“Well, I’d like to thank you gentlemen for taking the time to help us with this,” Maude said, rising. “This could be the start of a new holiday tradition for Lilac City.”
The others stood and began to leave the room. Judith took her time stacking her notes and putting them in her bag.
“Luke, I’m going to take my lovely wife to lunch. Charles is meeting us in the dining room here.” Marshall said, giving his sister a concerned glance.
“Would you allow me to buy you lunch?” Luke asked Judith, standing beside her.
She jerked her head up to look at him, her eyes wide. Then she dropped her gaze. “I must go through my notes—”
“Please.” Luke held out his hand to her.
At first, he thought she wouldn’t take it. Then, with a sigh, she placed her hand in his and graciously rose. She truly had an elegance about her that seemed out of place in rough-and-tumble Lilac City. Perhaps the program would help her to see the people as more than their circumstances.
* * *
Judith’s handtrembled a little as she accepted Luke’s. Why would he be kind after chastising her for mocking his cowhands? And he’d had every right to do it. She hadn’t meant to be demeaning in her comment, even though her words and tonehadreflected her thoughts.
“Tom told me you’ve come to their house more than once to see his sketches,” Luke said as they walked to the main dining room.
“Yes,” Judith said, aware of the interested looks directed at them by the locals. What were they imagining? That the handsome Lucky L Ranch owner had taken pity on his new spinster sister-in-law and was paying some attention to her out of pity?
“That’s all you have to say about it?” he asked.
Judith glanced at him, wondering what he wanted her to say. He didn’t approve when she spoke her mind. Though, in the case of Tom McDaniel, there was nothing but positive things to say.
“The man has a gift for capturing men and animals in motion. It’s my opinion he could compete with the likes of Frederick Remington and C. M. Russell.”
“Did you mention it to him?” Luke asked as he pulled out a chair for her at the same table as his sisters.
“I did. He didn’t believe me.” Judith sat and adjusted her skirts. “I’ve ordered some watercolors for him.”
Luke paused, his hand on his chair back, and then slowly took the seat. His look of surprise embarrassed and shamed Judith. Did he see her as having no womanly feelings? It was her own fault if he did. Her bitterness escaped at the most awkward moments, usually in front of other people.
“Youordered watercolors for my foreman.” Luke’s soft words were wary, as though he thought she might be preparing to mock him for believing she would do such a thing.
How could she explain to him—or anyone—how confused she was? The people she was being forced to associate with, for the most part, were from the lowest rungs of society. They were people she had always been protected from. Until she’d come to Lilac City, the servants in the homes and social gatherings she’d visited were the only people she’d spoken with whom actually labored with their hands. All her life she’d been taught those people were little more than intelligent apes, trained to take care of menial tasks.
Judith had accepted it as the truth. The little glimpses into the lives of these “lowly” laborers were showing her it was not the case. And she had no idea how to cope with it. All she’d been able to cling to since her father’s shameful behavior had been the knowledge she was something special, a member of a class above most people. If it weren’t true ... She would not consider it.
“Yes, I did,” Judith said, slowly opening her napkin and spreading it over her lap. “I wish to see if, by adding color to some of his works, he might increase their value and make them worthy to display in the gallery.” It wasn’t true, but admitting how talented the man was seemed an admission she wasn’t ready to make.
Luke had that pinched expression again, his disapproval strong. She should never have agreed to come to lunch. Judith moved her napkin to the table and rose.
“I really do need to get to work on the schedule for the Christmas event we discussed this morning.” Before anyone could argue with her, she grabbed her bag and turned away.
“What did you say to her, Luke?” Marshall was asking as she hurried to the entrance.
“I didn’t say anything.”
3
“Come on in,” Tom McDaniel called at Luke’s knock.
He stomped his feet to shake off the snow and entered his foreman’s house.
“Got a package for you.” Luke handed over the parcel with a New York postmark. In the week since Judith’s disclosure, he’d made sure to be the one who rode into town every day to pick up the mail.
“What is it?” the older man asked. “I’m not expecting anything.”
