by Jillian Hart
“Kyle!” Stella ran across the wide, dusty road. “Is she all right?
I am so sorry, Miss Pauley! I thought you were right beside me.”
“Miss Pauley?” Her cowboy’s handsome face transfixed with shock. “You’re Constance Pauley?”
Her gaze moved between Stella and her cowboy. Just as she’d always suspected, her cowboy’s bride was… perfect. Just like her cowboy. Kyle Darby… her new employer. As that truth sank in, her chest burned and the world began to tilt.
“Connie!”
His powerful hands engulfed her waist.
“I’m all right,” she assured him, trying to combat her dizziness and the hands sending shivers clear to her toes. She gasped as the earth was again swept out from under her feet.
“I won’t drop you,” he whispered near her ear. “If you don’t get into some shade, you’re gonna faint for sure.”
“Hey, Kyle,” called another masculine voice. “What you got there?”
“Schoolteacher,” Kyle shouted back as he carried her into the shade of a tree and set her onto something solid.
Constance released the breath she’d been holding since his arms had surrounded her, only to suck in another sharp gasp as his large palm slid across her back. A calming gesture, one completely lost on her.
“She had a good scare with your runaway steers,” he said, his gaze taking in her gloved hands and drifting to her skirt as though trying to see the scarred skin beneath the layers of fabric and black stockings.
“No fooling?” called the approaching voice. Two men on horseback reined in beside them.
“She’s the young lady from Montana, Jake,” Stella informed them as one of the men swung down from his saddle.
The young lady from Montana? Her spirits plummeted. He’d told them. The approaching man’s compassionate gaze went straight to her skirt, dashing all her hopes of making a fresh start in a new town where no one knew of her past.
“You knew?” Kyle said to Stella.
“Well…yes. I thought I’d surprise you.” His wife cringed beneath his angry gaze.
“Miss Pauley,” he said, “are you feeling better now?”
Better? She felt betrayed. Cheated! She eased away from his large palm. “Yes. Thank you, Mr. Darby.” She started to rise. His hand covered her shoulder, holding her in place.
“You might want to rest a spell. The heat in this valley can take the breath right out of you.”
The heat bursting through her had nothing to do with the climate and everything to do with his hand on her person. Looking away from him, she met the brown eyes of the other man.
“Jacob Darby, ma’am,” he said, removing his hat, revealing dark, curly hair. “Please accept my sincere apologies. I hope you weren’t hurt.”
“No. Thanks to Mr. Darby. I appreciate your concern, Mr.
Darby.”
“Save the formal title for my big brother,” he said, grinning as he slapped Kyle on the back. “Call me Jake. I see you’ve met our sister, Stella.”
Sister? Not his wife. Her gaze moved from Jake to Kyle to Stella, noting their resemblances, and the pity buried beneath their gentle smiles. Anger nettled at her temper. She never would have taken the job had she realized it was another form of charity.
Then again…how often had she prayed to discover the identity of her cowboy? Of all the inopportune situations in which to have her prayers answered. When would she learn all train excursions resulted in disappointment? She would be using her first paycheck to buy a stagecoach ticket out of here. She wasn’t about to stay in the company of folks who looked at her as if she were some wounded puppy.
“Con— I mean, Miss Pauley,” Kyle corrected. “Are you sure you’re not hurt? Did I knock your head when I pinned you against the fence?”
“I’m fine. ” Her bitter tone brought a flare of surprise into his eyes. “Thank you,” she added, forcing a polite smile.
“Ma’am?” An older cowboy nudged his way between Kyle and Jake. “Jed Doulan,” he said, touching his fingers to the brim of his black hat. “Are these your belongings?” he asked in a low voice. “Our steers did them some damage.” He held out a tangle of dirt-coated dresses and undergarments.
Saints and sinners! Constance leaped off the crate and grabbed her clothing from the man’s hands. “Thank you,” she said, trying to quickly bury her undergarments inside the coat draped over her arm. Her cheeks blazed with renewed heat.
“We’ll gladly replace all you lost.”
“I’m sure they’ll be fine, Mr. Doulan.”
“Daddy, I found another one.” A young girl in cowboy attire rode alongside Mr. Doulan.
“Hand it to the young lady.”
She jumped down from her saddle and ran toward her, discreetly passing her a pair of trampled drawers.
“Uncle Jed and April,” said Kyle. “This is Miss Constance Pauley. The new schoolteacher for Pine Ridge.”
“Nice to meet you, Miss Pauley.” April gave a slight curtsy in her denim britches and leather chaps, then spun with her auburn braids flinging behind her as she hurried back to her horse.
“A pleasure,” Constance lied, while wondering how she would ever live down such embarrassment. “Please excuse me.” She turned and hurried toward the train depot, wishing she had enough money for the next westbound train and willing to ride in a freight car.
Realizing she was being followed, she risked a side glance.
Stella offered an encouraging smile and gently looped an arm in hers. “We’ll walk around to the wagon,” she said, guiding Constance toward a side street. “There’s a burlap sack in the back we can use for your clothes.”
Kyle Darby’s sister was clearly as infuriatingly kind as her brother. Reaching the wagon, Stella retrieved the promised sack and held it open. Constance stuffed in the torn and dirty clothing.
As she shoved in another faded dress, she noticed Stella’s sympathetic gaze.
“I intended to buy nicer clothing.”
“Oh, no, I—” Stella’s eyes widened as she pressed a hand to her chest. “Miss Pauley, I didn’t—”
“It’s all right,” Constance insisted. “The nuns at the mission gave me those dresses. As soon as I have my teaching wages—”
“You won’t have to wait that long,” Kyle said from directly behind her.
Constance spun around, shocked by his sudden intrusion.
“Stella will take you to the dress shop to be fitted right now.”
“She can’t. I don’t have any money.” If she had, she’d already be clutching a ticket for the first ride to anywhere but here.
“Those clothes were torn to shreds by Darby and Doulan cattle. The Double D Ranch will replace them.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jake stepped beside his brother. “You purchase anything you need and—”
“You’re most kind, but I couldn’t.”
“It’s settled.” Kyle plucked his coat from her grasp and tossed it into the wagon. “Stella will go with you. Make sure she buys a few dresses,” he said to his sister.
“I only had two in my bag,” she protested.
“Two, then.” He took her by the elbow and led her toward the boardwalk.
“Mr. Darby, you really don’t need—”
“Call me Kyle.” She gasped as his arm slid around her waist.
“Watch your step, now.”
Her boot bumped against the raised walk, causing her to stumble.
Good gracious! If he’d stop touching her and smiling at her and befuddling her mind, she might be able to stay on her feet!
The man was married or at least engaged—he shouldn’t be handling her with such familiarity.
The ring. She stopped, breaking away from his hold. “I have something of yours.”
Dark eyebrows shot up beneath the brim of his hat as she reached into her pocket. She opened her hand, holding the ring out in her gloved palm.
Stella gasped. Kyle stared at the glimmering stone, his face void of expr
ession. Judging by Stella’s gaping mouth, Constance assumed she’d made another blunder. Intense silence stretched.
Kyle took her hand in his and closed her fingers over the ring.
“Finders keepers.”
He resumed his hold on her elbow and practically dragged her another ten feet up the walk before stopping abruptly. He opened a door and pushed her inside a shop filled with fabrics before the bell had finished its jingle. She whirled around.
Stella stood in his place.
“I take it this ring is connected to unpleasant memories?”
Stella nodded. “Broken engagement and I imagine wounded pride. She left him waiting at the altar,” she said softly.
Constance cringed. Heaven help her, she was not getting off to a good start with her new employer.
Chapter Three
Someone had followed him into this valley.
Kyle walked toward the stockyard, irritation and caution riding his spine as his gaze paused on every face, searching amid the cattle for crew from the Double D and other ranches. Last week a mutilated horse at his place and now steers busting out of every pen? He’d been in the direct path of two breakouts since sunrise, the second stampede damn near injuring Connie. He would have merely hopped the fence if he hadn’t seen her standing farther down the road, her arms clutching his old coat.
For a split second he’d thought he must have been about to die and she was a figment of his imagination. Not until he’d had her in his hands did he believe she was really there.
As if having his eighteen-year-old sister living under his roof wasn’t worry enough with some vengeance-seeking lunatic on the loose, now he’d have Connie to worry about. Constance, he silently corrected. Constance Pauley.
The reminder tightened the strained muscles across his shoulders. When he got Stella alone, he was going to wring her little neck.
“Hey, Kyle!”
His cousin hopped a fence and strode toward him. The founder and ex-sheriff of Pine Ridge, Juniper Barns understood his concerns about this morning’s mishaps being connected to the trouble on his ranch.
“Find anything?”
Juniper held out his palm, revealing a pile of bent nails.
“Someone pried these out of the fencing.”
“I knew it.”
“Don’t go jumping to conclusions.”
“I don’t have to jump far. Our family has been loading cattle in this stockyard for years. I ride along and suddenly they’ve got steers running to hell and back.”
“It happens.”
Kyle leveled his gaze on Juniper’s pale blue eyes.
Juniper turned toward the cattle crowding into the narrow channel as they were herded toward a loading ramp.
“Exactly. This was deliberate.”
“We don’t know if it’s connected to the vandalism on your place.”
That vandalism had left him with an orphaned foal. He’d be a long time forgetting the sight of Blaze, his favorite mare, slashed and on the ground, her young foal lying in the pool of blood surrounding her.
“The local lawmen are looking into it and Günter is watching your house while you’re here. We’ll send a few men from the Double D to ride up the mountain with you. How’s the schoolteacher?”
“Not who she’s supposed to be, but otherwise unharmed.”
A grin tipped Juniper’s mouth. “Rumor has it she’s the wildflower you brought home from Montana.”
Dread pooled in his gut. “I didn’t bring her home! I took her to Daniel for doctoring. Were you and Lily in on this?”
“Hell, no. We arrived from San Francisco yesterday. Lily has her hands full running her office and tending to Rosemary. You’re the town overseer. You gave Stella and her mother rein over the teacher applicants.”
He’d read every application—what he didn’t know was that Stella and his stepmother had somehow stacked the deck.
“Does Connie know you paid for her doctoring?”
“No.” If it hadn’t been for his cousin’s big mouth, no one would know outside of Daniel and Juniper. While he’d been chasing criminals all over the states, he’d asked Juniper to use money from his investment accounts to cover Connie’s medical expenses, an amount Kyle had never cared to tally. “I sure don’t want her to find out. The last thing I want is for her to feel beholden to me.” The absolute last thing he wanted was for her to know he’d set the fire that burned her. “She’s already balking about us replacing the two dresses she lost.”
“She lost more than a couple dresses. Stella told Jake all she brought with her was a single carpetbag. Everything inside it was ripped to shreds.”
He cursed beneath his breath. Thanks to his family’s meddling she had traveled alone to the middle of nowhere with nothing but his old coat and a bag of charity dresses! His dealings with his sisters told him two dresses wouldn’t be near enough. Teaching five days a week and attending church on Sundays, she’d need a minimum of six dresses. Despite Connie’s complaints, he knew women tended to be obsessive about such things. Victoria had always been pining for a new whatnot from Mrs. White’s shop. His gut tightened at the thought of her ring in Connie’s gloved palm. He’d figured it was gone for good and hadn’t missed the damn thing.
Connie clearly hadn’t expected to see him, and yet she’d been willing to hand over her only possession of real value. She could barter the ring for a year’s worth of teaching wages. Now he knew the ring would go to good use—she deserved no less after all he’d put her through.
“Lily’s down here in the valley, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. She and Rosemary are visiting with my folks.”
Raised in San Francisco, Lily Barns had impeccable style.
“Would your wife mind doing some shopping before you come up the mountain tomorrow?”
“Lily is always willing to shop, but are you certain that’s the best solution?”
“Can’t see why not. Mrs. White will have Connie’s measurements. Tell her to pick out four dresses and whatever else she thinks a woman may need.”
“I thought you said she was squawking about two dresses.”
“I’ve never known a woman to complain about new clothes.
Once it’s done she’ll be too delighted to fuss.”
Juniper didn’t look convinced. “If she’s the independent sort, she may not appreciate a handout, no matter how pretty.”
“Once her wardrobe is full, what can she say?”
“Depends. She got a temper?”
Her big golden eyes and gentle smile flashed in his mind.
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
Her stomach churning with nervous tension, Constance stepped onto the boardwalk wearing the peach dress Stella had insisted on. The light color wouldn’t show chalk marks, but she’d never worn a fitted waistcoat. She hadn’t been aware that she had any type of figure. The corset they’d strapped on her, despite her protest, defined the curves of her waist and alarmingly lifted her bosom. The ribbed undergarment was a far cry from the binding she’d worn at the mission. She smoothed her gloved hands over the full skirt and gazed down at the toes of new brown boots poking out from underneath.
New shoes. Had she ever owned a pair of brand-spanking-new shoes? She didn’t think so. Stella wouldn’t relent. Her new assistant had turned out to be as bossy as her older brother, and a sheer delight. An hour after her arrival and she was already indebted to her new employer for the purchase of so many garments. Her entire bag of worn dresses wouldn’t have covered the expense of the clothes she wore now, much less the second dress Stella had insisted she purchase.
As soon as she squared her debt, she’d move on.
She adjusted the white sash tied at her chin and glanced up beyond the brim of her new straw bonnet. Kyle stood at the edge of the walk, a few feet away. His casual stance and easy smile caused a startling rush of flutters in her belly.
“I’ll take those for you.” He stepped forward and reached for the parcels under her arm.
“Thank you,” she said, struggling to find her voice as he took the packages. Kyle Darby was every bit as dashing as she remembered—though she had always envisioned him happily married to an equally charming bride. His ring felt like a hot coal in her pocket.
“I brought the wagon over.” He turned and stepped into the road. She couldn’t pull her gaze away from his easy strides, the muscular lines of his strong back tapering down to a lean waist.
He placed her packages in the back of the two-seated wagon. His gaze caught hers and held as he walked back. Sensation shimmered inside her, tingles rushing across her skin. Constance began to rethink that stagecoach ticket. She couldn’t possibly work for this man.
The bell jingled behind her.
“You and Stella can sit in the backseat,” he said as he took another armload of parcels from his sister.
“Doesn’t she look lovely, Kyle?”
His leisurely gaze moved over her new attire and Constance nearly choked on her breath. “She does,” he agreed, and turned away from her.
“I’m not so sure a schoolteacher should wear such bright colors,” she admitted, following Stella to the wagon.
“You’re a schoolteacher, Constance, not a widow.”
Kyle grinned and held his hand out to her. “I’ll help you up.”
She was sure the flutters in her belly strained her corset as she accepted his hand. She hurried to the far side of the padded seat to make room for Stella.
“Hey, Kyle.” Two cowboys on horseback reined in beside the wagon. “Ladies,” one said as both tipped their hats to her and Stella. “We’ll be riding along.”
“We’re about ready,” Kyle said, and offered a hand to his sister.
“Is your family’s ranch in Pine Ridge?” Constance asked as Stella sat beside her.
“No,” Kyle answered. “Their ranch is here in the valley but they’ll be visiting tomorrow. The men heard about the picnic up at Pine Ridge.”
