No One But You Read Online Free Page B

steps. “Not that many, but we probably have close to forty counting the foals we had last year.”
    â€œSam—he was one of the men who worked for us—said big outfits had hundreds of horses.”
    â€œWe only need that many when we do a cattle drive. You need to ask your ma if you can go with me to the barn.”
    â€œShe won’t mind.”
    â€œShe doesn’t know me or anybody else here. You’ve got to ask her.”
    Ellen’s shoulders sagged and she turned back to head inside to the parlor. Salty assumed that meant she thought her mother wouldn’t let her go, but she was back in less than a minute with a smile on her face.
    â€œMama says I can help you as long as I don’t make a pest of myself. She’s going to ask you later, so you got to tell her I was good.”
    Salty’s eyes crinkled in amusement. “What if you’re not?”
    â€œI will be,” Ellen assured him. “If I’m not, Mama will make me stay inside and wear a dress.”
    â€œCome on. I want to get done before the rain hits.”
    On the short walk from the house to the barn, Ellen barely stopped talking long enough to take a breath. Salty had never had a little sister or even a young female cousin. His father’s farm had been rather isolated so he’d never met a girl like Ellen. All the females he knew wore dresses, and rarely talked about anything except babies and taking care of their men. Unless she changed a lot, Ellen wasn’t going to be much interested in either.
    â€œHold up,” Salty said when they reached the barn. “I want to put your ma’s wagon inside.”
    â€œI wish we had a barn,” Ellen informed him. “I could sleep there instead of in the house.”
    Salty opened the two big doors. “You wouldn’t like it much. In summer it doesn’t smell too good. In winter it’s cold, and sometimes mice and snakes like to snuggle up for warmth.”
    â€œYou’re trying to scare me,” Ellen said.
    â€œNope. Lead the horse in. We’ll unharness him inside.”
    Once inside, Ellen’s attention was caught by the stalls and the sections that housed ranch equipment. While Salty unharnessed the horse, she checked saddles, bridles, and harnesses. She spent longer inspecting several pairs of chaps before moving on to a wagon unlike any she’d ever seen. “What’s this?” she asked.
    â€œIt’s a chuck wagon,” Salty told her. “It’s for our drive this spring.”
    â€œI wish I could go on a cattle drive. Have you ever been on one?”
    â€œNope. The boys can’t wait, but I’ll take care of things here.”
    â€œWhy would you do that?” He’d obviously come down a notch in Ellen’s estimation.
    â€œBecause I don’t like sleeping on the ground, breathing dust, eating food with grit in it, spending the whole day in the saddle, fighting off Indians and rustlers, or trying to break a stampede.”
    â€œDid you really fight Indians and rustlers?” Her eyes glowed with excitement.
    â€œYes, and it’s not something I want to have to do again.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œI did enough shooting and saw enough killing during the war. Do you want to see the bull? He’s the reason George built this barn.”
    They went through a door at the far end of the barn. A chute led from the barn to a large pasture. “It took the better part of a month to fence in the pasture,” Salty explained, “but the bull is too valuable to let roam free. We bring him in every night to keep him from being stolen.”
    Over the next twenty minutes Ellen peppered him with questions that made it clear she had become accustomed to doing the work that would normally have been her brother’s. What’s more, she seemed to like it. That confused Salty. He’d never seen a female who acted like she wanted to be a man. There