fill it.

Her hand stopped on the door handle though as in the light that spilled out from the kitchen, she saw two people kissing. She reared back, out of sight as the man put his hands on the woman’s shoulders and pulled away. It was Sam!

The
same Sam who had kissed her just two days ago, now kissing Sally Grant from the general store.

Her
head spun with her jealousy. After they had finally hashed out their issues, she thought that she had come to know him fairly well and she didn’t think he was the kind of man to lead women on and play with their emotions. There was no denying what she had seen, however.

On both occasions when she had seen Sam with
this woman, he didn’t exactly seem to be flirting back, more trying to be polite and not hurt her feelings. And he
had
ended the kiss, pushing the girl away. Perhaps she had been the aggressor, not Sam.

Ruth edged closer to the rear door, hoping to hear their conversation.

“I don’t know why you have to be so stubborn, Sam, I’ve told you, I don’t mind if the ranch isn’t making big profits.”

“Sally, I know you say that now but what happens when we can
’t afford a new dress, or a new bonnet? I really don’t think I'm the man for you.”

“Oh, pooh,
I know you have a winning racehorse now, it can’t be long before things are on the up again. Now we can’t be away for too much longer, so kiss me, please.”

“T
his really isn’t a good idea, Sally.”

“But no one’s around to see us
! Please Sam?” She huffed. “Look, I'm sorry I gave your ring back when Tobias called in your loan but I made a mistake, all right? I’m sorry and I miss you.”

“Just because you changed your mind, doesn’t mean things have changed. Truth is, you probably did us both a favour, we were never well matched a
nd you would have hated being a rancher’s wife.”

“A stud
owner’s wife.”

“Details, Sally. It doesn’t matter what you call it,
breeding and training horses is my job and it’s always going to be my job.”

Ruth heard soft crying.

“Come on, you know you wouldn’t like living so far from town, you’d miss all your friends.” He sounded conciliatory.

“I don’t care about that, Sam.”

“But you will one day and you’ll be glad I said no.”

“No I won’t,” she sniffed.

“Come on, you’d better get back to the barn before your folks miss you.”

“But-“

“Sally, you need to get back to your folks.”

Ruth heard a few more sniffs then she heard Sam’s footsteps approaching the door and stepped away. She didn’t have time to move
to another room so she knew she’d be caught. He noticed her almost as soon as he stepped inside.

“Your mother sent me to get some water,” she said, holding the pitcher aloft as proof.

“So I guess you heard everything?” he said with a sigh but he didn’t seem angry.

“Well, I heard a lot.”

Sam pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and sat down. “You look beautiful, by the way.” He smiled warmly at her.

He gestured for her to take a seat too, so she pulled out the end chair and sat down.

“After my father died, we were up against it for a long time and this farm was all I thought about, my only way to keep my family safe. I became a little obsessed.” He wiped a hand over his face, looking bone weary. “Then Mark left, that’s my brother, and I realised how little I had in my life. All my sisters except Bea were married and having their own families, even Bea had a beau but all I had was Mamma and this farm. I decided it was time I did something about that. Sally was like a breath of fresh air, all those bright colours, so very different to life out here where everything gets coloured brown by the dust.” He smiled slightly as he remembered. “Mamma said it was a foolish choice from day one, said Sally was too young, too flighty to run a ranch house but I was blind. I think I was in love with the idea of being in love, of making something for myself, rather than being in love with Sally but I was too blind to see it. So I proposed.

“When Tobias called in the loan, she called it off. Money was tight and I was talking about scaling back the wedding, so
she said that she couldn’t live with a poor man. Her parents had always indulged her, spoiled her really, so I didn’t blame her.”