The Rancher's Mistress

‘I thought that was what I was doing.’

Margot hesitated. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but you hardly look the type to enjoy roughing it.’

‘Never judge a book by its cover.’ Alex stood up purposefully. ‘I’ll just have to prove myself, won’t I?’

Cal had both horses already tacked-up when she reached the corral. Seated easily astride the grey, one hand on the rein, the other resting lightly along his thigh, he looked born to the saddle—the embodiment of all the cowboy heroes Alex had worshipped as a child. Not unlike them in essence either, she supposed: the all-male male in a male-dominated world. Fine enough in fiction, maybe, but downright insufferable in reality!

‘Glad to see you remembered the hat,’ he said. ‘Fit you okay?’

‘It’s a bit snug,’ she admitted. ‘Shall I be able to get one of my own this afternoon?’

‘Don’t see why not.’ He pulled his own hat further down over his eyes as he set the grey into motion with a flick of the rein. ‘Let’s get on the way.’

Regardless of the company, Alex found it impossible to feel anything but elated as they moved out under the wide blue Wyoming sky. It was all she had anticipated: the sun hot, the air clear, the scenery awesome in its beauty. What more could Greg want from life? she wondered. What more could anyone want? If she never saw a city street again she wouldn’t care!

There wasn’t much chance of that, of course. She might stretch this to a couple of weeks, but she had to go back some time. Whether she would take the job she had been offered she hadn’t yet decided. They had given her a month to think about it, and she had money put by, so the decision wasn’t pressing, although she could hardly afford to be choosy. Considering the kind of publicity she’d been given, she was lucky to have the opportunity at all.