Page 36 of Texas Glory
He turned to walk away.
“Where will you be?” she asked.
“Checking on my herd.” He wished he hadn’t seen relief plunge into her eyes.
Cordelia stood on the front veranda, enjoying the feel of the warm breeze as it riffled through her hair, gently working the strands free from her bun. She inhaled deeply and imagined that she could smell freedom. The freedom to roam from the house to the barn, to walk in the fields that lay beyond the house.
She could hear the steady clanking of iron on iron. She stepped off the porch and walked toward the lean-to on the other side of the barn. A man worked bellows to heat the coals.
“Hello,” she said softly.
He turned his dark gaze toward her. He was powerfully built, his black skin glistening with his labors. “Ma’am.”
“I was just taking a stroll,” she told him.
“Nice day for it. ‘Nother month or so and it’ll be too hot to enjoy.”
She gnawed on her lower lip. “I think I saw you at my wedding, but I don’t remember your name.”
“Samson.”
She blushed self-consciously at the sight of his muscles straining against his shirt, the arm hanging at his side that still looked as if it were gripping something. “Samson? The name suits you.”
“Yes, ma’am, that’s what my master thought when he named me.”
“You were a slave?”
“Yes, ma’am, surely was.”
She allowed her gaze to roam past him to the open land that stretched toward the horizon. “Freedom is a little frightening, isn’t it, Samson?”
“Yes, ma’am, it surely is, but it brings with it a measure of glory. I remember the first breath of air that I took as a free man. I thought it smelled so much sweeter than anything I’d ever breathed before.”
She linked her fingers together. “I was thinking of picking some flowers.”
“You do that, and when you get out where the flowers are the brightest, you just stop a minute and take a deep breath.”
She smiled shyly. “I will.”
She walked around the side of the barn just as another man was walking out of the barn. She remembered his name because it described him so well and because he had been waiting at the barbed-wire fence for her decision.
“Hello, Slim,” she said hesitantly.
He came to a quick halt and doffed his hat. “Mrs. Leigh.”
Cordelia’s stomach tightened. She thought she might never get used to having that name directed her way. “Is Beauty inside the barn?”
“No, ma’am. I took her back to Houston.”
Disappointment reeled through her. She had so liked the horse.
“You want me to saddle up another horse for you?” Slim asked.
Cordelia shook her head. “No, I’m just going to walk today.”
“Well, you let me know if you want to ride, and I’ll find you a horse.” “Are you married?”
Beneath his dark tan, his face flushed. “No, ma’am.”
