“I hope he settled down. Got a job like a decent man would.” Simon slid his hand over the rough floor of the boxcar and traced his fingers around a knot in the panel.
“Nah. A year later she showed up with a faded bruise on her face and a baby on her hip.”
“You come from good stock, Teddy. I can’t believe your ma let her stay out in the cold.”
Early morning sun slanted through the open door to the railcar. The scene outside was serene. Towering hills—speckled with tall pines—cradled the logging train as the tracks sliced through the narrow green valley. The area was sparsely populated, but a place beautiful enough to steal a man’s breath and make him want to move there just to wake up to see the elk feed off the hilltops surrounding him. This was perhaps the last time he’d ever see this land—a place dear to his heart, but now a part of his past.
“Ma didn’t let her in. Slammed the door right in her face.” In the deepening light, Simon noticed Teddy yank cash from his inside jacket pocket. “That’s why I’m taking the extra money. I set my sister up at a boarding house in Missoula. She’s working on finding a good job where she can raise a little one and the boss man don’t care.”
“I didn’t know.” Simon sat taller and stretched his legs out before him. “Is there any way I can help?”
“She’ll be fine, but that’s not the point.” Teddy shook his head and stuffed the bills back in his coat. “You don’t want to chance Carrie not having anyone to count on if she don’t got you.”
“I’m not some lowlife who’s gonna leave her with a baby and no money. That’s why I’m damned determined to make this deal with her father.”
“I didn’t say you were.” His friend rested his head against the railcar, staring more at the ceiling than Simon, as men were apt to do when conversations steered toward the personal side. He looked back down. “But what if something happened to you? What if, after you gave her a few little hellions to raise, you were killed? Who would she go to? After what I’ve seen, I’d want my woman to have family she could count on if anything happened to me. That’s all I’m saying.”
“You make a good point.” Simon scratched the back of his neck and studied the floor. “How am I going to beat Thomas if he’s got a contract and a head start with my pelts?”
“Well, either you cut him off before he gets there and take back what’s yours, or you get another loot before he gets to her father. Something even better than what he’s got. What’s the bargaining chip, anyway?”
“One hundred pelts, and a new client.”
“Leather business?” Teddy raised his chin with the question, and furrowed his brows.
Simon answered with a nod.
“Well, there you go. Wall’s looking for some leather straps for a new mechanism he invented, the one that’s gonna be taking my job within the next few years,” his friend gave a teasing smile. “Maybe you can get him to sign on with you. Course that’s more a cowhide sorta thing.”
“Yes.” Simon squinted against his thoughts. There was one man he could go to for both things he needed. If luck was on his side, he could get everything he needed and get to Carrie’s father before his stolen hides. He inclined his head to Teddy to get his attention. “You think you can head off Thomas and stall for me? I’d pay you.”
Teddy tipped one side of his mouth back in a sly smile. “No need. I don’t much like people using my horses to steal other people’s belongins. He told me to meet him at the Angry Grizzly this evening.”
“He’ll more than likely be headed to Carrie’s house first thing.” Simon stretched the side of his neck at the thought of Thomas beating him to Carrie’s father’s home. The scar on his cheek twitched. He couldn’t let it happen.
“With a pack train in tow he’ll be hard to miss, and slow going in town,” Teddy supplied. “I’ll find him. What are you going to do?”
“I think I know how to please Carrie and her father. I just need time.”
“I’ll get you that. If not for you, then for Miz Carrie. I’m going to miss her cooking.”
Simon knew exactly what to do, but his stomach balled with nerves he’d never felt before. He could leap out of the way of hundred-year-old pines, face cougars, even bed the mayor’s wife, but he’d never been as scared as he was right now. If his plans failed, he could risk Carrie’s future. Whether she chose to run or not. He had to win. Needed to give her the life she deserved. Until the moment she took her last breath, he could dedicate his life to her. If only the fates would bend in his favor.
* * * *
Carrie hid in the cool of the shadows as the train eased to a stop. Simon jumped onto the platform and stood tall. She watched him as she struggled to catch her breath against the tight bodice she wore—a piece that had fit perfectly before the beginning of the season. She thanked the Lord above that she’d chosen to forgo the corset, much to her maid’s chagrin. As the sound of Simon’s boots on the hard wood deck bounced off the depot building, he searched the area up and down the tracks. Lord above he was a fine figure of a man. Scar and all. Ever since she knew him she’d harbored such thoughts. She must persuade him to join her in securing a position on Wall’s ranch or risk a miserable, lonely life.
But she wasn’t here to see him. She was here for Wall. Chances were, being the new leader of the Devil May Cares, Wall would be among the men designated to meet the train to offload the supplies brought to town. And she needed desperately to speak with him about the position on his father’s ranch.
She had returned home yesterday to the usual empty house. Her mother was off somewhere playing tea party, pretending nothing was amiss in her life, while Carrie’s father busied himself with work. Late that night, as she sat with her mother and listened to the meaningless town gossip, as though financial ruin didn’t threaten their lives, her father peeked into the drawing room to set up a meeting with her this afternoon. Always a meeting. Never a family gathering with comfortable chatter and passing of family business. No. James ran his family like he ran his business.
Into the ground.
No wonder they were falling apart.
Carrie had taken a single step toward Simon when Wall’s head bobbed in the crowd of men gathering around one of his contraptions as the straps securing it to the railcar broke free. To her surprise, and slight disappointment, Simon failed to realize she stood among the crowd and instead moved toward the group of men around Wall.
As well as she could, she muscled her way past a burly logger and dipped under another’s arm to avoid getting an elbow in the temple. Once free of the danger, she stood on her toes as Simon slapped Wall on the back and leaned close in secrecy. Wall nodded, then barked a few orders to the loggers beside him before disappearing with Simon to the outskirts of the crowd. Blast! What she wouldn’t give to be strong enough to muscle through the men like Simon did.
She headed in the direction she’d seen them disappear. With a few well-placed jabs to a rib or two, she eased out of the back of the group and searched for her target. A few feet away both men stood with matching stern expressions.
She began to walk toward them as Simon’s voice pierced the noise of the offload. “Just wait. Let me talk to her. Don’t give Carrie the job. I know someone else who needs it more.”
Carrie stopped short before the men could see her and ducked behind a logger who’d moved outside the crowd. They were talking about her. But why would Simon do such a thing? Why would he stop her from the security of a future?
She peeked around the logger to find Simon and Wall making their way toward the depot office door. She rubbed her chest to try and stop the ache within. She’d expected her father to betray her like this, but never Simon. Why would he do such a thing? Why try to force her to his will? Stop her from being independent?
Tears burned behind her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She was as strong as Elizabeth, and as determined as Aun
t June. What she needed was a defense against the controlling forces of the men in her life. What she needed was Aunt June’s help.
She forced her mind to focus on the task and not on Simon’s betrayal as she made her way to Aunt June’s home. She knew her godmother would help her. Perhaps even take Simon to task for interfering with her plans. After all, Aunt June was the only family in her life who truly wished to see her happiness come before money.
It took her longer than she’d wanted to pick her way through the streets to Aunt June’s front door. Through the large bay window overlooking the street, she spotted her godmother sitting demurely in the sitting room where they’d tricked Simon into taking the chloroform. Carrie’s stomach dropped at the memory. She didn’t like the deception then, and she still despised the memory. If she could go back and do things differently, she would have found some other way to get him to camp.
Sure their plan had worked. Simon grew out of his depression and once again graced them with the charming man she’d fallen in love with years ago. But at what cost? Would he forever hold her part in the scheme against her?
Not bothering to knock, Carrie hurried inside and through the door directly to her right where Aunt June sat stabbing a needle through a white linen kerchief. She pinched her lips tight as she jabbed the cloth again. Without glancing up, she said, “I could never get the hang of this.”
Carrie kicked her skirts as she settled into a chair opposite her godmother. “I need your help.”
Aunt June dropped her hands to her lap and finally looked up, cocking her head to the side. “Well, that’s nothing new, but I’m always eager to hear what sort of difficulty you’ve gone and gotten yourself into. And even more eager to join in the fun.”
“There’s no fun involved.” At that she let out all she’d heard on the platform. Not that it was much, but enough.
Aunt June frowned. “As much as I would like to, I’m afraid I cannot help.”
“Why not?” She struggled to hold back the emotion from shaking her voice.
“For starters, have you spoken to Simon? Given him a chance to explain himself?”
She shook her head. “No. I came straight away to you. To get your help in organizing my life.” She punctuated her thoughts hoping her godmother would see her way, but the way Aunt June shook her head and turned back to her sewing dropped all hope from Carrie’s chest to the deepest pit of her stomach.
“Communication is key to a successful marriage.” Aunt June gave a quick glance to the wall, then back to her sewing. “Which is probably the reason your parents haven’t figured out their issues.”
“My father wants to speak with me this afternoon. I only have an hour before sitting down with him.”
Aunt June once again dropped her hands to her lap and gave her attention to Carrie. “Did he mention what he plans to discuss?”
Carrie shook her head. “No, but the last time he used that tone on me I was sentenced to a summer of misery at the Young Ladies Finishing Retreat in Spokane. Not that I didn’t already have social graces. Worst summer of my life.”
“Did your father say anyone else would be at the meeting with him?”
Carrie frowned. “No. Why? Who would be there besides us?”
At that, Aunt June stowed her sewing in a basket on the side table next to her chair and stood, straightening her skirts in the process. “Let’s go. I think I will help you after all.”
“You will?” Carrie followed as her godmother bustled out the doors and turned toward the route they usually took to Carrie’s house.
“Yes. I’m afraid my curiosity has once again gotten the better of me, but after we speak with your father, you need to have a good long talk with that handsome beau of yours.”
“I don’t have a beau,” Carrie lied. Did she lie more to herself or Aunt June?
“Someone should tell Simon then, ’cause that man has fallen deeply for you, my dear. If you feel the same as him, then you need to tell him. And if you don’t then you’re a daft fool and no goddaughter of mine.”
“I feel the same,” she confessed. “But unless he gives up his current life and becomes a cowpuncher, he doesn’t fit in my plan.” More to herself, she mumbled, “If Wall still plans to take me on.”
“Life doesn’t have only one path. That’s why God gave us volition, my dear. Your choices determine who you become in life.”
“No, but if living with my father has taught me anything, it’s that I need to depend on myself for my future and not on a man.”
“Simon is nothing like your father. If that man gives his heart to someone, he will change the world for her and not make her change for the world. You should trust in him more than your plan.” Aunt June rounded the corner onto the street where Carrie lived with her parents. “You may find your life plan works better with him moving obstacles out of your way.”
Carrie didn’t know how to respond, but it didn’t matter. In front of her house sat a sight so unfamiliar to her part of the town that it gathered attention from passersby. A string of packhorses carrying piles of pelts stood swishing their tails and occasionally lifting a hoof but otherwise motionless. Their leader was tied to her father’s fence.
“That’s a sight that will haunt your mother’s ears for a few weeks at least.”
“Father’s never conducted leather business at home.” Carrie frowned and slipped past her godmother as she took the steps to her house. Once inside, she led the way to her father’s study.
“Ah, there you are,” her father said as she entered. “I believe you know Thomas from your little excursion this summer.”
“Thomas,” she said with a forced smile, but she couldn’t hold back the confusion from wrinkling her forehead.
Before she could ask why he was there, Aunt June stepped up next to her.
Her father frowned. “June. I believe my wife is in the sitting room.”
“Yes. I saw her briefly.” Aunt June sat in a nearby chair and settled in with defined movements. “She looks distressed.”
“This is family business.”
“I wonder then why Thomas is here.”
“June.” James voiced her name as a warning, but her godmother was even more stubborn than her father. In all their dealings in the past, her father had always buckled under Aunt June’s fierce stare. Carrie hid a smile behind her hand until she could gain her composure.
“As I was saying,” her father continued. “Thomas has asked for your hand.”
“I’m sorry, Thomas, but the answer is still no.” Carrie didn’t bother to sweeten the rejection. He wouldn’t have understood subtle urging anyway.
“You don’t have a choice,” her father stated.
Carrie tensed. “Excuse me, Father, but my future is my choice. And I choose not to wed Thomas.”
“I believe you’re missing a participant here,” Aunt June interjected. She scooted closer to the edge of her seat.
James cleared his throat. “The deal was the first one to bring me the pelts and client.”
Carrie started. “The deal?”
“Yes, dear,” Aunt June said, locking her eyes with Carrie’s father. “The business deal your father made in exchange for you as a wife and part of his business.”
“You traded me for pelts?” Carrie balled her fists. “Like I was some property of yours to sell to the highest bidder? Like I was Victoria Harrison?”
“And apparently, your father isn’t interested in waiting for Simon,” Aunt June interjected.
“Simon?” He was involved? Her heart skipped a beat, but she didn’t yet know how she felt.
Her father waved toward the front of the house. “The other man who approached me for your hand after you were ruined up on that mountain.”
“Simon?” She repeated the question, but directed it toward Aunt June. Her chest twisted in betrayal. He’d told
her father about their liaison? Felt guilty over ruining her so he offered marriage in exchange for what? Part of a business?
Aunt June leaned toward her in secrecy. “I told you. Trust in him.”
“Trust him? A man who entered into a bidding war to buy me from my father? A man who—” Carrie stopped herself from spilling her secret affair. “Never mind. I’ll not sit here and be bartered and traded like cattle. You can take whatever payment he’s brought you, but you’ll have to give him something else. I’m not for sale.”
Her father stood, his chair scraping across the floor in a sound so abrupt it made her jump. “If you can’t participate in this family and its business then you have no place in my home.”
“Fine. I’ll get my things.” Without waiting for a response from anyone, she ran to her room to pack what she could carry. She didn’t hide the tears from falling down her face. She couldn’t stay, but she didn’t know where to go. Aunt June’s was out of the question, at least for the time being. She couldn’t stay with her now, knowing her godmother had harbored this secret from her. She should have let her know. Warned her of the impending danger, but she’d sided with Simon, and her father.
A man she thought she could trust with her life, but one who had treated her no different from her father. With lies and deceit. She couldn’t trust him as Aunt June claimed. She trusted no one but herself. And Beth. That’s where she’d go. She’d call on the many favors her bosom friend owed her, and intrude for only as long as it took her to find a position.
As she rushed past Aunt June in the hallway before her father’s study, she shook her head to ward off any argument her godmother was certain to give. Somewhere deep in her father’s office a new voice echoed off the walls, but she didn’t care to find out who the voice belonged to. She needed only to find Beth. Lose herself in self-pity for a spell, then pull herself up off whatever spare bed her friend would lend her and start her search.
She placed her hand over the ache in her stomach—still bloated from the ridiculous meals she’d inhaled lately, as if living with the lumberjacks had turned her into one. To her irritation, the ache usually accompanied nausea that made sweat bead from her hairline. This whole summer had turned into one big pain in her stomach. The first time in her life she’d felt desolate. Betrayed by almost everyone. The worst of whom was the man she loved. She searched the yard out front for her dog, scooping her up as the little pup jumped up her leg only to tangle her nose in Carrie’s skirt. The pup licked her hand. At least Nots wouldn’t betray her the way everyone else had.
Wild Passion Page 25
