"I'm still a bit amazed that I never heard about her. Not one mention in all these years."

"Actually, that doesn't surprise me at all. Once she died, Mortimer put her out of his mind. I thought he and I might grow close after that. But no, once excluded from his affections, always excluded."

"I think Amanda did something like that when our father died. I thought she might be in shock, but it was more like she'd removed all memories of him, so it simply didn't bother her that he was gone."

"Don't let that sadden you."

Marian blinked. "Did I look sad?"

"For a moment. But don't be. The person Mortimer loved most was himself. People like that don't get mourned. It may have seemed like he loved my sister, and yours, but after many years of reflection, I've come to doubt that he really did. They were more like pets to him, things that needed to be nurtured so they'd be there to amuse him. Of course, I could be completely wrong." She ended in another shrug.

"You never noticed a similarity?" Marian asked curiously.

"In what?"

"Both sets of twins. You and your sister. Me and mine. Maybe he just didn't want to divide his affection between two people who looked exactly alike?"

"I hate to break this to you, sweetie, but you don't exactly look like your sister."

Marian stared at her aunt, watching Kathleen wince for having been so unflatteringly frank, then started to chuckle.

Kathleen sighed in relief. "I'm glad you find that funny. I'm sorry. Let me just pull this foot out of my mouth."

"It's all right, really." Marian grinned. "I was going to tell you anyway, before we got sidetracked on the subject of my father. You see, I don't need to wear these," she said, shoving the spectacles up her nose by habit.

Kathleen frowned. "You don't? Then why do you?"

"To make my life at least somewhat bearable. You see, Amanda is very jealous. She won't tolerate competition of any sort, especially not where men are concerned. So I've found it necessary to hide the fact that we look alike."

"But that's silly. So she'd lose a few suitors to you. She can't expect to have every man y'all cross paths with eating from her hand. Her hand just isn't big enough."

Marian chuckled again, amazing herself that she could find anything amusing about this. But then her aunt's perspective was refreshing. And it was nice to be able to talk about her problem with someone other than Ella Mae.

"Well, that's just the thing. She does—"

"Dang," Chad cut in, coming around the corner and seeing them there on the porch. "Don't tell me I missed dinner."

Kathleen stood up. "No, not at all. Goodness, I didn't realize it was getting so late. I was having a nice chat with my niece and let the time escape me. Come on in, children. Consuela isn't in a mood today to have her food getting cold."

Marian didn't follow her aunt inside immediately. She needed a moment to compose herself, since all of her senses had leapt with excitement—and alarm—at the first sound of Chad's voice. Had he heard what they were discussing before he came around the corner?

Surely not. They had been talking quietly. And although he was standing there at the door waiting for her to go inside before him, his expression was normal. Then it wasn't...

He grinned and said, "Where's the hat?"

Chapter 25

DINNER WAS VERY NICE that evening, even though the food was nearly cold. Kathleen was embarrassed a bit about that, since her cook was renowned for serving her creations at the perfect temperature, no matter how long people were delayed in coming to the table. That it wasn't that way tonight was Consuela's way of letting the household know that she wasn't happy.

Of course the reason for her displeasure wasn't there to notice it. But Marian figured the odds were pretty good that the food sent up to Amanda had been much colder. It had been really stupid of her sister to insult the only cook in the house. But then her sister's options had been limited, since Kathleen only employed the two household servants.

Cold though it was, the food was still tasty, Consuela being such a marvelous cook. And the conversation was relaxed with just the three of them present.

Kathleen was chatty and explained a bit about what she did during the day. It certainly wasn't a routine one would expect a woman to be doing—deciding which cows to breed and which to take to market, nursing motherless calves, chasing down strays.

"I'd like to help," Marian offered. "That is, if you think I might be useful. I don't mind hard work."

Kathleen looked a bit skeptical. "There isn't really much that's suitable for a lady to do around here. Don't you have a pastime you enjoy? Reading, embroidery, something like that?"

"I used to paint," Marian said a bit shyly, not very confident of her talent after her family's derision. "I was thinking I might check in Trenton, to see if there are any supplies I can buy there to start." Kathleen was smiling, so she added a bit defensively, "Not a good choice?"

"On the contrary, I see we have even more in common than I thought. I used to paint as well. In fact, my old supplies are around here somewhere. I never find the time for it anymore, but you're more'n welcome to dig all that stuff out and make use of it."

"I'd like that. Thank you. I'd also like to learn to ride. I'd love to join you occasionally, when you ride out to check on your stock."

"You've never ridden at all?"

"Prior to today, no, and today wasn't very—successful—as I'm sure you've heard. Father kept two coaches, and a carriage for the summer, but no horses just for riding, so Amanda and I never had an opportunity to learn."

"Well, we'll definitely have to take care of that," Kathleen said, and looked at Chad. "Would you mind teaching her?"

He put his fork down, but didn't answer for a moment. Then with a glance toward Marian and a smile, he said, "Sure, be glad to. Long as I don't get blamed if you take a few spills while getting the hang of it."

Marian stared at him. Kathleen chuckled. "He's joking. It takes a lot of effort to fall off a horse when you're in control of it, and you don't need to put that much effort into it."

When Chad laughed, too, Marian realized that Kathleen was teasing her. She grinned to show she didn't mind. But she wasn't the least bit used to being teased. It was something she'd like to get used to, though.

She was still embarrassed, not because of the teasing, but because of Chad's pause before he'd answered. He didn't really want to teach her to ride. That was obvious, and she couldn't blame him. She'd done a good job of making him want to avoid her.

But, apparently, he found it difficult to say no to Kathleen. Marian could understand that. She would probably find it just as difficult. Kathleen was simply too nice, the kind of person you didn't want to disappoint.

Marian didn't want Chad teaching her to ride either, but for a different reason. She was finding it harder and harder to be in his presence and pretend indifference to him.

She wasn't going to insult him in front of Kathleen, however, by refusing his offer. She could do that when they were alone, no doubt to his great relief.

They were about halfway through the main meal when Chad glanced around and asked somewhat in surprise, "Amanda isn't joining us?"

Marian almost laughed. She had the feeling that he'd only just noticed Amanda's absence. If so, that was a firm indication that he wasn't deeply enamored with her yet.

Kathleen merely said, "She spent most of the day in her room resting, and wanted to take her meals there as well. Poor dear must be really exhausted after the trip, to need so much rest."

Marian almost choked. Poor dear? She wondered how long it would take Kathleen to realize there was nothing "poor" or "dear" about Amanda. She wished she'd been able to finish explaining about her sister. Kathleen deserved some type of warning before Amanda got nasty in her campaign to get shipped home with permission to do as she pleased.

Marian hoped Chad would leave right after dinner so she could spend a little more time alone with her aunt before she retired for the night. It was still early. They could finish their talk. But as it happened, Kathleen had no sooner escorted them back to the porch and waited until they were seated there, then she yawned and announced that she was turning in early.

Marian should have done the same, but that would have been yet another insult to Chad. It would have smacked of cowardice as well, and she'd rather not add to all the other bad impressions she'd made on him.

Still, she felt immensely uncomfortable as the door closed and Kathleen's footsteps faded away. She hoped he didn't expect conversation. No, he wouldn't. They didn't like each other, so why should they talk? For that matter, why should they stay in each other's company when they didn't like each other? Why didn't he leave?

There wasn't much light on the porch. No lamp had been lit out there since the lamps in the main gathering room hadn't been turned off yet, and some of their light spilled out through the two windows that faced the porch.

She tried not to look in Chad's direction. It was hard. The one time she did, she found him staring at her, at her lips in particular. He was probably just lost in thought and didn't realize he was staring. But still, it gave her gooseflesh, having his eyes on her.

"What is Chad short for?" she found herself asking out of pure nervousness.