“And you want to go back to it? Except for a few horse thieves, my world’s a pretty boring place.”
“Right. You just have lynching parties. And smallpox and typhoid fever and cholera. And outdoor plumbing.”
“You seem to know a lot about us.”
“I’ve watched a lot of television.”
“And what is television?”
As they’d been riding, Kady had leaned back against him and now was feeling rather comfortable. As she looked about her, at the incredible, breathtaking Colorado mountains, she couldn’t seem to remember exactly what television was. She’d never seen the Rockies before, and she’d had no idea they were so beautiful. Maybe she and Gregory could open a restaurant here. Maybe they could persuade his mother to leave Onions and come here.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” he said softly, reading her mind.
“Beautiful,” she answered. “I grew up in Ohio, went to school in New York, and have worked in Virginia. I’ve never seen this.”
He didn’t answer, but she could feel that he was pleased that she liked the countryside.
“Truthfully, why were those men trying to hang you?” The motion of the horse and the strength of the man supporting her were making her feel so safe that she was becoming sleepy.
“They tried to take some of my cattle, and I protested.”
“Do you have many cows?”
He hesitated before answering. “Very few. I told you, the Rockies aren’t the best grazing land.”
“Then do you work in a mine?”
“No.”
One of those silent cowboys, she thought with a sigh, and missed Gregory. He was always willing to talk about his business or listen to Kady’s stories of what had happened in the restaurant.
“What’s this Grover like?” Cole said, and there was a definite sneer in his voice.
Kady was sure that wanting a man to be jealous was not psychologically correct, but it did feel good. She’d always been too busy learning to cook to spend much time with men. Before Gregory, she’d had surprisingly few dates.
“I don’t know anyone named Grover,” she said with exaggerated innocence. “I can’t imagine who you mean.”
“The one you’re planning to marry.”
“Oooooh, Gregory. Well, he’s absolutely gorgeous, very black hair, dark eyes, honey-colored skin, and—”
“Any brains?” Cole asked tightly.
“A degree from the University of Virginia—in business, which he is very good at. Buys and sells land in California. He’s almost rich, actually, and he’s bought me a three-story town house in Alexandria. Oh!” she said when the horse stepped into a hole and Kady nearly went tumbling. But Cole’s arms caught her—and kept holding her.
“And what about you?” she asked sweetly. “No wife or fiancée? What about a girlfriend?”
“None,” he said. “Just me and Manuel, my old cook.”
“And is he a very good cook?”
“If you like beans and chili so hot it can blister your tongue. You wouldn’t like to work for me, would you? I could pay you—” He cut himself off. “Naw, you want to be independent, have your own job. Tell me, are all women a hundred years from now like you?”
It was obvious that he was laughing at her and had no belief that she had ever seen the twentieth century. “Most of them. We have careers and earn as much money as the men. Women can do anything, you know.”
At that he snorted. “So who takes care of the kids?”
Kady opened her mouth to answer, but she thought a discussion of day care and nannies might not make the point she wanted to. “Having children is a choice, and the children are taken care of.” Unfortunately, some rather horrible images of child abuse that she’d seen on the six o’clock news flashed before her eyes.