"Not at all, I attended several myself, two of which were in Denver. 'Tis an easy trip. One need only catch the train the day before, attend the ball, spend the night in a hotel and come back. "Tis a very easy trip."
"But the society, Hannish. There is no one here we care to know."
"You are wrong, Olivia. Many of London's society come to Colorado. Just now, I am reminded; you brought little with you. Where are my formal clothes or must I buy new?"
"There was so much to do and after all these months, they needed cleaning. I have arranged for your things to come later."
"I see." He decided he wasn't very hungry and set his plate aside. "Tell me, who takes you to your balls?"
She took the roll Keith offered, picked up her knife and began to butter it. "Your brother took me at first, but then he married."
"Could he not take both of you?"
"I did not ask and he did not offer. I do not care for his wife, anyway, she has no interesting conversation."
"I see. Who else escorted you?"
"Several of our acquaintances made the offer, and very gallantly so. I knew you would not mind."
He did mind, but that was not the issue he wanted to discuss, so he just watched her fill her plate with sweet potatoes and let her eat for a while. She took no notice that he was not eating.
"We shall have a visitor tomorrow," she said at length.
"Shall we, who?"
"George Graham."
It took every ounce of his strength to pretend he did not know about Graham. "The stonemason? Why is he here?"
"I thought you might wish to meet him. His workmanship is beyond compare."
"Are you saying you brought him with you?" he carefully asked.
"Of course I did, how else are you to meet him?"
"You paid his fare?"
"I had to, his pay is very low, I remind you."
"Olivia, what are you talking about? He would have half of all I own, if I did not deny some of his outrageous invoices."
"They are not outrageous; you wanted it done properly, did you not?"
His voice got a little louder as he spoke, "I wanted the place repaired, not paved in gold."
She ignored the disdain in his expression. "I do hope you do not bring up the subject of his invoices when he comes, he hates discussing such trifle things."
"I do not find a man's pay trifle. Are you saying you dinna pay him?"
"Of course I did, only his complaints are many and he requires much more."