Read Tracie Peterson - [Desert Roses 01] for Free Online Page B

time. She knew she might well be sore in the morning, but for now she wanted nothing more than to be free of El Tovar and her father.
    “Is your father still in the dining room?” Luke asked.
    “Yes, and he’s responding rather excitedly to Mr. Winthrop’s politics and Miss Winthrop’s flirtations. It’s shocking how openly they talk about inappropriate topics. I know it’s part of this rather wild age, but honestly, Luke, what about modesty?”
    “I’m really sorry, Alex.”
    Alex nodded. “I know you are. You’ve been very kind to me—to my mother. She thinks highly of you. She wrote me a note some weeks ago and mentioned you.”
    Luke eyed her curiously. “What did she say?” He climbed into the saddle and waited for her to respond.
    Alex felt her cheeks grow hot and looked away rather quickly. She could hardly explain that her mother had thought he’d make a good husband and that Alex should marry and leave the area as her sister had done. Better that her daughtersbe able to rid themselves of their father’s shame than to have the entire family continue to suffer. But Alex didn’t see it that way. Luke was a nice man, but he wasn’t for her.
    “She just indicated that she thought well of you.”
    “So are you still planning to go see her?”
    “No. Mrs. Godfrey can’t spare me in the morning. She’s not yet received any replacement staff to help out, and apparently the Winthrops are holding some kind of brunch. I’ll be working all day, so I need to stay here tonight.”
    “Good. We won’t have to hurry our ride in order for you to catch the train.”
    Alex nodded. “I suppose that is good.”
    They rode side by side, past gamble oak and pine. An ambitious gopher snake startled the horses as it left its cooler place in the shade of a rock and skirted out across the trail after a pocket mouse. The tiny mammal sensed danger, however, and disappeared into the sage.
    Alex tried to calm her skittish mare, but it took Luke’s strong hold to finally control the horse.
    “Whoa, there. Easy, girl,” he said in his soothing way.
    Alex thought how very gentle, yet strong this man was. He could display such a wondrous prowess for things of nature and yet remain concerned and compassionate when it came to her feelings.
    “What are you planning to do . . . I mean, will you work here for the rest of your life?” she asked without thinking.
    Luke looked up, as if startled by her question. She thought he almost looked embarrassed. “I’ve been saving some money. Guess I’m thinking it might be nice to buy a ranch somewhere.”
    Alex had never considered that Luke might actually have plans to leave. The thought distressed her, and yet hadn’t she made her own plans for just such an escape? “I really love it here,” Alex murmured, enjoying the quiet pleasure of their ride. “I’ll hate to leave because of the beauty, but I’ll happily go if it means never having to see my father again.”
    “Don’t hate him, Alex. He’s wrong, no doubt about it, but don’t hate him. That will just eat away at your spirit. Remember what you used to tell me when you first started talking to me about God?”
    Alex smiled. She remembered the angry cowboy from four years earlier. Luke Toland seemed mad at the world, but especially at God. “I told you what my mother always told me. ‘Whoever angers you, owns you.’ ”
    “That’s right. You don’t want your father to own you, now, do you?” He smiled and the warmth of it spread throughout Alex in an unexpected way.
    “No, I don’t want anything from that man.”
    “Just be a good daughter and honor him as best you can,” Luke suggested.
    Alex felt bile rise in her throat. “I’ve tried to be obedient to him, but . . . well . . . there just came a time when I could no longer follow his instructions.” She remembered the times her father would come to the Harvey House in Williams. He’d come with a friend or two, and they often expressed an interest in