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Carter had stared so much at the photograph of Melanie that he knew he would recognize her when she stepped out of the train. He waited, tapping his foot on the ground. He checked everyone leaving, until the train emptied. Melanie was not among them.
Had she changed her mind about coming? The thought caused a deep disappointment in Carter, but he could not think of any other reason. Just then, his attention was caught by a mare walking down the platform, banging her hooves noisily on the ground.
The mare had an odd but beautiful color. She had a dappled coat and counter shading on her face, shoulder and gaskins. The mare suddenly stopped and allowed her owner to rub his nose. Carter shifted his eyes to the owner and almost laughed aloud when he saw Melanie.
He took quick strides to her.
“Miss Melanie Marriot?” he said.
She looked up at him and smiled. Carter inhaled sharply. The photograph, being black and white had not captured her light green eyes or her blond, wavy hair.
“Yes, I am she, and I assume you are Mr. Carter Taft?”
“Please call me Carter. And who have we here?”
“This is Midnight,” Melanie said, stroking the horse. “She’s my mare and I could not bear to be parted from her. Will it be a problem?”
Carter had a feeling that his answer would determine whether Melanie stayed or not. He chuckled, admiring her nerve. She had not mentioned coming to Circle One with a horse, not that it was a problem.
“We love horses at the ranch and she’s more than welcome, and so are you Melanie.”
She raised her eyebrow at his use of her first name.
Carter found himself blubbering. “I just assumed that since we’ll be getting married—”
“If we decide to get married,” Melanie pointedly said.
Carter chuckled and waved his hands about in a gesture of dismissal.
“Can you ride long distances?” he asked her.
“How long?”
The wagon was not in the barn when Carter left that morning and he had been forced to ride with his stallion to town. If Melanie could ride, it would save him the trouble of looking for a buggy which was a bit scarce especially when a train from the East landed in town.
“Say a three hour ride?” he said.
“That’s fine. Midnight could do with the exercise,” Melanie answered, and then turned to whisper to the horse.
Carter raised an eyebrow. It seemed his biggest competitor was going to be a mare.
“My saddle is in my bag in the luggage compartment,” Melanie said.
That presented a new problem. What to do with her luggage. He could only hope that she had not carried a lot of clothes as women tended to do. To his surprise, Melanie’s luggage consisted of two bags, both medium sized. He could easily tuck them at the front of his saddle.
He helped her saddle up Midnight and then she followed him out of the station. His stallion was tethered on a post just outside and he went to her.
“What’s his name?” Melanie asked, stroking his head and letting him smell her hands.
“Arthur,” Carter answered.
Melanie made a face of mock horror. “That’s a preposterous name for horse, and a gorgeous stallion at that!”
Carter looked at her in amusement. “Is that right? Tell you what, when we get to the ranch, I’ll let you name each of our bulls and cows.”
“How many are there?” Melanie asked.
“Thousands,” Carter said and laughed.
