Loving Linsey

by Rachelle Morgan

  Mr. Potter got up from his seat. “Scram, Jarvis.”

  “It’s here! It came on the train, just like I told you it would!”

  “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

  Jarvis tipped his hat to Addie. “Beg pardon for the interruption, Miss Addie. Come on, Potter—I need you to bring a wagon around and help me load it.”

  Mr. Potter turned to Addie and sighed. “I’d best go with him before he busts a gut. Believe me, that wouldn’t be a sight fit for a lady’s eyes.”

  As he walked out of the smithy with Robert Jarvis, Addie found herself fighting disappointment. She lowered her gaze to her tightly clasped hands and pressed her lips together. How was she ever going to foster Bryce’s prospects if his father refused to even discuss the matter?

  Perhaps Linsey might have an idea.

  Addie shook her head. This was her project, her mission. All her life, she’d relied on her sister to fix her problems.

  Well, not this time.

  With sudden determination charging through her bloodstream, Addie shot to her feet and left the smithy. Somehow she would make Oren Potter understand that sending Bryce away was the boy’s only hope for a proper education.

  And somehow, she would do it on her own.

  Chapter 6

  To comment openly on another person’s beauty or health or any other advantage that he or she enjoys may bring misfortune down upon that person.

  “Daniel’s coming to dinner? Tonight?” Half the people in Puckett’s Mercantile swung their attention toward the front of the store. Linsey calmly continued rifling through the rack of dresses, unaffected by Addie’s outburst.

  Aware that she’d caught the interest of several gossipmongers, Addie lowered her voice to a whisper. “How could you do this to me?”

  “If you want someone to blame, blame Aunt Louisa. She’s the one who invited him and his father, not me. I only learned about it a few hours ago when she got back from Granny Yearling’s.” Linsey looked through the assortment of muslin, linsey-woolsey, and calico gowns with a displeased frown. There really wasn’t much to choose from.

  “And I suppose you had nothing to do with it?” Addie asked, brow raised, arms folded across her bodice.

  “I would have if I’d thought of it. But apparently Doc Sr. had to pay Granny a visit yesterday and he got her feeling sprite and perky, so Aunt Louisa wants to thank him.” Hmm, the yellow muslin was pretty. High neck, poofed shoulders, leg-o’-mutton sleeves. She glanced at Addie, then shook her head. No, something bolder. More enticing.

  She slid one hanger after another across the bar, searching for the perfect frock. If she had more time, she’d have Hazel Mittermier sew up one of her special gowns. But even Hazel couldn’t be expected to create a masterpiece in only a few hours, so she’d have to make do with the limited selection Puckett’s offered. “Frankly, I couldn’t have planned it better myself. Daniel would never accept an invitation from me, but no one with any sense would turn down Aunt Louisa.”

  “I cannot sit across a table from Daniel,” Addie contended through clamped teeth.

  “Oh, Addie, you can’t let one little setback stop you from going after the thing you’ve wanted most of your whole life!”

  “A little setback? I fainted at the man’s feet, for pity’s sake!”

  “All right, so maybe a doctor’s office wasn’t exactly the best place to strike up a romance—but this will be different. A little candlelight, violins on the phonograph. And with your hair fixed soft and wispylike, and a flattering new dress—” The divine red gown Linsey raised against Addie’s front covered the dreary paisley frock she wore. “Daniel simply won’t be able to resist you.”

  Addie pushed the dress out of the way. “Changing the wrapping around a plain old box doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a plain old box.”

  “But bright paper attracts notice so one will open the box and see the gift inside.” Linsey wished Addie wasn’t so hard on her looks. If anyone had cause to complain, she did. She’d been cursed with short legs and a short body. While many might consider her petite, Linsey thought herself . . . well, stumpy.

  Addie, on the other hand, had a beautiful, willowy shape and long legs. All right, so maybe her features—pug nose, wide eyes and long chin—didn’t make her the most elegant of women. She certainly wasn’t an eyesore, either. Now, to convince her of that. . . .

  “Here, what about the aqua one?”

  “Too many ruffles.”

  “This copper one, then. It’ll pick up the gold in your hair, and it doesn’t have any ruffles.”

  “But it shows half my bosom!”

  Heaving an impatient breath, Linsey let her arm fall. “Look, do you want Daniel to notice you or not?”

  “Linsey,” Addie sighed, “even if I managed to stay conscious long enough to survive the evening, I could run naked through the streets of Horseshoe and he still wouldn’t pay me any mind. My visit to his office proved that. Face it, sister, I am not the kind of woman a man notices.”

  “Don’t be silly—”

  “No.” She shook her head. “It’s the truth. I’ve looked in a mirror.”

  “So have I.”

  Linsey didn’t mean to be so blunt, but the words, once spoken, had a sobering effect on both of them. She turned back to the gowns, unable to bear the instant sorrow on Addie’s face. “Now, should we go with the blue or the copper?”

  “Land sakes, I’d take them all,” came a familiar cheerful trill. Linsey lowered the dresses and peered over her shoulder. “Caroline!” Laying the gowns over the rack, Linsey rounded the shield of shelves to greet their friend. “Did you see a blue flame spark in a candlewick? I was planning on paying you a visit tomorrow.”

  “Then I’ve saved you a trip.” Caroline’s grin made the lines at the corners of her eyes crinkle like opened fans.

  “You really shouldn’t be wandering about town on your own.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not. Axel dropped me off for a few minutes while he took the wagon up to your place. Louisa told him he could come by and fetch the compost bin.”

  “Your garden will certainly benefit from it next spring. Aunt Louisa has been tossing so much roughage in it that it’s full to bursting. And so are you, it seems.” Linsey cupped her hands around Caroline’s swollen belly and smiled at the powerful kick she felt against her palms. “It won’t be long now, will it?”

  “Another month. Land sakes, Linsey, it can’t be soon enough. He’s beating me black and blue from the inside out! And what I wouldn’t do to fit into one of these again.” She eyed the rack of gowns with longing. “Oh, I sound like I’m complaining, don’t I? I just feel so clumsy, and . . . big!”

  “You’ll be back to your natural shape in no time.”

  “From your mouth to God’s ears. Oh, would you look at this!” She picked up a music box from the shelf and twisted the key on the back. The tinkling strains of a Brahm’s lullaby wafted through the store. “Wouldn’t a baby dream sweet dreams falling asleep to this?”

  “Perhaps you should get it before someone else does,” Addie softly suggested.

  “No, I’d better wait.” She managed a feeble grin and placed a protective hand atop her belly. “No sense in spending money on something I might not ever use.”

  “Stop that kind of talk this instant, Caroline,” Linsey scolded. “Everything will be fine this time, I’m sure of it. You’ve been wearing your eagle stone since the beginning, so you’ve been completely protected. Isn’t that right, Addie?”

  “That’s right. Before you know it, you and Axel will have yourselves a healthy baby to coddle and spoil. Keep positive thoughts.”

  “Yes, you’re both right; I’m just being emotional.”

  With good reason, Linsey thought. Having lost her first three babies before birth, Caroline had every right to expect the worst. But the rare and powerful lapis stone Caroline wore in a bag around her neck would surely secure an easy childbirth.

  “What bri
ngs the two of you to town, anyway?” the pretty brunette asked.

  “Addie’s looking for a fetching new gown,” Linsey replied with a conspiratorial wink.

  Lifting her brow in amusement, Caroline inquired, “Any particular reason?”

  Addie blushed furiously. “Oh, look at the time.” She glanced at the watch pinned to her bodice. “If I don’t get tomorrow’s lessons prepared, the children will be completely unmanageable.”

  Linsey watched her go and sighed.

  “Who is he?” Caroline whispered.

  “Daniel Sharpe.”

  “Junior or Senior?”

  Linsey gave an unladylike guffaw. “Oh, Caroline. Daniel, Jr., of course!”

  “Hmm, he’d have been my choice, too. If I’d found him before Axel. . . .” She let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

  Linsey rolled her eyes. “Caro, not you, too!”

  “Me too, what? The man is handsome as sin—don’t tell me you haven’t noticed!”

  Linsey grimaced. She couldn’t help but notice. But at least she didn’t make an utter fool of herself over him. “What is it about him, Caroline, that has women practically swooning at his feet?” Literally, in Addie’s case.

  “The fact that he’s got the face and body of a Greek god isn’t enough?”

  Linsey tilted her head and gave her friend a pointed look.

  “No? All right, then look what else he’s got.” On her fingers, she ticked off. “The conviction of a preacher, the toughness of a cowboy, and the perception of saloon keeper.” She flipped her hands in the air with a flourish. “What woman can resist a combination like that?”

  “Oh, silly me—and here I thought it was his charming disposition women couldn’t resist.”

  “I’ll admit he can be brusque sometimes, but if you ask me, it only lends to his touch-me-not mystery. Oh, there’s Axel now. Come by next week for tea?”

  “I’ll look forward to it.”

  As Caroline breezed out the door with as much grace as her bulky body would allow, Linsey shook her head in exasperation. She just didn’t understand Daniel’s power over women. First Addie, then Jenny, now Caroline. And all of them seemingly sensible women.

  Thank goodness she was immune to his charms.

  Linsey shook her head again. After a final study of her choices, Linsey draped both dresses over her arm. Just as she started for the register to pay for her purchases, the music box Caroline had been coveting made Linsey pause. She studied the pastel-painted box for a minute, then, pressing her lips together in a stubborn line, plucked it off the shelf. Caroline would bear a healthy baby this time; Linsey refused to think otherwise. Especially not now. She did have a romantic evening to arrange, after all.

  Daniel stood on the veranda and stared at the brass knocker of one of the finest houses in the county. Damn his father for doing this to him. After tending to one severed foot, a case of atrophy, and an ear infection, the last thing he felt up to was supper in the house of perpetual catastrophe.

  Yet here he was, stuck here alone, performing his “social duty.”

  Well, he’d stay an hour, and by God, not a minute past it.

  Squaring his shoulders, he gave the knocker a curt rapping. Louisa Gordon opened the door a moment later, looking resplendent in a cream-colored dress with a cameo broach pinned to the lacy jabot at her throat.

  “Daniel, how good to see you. Let me take your overcoat.”

  He shrugged out of the calf-length cape and passed it over. After hanging it on the coat rack beside an entrance table, Louisa peered around him and asked, “Isn’t your father with you?”

  “He asked me to send his regrets, but he was unexpectedly detained.”

  “A patient?”

  Daniel nodded. “Pete Morris down by the Triple J got kicked by a horse.”

  “Oh my, what a shame. I hope it isn’t anything serious.”

  “So do I.”

  “Well, perhaps he’ll make it next time.”

  Daniel doubted it, but didn’t see any gain in telling Louisa that his dad could rarely attend any function without being called away to tend a patient. Daniel hadn’t understood that as a boy, but as a physician himself, he’d quickly learned the way of the life. Even if the old man had the time, social forays weren’t high on Daniel Sharpe, Sr.’s, list of priorities.

  His sole purposes in life were equally split between driving himself into the ground and making Daniel as miserable as possible.

  And speaking of misery . . .

  A glimpse of the woman strolling along the upper balcony almost made Daniel say to hell with social responsibility and walk out the door.

  Until she stepped onto the landing at the top of the stairs.

  “Jesus,” he whispered, his mouth going dry.

  Daniel felt as if he’d taken a blow to his midsection. Linsey looked . . . incredible. Her hair was pulled back from her temples, held in check by a circular band with dangling charms, and a mass of fat curls spilled down her back. A black velvet choker circled her slim neck. An off-the-shoulder gown hugged her cinched waist and rounded hips like skin, and the drape of her gown pulled tight across the front of her thighs . . .

  Daniel tried his damnedest not to appreciate her beauty, but he’d have to have been made of stone not to notice how the copper threads of her gown brought out the highlights in her hair, or the creamy swells of breasts pushed up from her bodice.

  The familiar surge in his groin made him painfully aware that he was far from being made of stone. But this was Linsey: the albatross around his neck, the thorn in his side, the blot in his otherwise clean slate.

  That didn’t stop his mouth from going dry as charcoal as she gracefully descended the stairs. Each fluid movement seemed designed to fuel a man’s imagination. It for damn sure fueled his. If his heart beat any harder, it would burst through his chest.

  He hadn’t even noticed the woman standing behind Linsey until she reached the bottom of the staircase and tugged her sister forward.

  “Doesn’t Addie look lovely this evening?” Linsey asked him with a pleased sparkle in her eyes.

  Actually Daniel thought she looked quite sickly, but kept his opinion to himself. The shiny green-blue of her gown only augmented the pallor of her complexion. He hoped she wasn’t on the verge of fainting again. “Yes, lovely. Your arm is better, I hope?”

  She shared an inscrutable glance with Linsey, as if asking permission to reply, then looked down at her hands. “Much better, thank you.”

  Daniel bit back a scowl. He’d always had a hard time dealing with timid females. He much preferred women with a bit more spunk. That had been the one thing he’d appreciated about Charlotte, at least. She might not have had much loyalty, but he’d never have caught her bowing to anyone or cowering behind someone else’s back.

  Neither did Linsey, come to think of it.

  Except for that one time in the Haggar’s house, he couldn’t recall an instance when she’d shied away from anything.

  “Let’s retire to the dining room, shall we?” Louisa suggested, pulling Daniel from his reverie.

  He stepped forward to take Louisa’s arm, but Linsey beat him to the punch, leaving him to escort Addie. Even through the thick cotton of his shirt, he could feel the cold and clammy imprint of her fingers against his forearm.

  Though he’d paid several visits to Briar House over the years, he’d never ventured into any of the downstairs rooms. The dining room, with its cream wallpaper and brass fixtures, was smaller than he’d expected it would be and had a simple elegance reminiscent of Louisa. A table big enough to seat eight people had been formally set for five with blue-leafed china and enough silverware to finance a dozen medical students through school. A soup tureen surrounded by dried rose petals acted as a centerpiece. Braces of flickering candles on the sideboard and on stands in each corner lent the room an intimate atmosphere. It was all a little too feminine for Daniel’s taste, but he couldn’t help but be impressed that they’d gone through so muc
h trouble for a supper guest.

  Daniel assisted Louisa to the seat at the head of the table, then politely pulled out the scroll-backed chair to the right of her. Linsey and Addie began whispering and shuffling, elbowing each other in the arms, acting more like children than grown women. When Linsey caught him watching their antics, she stopped abruptly, straightened, then with all the dignity of a queen, marched around to the other side of the table. Daniel bit the inside of his cheek. She really was a contradiction: half imp, half lady . . . all woman—

  He gave himself a sharp shake.

  Then, aware that the only place settings vacant were the one next to Addie or the one next to Linsey, he hesitated, feeling as if he’d been given the choice of sitting beside a shrinking violet or a Venus fly trap: one fragile, safe, and unassuming; the other a sight to behold with a sweet scent that lures in the bait and snaps it up.

  With a spear charge of rebelliousness, he moved to the seat next to Linsey. She might have turned his head years ago, but not any more. He was stronger than he’d been back then, more in control of her ability to affect him. If he had to endure an evening sitting beside her to prove it, then so be it.

  Louisa started ladling the soup, which was the cue for engaging in light conversation about work, weather, and the townspeople. The topic steered toward Emmaleen Haggar, and how she was coping with Bleet’s passing, and Daniel’s thoughts once again strayed back to the stunned look on Linsey’s face the afternoon of the wake.

  It wasn’t exactly a suitable topic for supper, but Daniel knew that curiosity would hound him until he learned what had driven her from the house in such a state. He leaned back in the chair and rubbed his chin with his forefinger. “Linsey, why were you running out of the Haggar house, anyway?”

  Silence.

  Daniel studied the women from beneath narrowed brows. Addie looked nervous as a cat in room full of rocking chairs, and though Daniel wouldn’t have thought it possible, her complexion seemed even more ashen. Even Linsey’s cheeks seemed to have lost color.

  His instincts went on full alert. These two were hiding something, on that he’d bet his degree. But what?