Ren looked after her with a puzzled expression. She was incredibly shy. And that didn’t seem like an act.
He wondered as he went back outside whether she could really be so innocent. Her father had been overprotective—paranoid, to his mind. She hadn’t been allowed around men. She’d been hit with a belt for trying to date a boy. That was what she’d said. But she was Randall’s girl, so how did that fit?
Randall was a sweet man, and Ren truly loved him as a brother. But Randall was a ladies’ man who changed his women like he changed his socks. He slept with them until the newness wore off, then he went hunting again.
But Meredith didn’t have the look of a sophisticated woman. She didn’t act like one, either. Perhaps her attitude was put on, but she wore that cross and refused to take it off, even knowing that Ren didn’t like it. A woman who was religious would have morals of steel, and principles to match.
He went back to work and put Meredith out of his mind while he organized the men and left for the outlying pastures.
*
MERRIE WAS OVERWHELMED. “He wants to take me to a party,” she told Delsey with barely contained excitement. “He wants you to go shopping with me tomorrow and get a dress!”
Delsey shook her head. “Well, I never.” She laughed. “He hasn’t even talked about going on a date since Angie cheated on him.”
“He doesn’t talk about her, does he?”
She shook her head while she worked around the kitchen. “She really hurt him. He’s never been a playboy, not like Randall. He’s deep, and he keeps to himself. Not that he’s totally innocent,” she said with a laugh. “They still tell tales about him when he was a young man and new to wealth. But even then, he was choosy. And he wants to take you to a party!”
“You have to help me find the right sort of dress. I don’t want to embarrass him.”
“Honey, you’re not the kind of woman who’d embarrass any man. You’re very pretty, but it’s what’s inside that makes the difference. You have a kind heart. That’s rare in this world.”
Merrie smiled. “Thanks, Delsey.”
“We’ll find something beautiful but conservative.”
“My thoughts exactly!”
“And a winter coat.”
Merrie grimaced. “It’s going to be such a waste. I won’t need it in Texas.”
“You’re not going back right away, are you?”
That reminded her of the reason she was here, and it made her uneasy. “No. Not right away,” she confessed.
“Then it will get plenty of use,” Delsey said, smiling. “Now help me with the salad. Ren’s going to be starving when he gets in tonight.”
“I thought he’d be furious at me,” Merrie said absently. “I got lost in the woods.” She laughed. “I heard what sounded like a wolf howling, and Ren and the men were nowhere in sight. They’d gone to look at a sick animal. So, like an idiot, I ran away from the sound of the wolf and got lost. But Ren found me. I’ve never been so relieved in my life. And he didn’t even yell at me.”
Delsey was watching her animated face, and drawing conclusions. Ren would have yelled at most any woman who’d done something so foolish. But he hadn’t been angry at Merrie. Ren never showed much emotion. However, Delsey would have bet her egg money that he was feeling something new with their houseguest.
The only thing that worried her was that he thought Merrie was Randall’s girlfriend, and that way of thinking could have consequences if he acted on it. If he thought Merrie was like Randall’s other girlfriends, the ones who usually came on to him, and if he treated her like one of them...
Well, surely he could see how innocent she was. Even Delsey could see it. No, he wouldn’t do anything to upset the girl. He was raised to be a gentleman, however far he’d strayed from his upbringing and the education he’d gotten from that smart college he’d attended. He’d treat Merrie like the lady she was. She was sure of it. Merrie was over the moon. She had a date with the handsomest man she’d ever met, and like Cinderella, she was going to the ball! She’d have an elegant gown and she and Ren would dance and dance.
CHAPTER SIX
MERRIE STARED OUT the window at the snow, which was so white that it lit up the night sky. Ren was out there, somewhere, with his men, checking on the cattle. It was a huge ranch. Delsey had shown her a map of the entire area. There were a lot of purebred cattle, and they had to be watched carefully in the cold and the snow.
She hoped that Ren was warm, and that he didn’t have a relapse from his bronchitis. At least he had Delsey to take care of him.
He was so handsome. Merrie thought that she’d never tire of looking at him. Then she remembered the poem she’d blurted out, and his reaction to it, and she blushed some more. Well, he was gorgeous. That was a fact.