A Headstrong Woman(32)

“Much better. Ready to work?” Jonathon tried to put her at ease. Her clothing wasn’t indecent; merely… surprising.

“Are you sure I look all right?” her hands came to her hips.

Jonathon followed the motion and then yanked his attention back to her face.

“You look ready to work.”

“I am ready,” she nodded and started down the steps. She had watched Jonathon’s reaction closely and had seen nothing to indicate that he thought anything of her clothing.

“At least I have one consolation,” Alexandria commented as she swung into the saddle, a task much easier in her new clothing, “anyone who happened along would mistake me as one of the men and think nothing of it.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Jonathon muttered under his breath as he mounted.

Alexandria didn’t hear him. Anna did and frowned at them from her position on the porch.

“Do you think the men will be uncomfortable with my being there?” Alexandria fretted.

Jonathon looked down into her upturned face and wished that he could assure her they wouldn’t.

“They’ll get used to it,” he answered instead. “Could I make one suggestion though?”

“What’s that?”

“Find a name you’re comfortable with them using. Boss might be hard to swallow and Mrs. Morris will only remind them you’re a woman.” Like they’d need reminding, he thought to himself.

“I’ll do that,” she nodded more to herself. “I was planning on giving them the chance to leave, no questions asked. I know some men don’t like working for a woman.”

“That’s a good idea,” he was thinking of a couple of the men who had already complained. They reached the men and Alexandria started making the rounds.



Rand answered as she had expected him to: that he was leaving to set up his own place up before his marriage to his fiancée. Rusty assured her that he had no problem working for a woman.

“Sure, aint no reason a woman caint run things,” Chris smiled.

“I won’t abandon you, Mrs. Morris,” Sparky solemnly promised. Alexandria smiled, “Call me Alex, Sparky.”

“Okay, Alex,” he smiled in return.

She moved on to the next hand. Howard looked a bit embarrassed but said he would be moving on. She moved on to Nick, her back straight and pulse racing. She had been uncomfortable around him ever since the incident in the barn.

“Sure, Boss. It oughta be real interesting around here,” he smirked.

“Alex, please,” Alexandria requested as she repressed a shudder.

“Sure, Alex it is,” he grinned.

Alexandria, aware of his eyes on her, moved on. She moved up beside Jonathon and asked him questions about what the men were doing and what the job involved. Jonathon patiently answered her questions. Over lunch, the men started a conversation with her, hesitantly at first, and then more comfortably when she responded with a smile and a few jokes.

By the time Alexandria returned to the ranch to speak with the men who were just stirring to switch shifts, she was feeling more confident about the task before her. Jonathon gathered the men up and Alexandria made the same offer to them that she had made to the others. All but one man stayed. She had lost a total of three men that day and knew they would have to be replaced.

“That didn’t go so bad,” she told Jonathon after the men had moved on.

“It didn’t,” he agreed, “you did well out there today.”

“Thank you,” she beamed.

“Do me a favor, Alexandria.”

“Sure,” Alexandria watched him expectantly.

“Watch yourself around Nick. I don’t want to scare you, but he makes me nervous, especially considering what happened with him before,” he gave voice to his concern.

“I plan to,” she assured him. “Thank you so much for your help, Jonathon.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Would you like to join us for dinner?” she invited.

“Home cooking, now how can I refuse that?” he asked with a wide smile. “Just between you and me, Mack does an okay job, but …” he let the sentence trail.

Alexandria smiled. “Come on, we’ll get Millie and Anna to feed us,” she led the way into the house.

Anna flushed and immediately began fidgeting as soon as Jonathon walked through the door. She spent the meal flirting mercilessly with Jonathon. Alexandria found it amusing.