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  “Hi,” the man said. “I am Lenard. Adam’s younger brother and I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  He held out a hand which she willed herself to take, but not without hesitating, a reaction that made the light fade from the man’s eye. He was breathtakingly scarred and she had a kind of reaction she had never had before.

  It wasn’t surprise, pity or even apprehension. Oh, no…it was not any of those things. This was a man who commanded her attention, and as she took his hand in the customary greeting, she could feel the calluses on them, much like her brother and her father had had. This was a man beautifully scarred by country and every line on his face told the story of where he had been and the things he had seen. But it wasn’t his face that pulled her in. It was his eyes. The windows to his soul were a mesmerizing hazel that whispered a calm straight to her core. She forgot her words for a moment. It was only when the young woman, dressed as a house maid stepped up to her that she was pulled back to reality.

  “I am Emily,” the woman said, extending a hand. “I am to be your maid.”

  “It is a pleasure to meet you Emily,” Jenny said, forgetting to say the same to Lenard who assumed she had dismissed him. She watched as his eyes drooped and his jaw steeled themselves just before he picked up her two small suitcases and walked away.

  Jenny was about to reach a hand out to him, but his long steps took him out of reach before she could. She looked at Emily questioningly, but the woman only lowered her gazed and waited for her to walk off before following close behind. This was going to be an interesting couple of weeks.

  “Is he usually this surly?” she asked Emily in a whisper as they walked to the coach.

  “No ma’am, I find him to be a gentleman with a good heart and a kind smile,” Emily said, looking worriedly at Lenard’s tall frame walking in front of them.

  “So it’s just me he doesn’t like?” Jenny asked her.

  “Actually my Lady, if I could speak frankly?”

  Jenny stopped and looked her in the eye with a smile. “Always do, with me you will never have to ask that question.”

  Emily smiled. “Well, I think he thinks you don’t like him.”

  “Absurd!” she proclaimed a little too loudly, causing Lenard to turn and look at them.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked. And yet again she found herself lost in his eyes and unable to answer.

  Emily came to her rescue as she just stared. “Yes Sir, we are just discussing the war.”

  “You two have already delved into such deep conversation?” Lenard said with a smile. “I am happy you have found a connection.”

  Jenny was still staring at him, willing her face to produce a smile, but the muscles simply would not work. She was truly stricken by the depth of the soul she could see in his eyes. Profound…

  “And you did it again, my Lady,” Emily said with a sigh. “He really is a good man, if you could only find it in yourself to see pass the scars.”

  “No Emily,” she said in a whisper. “I think you both have gotten me a tad bit wrong. I do not see his scars. His eyes are gorgeous and they are simply hard to look away from.”

  Emily looked at her as if she had gone mad.

  “What?” Jenny asked wondering if she was breaking some unspoken code of some sort.

  “Well,” Emily hesitated in her response. “That is something they usually say about his brother, your husband to be, and not really about him.”

  “Then his brother must be as dashing and soulful as Lenard is,” she said with a coy smile, now wanting more than anything else to meet the man who was to be hers.

  Emily chuckled as she helped her into the carriage and Lenard took the seat up front. The interior was made of plush black velvet seats, big enough so that she could comfortable lay stretched out to sleep when she needed to. To one side was a small picnic basket that held bottles of wine and scotch and on the other side was what looked like a medicine cabinet. She could feel the vibration of the carriage rocking as her suitcases where loaded in the compartment on the front just before Lenard pushed his head in and spoke.

  “We will be in the next town where we will stay the night in about seven hours. Get comfortable and help yourselves to the alcohol and sandwiches if you get hungry.

  “Thank you,” Jenny said smiling at him and she could have sworn she saw him blush before withdrawing his head and going back to his duties. Emily exchanged a smile with her just as the carriage pulled away to start the journey to her new life.

  * * *

  Lenard sat in silence as he directed the horse through the narrow roadways, hailing the occasional passerby and generally just keeping to himself. He listened to the chatter of the women on the inside mostly because there was nothing else to listen to. He enjoyed the sound of Jenny’s voice. It sounded hopeful. Most people either sounded exhausted, excited, happy, sad or some other completely visible emotion, but not her. She sounded like she had vigor for life that was a bit unnatural, and he heard no apprehension in her words about the life she was rushing off to. She spoke about the war with Emily who answered in curt respectful tones, no doubt toeing the line and feeling her new mistress out. And as she spoke Lenard could hear a hint of emotion. It made him wonder if she had lost a lover or a friend to the war herself.

  When their chatter ceased a few minutes later, he assumed they had fallen asleep and the next two hours of his drive was silent, save for the sounds of nature all around. He turned his thoughts inward and enjoyed the ride. It made him reminiscent of the early days of the war when he was just a sentry posted in the highlands as a messenger between posts. He had enjoyed it, but that was where the fond memories ended.

  “Can I take a seat up her with you for a while?” Jenny’s voice sounded in his ear and he nearly jumped right out of his own skin. He had neither heard her moving about inside or the sound of the small door that separated them being opened.

  “Ah, sure my lady,” he said. In afterthought he would have probably declined such a request, but she had near frightened him out of his skin.

  I could use the cool breeze and a little fresh air,” she said with a smile. He slowed the horses so she wouldn’t topple off the edge and held the reins in one hand, while he offered her his other. When their skin touched for the first time, he felt an inexplicable jolt of electricity rush through him and he near pulled his hand away, save that if he had she would have found herself unceremoniously dumped on her derriere on the hard ground below.

  When she was all settled she spoke. “I have never been away from home before.”

  It was more of a statement as she turned her eyes up to the leafy foliage over their heads and took a deep breath.

  “Really?” he asked, a little shocked. She spoke as if she were a woman who had travelled the land. Her prose was immaculate and the knowledge of many different things said she was a woman who had been educated outside the small Georgian town he had just collected her from.

  “Yes, this is my first trip and I must say I love it so far.”

  Lenard looked at her as she wore what was a permanent smile on her face and her dark eyes darted from this to that. She sat with poise the entire time she was there and he admired the way her elegant fingers kept resetting her dress that the wind would upset each time she did so. He wanted to speak to her but he found himself mesmerized by the way her wild red hair blew around her face and the curve of her lips as she smiled, revealing the whiteness below them. He couldn’t see her eyes to know if the twinkle had reach them too, but he was almost sure it had. They were dark and a bit tormented, but he loved the way they wrinkled at the sides.

  This was a woman his brother would most certainly love.

  “Can I ask you something?” she brought his attention back to the present.

  “Of course. I will try my best to answer,” he responded, directing the horses around a huge boulder, oddly protruding from the middle of the road.

  “What is your brother like?” she asked him and for a momen
t he was surprised. He thought she was going to ask him about his scar. He was both relieved and disappointed at the same time though he wasn’t sure why.

  “Well, he is quite the devil,” he responded with a laugh. He has a smashing character that makes me want to knock him over the head half the time, but even so he is one of the most honorable men I have ever known. And he is my best friend.”

  He could see her soaking up his every word and he made sure to choose them wisely. It wasn’t as if he felt he needed to walk on egg shells, but he knew for a fact that whatever he said now would form the basis of how she saw his brother and he didn’t want to go spoiling that for her.

  “And do you think he would make me a fine husband?”

  It was a blatant question that was a bit forward, but he found it quite warranted given the situation and it was the first time he saw even a slight frown cross her face.

  “You are worried that you may have left your home for a life that you are unsure about?” he asked.

  “Worried is not quite the word. I am more curios and three weeks’ worth of anxiety will surely kill me before I get the opportunity to have those questions answered.”

  He chuckled at her proclamation. “He will make you a fine husband. He does love his ranch though and spends a lot of time with his horses, but a better husband you will surely never find.”

  She smiled at him thankfully, and he could have sworn to himself that he’d heard her relax. For the next hour they rode in silence; her taking in the surroundings they passed through and him keeping a watchful and curious eye on her. His brother would be pleased with his choice, but not because she was so easy on the eyes. He would love her because there was something simply soulful about her.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 3

  * * *

  Her thoughts were the center of her attention now. It had been three days since they began their trip, and she had seen more than her fair share of happenings. She had seen a bar brawl, passed by a lovely forest wedding, spent some time by a lake and even managed to rescue a wounded bird on the side of the road. The bird who sat happily on her lap while its wounded wing healed up. She couldn’t travel too far with it though, just in case it had a family close by that it did not want to be away from.

  “We will spend the night here,” Lenard said as he pushed his head through the open window a few minutes after the carriage had stopped. It was mid-afternoon, but the thunder overhead was promising some serious rains and the last thing they needed was to be bogged down in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a rainstorm. Looking up at the blackening skies, she soon agreed with his suggestion.

  The building in front of them stood seven stories tall on the side of the valley road. It was of stunning architectural magnificence. As Emily walked to the side of the coach and picked up her suitcases, Jenny walked to the edge of the property to look at the rolling hills beyond it and the lush garden that lay off to the side.

  “Gorgeous isn’t it?” Lenard said coming up beside her and looking out over the valley below. “In autumn the trees become a kaleidoscope of colors I often paint from memory.”

  “You paint?” she asked sounding surprised.

  “I find it rather therapeutic,” he responded and steered her away from the edge of the property as she felt the first drop of rain hit her hand.

  She was more aware of his presence than she had been aware of with any other man before him. His presence was strong and undeniably comforting. She watched him as he would look away from her each time he caught her gazing at his face. He looked away in what seemed like shame and embarrassment, so she stopped gazing at him, unsure of how else to ease his shame. And each time he did it, she would turn to see Emily staring at her apologetically on his behalf.

  “My Lady, are you alright?” Emily asked a few minutes later as they settled into the quarters that would be theirs for the night.

  “He thinks I find him unattractive because of his scars doesn’t he?”

  “My Lady?” Emily asked a bit thrown off by what was asked.

  Jenny contemplated whether or not she should repeat herself and then decided she would. “Lenard, he refuses to hold my gaze and always turns his face away when I look at him.”

  Emily smiled at her ruefully as she helped her to undo her dress. Jenny was not used to this kind of treatment but had warmed up to it over the last couple of days.

  “Well, you can’t blame him,” Emily pointed out.

  “I do not at all, I just want to know why he would assume I find him unattractive when I have never told him so,” she said a bit distraught. “Did you know him before he was scarred?”

  Emily nodded her head. “He was the gentleman then that he is today. He would come down to the kitchen quarters after work each day to help Old Mazy with the washing of the pans, much to his father’s disliking. At the time I was just a girl starting out on the ranch. He always had a kind word and a smile for everyone and despite the fact that we were hired help, he never let us carry on without offering a hand when and where he could.”

  Jenny smiled, such men were rare creatures. “Has he changed since the war?”

  “No!” Emily said with a hint of annoyance. “Lenard is the same, it is everybody else that has changed. All of a sudden they no longer see the man he is inside and it annoys me.”

  “He must be a close and dear friend of yours?” Jenny asked. That was really not what she wanted to know. She wanted to know if the man held a more intimate feeling for her.

  Emily smiled at her knowingly. “No I wouldn’t say that. He is just one of the very few men who still remember that money does not make them better than everybody else.”

  "Those people no longer exist," Jenny said, sadly looking at Emily who nodded in agreement. She was really beginning to like this maid.

  "Women treat him as if he is ugly, so I am sure he means no harm, but when you find yourself being treated as an outcast for having fought for your country, it hardens you on the inside a little bit."

  They spoke about life and its merits for hours, and Jenny felt like they would become really good friends. As they slept through the storm that rage outside, jenny was awakened hours later by the sound of something falling with a reserved thud outside her door. It frightened her for a moment and she listened keenly to see if some sort of danger would follow.

  She heard nothing but soft footsteps padding along on the floorboards. Weighing the idea of getting up to see who or what had caused the sound, she eventually pulled on her robe and slowly opened the door, taking care not to wake Emily while she was at it.

  The cold wind from the open window on the stairs blasted her as soon as she stepped out and as she made her way to close it she was surprised the hallway wasn't flooded by then. She closed the window and heard a glass break in the saloon downstairs. By the feel of it, it was had to be a couple hours before dawn, and so it was highly unlikely the saloon was open. Her sense of danger was completely non-existent and so she went to check anyway, as if she were the proprietor of the place. Truth be told she just wouldn't have been able to go back to sleep and her curiosity was getting the better of her.

  "Hello?" She called into the darkness and a candle light flickered close to the bar. There stood a familiar silhouette, helping himself to a bottle of bourbon.

  "What are you doing up Jenny?" Lenard's voice asked her as she made her way over to him. "Go back to sleep you have a long ride ahead of you tomorrow."

  "I heard something and thought I would see why it was," she answered quickly, ignoring his command."

  They exchanged looks in the dead of the night and as the seconds tick by, a sudden realization flashed over his face, knowing that no amount of directing would get her back into her bed. Outside the thunder crashed around them as if voicing its anger and she pulled her warm robe tightly around herself. It wasn't the cold that she was feeling, for this structure was amazingly well insulated. What she was feeling was vulnerability beneath his gaze, but she didn't want to
leave him alone as his eyes held a kind of sadness she had never seen before.

  "What brings you to a bottle of bourbon at this hour?" She asked him hoping he would answer. Her father had always told her she needed to learn to temper her questions, and she wished she had remembered that just now as the look of complete annoyance flashed across his face.

  "Sorry if I am prying," she said. He stared at her and she was about to walk away and leave him to his worries when he answered her.

  "Most men who drink at this hour are usually drinking to a woman or trying to drink her off his mind. Either that or he has money worries."

  Jenny chuckled as she sat on a bar stool a few seats away from him. "And you? Which of them is it?"

  "None of the above," he said flatly with a smile. "I am simply drinking because."

  "Is that a normal thing for you Lenard, or are you telling me a little fib?"

  He looked at her and the candle light illuminated the twinkle in his eyes. "I am drinking to good fortune, and also because all this rain and thunder makes it impossible for a man to sleep."

  She stared at him in shock. "I here tell this type of weather is the best kind for being wrapped up in a warm bed, and I must say the accommodations here are quite generous."

  "It is indeed the best weather to be caught in bed with your love, but for me this weather is torture."

  She laughed at his confession. "Then I guess it is a good thing we are heading back home to where she must certainly be waiting in you."

  He looked at her questioningly and she got up to take a glass from the counter and poured herself a drink. She missed the days where she would drink and discuss life with her father and brother over a good bottle of scotch or an even better bottle of wine. Nostalgia struck deep and she could hardly hold it in.

  "A woman who drinks bourbon," he said with a pleased smile.

  "I am my father's child," she responded proudly. "Do women not drink in Texas?"

  "You will find many things to be different about women in Texas. Mostly, they lack of hardened character, but I can see clearly that you have plenty of your own."