They stared at each other and a moment of understanding passed between them. Candy wondered if it was possible to fall in love with someone when you didn't even know who they were. Because it felt like she was already falling.
"How's the patient?"
Candy wobbled and nearly lost her balance. She caught herself and stood swiftly, hoping nobody saw that she had nearly fallen. But from the amused expression in his eyes, he had seen it.
Candy turned to Lenox, who was standing nearby watching him with raised eyebrows, and coughed. "He'll live."
"And I'd better get going." Putting the tumbler down, Candy's patient stood, picking up his Stetson. "I'm sorry for the ruckus, Len." Then he looked at Candy and his expression softened. He bowed his head a little at her. "Thank you for your help, miss."
"You're welcome."
They stared at each other, something hot jumping between them. Candy knew she was in trouble. Then he looked suddenly sheepish and fiddled with his Stetson in his hands.
"I... erm..." Blushing to the roots of his hair, he looked desperately at Lenox. "Len, help me out."
Lenox smirked.
"I think the words you're looking for are 'can I see you again, Miss Connor'?"
Candy's heart pounded. She had someone wanting to see her again already? Her luck couldn't be that good, surely. She swallowed.
"It would help if I knew a name."
"Dustin Phillips, Miss."
Dustin gave her a slight bow. Candy bit her lip, hoping she didn't look like a foolish little girl.
"What's your answer, Candy?" Lenox moved to stand beside her. "Do you want to see Dustin again?"
Dustin was giving her a hopeful glance. Candy managed a shy smile and nodded.
"I wouldn't mind."
"Then you have my consent, love." Lenox gave Dustin a glare. "But you must abide by the rules, Dustin. Break them and I'll be on your back."
"I'd rather you didn't. You gave me a backache for a week after the last time."
Unable to help herself, Candy laughed. Lenox rolled her eyes.
"He's joking. I'm not that heavy."
"No, but your darn boots left imprints where you kicked me."
"Less of the language." Lenox scolded, but the smile didn't leave her face. "Be off with you. Come back tomorrow morning and then you can talk to each other properly."
"Sure thing, Len." Dustin put his Stetson on and touched his fingers to the brim in a farewell, his eyes never leaving Candy. "Bye, Miss Connor."
Candy could only stare as he walked away and left the bar. Lenox turned to her and smiled.
"He's a good lad. I’ve known him since he was a little baby and he's a fine man." She patted Candy's shoulder. "I think you'll get along just dandy."
Candy hoped so. Because she couldn't afford another disaster in her life.
Chapter Three
Dustin couldn't stop himself from whistling as he got on with his work. It resulted in strange looks from a lot of the passengers, who had never heard him act so jovial, but Dustin didn't care what they thought. He was too happy.
And Candy Connor was the reason for it.
From the moment Dustin set eyes on the beautiful nurse with her flaming red hair and her soft hazel eyes, he had been hooked. She wasn't a shy wallflower, either, which he liked. In fact, she had been very forward. Maybe it was working as a nurse that gave her such confidence. It didn’t matter, Dustin liked it, because he wasn't one of those people who wanted a quiet woman who agreed with anything he said just to please him. Candy had a bit of fire and a bit of bite. She had a personality of her own, and she wasn't one to sit back and let him get on with it without her opinion.
They had officially been courting for three days now - four if he counted the day he met her - and Dustin couldn't think of a better few days. He and Candy seemed to click. That hadn't happened with a woman before, and that boded well for him.
Dustin waltzed into the station house whistling loudly. Stationmaster, Jeremy Albert, looked up from behind his desk, giving him a quizzical look behind his spectacles.
"What's up with you? You sound like the cat who got the cream."
Dustin grinned and poured himself a tea.
"I may have done just that," he said mysteriously, and gave his friend a wink.
Jeremy put his pen down and sat back. "How are things going with Miss Candy?"
Jeremy was an old friend of Dustin's father. They had worked the railroad together for years before Dustin's father, Alan, had an accident that ripped his leg away at the knee. Now Dustin worked in his place, with Jeremy retiring into the station house. Dustin told Jeremy everything and wanted his approval of Candy as much as his father’s. He didn’t need to worry, Jeremy had given his glowing approval, as had Alan. Both men liked Candy, as did Andrea, Dustin's mother.
That helped things for Dustin. If his parents approved of a match, but his father's best friend didn't, Dustin would walk away. To have all of them agreeing that Candy was suitable for him gave him more confidence to pursue anything with her, and pursue he had.
It had been a whirlwind of a few days and Dustin couldn't stop the smile growing wider as he sipped his tea.
"They're going great. She's lovely." He leaned back against the table. "I can see her being my wife."
Jeremy smiled.
"Sounds like someone's in love already."
"I suppose I am." He sighed. "Do you know, when Father said he fell in love with Mother... it was at first sight... I scoffed at it? I didn't think it was possible. But now I see what he means."
"Just take it easy," Jeremy warned. "You're intense, just like your father. You don't want to scare her. And if you lose her you'll have lost something good." He sat forward and picked up his pen again. "Now, do you think you can get on with your work? Aren't you supposed to be working further up the line?"
"I'm going, I'm going."
Dustin downed the rest of his tea and dropped off some paperwork before going back to work. He had to go to the line just outside of town and replace a few sleepers, which had become brittle and cracked in the recently hot sun. It wasn't something he wanted to do since it meant dodging trains as they went back and forth and leaving the track unstable but it had to be done, and Dustin had learned from his father. He was the best man for the job.
A train had already pulled in when Dustin went onto the platform with his tools. Very few people got off the train, but one man did stand out. He was of medium height, muscular build with a Stetson pulled low over his eyes. He wore a denim shirt and jeans but what drew Dustin's eye was the silver star on his chest, glinting in the sun.
The man was law enforcement.
He looked up, and his blue eyes landed on Dustin. He pushed his Stetson back on his head.
"Can you tell me the way to the sheriff's office?"
"I can do better." Dustin nodded towards the doors into the station house. "My brother, Kyle, has a horse and trap outside the station to take people where they need to go. He should be there now." He raised an eyebrow at the other man. "Sounds ominous if you're going to the sheriff's office and you've just got here."
"I have a good reason." The man tapped the silver on his chest. "Deputy Adam Markovic, US Marshal's office in Pennsylvania. I'm looking for a killer."
Dustin stared. From Pennsylvania? He was rather out of his way. But US marshals went all over the country catching criminals. Dustin scratched his head.
"We have a rowdy lot here at times, but nobody's killed anyone."
"They might not be a long-time resident." Markovic adjusted the backpack over his shoulder. "I'm looking for two sisters who ran away after murdering their father in Philadelphia. Witnesses and information we collected suggest they may have come out this way."
"Two sisters?"
Immediately Dustin's mind went to the ten women living with Lenox. None of them were sisters, but they had all come from the same place, Philadelphia. Something uncomfortable stirred in his gut, and he began to worry. Was
Candy one of the sisters? Had she killed her father instead of just running away from him?
"Have any women recently arrived in Memphis, Mr...?"
"Dustin Phillips." Dustin swallowed. Suddenly he felt a lot hotter than normal in the sun. "We have had women come here as mail order brides. Our saloon owner, Mrs. Samson, organized it. We're a bit thin on the ground with single women of marriageable age so she arranged for them to come here. We simply got them all at once."
"How many?"
"It was meant to be five, but it ended up being ten." Dustin added hurriedly: "None of them are sisters, though. They haven't got the same surnames."
"They could be here under false names," Markovic said grimly. "We've only got vague descriptions and appearances can be easily altered. But I'm going to need to talk to them, suffice to say."
Dustin nodded slowly.
"Sheriff Sykes will take you there once you've spoken to him."
He didn't like telling Markovic about the girls, but something in him told him he needed to know. He needed to know that Candy wasn't one of the girls who had become a killer. If it transpired that Candy had killed her father, Dustin wasn't sure what would happen. What he would do!
Something cold slithered inside him. There was no way it could be Candy for he loved her. Still, he didn't like the thought that one of the girls was a killer.
Chapter Four
"How are things going with Dustin?" Ivy asked.
Candy smiled as she cut a slice of a freshly baked loaf of bread.
"They're good. But it's early days yet."
"Early days, but I can see a glint in your eyes that wasn't there before." Ivy grinned, sitting opposite Candy as she peeled potatoes. "You're smitten."
Candy could feel herself blushing.
"Maybe."
She didn't want to get ahead of herself, but things were going great. Fantastic, even. Candy hadn't met anyone like Dustin, and he treated her the way she had always dreamed of being treated. Men in Philadelphia were courteous towards women but not to the degree Dustin was.
In fact, most of the men in Memphis were good guys. There were a few odd ones who seemed to think manners didn't matter in a relationship, but the men in this town knew how to treat women. A few of the other girls were out seeing the sights, and they had come back over the past few days saying everyone was really nice to them. The majority of the girls had run from trouble of one kind or another, abusive families or relationships usually, and to have the townspeople being kind towards them was like a tonic.
Candy certainly found it a tonic.
Penny, who was at the sink shelling peas, giggled.
"Maybe. That means she is," she teased.
Candy smirked at her.
"How are things going with Sheriff Sykes? He seemed quite taken with you the other day."
Penny's smile died a little. She blushed as red as her hair and turned away.
"He wasn't," she said stiffly. "And I haven't seen him since."
Candy exchanged looks with Ivy. That had been surprising in itself. Candy had been sure Penny had an admirer in the sheriff, who had shown signs that he found her attractive. Ivy, now her fast friend, had thought so, too. Evidently something had gone wrong somewhere.
"Take your time," Ivy said gently. But a glint in her eye said she was up to something. Candy wasn't sure she wanted to know what.
The door to the bar opened and Lenox stuck her head in.
"Candy, there's a US marshal here to see you. Something about a murder?"
"What?"
Candy saw Ivy tense and Penny turned away from the sink, her eyes wide and her face as white as a sheet. Lowering the knife, Candy took off her apron and laid it on the table.
"Why does he want to talk to me?"
"No idea." Lenox's eyes narrowed. "Have you been involved with something bad?"
"Not that I know of."
Lenox surveyed her for a moment. Her expression said she would give Candy the benefit of the doubt, and she stepped to the side.
"He's in the main bar. Name's Markovic."
Candy entered the bar, her hands clasped in front of her and her head held high. Had her father managed to find her? She wouldn't put it past him to lie to the authorities and have a marshal chase after her so he could drag her back and marry the disgusting man she hated. If that was the case, she was going to fight it all the way.
The marshal was sitting at one of the round tables on the main floor, his Stetson on the table as he nursed a small glass of whiskey. Candy surveyed him as she approached the table. He was somewhere in his thirties, with broad shoulders and a muscular build. His hair was blond and cut short and close to his head. He looked up as Candy approached and blue eyes gave her a piercing, unassuming look. He was handsome in a rugged sort of way. But he was also dangerous if he was in her father's pocket.
"Deputy Markovic?"
"Miss Connor?" Markovic stood, towering over her but not as much as Dustin. He gave her a slight bow, touching his hand to his chest. "Apologies for bothering you, but I do need to ask you some questions. It concerns the murder of a man back in Philadelphia."
Candy's breath hitched. Had someone killed her father and then framed her for it? She swallowed.
"I'll do what I can."
Markovic beckoned for her to sit, pulling out a chair and setting her down. Candy sat ramrod straight with her hands folded in her lap. She resisted the urge to clench her fists.
Markovic sat and crossed his legs. He looked calm enough, but Candy couldn't bring herself to relax. She didn't want to be accused of something she didn't do.
"What's happened, Deputy?"
"A man by the name of Michael Haith was killed in his home last week. We have reason to believe it was committed by his two daughters. But they've disappeared."
Candy sagged in relief. It wasn't about her father. He wasn't here to drag her back. She slumped in her chair and allowed herself to breathe properly. Then her mind clicked together what Markovic was really trying to get out of her.
"I get it. You think they've come to Memphis and that I might be one of the daughters."
"That's the gist of it." Markovic's eyes seemed to glow. "Are you Chantelle or Andrea Haith?"
Candy chuckled.
"Talk about a direct hit. No, I am not either of them," she grunted. "Though I'd prefer their names to mine."
"You prefer to be called Chantelle or Andrea instead of Candy?"
"Definitely. I'm called Candy because of my father's sweet tooth." Candy shook her head. "It sounds disgusting, doesn't it? He used to call me his 'little sugar lump.'"
"At least that sounds affectionate. I was called 'big fat pup' by my father." Markovic shrugged. "I was quite a chubby baby."
He was anything but chubby now, and Candy couldn't help but laugh.
"I wouldn't have thought it." She frowned. "I do know of Michael Haith - everyone knew of the recluse and the house on the hill, but I only saw him once when I was about six. That was twenty years ago. I didn't like the look of him back then."
"Do you know the daughters? They would be about your age."
"No, I've never met them." Candy rubbed at her temple as she tried to remember what she knew about the Haith family. Sadly, it wasn't much help. "There was a rumor going around that he was keeping them prisoner and using them for nefarious activities."
"Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. But we would like to know why they killed him. This doesn't suddenly happen out of the blue, in my experience." Markovic gave her a speculative look. "Why did you come to Memphis, Miss Connor?"
Candy sighed. She didn't want to go over it again - it hurt too much to think about - but she braced herself for it.
"My father was trying to marry me to a man I didn't like and was old enough to be my father. It was Ma who told me to run. She wouldn't have been able to stop him so she told me to get away as far as I could go. I latched onto the five girls who were originally coming here as mail order brides and traveled down with
them."
A wave of gratitude washed over her for her mother. Candy missed her. Her mother loved her and her brother to death and to be separated from her like this hurt, but Candy knew it was for the best.
Once she got herself settled down, maybe she could get her mother and brother to come to Memphis. No father. She wouldn't allow him near her.
Markovic sighed and picked up his Stetson.
"I'd better get myself back to my room. I've taken a room at Doctor Beattie's for the time being until I've found the girls." He stood and gave her a nod. "Sorry to have bothered you, Miss Connor. And good luck with finding a good man."
Candy returned the nod in acknowledgment and watched him leave the bar. She was relieved that he wasn't there to take her back to Philadelphia, but there were two big questions floating around in her mind.
Why did he focus on her in particular? And who was the murderer?
Chapter Five
Dustin knew as soon as he picked Candy up that evening that something wasn't right. She was despondent, and almost not with it. There were several times she didn't even hear him speak, she just stared off into the distance.
Dustin had planned to take her out to his favorite place, a ridge up in the nearby hills overlooking the town, so they could watch the sunset. It was a beautiful setting, and he wanted to show that to her. But Candy just didn't seem to be up to it. Still, they made their way up there, the only sound between them the rattling of the buckboard and the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves on the stony ground.
Once there he lay down a blanket, and they sat against the rocks. The view really was spectacular. The dusty valley below, cattle grazing away in the distance. The valley seemed to go on forever and then the gentle slope of the hills faded up to the sky.
As the sun began to set, they had still hardly spoken a few words. He hoped it wasn't because of Markovic. Dustin had worried that Candy was one of the sisters. It wasn't fair to judge her that way and he believed Candy about her life and her family. But there was just that niggling feeling he wanted to put to rest.
Christmas Miracles: Mega Mail Order Bride 20-Book Box Set: Multi-Author Box Set Page 34
