Page 405 of Conveniently Wed
“That sounds great. I don’t want to be bored.”
Oh, he could think of lots of things to stem her boredom, but she was not ready for any of them. He worked at getting his mind back to casual conversation.
“When was the last time you went riding? And I don’t mean when you had that short jaunt with me.”
“Before the war. Pa and my brothers took off to war with our horses, and Pa came home with a donkey and, well…the boys never came home at all.”
“I heard. I’m so sorry. Your pa told me you were close to them.”
“Like skin to the body.” She shook her head and turned her face away from him and into the afternoon sun.
He caught the glisten of tears on her cheeks and changed the subject. He understood the pain. When Georgina had died, his heart had been ripped out. He’d thought he would never love again, but Katherine had awakened life.
“With your obvious love for riding, a trip to the seamstress is on top of the list.”
“Why?” She gave him a curious glance.
“For a riding habit, of course. I know you’ll put it to good use.”
She shot him a generous smile.
His heart kicked up speed. She had given him two genuine smiles in the past half hour.
“This is all yours?” She lifted her hand to the acres of prime farmland stretched before them.
“Ours, Kat. Ours. And yes, I plan to utilize every acre raising fine horses, enlarging the orchard, and planting corn and wheat for market. I have dreams, big dreams, for us, for our—” He stopped himself from sayingfamily.She was surely not ready for that word. “And I’m not afraid of hard work.”
“You’re not just an entitled socialite?”
“Who described me like that?”
“The ladies in town had many an opinion, and you were often their subject of choice. Funny thing was, none of them described you as a hard-working farmer.” She cantered a few lengths ahead of him and threw back a saucy grin. “Farmer Richardson. I rather like that.”
He kicked the flanks of his horse and came up beside her.
“Don’t tell me you found something about me you like, and in less than twenty-four hours. Things are looking up.”
Her snapping blue eyes flashed his direction as a flush of color tinged her cheeks. If only he could read her mind.
With a jut of her chin, she changed the subject. “How do you plan to implement your dreams with just Pa and Abe? Neither of them is what you would call a spring chicken. Oh yeah, and Colby. How old is this fellow? Is he ancient too?”
“Meaning I’m ancient?”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “I never meant to imply?—”
He laughed. “Colby is younger than I am by quite a bit. I met him during the war, and we became good friends. Like a brother I never had. I was able to talk him into teaming up with me when the war left him alone in the world. He’s gone west to settle his personal affairs and purchase the cattle and horse-breeding stock we need. Between your pa, Abe, Colby, and me, we’ll have a great start. And I believe that, if you treat people right, white or black, the word gets out and others will come knocking.”
“I like your thinking.”
“I bet I can up thelikesto three before the end of the day. What do you say?”
“You’re pushing it now, Mr. Richardson.”
“Back to the formal Mr. Richardson, are we? That makes me feel old.”
“Well?” She lifted a hand in the air.
“How about I race you across the field to the apple orchard? And I’ll show you just how young I am when I leave you in my dust.”
