Yet when she arrived at the Prendergast ranch and was greeted by big Jack Prendergast, his bluff heartiness not quite masking his open curiosity about Steve’s wife and her unexpected appearance in New Mexico Territory, Ginny had to fight sudden qualms. Was she doing the right thing? Steve would be furious when he learned what she had done!

Ginny needn’t have worried about Sam Murdock; he greeted her graciously.

“It is very good to see you again, Mrs. Morgan. I trust you are well,” Murdock said with his faint Scottish burr.

Despite feeling awkward, Ginny smiled at him, her green eyes betraying none of her discomfort.

“I am quite well, Mr. Murdock. Really, we have known each other for a while now, do you not think we have progressed to a first-name basis? It’s very American of me, don’t you think?”

He smiled, transforming his features from rather severe to quite attractive. Murdock was tall, with broad shoulders and gray liberally streaking hair that had once been red. A thick shelf of brows nearly met over the bridge of his nose, and his clean-shaven jaw was square. It was a strong face, yet kind.

Ginny remembered that Murdock had once sponsored Concepciόn, taking her under his wing to teach her the rudiments of proper etiquette at the request of his friend, and partner, Steve Morgan. At first, Ginny had wondered about the relationship between Murdock and the Mexican gypsy. Had it been more intimate than it was presented?

But she had become convinced that Sam Murdock behaved with the utmost propriety, and felt comfortable with him herself.

“Ginny, then,” Murdock said as he took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm, walking her across the wide verandah of the rambling Prendergast house. “And you will call me Sam, of course. It’s such a pleasant surprise to see you again. Did you become well-acquainted with Jack’s daughter Lorna and, of course, her beautiful mother, Françoise? Their letters from England have been full of news about your cousin Pierre. It seems that he and Lorna have grown quite fond of one another.”

“Yes, so I gathered. Pierre is delightful, and would make any woman a fine husband.”

However, Lorna Prendergast Ginny thought, was a spoiled willful girl, who had set her sights on Steve for a time, no matter that she now pursued Pierre. But it wasn’t Lorna or her designs on Steve that concerned Ginny now.

To broach the subject at once would have been too obvious, so she waited until after breakfast the next day.

Garbed in a riding habit that fit snugly to her curves and accentuated her slender waist, she smiled up at Murdock as Jack Prendergast had a carriage brought around for her.

“There is so much beautiful country around here. I’m glad I came. I really needed a change, and of course, to renew our acquaintance.”