"No pa." Elizabeth said for the thousandth time as she sat in her bedroom in the pink dress while running a brush through her hair.

"You haven't him given him a chance Elizabeth." Ernest McCready replied with frustration.

"I gave him all the chance I needed to give him. I'm not interested." Elizabeth stated. She stood up and Ernest grumbled under his breath and walked over to the door.

"I'm not going to be around much longer." he said sadly and as if to emphasize his point a fit of coughing struck him and left him gasping for breath as it subsided. Elizabeth frowned and felt tears prickling her eyes. She blinked them away and shook her head.

"You're too ornery to die pa. You'll outlive me." Ernest shook his head.

"I don't have a whole lot more time. I'd like to know that my daughter is married and has someone to take care of her once I'm gone." Elizabeth sighed and flopped back down on the bed, this was a discussion she and her father had a lot.

"I don't need anyone to take care of me pa. I can take care of myself and this ranch just fine and you know it. The last thing I need is some city man who doesn't know a stallion from a mare." Ernest laughed at his daughter.

"Even a blind man could tell the difference between a stallion and a mare sweetheart. Grant Foster is a good man. He's got influence in the government, he's rich…."

"I don't care about influence and money pa. I want to marry a man one day who makes me feel like I'm the only woman in the world.. I want to marry a man who truly loves me the way you loved mama." Ernest sighed and pulled off his hat to rub his gray, balding head.

"You don't know that Grant couldn't give you that. You have to give him a chance." Elizabeth sighed but stood her ground.

"Pa, I am not interested in Grant Foster." But she came by her stubborn nature honestly and her father squared his shoulders.

"You are my daughter and you will do as I say. Grant is coming back out tomorrow and you will spend more time with him." The pair glared at each other for several long moments before Elizabeth finally nodded. Her father's harsh breathing causing her to feel a little more sympathy for his argument.

"Fine." she said. "I'll spend time with him tomorrow." Ernest nodded and smiled, happy at his victory.

"Thank you." he said. He walked out and closed the door.

"But I'm not getting all gussied up again!" she yelled, determined to have the last word. She stood up and curled her nose at the sight of her dress in the mirror. She reached behind to unbutton it, only to realize she couldn't do it on her own.

"Damn dresses!" she cursed. She walked over to her bedroom door and opened it. She poked her head out in the hallway and called for Anita before walking back in her room. She hated feeling helpless and that's exactly how this silky contraption on her body made her feel. Helpless.

"What is it Elizabeth? I'm trying to get supper on the table for you and your pa."

"I need help undoing this damn dress." Elizabeth grumbled.

"Watch your language." Anita scolded as she set about undoing the buttons with quick practiced ease. She had done this nightly when Elizabeth's mother had been alive.

"I gotta get my clothes back on and get out there and work."

"The men are done with the branding, Cookie is making them all supper and they're fixing to call it a night. There's nothing else for you to do out there today. You should just put some clothes on and spend some time with you father."

"I'm going to go into town in the morning and get Doctor Montgomery back out here to check him out. He sounds worse to me." Elizabeth said with worry. Anita frowned as her arthritis curved fingers quickly braided the girls thick blond hair.

"I think the only reason he hasn't given in to that cough already is sheer stubbornness." she stated. "Well that and his determination to see you married before he goes."

"I wish he'd give that up."

"Your pa loves you. You should do what you can to make him happy."

"Even marry a man I don't love?" Elizabeth demanded. Anita nodded in the mirror and her old brown eyes looking suddenly resigned.

"Yes. Even that. Your father has dedicated his life to you and making sure you had the best of everything. He has never asked anything of you other then to marry before he died and he has brought you countless of very worthy men." Elizabeth's green eyes narrowed and she jerked away from Anita.

"Tell pa I'll be down to supper shortly." she said sharply. Anita sighed and walked over to the door.

"You've got fifteen minutes." she said and walked out, shutting the door behind her. Elizabeth let out an angry feminine growl as she slid out of her dress and the voluminous (and highly annoying) petticoats. She pulled on a spit skirt and a white blouse and smiled. Anita hated it when she wore the split skirts. They weren't what a proper lady would wear, she said. They made a woman seem scandalous and easy.

Elizabeth wasn't easy, sure she'd broken the rules a time or two with ranch hands which had always resulted in her father finding out, the hand losing his job and Elizabeth being grounded to her room for days. She'd only actually had sex with one of those men and that had been a less then satisfying experience and she couldn't figure out for the life of her why any woman would do it more than once.

Despite that, she liked to give Anita heart attacks so she wore the leather split skirts quite often. She smiled, satisfied that she would at least get a small victory today and then after washing the powder and make-up from her face with the water in the wash basin, she walked out of the room to go join her pa for supper.

888

Brody took a big bite of the runny gravy and stale biscuits that Cookie had given them for dinner. His mouth watered when he saw the large piece of McCready steak sitting next to it on his plate and decided quickly that he was saving it for last.

"I think your cooking is getting worse." a young hand named Thomas complained. Cookie, who was old and crusty and not the least bit sweet like his name implied, glared at the boy and pointed his serving spoon at him.

"Shut up or go hungry." he growled. "Be more like the new guy. You don't hear him complaining about the food." The hands looked at Brody who paused with his spoon in the air.

"I was in the war." he said through a mouthful of food. "I've known what's like to be so hungry you're chewing on a strap of leather just to keep your stomach from rebelling against you and killing you dead. This tastes pretty darn good to me."

"See! Be grateful you got food." Cookie grumbled as he slapped a spoonful of thin watery gravy onto Braxton's plate.

"Give me another one, Cookie. I'm a big man." Braxton said with a smile and Cookie happily did just that.

Brody finished his meal and then walked toward the bunkhouse. The other men were staying up and playing poker by lantern light in the barn but Brody was tired and he wanted to get plenty of rest because tomorrow would be spent riding through the hills and checking on the herd. He stopped on his way and stared up at the big house, wondering what rich folk did before bed.

"You ain't thinking about Elizabeth are you?" Braxton asked walking up behind him. Brody shook his head and looked the big man in the eye.

"No, sure wasn't." he replied honestly.

"Let me give you a warning about Elizabeth…" Braxton started but Brody pulled a rolled cigarette from his shirt pocket and shook his head as he dug for the box of matches in his pants pocket.

"That's not necessary. I ain't got no interest in her or any other woman. I get all I need from a woman from the whores in town." Braxton chuckled and shook his head.

"Even so, I'm gonna warn ya." Braxton looked off into the dark twilight, his face was worn from years in the sun and his brown eyes were permanently set in a tight squint. "She's nothing for you to be even thinking about. There's been a few men over the last couple of years since she outgrew her knobby knees and boyish body , that have fallen for her, broken the rules and found themselves out on their asses and out of a job. This is a good damn job and not worth losing over her. She don't want a man for nothing other than a good time and she'll chew you up and spit you right back out. Remember that kid." Brody pulled a match from the pack, struck it against his cheek and lit his cigarette which glowed orange in the building darkness.

"You sure you should be talking about the bosses daughter like that?" he asked with amusement. Braxton chuckled and stuck a bit of tobacco in his lip.

"The truth is the truth, no matter who it's about." he said. "Make sure you don't call her the bosses daughter to her face because as far as she's concerned she's your boss too."

"Ain't no painted up, silk wearing lady gonna tell me what to do. If that's part of this job then I'll quit myself." Braxton laughed with loud amusement.

"We'll see if you're still singing the same tune tomorrow."

"I don't sing. And when I say something you can damn well believe that I mean it." Brody replied blowing smoke rings up at the night sky.

"All right kid. Well I'm gonna go play some poker. You coming?"

"Naw, I'm gonna get some rest." Brody replied and Braxton walked off toward the barn. Brody gave one last look at the house and snorted as he went into the bunkhouse.

Wasn't no painted lady gonna make him fall head over heals and make a fool of himself. This was a good damn job, the pay was great and the men were alright to work with. Grant could have the bosses daughter, Brody wasn't about to get caught in her web.