Cowboy Heart (Historical Western Romance) (Longren Family series #3, Kitty and Lukes story) by Amelia Rose Read Free Book Online Page B

husbandry or bacon.
                  "Sacramento," he said, "Not so far away but this is a different world."
                  "What does your family do?" I asked, because, if nothing else, asking questions meant listening rather than talking.
                  "Little bit of everything.  I've a brother who's a veterinarian and a pack of sisters my father's hoping will marry soon.  My father is a banker."
                  "You didn't choose his profession," I commented, already feeling the strain of conversation.  Before long, he'd ask me something and I'd stammer and blush.
                  "Have to be able to count above 10," said the man on Mr. Michaels' other side to general laughter. 
                  Luke Michaels took the laughter in his stride, then said, seriously, "Couldn't bear to be cooped up all day when there's all this good country to roam around in.  Are you visiting for long, Miss Collins?"
                  I wanted to say, "Call me Kitty," and then propose we go out and start roaming through the good countryside.  Mr. Luke Michaels looked like he could shimmy up a tree faster than I could. 
                  Noncommittal, safe, and proper, I said, "I hope so," and let the conversation drift away.
     
                  Sarah and I cleared the table.  William disappeared into the parlor with coffee and his overseer and trail boss, and with Robert McLeod and Tiny.  From there, the scent of cigar smoke and the sound of male laughter reached us.  All my life, ever since I was old enough to carry plates, I'd been clearing tables with my sister.  Briefly, everything felt familiar.
                  When washing, though, Sarah asked what I thought I'd like to do when I returned to Gold Hill. 
                  I could hear Robert McLeod's velvety voice coming from the parlor.  I knew nothing about cattle ranching, of course, but enough about cowboys to realize my presence wasn't likely to be missed or requested in there.  I still wanted to go in and just watch Robert.  In some households, it's traditional for the young ladies to perform when there's company, but the ranch hands weren't company and I wasn't accomplished at singing, painting, or playing an instrument.  There was no reason for me to go into the parlor.
                  Except maybe to escape the questions about what I wanted to do when I went home.  I took so long trying to come up with an answer that Sarah stopped washing and looked at me seriously.
                  "Mr. Overton really is talking about marrying you to someone of his choosing?  You didn't say that—" She hesitated. Before she'd moved to California, she would have simply said it.
                  "For sympathy?  No.  Mr. Overton believes a young lady should marry and I think he wants to be alone with Mother."
                  Sarah slowly reached back into the wash water.  "What other choices do you have?"
                  "I've been asking myself that.  I could teach.  Or nurse.  Or find someone I want to marry."
                  Sarah frowned at that.  "You've never wanted to teach or nurse."
                  "I wanted to marry."  I tried to say it lightly but didn't quite manage.
                  "You could stay here."  She said it slowly and without looking at me, and I wondered if she was as lonely as I was, missed home and family and familiarity.  My sister, who had birthed calves… Maybe the Sarah I knew best was still the same Sarah and the calving what she had to do.
                  Circumstances dictate behavior.  "I can't impose like that."
                  "You'd work here," she said simply.  "Same as I do."
                  That made me shiver.  "You're married ." 
                  She