The Cowboy's City Girl Read Online Free

indicated and reluctantly allowed Levi to pour her tea. “Thank you.” She dare not look at him for fear she would see doubt in his eyes as to her suitability to do her job. So far she had done nothing but make more work for him.
    â€œNow tell us about yourself. Where are you from?” Maisie asked.
    â€œChicago,” Beatrice answered.
    â€œWhat does your father do?”
    â€œHe’s a businessman with many interests. Perhaps you’ve heard of Bernard and Wardell Doyle?” Bernard was her father, Wardell her uncle. “They own a railway, a manufacturing plant and several other businesses, though Father says his greatest asset is his name.” All the more reason Beatrice being a girl had been a disappointment.
    â€œNo, I’m sorry,” Maisie said. “I was raised in Philadelphia but haven’t been back east in a number of years. Do you have siblings?”
    â€œI’m an only child.”
    â€œMe, too.” Maisie laughed softly and gave Levi an adoring look. “Some might see that as a blessing, isn’t that right, Levi?”
    â€œI’ve never thought of it much.” His grin was so mischievous that Beatrice almost stared. The man had a beautiful smile that left her breathless. “Except when Tanner and Johnny tied me to a stake and said they were going to torture me.”
    â€œTanner and Johnny are Levi’s older brothers,” Maisie said. “Tanner is twenty-one, Johnny twenty. My, how time flies.”
    Beatrice waited for Maisie to supply Levi’s age. But she seemed to have forgotten the subject.
    â€œHow old are you, my dear?”
    â€œEighteen. How old is Levi—?” She blurted out the question then stammered to a halt. “I’m sorry. That was very rude of me.”
    â€œNot at all.” Maisie smiled at Levi. “He’s nineteen.”
    Beatrice concentrated on her tea while she gathered her manners.
    Maisie continued. “Did Levi tell you about my injury?”
    â€œHe said you cut your leg.”
    â€œI fear it’s rather a bad cut on the back of my leg.” Maisie told of her accident. “My wound needs dressing, but I can’t reach it so I will need you to do it for me.”
    Beatrice had seen more illness in the past two weeks then she would have seen in four lifetimes back in Chicago. But she hadn’t tended a wound. “I’ll do my best.” She meant to sound strong and confident, but knew her voice revealed too much uncertainty.
    Levi’s expression hardened into sharp lines. No doubt he wondered what sort of help her uncle had sent.
    She could and would do the job. He’d see. So would his stepmother.
    â€œMa is to rest with her leg up, so you’ll be in charge of the kitchen, the meals, the laundry—everything she’d normally do.”
    â€œI understand. My aunt explained my duties.” And had done her best to teach her in a few short hours how to do them. Beatrice had been shocked at how much a person had to know in order to run a house.
    â€œI can’t emphasize too strongly that she is not to be moving about,” Levi continued. “Her leg must be allowed to heal.” His dark gaze held hers in an invisible iron grip. She couldn’t free herself from his look. Did he think she was incapable of doing the job? He must never learn how close to the truth such doubts were. She’d prove to him and to her father, and even to herself, that she could handle the things her choice of life required.
    â€œI believe you’ve made yourself clear,” she said with far more assurance than she felt.
    Levi looked ready to say more, perhaps warn her further of the cost of failure on her part. He didn’t know the half of what failure would mean, not only to Maisie, but also to Beatrice.
    Maisie interrupted their conversation.
    â€œLevi, would you bring in one of the easy chairs from the other room and a footstool? I believe