by Cat Cahill
Crest Stone, and everyone in it, would be safe. Her friends could continue to work at the hotel. They’d be able to see the town grow. And James . . .
She almost winced at the ache that tore through her. Instead, she gripped the reins harder and let her eyes shut for just a second. Her actions meant James wouldn’t be caught in the middle of this. He’d be alive and unhurt. He could see his plans through, become town marshal, make his uncle’s memory proud. She wouldn’t have to hurt him with the knowledge that he’d once thought of courting the daughter of one of Kansas’s most notorious outlaws. He would be free to find another girl, one who didn’t have to lie about her name and her family. He could marry and have a family. He could be happy.
She tried to find the joy in those thoughts, but it was hard to come by. James would forget her in time. In fact, he’d already pulled away from her, she reminded herself. She didn’t know why, but now she thought perhaps he’d sensed something not entirely honest about her. And then earlier, when he’d pushed her to confide in him . . . She hadn’t, of course, and then he’d grown cold.
He thought that she had been a victim of the Beaumonts, and he’d been upset she refused to tell him. Or perhaps that was only a ruse to get her to own up to something entirely different. He couldn’t know she was a Beaumont, but he sensed something was wrong. It was part of his job to know when someone wasn’t telling the truth. He’d sensed her lie.
Edie led her horse around a small hill and then past the smattering of pines that sat at its base. She was just beginning to ponder her options for crossing Silver Creek when the shadows in front of her moved.
Every muscle in her body stiffened as fear shot through her like a bullet. She pulled gently on the reins to halt her horse. The animal stamped and huffed as it noticed the figure ahead of it.
It was a man on horseback. A man holding a rifle that pointed straight at her.
“Raise your hands,” he said, his voice carrying across the small distance between them. “That horse moves an inch, I’ll pull the trigger.”
Edie did as he said. But instead of feeling relieved she’d found her family, something felt . . . wrong. She didn’t recognize the man’s voice.
But that was ridiculous. Her pa and Nick took on men unrelated to the family from time to time to help fill out their numbers. Some jobs needed more bodies. This might be one of them.
She found her voice buried somewhere beneath layers of fear and regret. “I’m Edith Beaumont. I’m here to see my pa.”
“Edith Beaumont.” The man repeated her name as if he was chewing on the words. He moved closer on horseback, that rifle still raised. “That might be the last name I expected to hear out here.”
Edie wrinkled her forehead. Surely the family had let this man in on their plans. Unless . . . Panic curled open like a spring flower deep inside her, expanding until it filled every limb. Her hands began to shake as she held them aloft.
It was impossible. No, not impossible, only improbable. She’d ruled it out this morning. Even James had come to the same conclusion.
“Tell me, Edith Beaumont—” His voice was honey, sliding over the words too sweetly and covering up something far more sinister. “Is your pa around these parts?”
She said nothing. She’d made the wrong decision. A very, very wrong decision.
The man stopped now, having drawn even with her horse. He still held that rifle pointed at her, and while his hat covered his eyes, it didn’t obscure the dirty blond beard that covered his chin or his cat-who-got-a-mouse grin. “’Cause I owe him a little something for that bullet he put in my leg a couple years back.”
And with that bit of information, Edie knew who she’d stumbled across for certain.
Levi Fletcher.
Chapter Twenty-five
James fumbled for the pocket watch on the night table. 3:44 a.m. Trying to sleep was pointless. Each time he drifted off, he woke again, besieged with doubts.
He pushed aside the bedclothes and stood. He thought he’d at least feel at peace with his decision, but peace seemed something far out of his grasp. He rubbed his face and moved to the window. It was dark as sin outside, and even though he knew the stables lay not too far away and the mountains rose off to the right, just barely within sight of his window, he could see none of it.
He raised his hands to grip the window frame and let the worries tumble through his mind. Had he done the right thing, letting Edie go as he did? It had seemed right in the light of day, but now . . .
She had made the decision, though, not him. It wouldn’t have been right to press her, not when she’d had her mind made up. But perhaps she’d only put distance between them after he’d been so cold with her the night before.
James turned and faced the door to his room. She’d stood right there, some thirty hours ago or so. She’d cast aside all fears of impropriety or a ruined reputation to ensure he wasn’t hurt and to bring him the herbs he needed to do his work. And his response had been to push her away. Of course she’d put an end to all of it yesterday. What else could she have done after he’d acted the way he did?
But it was for the best, wasn’t it? It was what he’d wanted—to clear his mind so he could focus on the job he needed to do. Yet somehow that focus still eluded him, because now all he could think of was what he’d lost. Edie’s sweet smile. The times he’d made her laugh. Her passion for plants and for books. The easy way they’d conversed for hours on the road to Cañon City. How quick she’d been to follow his lead when they’d ridden out from the mining camp. Her bravery in even going to such a place. The way she had little regard for societal conventions when they didn’t suit her. How she seemed to always think of others first, including him. The sweet feel of her hand in his, as if she trusted him to protect her from everything bad in this world.
He turned back to the window and pressed his forehead to the glass. It was cool and just what he needed. He closed his eyes and let the feeling calm the tumult in his head.
He’d been operating on the fear that Edie would keep him distracted from his work. But was it her, or was it the not knowing? Not knowing how to carve out a career while caring so deeply about someone, not knowing what the future might bring, not knowing what a life together might look like. He’d been torn between knowing that while Sheriff Young seemed to accomplish his duties as county sheriff just fine with a wife by his side, his uncle hadn’t been able to do any such thing.
But that wasn’t real.
James straightened at the revelation. The love Uncle Mark felt for Georgia Fletcher was real, but it hadn’t been returned. It had been a setup. He’d been led into complete infatuation with that woman—on purpose. That wasn’t what James had with Edie at all. Perhaps he’d been looking at the entire situation wrong. Perhaps what he and Edie had was more akin to Ben and his wife.
Maybe it was possible to have both love and his work.
He needed to speak with her. To apologize for the way he’d acted. And to confess his true feelings for her. She could still turn him down, but at least then he’d know he’d given it everything he could. And maybe—just maybe—she’d accept him. With time, she’d tell him about the pain she was carrying, whatever it was she couldn’t seem to put words to yesterday.
A smile lifted his lips as the thought of a life together with Edie flitted through his mind. They could have a house, like the one Hartley was building now, with a little garden out back for Edie to grow her plants. He’d craft bookshelves and help her fill them. Maybe one day there would even be children.
James laughed to himself. He was getting far too ahead. He had to speak with her first, and find out if she felt the same way. She had at one time, of that much he was certain. But whether she still cared for him, that he didn’t know.
The minutes ticked by slowly. At six, he finally left the room, having been fully dressed for an hour.
Downstairs, the lobby was empty save for a few hotel employees making their way to the kitchen. Edie did not appear.
Time crawled until an hour had passed. She might not be working the breakfast service, but still, she should’ve come downstairs to eat. Unless she was so angry with him she didn’t want to leave her room. He needed to find out.
James strode across the lobby toward the hallway where he’d seen the employees heading for the last hour. He’d just turned into it when a door, ahead on the left, flew open. McFarland, Mrs. Ruby, and a young, petite waitress emerged, deep in conversation.
“Deputy!” McFarland said the moment he spotted James in the hallway. “We were just coming to find you.”
Taking in the women’s worried looks, James knew it wasn’t anything good. “How can I help?”
“One of our girls is missing,” McFarland said in his Irish brogue. Nearly always in a suit with his hair neatly combed, this morning was no different. The man looked ready to sit down and dine with the president.
Before James could speak, the younger woman piped up. “She’s my roommate. She was there last night, but when I awoke this morning, she was gone. I thought maybe she’d come downstairs early, but she isn’t here.”
“We’ve sent people out to check the stables, the springhouse, and even through the town,” the older woman added.
“One of the horses is missing,” McFarland said. “Mrs. Ruby said the girl isn’t given to wander, although she’s been in a spot of trouble here before.”
“What sort of trouble?” From what Edie had told him, James knew there were about a hundred ways the girls could break the stringent rules set by the hotel. Everything from wearing a dirty apron at a meal service to one he knew all too well, meeting with a man in secret.
Mrs. Ruby looked to McFarland. The man gripped the edges of his jacket and lowered his voice. “There was an incident late last year in which the girl had been made to steal from the hotel by one of our former stable hands.”
James fought to keep his expression neutral. That was about the last thing he’d expected to hear. Given the tight ship McFarland ran here, he had a hard time imagining such a person remaining employed at the hotel. “And yet she’s still here?”
McFarland’s face grew stony. “I believe in second chances, Deputy. And this girl had been put in a terrible position against her will. The only thing she did wrong was to not come to me or Mrs. Ruby right away.”
“She felt she had no other option,” Mrs. Ruby said gently. “The man told her that her family owed him money. I believe he threatened to damage her reputation if she spoke out. And she’s an excellent waitress.”
“She’s a good person,” the younger girl added. She had a strange expression about her as she looked at James, one he couldn’t place at all. “A good friend, and she works hard here. I’m worried sick about her. It isn’t like her to just disappear.”
James nodded. Far be it from him to pass judgment on a woman he didn’t know. “I’ll round up a couple of men to help with the search. Do you have any idea in what direction she might have gone?”
“Not in the slightest,” Mrs. Ruby said.
“We asked around. No one seems to know where she might have gone,” McFarland added.
James stifled the urge to groan. It would be like searching out a single blade of grass in an entire field. But he’d start with the most obvious directions—the roads to Cañon City and the mining camp. “May I have the girl’s name?”
“Edie Dutton,” Mrs. Ruby replied.
The air seemed to leave the room. James stared at the woman until she wrinkled her forehead in confusion.
“Deputy, are you quite all right?” she asked.
His eyes moved across the group, searching for any hint that Mrs. Ruby had spoken the wrong name. McFarland looked ready to step forward and offer assistance. And the girl merely looked at him with a sympathetic expression. That was why she’d looked so strangely at him before. She was Edie’s roommate, and most likely her confidant.
He needed to pull himself together. He straightened and forced himself to nod. “Quite fine, thank you, ma’am. I’ll put together a team of men and begin searching. McFarland, could I borrow some of your off-duty employees?”
McFarland readily agreed. The group dispersed and James returned to the lobby. It wasn’t until he’d returned to his room to retrieve his coat, the new guns Ben had sent down on a train from Cañon City, and his saddlebags that he let himself think again.
Edie was missing, ridden off to parts unknown. Not only that, but she’d apparently been blackmailed into stealing from the hotel several months ago. That new information boggled his mind. Why hadn’t she said anything? From what she’d told him, she wasn’t on speaking terms with her family. And then this man showed up and insisted she repay him money her family owed him. And that night in the mining camp . . . she’d been looking for her brothers.
Something about all of this didn’t quite add up. But James couldn’t expend thoughts on that at the moment, not when he needed to focus on finding her.
Because right now, Edie could be out riding into country where the Beaumonts might be lurking.
He needed to find her before they did.
Chapter Twenty-six
It was just past dawn when they arrived. Edie’s arms ached from remaining in the same position for the better part of two hours. Levi Fletcher had bound her hands to the saddle horn and taken her reins to lead her horse behind his.
She’d spent most of the ride angry with herself for making such a foolish decision. They’d been wrong—both she and James—in suspecting it was her family behind all the trouble. It had been the Fletchers, operating in a much quieter manner than usual. And now she’d pay for her hasty choice.
As they’d grown closer, the anger dissolved into fear. What exactly did the Fletchers want with her? Did they plan to take her back to Kansas and ransom her to her family? Would Levi Fletcher use her to draw out her pa and exact his own revenge? Or—she trembled at the thought—would they simply kill her as some sort of horrible message to her family?
When they rounded a copse of aspens and several large boulders, she was imagining her friends having breakfast in the kitchen and preparing for the first meal service of the day. Had she been missed yet? She was scheduled to work the breakfast shift. Surely Beatrice had spoken to Mrs. Ruby by now. She wondered what they would do. Would they wait for her to return? Or would they notify James?
James. What would he think?
The sadness that clawed at her heart disappeared in an instant when they cleared the aspens and rode up to a handful of other men sitting around a fire in front of . . . was that a cave?
But she didn’t have time to ascertain what it was, because Levi had already dismounted and was standing by her horse, untying the rope that held her hands to the saddle. He stepped back and stood, waiting, as the other men rose, one-by-one.
“Get yourself down, girl, lest you want me to help you.” He leered at her, and that was all Edie needed. She scrambled off the horse, landing off-balance with her hands still tied together, and falling against the animal before righting herself.
“Well, I’ll be. That fool rustler was right after all,” one of the men said.
“What you bring back a girl for, Levi?” The kid who spoke was no more than a boy. He looked about the same age as Edie’s youngest brother, maybe fourteen or so.
“That ain’t just a girl.” An older man, his dark hair shot through with streaks of silver and his face weathered from years in the Kansas sun, stepped forward. “You’re Jonas Beaumont’s girl.”
It wasn’t a question, but Edie nodded slowly. It was futile to deny it, not when the man who’d caught her already knew.
“I remember you,” the older man continued, drawing even with Levi. “It was, I don’t know, maybe seven years ago. You Beaumonts moved in too close to the Hills, and your pa and I met for a little talk out at his place. You was running around with your ma, a pretty little thing even with those spectacles. Made me wish I had a daughter of my own.”
Edie swallowed. She remembe
red. They’d moved again, this time farther east than they’d ever gone before. But it hadn’t been for long. Her pa had that parlay with Virgil Fletcher, the old man standing in front of her now, and then her family had packed up and left, gone back to the western plains.
“You remember,” the man said, his face crinkling into a smile.
She’d never felt so many eyes on her at once, except for those horrible moments back in the hotel stables last December when her crimes were discovered. She wanted to disappear now, the same as she did then.
“What’s she doing here?” one of the younger men asked. His otherwise handsome face was marred with a scar that stretched from his ear to his mouth.
Virgil Fletcher still smiled at her as he answered. “Why, Tell, she’s done run away from home. That’s how Adkins put it, anyhow.”
Adkins. Edie’s heart nearly stopped at the mention of that name. But how could they know . . . “He wrote you,” she said, as the realization blossomed. He’d kept his promise and not breathed a word of her whereabouts to her family or the hotel, but he’d told the Fletchers.
“Seems he thought I might take an interest. He worked with us a time or two back in Kansas, after he worked for your pa, and I suppose he felt some sort of loyalty.” Virgil Fletcher scratched at his beard, but kept his eyes on her. “Don’t much care what his reasons were, but it sure was good information to have.”
“Pa, you mean we rode all the way out here for her?” Tell Fletcher looked awfully displeased. “I thought you said we was after something big.”
Edie wouldn’t have wanted to be in Tell’s shoes with the glare Virgil shot him. “Boy, use your head. Jonas Beaumont would kill to get his girl back, all safe and sound. We can do that for him—” His gaze swung back to Edie, and he smiled a bit. “Provided the price is right.”
Tell suddenly looked much more interested in her, as did his brothers. It was enough to make Edie want to shrink back into her horse, but she refused to give them the satisfaction of knowing they’d intimidated her. As much as she’d wished to belong to another family her entire life, she was still Jonas Beaumont’s daughter. And her pa didn’t shrink from anyone, ever. Neither did her mama. So Edie straightened her shoulders and leveled her eyes at Levi. “What’s your price?”
