Hidden Truths Read Online Free PDF

consisted of writing letters, right? How did you manage
that? I know you can't write."
    "I'm learnin'. Miss Nattie is teaching me."
    "Really? But you always said you'd rather spend winter
evenings repairing broken bridles than studying words on a page."
    Phin shrugged. "Changed my mind. Miss Nattie's a great
teacher."
    "Nattie helped you advertise for a wife?"
    "Oh, no." Phin rubbed his palms over freshly
shaven cheeks. "I wouldn't bother her with that. Your mother helped. But
Miss Nattie knew."
    "Mama and Nattie knew all this time, but you never said
one word to me?"
    "Miss Nattie heard it from the postmaster. The damn
gossip told half of Oregon that I'm gettin' letters from a lady in Boston. I
thought maybe you'd heard it around town too."
    "Not a word," Amy grumbled but swallowed her hurt
feelings. After all, Phin wasn't to blame for her reluctance to visit town. She
tried to stay away from Hannah and the other young women who always knew the
latest rumors.
    Phin scratched his chin and added, "I thought you
aren't interested in affairs of the heart things."
    True. She had never given him reason to think otherwise. She
and Phin talked about horses but rarely discussed feelings.
    When she stayed silent, Phin ducked to look into her face.
"Are you mad at me for not telling you sooner?"
    "No," she said. She wasn't mad, just a bit hurt
and strangely unsettled. Sharing her home with a beautiful young woman could
mean trouble.
    *  *  *
    "Listen up, boys," Luke Hamilton said. Decades-old
habits made her square her shoulders to appear bigger than she was. "Phin
and I will leave tomorrow. Amy is in charge while we're gone." She let her
gaze sweep over the ranch hands perched on their bunks and standing around the
bunkhouse's cast-iron stove. "Anyone have a problem riding for a
woman?"
    The ranch hands had worked side by side with Amy every day
for the past few years, but working with her and working for her were two
different things.
    Most of the men shook their heads.
    "No problem, boss," Hank said.
    Adam spat out a stream of chewing tobacco, earning him a
sharp glare from Luke. If anyone gave Amy trouble, it would be Adam. She stared
at him until he looked away.
    "Amy's just in charge until you get back, right?"
Emmett asked, shuffling his feet. "It's just for two months."
    Luke suppressed a grin. They had no idea they had worked for
a woman much longer than that. To the world, she was Lucas Hamilton — rancher,
husband, and father. Only three people knew that she was not what she appeared
to be: her wife Nora, their neighbor Bernice Garfield, and Tess, Luke's oldest
friend.
    "For now," she said. Maybe one day, Amy would be
able to do what Luke couldn't: run the ranch as a woman.
    When no one protested, Luke gave some last-minute
instructions and then left the bunkhouse.
    Darkness had fallen, and a myriad of stars twinkled down at
her. Luke lifted her head and inhaled the tangy aroma of pines, manure, and
sage from Nora's herb garden. A horse's whinny cut through the sounds of a
gurgling spring and a hooting owl. Luke wandered across the ranch yard to check
on the horses one last time.
    The place in front of the corral was already occupied. Amy
stood with her elbows on the top rail and one booted foot propped on the bottom
rung. She didn't turn around when Luke joined her.
    Side by side, they watched the dark shapes of the horses
move around the corral.
    Midnight wandered over and snuffled Amy's sleeve. She patted
the gelding's neck and combed her fingers through his forelock. "Did you
talk to the men?"
    "Yes. They know you're in charge."
    "Good."
    Luke turned to look at Amy and leaned her shoulder against
the corral. "You nervous?"
    "No," Amy said quickly — too quickly.
    "Because if you were, I'd certainly understand. I was
about your age when I earned my lieutenant stripes. Suddenly, I was expected to
command a troop of soldiers, some of them much older and more experienced than
me."
    Amy leaned against the corral too so