There was nothing I could do once he saw her. Once Samuel Ludlow saw my sister, I was doomed. He was a nice young man who could take care of Susannah, but when they told me that they were taking me with them up to his family's ranch, I was displeased to say the least.

Susannah, ever since our parents died, has been trying to control me. I'm not like her. I don't even look like her: where I am a redhead with a pale complexion, she is a brunette with almost tan skin, and I am also taller than my sister by quite a few inches. Susannah finds it hard to be around me because I am her burden; when our parents died a month ago, she was left to take care of me, her seventeen year old sister.

The train ride with Susannah and Samuel was made bearable by the beautiful countryside that passed us by. Susannah had already made comments about my clothing. I was wearing a suede beige, long sleeve bolero that had paisley lining on the inside. Under that it was just a simple powder blue dress with no sleeves whatsoever, then just white shoes.

The train stopped at a small station, where Samuel took Susannah by the hand and led her off the train, with me trailing with my bag behind them. I watched Samuel greet two men: one older gentleman, his father, Colonel William Ludlow, and a younger man, Samuel's older brother Alfred, I guessed. They welcomed Samuel back and he introduced them to Susannah, then it was my turn.

My sister turned around and waved me down from the train. "Diana, come off the train and meet the Ludlows'!"

When the steam from the train cleared, I hesitantly stepped down to 'meet the Ludlows', and put on my straw hat. William smiled at me and I shook his hand, while Alfred looked at me peculiarly, but still shook my hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr Ludlow, and Mr Alfred Ludlow."

"Same to you, Diana."

Samuel laughed. "Don't worry, Diana, he's just plain, old Alfred to you."

"You shut-up!" Alfred said jokingly to Samuel.

"Here's your dog, miss," a man from the steam engine said and gave Finn to me.

"It's a horse!" Colonel Ludlow exclaimed.

Alfred looked at him. "That's a strange-looking animal."

"This is Finn… he's a champion, aren't you, Finn?" Susannah told Alfred while I stood back.

"Where's Tristan?" Samuel asked.

"Oh, he's off somewhere. You know him," Alfred said casually.

"Well, Miss Fincannon, please," William Ludlow offered his arm to Susannah and she took it. "Did you have a good journey?" I heard him ask as they walked off the platform and to a nearby motorcar and horse and cart.

Alfred and Samuel laughed, then they realised I was still there and Alfred offered me his arm. I shook my head politely and got off the platform with Finn.

As I reached the cart, a man jumped down and placed our baggage on the cart, but then he saw me and Finn. "I'll put him on the cart now, miss?" He asked, pointing at Finn.

I smiled and gave him Finn's leash. After he put him on the cart, he turned to me and shook my hand. "My name's Decker, miss."

"Diana. Pleasure to meet you, Decker."

He nodded at me and he turned his attention back to loading the cart, and I went to the motorcar.

In the motorcar, Susannah and Mr Ludlow were in the backseat and the boys were on horses. I was left to sit next to the Indian driver, One Stab, who I immediately took a liking to because of the beautiful necklace he had on. I smiled at him and he gave me a small smile back then we were off to the ranch.

One Stab and I looked at each other throughout the drive. In some ways, we were like outsiders to the rest of them in that we didn't care for their kind of conversation even though we listened in. It was comforting to know that I wasn't alone.

When we reached a grassy meadow, I was about to ask One Stab to stop the car, but he did it before I could open my mouth. I looked back and saw him give me a small wink. So, now out of the car, I began to walk alongside the Alfred and his horse.

Alfred and Susannah began talking about Social Reformers, and I heard a little of it, but mainly I gazed into the beautiful landscape. The topic then became about One Stab and that he had a bag of scalps somewhere. My sister thought that was terrifying, and yet I thought it was something to admire; he had to kill men to claim those, he had to be brave. I thought it was a shame, though, that One Stab didn't speak English, I would have liked to hear him talk to me.

"Hey, there's Tristan!" Samuel shouted and there, in the distance, I saw a man on a horse. He had in tow another horse with a dead animal carcass on it, which made me cringe. This Ludlow brother looked different to them all, as he had long blond hair, wild eyes and dishevelled clothing…quite unlike the rest of the family. Samuel rode to Tristan and they talked while the car drove quickly towards them. I walked slowly, lagging behind everyone else.

"So this must be Tristan," I heard my sister say and after he didn't say anything in return, she continued. "And does he speak English?" She began laughing again.

"Oh, for God's sake…" Alfred said and splashed his water from his canteen onto Tristan's back. Everyone laughed except me, the Colonel, One Stab and Tristan, though he tried to look amused.

When the laughter died down, Tristan said: "Miss. Fincannon, it's a pleasure to meet you. I hope you and ugly here find every happiness together."

I arrived by the side of the car after he said that and he looked at me. "Who must you be?"

I took off my hat and shook his gloved hand. "Diana, Susannah's sister."

"Sister? That's hard to believe."

I scoffed and nodded. "Yes, I hear that quite a bit."

He smiled and then Alfred looked down at me. "Don't mind my brother; your dog has more breeding than he does."

At that Samuel and Tristan wrestled Alfred off his horse and to the ground. Everyone giggled at the boys' display of play-fighting, even I did.

Enough was enough for Colonel Ludlow. "Come on, let's get a move on, I don't want to be stuck out here all day!" One Stab started the car and got moving towards the ranch.

The Alfred and Samuel got back on their horses and rode away, while Tristan took his time with getting up off the grass. I looked at him and handed him a hand towel I had in my bag. He took it, dried himself and grinned at me with his big, white teeth. "Thanks."

I nodded and then I just walked away, following the others.

It wasn't long to the ranch after that. The whole way, Tristan was following close behind me on his horse but I didn't really pay much attention. I first saw the mountains, then the trees and then more of that fantastic grass before I even glanced at the ranch itself. The ranch was relatively small, but the land that the Colonel owned around it was quite generous.

In all honesty, I thought this place was much better than my boarding school. I had been studying to become a nurse at the hospital across the street from the school before I came here. I just finished my final year a semester early, and I was going to receive a scholarship to a college in Baltimore when Susannah pulled me out.

But I have always loved nature, and now I get to live in a place surround by nature's finest, not in the hustle and bustle of city life. What a wonderful opportunity.

When we arrived at the front of the house, we were greeted by a native woman and girl. They smiled as Susannah was helped out of the car by Samuel and as the boys jumped off their horses. The Colonel introduced Susannah and I to them and introduced them to us.

"Susannah, Diana—this is Decker's wife, Pet, and their daughter, Isabel Two. Pet, Isabel Two— this is Susannah and Diana," William said merrily, waving his hand to each of us and them in turn.

I stepped forward first to shake hands with them and I gave a special smile to Isabel Two. "Hello, Isabel, it's nice to meet you."

Once the introductions were over, Decker, Alfred and Samuel took mine and Susannah's baggage up to our room and we followed them. The house was made entirely out of a dark coloured timber and there were many heads of animals mounted on the wall. I was very uncomfortable with that.

Our room was very neat and pretty, and had a nice big bed for Susannah and me to share.

All the men and Pet left the room except for Samuel, who stayed back with Susannah for a bit. I, on the other hand, wanted to go outside and be far away from Samuel and Susannah so I took my bag and went downstairs.

On my way back down the stairs, I was stopped by Alfred, who grabbed my arm and smiled at me. "What did you do to One Stab?"

I liked One Stab, so I was shocked that something may have happened to him. "Why, what's wrong with him?"

"It's not what I meant, Diana; One Stab cannot stop talking about you, it's rare that someone can make such an impression on the old man!" Alfred laughed, looking deep into my eyes.

I found his actions strange as, right at that moment, he was still holding my arm. "Don't scare me like that; I thought One Stab was hurt! And, in any case, I don't know what you mean," I said and took my arm away from him.

I walked on past Alfred but just when I was at the door, Tristan had just stepped inside the door and we both stopped. His eyes were just so blue, but he smelled like dirt and cheap wine. It was a sickening smell.

"Excuse me," I said quietly, walking out into the sunlight, accidently pushing him into the door frame.

Tristan's POV

She was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. Diana's eyes were greener than grass and I liked looking at her orange hair. She was different from her sister, that's for sure. The pain of her pushing me crept into my mind and I rubbed where my shoulder hit the frame.

"She got you pretty bad, huh?! You alright?" Alfred exclaimed and I nodded back to him. "Boy, she's a tough one!"

"She's pretty, though. Hey, what's her story?"

Alfred came to meet me down by the door. "Samuel told me Diana disagreed with Susannah about coming here. She was about to go to a women's college in Baltimore, but with Susannah being Diana's legal guardian, she had to come here. She has a pretty voice, too, doesn't she?"

I wrapped an arm around Alfred and we watched Diana walk into the meadow. "Yeah. By the way, what's wrong with One Stab? He's not himself."

"I think he's obsessed with her; he won't talk about anything else but her."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's he been saying about her?"

Alfred shrugged as we went onto the veranda. "He mumbled about his 'daughter' and Diana's 'spirit', whatever that means."

I was confused. "I thought One Stab only had sons?"

"So did I, so I asked father and he told me Stab had a daughter once, before our time."

"What happened to her?" I asked, interested.

"Father didn't say; he even said to never ask Stab about it either. You know what that means?"

I smirked sadly. Alfred and I both knew what it meant. "Something bad must have happened to her."

Alfred and I nodded to each other for a while and then we both looked out at Diana, who was now sitting in the long grass, taking out a book from her bag. By chance I happened to look over at Alfred, who was watching Diana just as intently as I was, and I could see in his eyes that he liked her for more than just a future sister in-law, I could see the attraction. I looked back at Diana and realised that I was just as damn smitten as Alfred.