Read Online Palomino by Danielle Steel - Free Book Online Page B

weren’t as warm and his face wasn’t as kind. He glanced only once at Samantha and then turned his back to her to say something to a young freckled redhead. They both laughed and then walked across the room to a table where they joined two other men. For an instant of paranoia Samantha wondered if she would be the source of amusement, if it had been totally crazy of her to come here, and even crazier for her to want to ride with the men. This was a far cry from her days here with Barbara, when they had come to play around on the ranch. For one thing they had both been very young and very pretty and it had delighted all the men just to watch them hang around and ride. But this was different. Samantha was trying to masquerade as their equal, something they would surely not tolerate, if they even noticed her presence at all.
    “Aren’t you going to have some breakfast?” The voice next to her was husky but gentle, and Sam found herself looking into the face of another man of the old foreman’s vintage, but this one did not look as unpleasant as the first one. In fact, after another glance at him, she gave a soft gasp.
    “Josh! Josh! It’s me, Sam!” He had been there every summer when she had come with Barbara, and he had always taken care of them. Barbara had told Sam how gently he had taught her to ride when she was a little girl. He had a wife and six kids somewhere, Sam remembered. But Sam had never seen them anywhere on the ranch. Like most of the men he worked with, he was used to living his life in an exclusively male world. It was a strange, solitary life, a lonely existence carried out among others who were equally apart. A society of loners who banded together, as though for warmth. And now he looked at Samantha, blankly for a moment and then with rapid recognition and a warm smile. Without hesitation he reached out and hugged her, and she could feel the rough stubble of his beard against her cheek.
    “I’ll be damned! It’s Sam!” He gave a soft whoop and she laughed with him. “Now why the hell didn’t I figure it out when Miss Caroline told us about her ‘friend’?” He slapped his leg and grinned at her some more. “How’ve you been, dammit? Boy, you look good!” She found it hard to believe with her face still half asleep and her body encased in her worst and oldest clothes.
    “So do you! How are your wife and kids?”
    “Grown and gone, thank God. Except for one and the wife.” And then he lowered his voice, as though tellingsome terrible secret. “They live here on the ranch now, you know. Miss Caroline made me. Said it wasn’t right for them to live in town with me living here.”
    “I’m glad.”
    He rolled his eyes in answer and they both laughed.
    “Aren’t you going to eat some breakfast? Miss Caroline told us that a friend of hers was coming from New York to help us out.” He grinned evilly for a moment. “You should have seen their faces when she told them her friend was a woman.”
    “They must have been thrilled.” Samantha said sarcastically as they made their way toward the kitchen. She was dying for some coffee and the food was beginning to smell good now that she had found Josh.
    And then as she helped herself to a large bowl of oatmeal, Josh leaned toward her conspiratorially. “What are you doing here, Sam? Aren’t you married?”
    “Not anymore.” He nodded sagely and she volunteered no other information as they went and sat down at one of the tables. For a long time as Sam ate her oatmeal and nibbled at some toast, no one joined them, and then eventually curiosity got the better of two or three of the men. One by one Josh introduced them, and for the most part they were younger than Sam and had the rugged look of hardworking men who all but lived in the outdoors. It was by no means an easy profession, particularly at this time of year. And it was obvious how Bill King had come by the rugged lines in his face that made him look like a heavily carved statue,