She frowned. He’d been gone for hours. Just where was he? So many things could happen. She hated worrying, and there was no point in thinking about it any longer. It would do no good and only make her irritable.

A bath was brought up for her, hot steaming water with a sprinkle of scented salts, and she relaxed in the tub for over an hour, until the water cooled and she felt refreshed.

There would be few opportunities for baths for a time. The easiest portion of the journey was behind them. From here, the trip would be long, hot and hard, for they would have to cross the Sierra Madre Mountains on horseback, sleeping in small, rustic posadas along the trail and even on the ground beneath the moonlight and stars.

It was a trip she’d made many times, but it never got easier, she remarked that evening at the fort after supper was over and they sat out on the long porch of the dining hall where it was cooler.

“But Mrs. Morgan, soon the railroad will make travel so much easier,” Uriah Lott, a guest of the colonel’s, said as he leaned forward to stare at her earnestly. “I have already laid tracks from San Diego down to the Gulf Coast at Corpus Christi in order to transport sheep to market, and will be extending the line even farther.”

“San Diego?” Ginny’s brow shot up in surprise, and Mr. Lott laughed ruefully.

“Oh, no, I see I’ve misled you. San Diego is twenty-five miles north of Corpus Christi. But it’s a start. Why, I have investors behind me now, and plans to lay even more tracks across the plains and the border. That’s one of the reasons I’m here in Laredo, you see. It’s the perfect gateway into Mexico. When a permanent bridge is built to link with Nuevo Laredo across the Rio Grande, we will soon be able to travel all the way to Mexico City by rail! I envision tracks laid all the way up into Canada eventually, and it’s not just a dream. It’s the future.”

“So your railroad is going to compete with the big boys of Union Pacific and Central Pacific?” Steve regarded Lott over the rim of his brandy snifter. “I assume you have all the funding in place for this.”

“Well…part of it. I do have a major investor who is interested in my plans. I think the Rio Grande Railway could successfully compete in the market. There’s room enough for all. Which is one reason that I’m so pleased you agreed to meet with me, Morgan.”

“I’m no longer involved with the operations of the Central Pacific or the Union Pacific, Mr. Lott.”