No One But You Read Online Free Page A

on an ottoman.
    â€œAre you comfortable?” Rose asked Jared. “I’ve got more pillows. And blankets if you’re still cold.”
    â€œI’m fine,” Jared said, slightly flustered at being the object of so much attention. “The fire is very warm.”
    Heat from a cast iron heater on the right side of the room had made the large room almost too warm after the cold of the outside.
    â€œIf no one needs anything else,” Salty said to Sarah, “I’ll bring in your bags and unhitch the horse.”
    â€œI can do that,” Ellen said.
    Salty grinned at her. “I could use some help. No telling what that horse might do if I turn my back on him.”
    Ellen wasn’t amused. “You’re making fun of me.”
    â€œNo, I’m teasing, but I won’t do it anymore. Friends?”
    â€œI guess so. It’s just that people think I can’t do anything because I’m a girl and I’m only seven.”
    â€œI never thought that. Now we’d better get the horse rubbed down and in the barn.”
    â€œTake off your coat and get comfortable,” Rose said to Sarah after Ellen and Salty had gone.
    Sarah was exhausted, more from worry than from the strain of handling the reins all day.
    â€œYou must be tired,” Rose said. “Come sit by me. You can commiserate with me about being pregnant. The men around here seem to think everything ought to be the same as before.”
    â€œThis is nothing compared to what it will be like when the baby gets here,” Sarah said.
    â€œRose has been preparing us for that day,” George said with a fond smile at his wife, “but I’m still looking forward to it.”
    â€œYou’d better,” Rose said with an equally doting smile. “If I go to all this trouble, you’d better like the results. Now tell me about yourself,” she said, turning to Sarah. “What could have compelled you to travel this far in this weather? You don’t live around here, do you?”
    Sarah hardly knew where to begin, but she decided to start with the easiest question. “I have a ranch below Austin.”
    â€œYou poor woman! What a long distance. Where did you sleep? What did you eat?”
    Sarah decided it would be easier to start at the beginning.
    * * *
    It took only one trip for Salty and Ellen to carry into the house, and set down in the hallway, the few belongings of the Winborne family. He glanced into the parlor before turning to go outside. He’d been rather glib when he met Mrs. Winborne and her two children because he didn’t know what to say. One look at her clothes had told him she was down on her luck. No woman as proud as she would dress like that except out of necessity. She wasn’t a beauty, mind you, yet she was pretty in a way her bedraggled clothes couldn’t hide. There was something very appealing about her despite the stubborn set of her jaw. If he were to guess, he’d say it had taken all her courage to come on this errand. He hoped Rose or George would be able to help her, but she wasn’t going to hire anyone away from the Circle Seven. Every man here knew he was fortunate to be working for the Randolphs. Fighting rustlers as well as Cortina’s bandits was hard work, but he had a place to sleep, plenty to eat, and he even got paid.
    He felt especially sorry for the boy, Jared. Having a useless leg was hard on a kid, and no woman was going to marry a man who couldn’t walk by himself. How was the poor kid going to find a job? He knew how people felt about cripples. His whole family had found out after his pa’s accident.
    â€œCan I help unharness the horse?” Ellen asked as they started down the front steps.
    â€œYou ought to stay inside where it’s warm. I expect it’s going to rain soon.”
    â€œI don’t care. I like rain, and I like horses. I bet you got hundreds.”
    Salty halted at the bottom of the