“I’m probably keeping you from your business. I’m sure you’re anxious to show your herd to cattle buyers.” For a vain instant Lorna wanted the reassurance that Bull desired her company, unlike Benteen, who placed a higher priority on the cattle.
“I’m not so anxious that I’m willing to deprive myself of the company of a beautiful lady,” Bull declared with his usual charm.
“Why is it that men feel that way before they are married but not afterward?” Lorna had meant it to be a lightly teasing retort. Only after she heard herself saying the words did she realize it revealed her disillusionment about marriage. She tried quickly to cover it with a deprecating remark about her own sex. “I suppose women are that way, too.”
“I’ve never known a beautiful woman, married or single, who didn’t want the attention of her man.” Bull talked in generalities the way she had, but Lorna sensed he was seeing through it.
She took another sip of coffee, then held the cup and traced a portion of its rim with her finger. Aware she was displaying uncommon interest in a simple cup, Lorna used the opportunity to change the subject.
“Isn’t it strange how much better everything tastes—food, coffee—when you aren’t having it out of a tin plate or mug?” It was something she could admit to Bull Giles, but she hadn’t said it to Benteen. He would have seen it as a complaint, whereas Lorna fel
t Bull would understand.
“With tablecloths and napkins,” Bull added with a hint of a responding smile.
“Two days of this”—Lorna let her glance stray around the room, taking note of so many things that now represented luxury—”will spoil me.”
“You deserve to be spoiled,” he asserted. “A trail drive is no place for a lady like you.”
“It certainly isn’t an easy way to travel.” She deliberately understated the hardships that had tested her endurance and taken her one step beyond her limits. “But everything will be fine when we reach Montana.” She said it without conviction as she studied the polished silver of a spoon against the white tablecloth.
A moment of silence followed; then Bull spoke very quietly. “You don’t have to go to Montana, Mrs. Calder, if that isn’t where you want to go.”
Her glance lifted to meet his. Bull Giles was much too intuitive, she realized. Lorna smiled, but with a trace of aloofness because he had guessed too much. “My husband is going to Montana. I go where he goes, Mr. Giles,” she stated to establish firmly her determination to make their marriage work.
“Of course.” But there was doubt in his expression.
It had been a mistake to linger over coffee, so she made it clear to him in a subtly polite way that it was time to leave. Bull made no attempt to persuade her otherwise, and escorted her from the dining room.
“Was there any shopping you’d like to do?” he asked her when she stopped in the lobby to thank him for lunch. “I’ll be glad to accompany you.”
Lunching with him could be explained by the lack of empty tables, but accepting his company beyond that would not be proper.
“No, thank you,” she refused. “Benteen took me to do all my shopping yesterday.”
“If you need anything—”
But Lorna didn’t want him to extend the offer. “I enjoyed lunch, Mr. Giles. I’m sure you have a great many things to do. I won’t keep you from your business any longer.”
“Then I’ll leave you.” His bulky frame made a half-bow toward her. “May I say, though, that I’ve never enjoyed a meal so much before, thanks to you, Mrs. Calder. Maybe we’ll meet again.”
She nodded her head slightly at the compliment, but didn’t reply. Setting his hat on his head, he walked away toward the street doors. Lorna watched him go and lingered a few minutes in the lobby, loath to go back to the room just yet to wait for Benteen to return.
Just then a murmur went through the lobby, and heads turned toward the staircase. Lorna’s curious glance swung to it and saw her, the older woman she’d seen at the top of the stairs the day before. This afternoon she was wearing a biscuit-colored traveling suit with a stylish hat to shade her face. She descended the stairs with slow, regal grace, seemingly oblivious of the stir she was creating. Lorna noticed the way the woman never looked directly at people and thus didn’t invite them to speak to her.
The woman’s wandering course took her to the side of the room where Lorna was standing. She gave the impression she was waiting for someone. When the woman noticed Lorna, she smiled faintly and nodded to her. This recognition by someone so obviously important brought a rush of excitement as Lorna returned the gesture.
With a studied casualness the woman suddenly wandered over to Lorna. The small smile on her lips took Lorna’s attention away from the stare of the woman’s dark eyes. It seemed impossible that this lady was actually seeking her out.
“We seem to be the only women here,” the woman remarked with a brief glance at the male population in the lobby.
“I’m sure none of them are looking at me,” Lorna replied in all sincerity.
A soft laugh came from the woman’s throat. “How flattering of you to say that.”
“It’s the truth,” Lorna assured her. It would be impossible for her to compete with the woman’s looks, clothes or poise. She was the epitome of everything beautiful and sophisticated.
“Let me introduce myself. I’m Elaine Dunshill, wife to the Earl of Crawford.”