The Cowboy's City Girl Read Online Free Page A

I’ll rest better if I can sit in the kitchen and talk to Beatrice as she works.”
    Levi hustled to do so, arranging a chair and stool by the table and getting Maisie comfortable in it.
    â€œThank you, my boy.” Maisie patted Levi’s cheek. “Now you run along and leave us to take care of things.”
    â€œDo you have everything you need?” He directed his question to Beatrice.
    â€œI’m sure I can manage.” Not for all the grass in Montana would she admit she might have ventured in out of her depth.
    â€œThen I will take care of the horses and the buggy.” He hurried from the house.
    Beatrice gave a nervous glance about the room. No doubt there were things she needed to do, but she had no idea where to even start. Aunt Opal had always given her instructions about what to do next.
    â€œMy dear, don’t look so nervous.”
    Beatrice took in one deep breath and then another. “I hope I can do what’s expected of me. I confess I’m not very experienced. I might make a mistake.” The word stuck in her mind. According to her parents she was a mistake.
    â€œYou can learn whatever you set your mind to and I don’t believe it’s a mistake you are here.”
    â€œHow do you know that?”
    â€œI’m an old lady. I’ve learned a few things. And I will tell you this. I don’t think God makes mistakes. I prayed for a nice young woman to come help me. I had no idea how God would answer my prayer, yet here you are. An answer to my prayer.”
    Beatrice released a shaky breath. “I also prayed.” She could not say she asked God to help her find a way of being independent. How would she explain that after telling them her father was a wealthy businessman?
    â€œThen we’ll let God do what He has planned. I’m willing to teach you if you’re willing to learn.”
    Encouraged by those words, Beatrice looked around the kitchen. “What do you need me to do at the moment?”
    â€œIt’s time to prepare supper.”
    She swallowed back her rising panic. If only Aunt Opal was here to tell her what to do. I can do this. I must do it. I have to be able to support myself if I’m to avoid my father’s plans. Hoping she portrayed more confidence than she felt, she got to her feet and hurried to the cupboard.
    â€œLevi brought in potatoes and chops before the rain started.”
    A few simple words and Beatrice felt like she’d stepped off the deep end of a wharf. I can do this, she repeated.
    A few minutes later she was ready to change her mind. She knew to scrub the potatoes and put them to boil, but when she looked at the basin holding the chops she had to push back a desire to gag. What was one to do with them? Fry them? She could do that. Aunt Opal had taught her that much.
    Hoping Maisie might make a suggestion, Beatrice turned toward the table.
    Maisie’s head was against the back of the chair, her eyes closed, her mouth open. She’d fallen asleep.
    That left Beatrice to manage on her own.
    She would not give either Levi or his stepmother reason to suggest she return to town.
    * * *
    Levi took the horses to the barn, where he groomed and fed them, all the while wondering if everything was all right in the house. Beatrice hadn’t looked any sturdier after she’d changed her clothes. If he was to describe her to his brothers, he’d say she was beautiful but fragile, and something about the way her eyes flashed gold and the way she tilted her head gave him cause to wonder if she was as strong as she obviously wanted him to believe. So far, he’d seen no evidence of strength. She’d already fainted once. Was it something she did often?
    He paused in his task and glanced in the direction of the house, his nerves twitching with apprehension. If she fainted again, he could see Maisie ignoring the need to rest her leg and rushing to look after Beatrice.
    He better go to the house