Elizabeth pulled on her trousers and her white blouse the next morning. She pulled on her black, worn out, mud covered boots. She wrapped the braid in her hair around her head and hid it beneath her sweat stained brown hat.

She walked down the hall and met her pa in the living room.

"What are you doing?" he demanded when he saw her outfit.

"Going to work." she replied matter of factly.

"Grant is on his way here! I'm expecting him any time."

"Well I guess Mr. Foster will see who I really am today then won't he?" Ernest grumbled under his breath.

"You have to be difficult don't you?" he demanded and then he began to cough. The coughing lasted several long moments and Elizabeth went to him and rubbed his back hoping to calm him. He was gasping and breathing heavily once the cough subsided and he looked suddenly weak and tired. Elizabeth led him over to the couch and forced him to sit down.

"Rest pa. I'm gonna head into town and get the doc." she said as she grabbed her gun belt and pistol from the hook by the door and hooked it around her waist.

"I'm fine." Ernest said stubbornly. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and looked at Anita who was just walking into the living room.

"He stays on this couch until I get back with the doc." she said and Anita nodded.

"Okay." she said and she set her watchful gaze on Ernest who grumbled and slouched down like an angry child.

"Take one of the men with you." he called as Elizabeth started out the door. "It's not safe to go alone."

888

Brody went into the barn to saddle a horse for the ride. The other hands that were checking cattle had already left out. Brody was running late because he'd worked with the mare he'd been trying to tame for a few hours this morning.

He stopped dead in his tracks, his cigarette hanging off his lip when he saw the person saddling a mare in the center of the barn. The person had their back to him and was wearing pants, a work shirt, boots and a hat but those shapely hips and that tight curved ass left no doubts in his mind that this was a woman.

Brody stared for several minutes longer then was proper, but any red blooded man would have stared at a sight like that. Was she a ranch hand or was she some kind of sexy little thief? He didn't know but he planned to find out.

888

Elizabeth was just finishing up, hooking the saddle to the young mare named Chocolate, when the smell of tobacco smoke came to her nostrils. She turned quickly and then nearly gasped out loud at the sight of the tall man who was standing about a foot away from her with an amused, cocky grin on his rugged, stubble covered face.

He was tall, easily six and a half feet and he was clearly strong and lean beneath his black work shirt and trousers. He had a gun belt slung low on his lean hips and chaps on his long legs. His sweaty shirt hugged close to his flat stomach and his broad chest emphasizing the tight muscles that covered both.

His face was all hard, rugged lines and shapes. His nose was long and straight, his cheekbones were high and clearly defined. A pale scar went across the tan skin of his cheek, causing a break in the stubbly beard he was growing. His eyes were deep green, darker then emeralds and small lines creased in their corners from years spent squinting into the sunlight. His brown hair was longer then most men's and hung to his shoulders beneath his sweat stained black hat.

"Who the hell are you?" she snapped once she found her voice. The man took the cigarette from his mouth and licked his firm lips.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, his voice was strong and deep and it caused a wave of awareness to wash over her. She was suddenly all to aware that she was a woman and he was a man. A very dirty, sweaty, masculine man. This awareness made her angry. She was not the type of woman to swoon at the sight of any man.

Elizabeth rose to her full height which was still a good foot shorter than him, squared her shoulders and glared at him.

"I am Elizabeth McCready and my pa owns this ranch. Who the hell are you?" the man's eyes widened and he looked her up and down, from her head to her toes. She noticed that his eyes paused at the space between her thighs and then again at her chest where her small breasts were pressed tight against her shirt, which had gotten twisted up when she'd been saddling Chocolate.

"Names Brody Atkinson, ma'am." she noticed that he sneered when he said the last word. "Your pa hired me." Elizabeth thought back to the day before and realized that this was the man she had seen trying, and failing, to break the mare yesterday.

"My pa must be getting desperate for hands these days if he's hiring men who can't even break a horse without eating dirt." She saw anger flash in those green eyes and he snorted as he took another draw off his cigarette.

"I can break a beast just fine." he assured her before blowing his smoke into her face. The acidic smell of the tobacco clogged her nostrils and burned her eyes and throat but she refused to let him know that as she kept her face expressionless and stared at him. She wondered why he acted so hostile toward her when he didn't even know her but there was no way she'd let a hand treat her as if he was the boss. It was time he learned it was the other way around.

"Well since you don't seem to be busy you can come into town with me." she said matter of factly. Brody raised his boot and stuck his cigerette against the sole to kill the flame as he shook his head.

"Nope. I ain't some damn errand boy, here to watch after some helpless woman. I've gotta get out...." His words were cut off instantly when Elizabeth pulled her pistol and had it pressed against the bottom of his chin before he had time to blink.

"I can assure you that I am not helpless. I go through this every time there is a new hand. You men come in here thinking that just because I'm a woman you can boss me around and disrespect me and each time I am forced to teach you men the truth. I am plenty capable of taking care of myself...." Elizabeth's rant was cut off just as abruptly as Brody's had been when he grabbed her by the arm that held the pistol, spun her around and pulled her back into his chest while holding her completely immobile in his iron grasp.

She fought against him but it was useless, his body was hard, solid muscle and she couldn't move.

"You shouldn't go pullin' your gun on a man, Miss McCready, unless you're damn ready to use it." he growled.

Brody enjoyed how soft she felt against his body. During the war he'd seen some harsh things. He'd seen families ripped apart. He'd seen kids shot dead, women raped and left mutilated. Men starving to death and killing each other over pieces of rock hard jerky. Because of all of that harshness, he never got tired of the way a soft woman felt in his arms.

This particular woman was off limits though. Not only was she the bosses daughter but she was clearly one of those uppity women who thought they were just as good as any man. He thought of Braxton's warning the night before and smiled. There was no way in hell he'd fall into any trap that this woman laid. He was going to let her know that he wasn't just some damn puppy she could lead around by the nose.

"Let me go." she hissed. "I'll make sure you're fired before the day is out."

"You want me to tell your pa that you're out in the barn pulling guns on men who ain't done a damn thing? I'm sure he wouldn't be none to pleased about that." He had her there. Her pa would probably pull of his belt and whip her soundly if he knew she'd pulled her gun on Brody. Ernest McCready knew the necessity of weapons in 1870 Texas, but he didn't like the fact that his daughter carried and knew how to use one.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot Mr. Atkinson." Elizabeth said, doing her best to sound agreeable despite the fact that she was seething with rage at being manhandled and her body was on fire from being pressed against his. She wasn't the kind of woman to give in to such female reactions so she did her best to ignore the fire his touch was creating.

"That's better." Brody said. He released her and she took several big steps away from him before turning to face him and sticking her gun back in its holster.

"My name is Elizabeth." she said, deciding that to start over they needed new introductions.

"Brody." he replied, tipping his hat. She hated how smug he looked. Clearly proud of what he considered a victory over the bosses daughter.

"Brody, saddle a horse. I have to go into town and my father wanted me to ask a hand to come with me. Since you're the only one not busy, you get the job."

"You're mad ain't ya? You're mad that you gotta get somebody to go with ya." Her green eyes narrowed to slits and her angelic looking face suddenly looked ready to kill.

"Saddle a horse Brody." she snapped and she grabbed Chocolate's reigns and led her quickly from the barn. Brody let out a low whistle once she was gone and shook his head. She was definitely tempting to look at but he'd done been told about the hands off rule and warned about her ways by Braxton.

"Man o man. I wish I'd a been right about the ugly.. Woulda made working for the woman a little bit easier." he said as he went about saddling a grey appaloosa.

888

"Oh mercy! It's Grant." Elizabeth mumbled, breaking the silence that had been over her and Brody since leaving the ranch.

"Good, your boyfriend can take you on to town and I can go back to work."

"No." she said looking ahead on the road at Grant in his buckboard coming toward them.

"Why not?"

"That is none of your concern." Elizabeth snapped and Brody nodded and folded his arms over his legs as he let the reigns drape loosely. Brody watched in amazement as they walked right past Grant and he gave no indication that he recognized Elizabeth in her mens clothes and big hat.

"Brody. Ma'am." he said politely as he tipped his derby hat and then rode on his way. Elizabeth breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"Figured you'd be happy to see him." Brody said as he squinted into the sunlight.

"No." Elizabeth replied sounding much less like an ice princess or an evil slave driver and more like a confused and lost woman. A dangerous sound for any man.

"Sounds like there some meat left on that bone." he said matter of factly.

"Excuse me?"

"Sounds like there's more to the story." Elizabeth straightened her spine and shook her head.

"Like I said before, it's nothing to concern yourself about. You're just coming with me to town cuz my pa don't trust me out here on my own."

"You sure don't talk like a proper lady." Brody said. He wasn't sure why he was trying to make conversation with her. He assumed the sun had fried his brain and the half hour they'd been on horseback in silence was getting to him.

"I don't remember telling you that I was a proper lady." Elizabeth replied and she urged Chocolate a little faster down the trail. Eager to get to town and away from the arrogant man with the sharp green eyes.

888

Brody waited outside the doctors office in town, smoking his cigarette and giving a small grin to the whores who were waving at him from the balcony of the small blue whorehouse. He'd only been in town a week before getting his job at McCready's ranch but it was long enough for all the women to know him by name.

He tapped his foot and looked over the swinging doors of the doctors office impatiently. He didn't like playing babysitter to the bosses daughter. Arrogant little pain in the ass is all she was. Pretty little arrogant pain in the ass.

"Please, Doctor Montgomery, come out and check on him. There has to be something you can do." Elizabeth's voice was desperate and sad and for reasons he knew nothing about, it tugged at his heartstrings. Hell he hadn't been aware that he had heartstrings.

"Elizabeth, There is nothing I can do for him. His lungs will continue to get worse and eventually give out on him. He could buy himself more time by taking it easy and bed rest but nothing is going to save him."

"That's just not good enough!" Elizabeth exclaimed angrily.

"I'm sorry. It's just the way it is." Brody moved several steps away from the door to act as if he hadn't overheard their conversation when he heard Elizabeth's boots stomping toward the doors. She swung them open, slamming them loudly against the wall and then stormed of the porch steps toward their waiting horses.

Brody shook his head, killed his cigarette against the bottom of his boot and stuck it behind his ear, before following after her slowly. Brody never rushed. His policy in life was that the more you rush the more behind you get. His steps and his actions in life were always controlled, confident and steady.

A part of him wanted to ask her if she was okay as he jumped on his horse and began to follow after her. She was rigid in the saddle and her jaw was set in a stubborn line, refusing to show any emotion. But then a bigger part of him decided that it really wasn't any of his business whether or not she was okay. His only job was to get her home in one piece