They descended the stairs. “Do you have questions about what’s going to happen?” Kenzie asked.
“No. Let’s just do it.” She grabbed her jacket and hat from the coat tree. She tried not to think about earlier when she and Connor had rushed into the house with only one thing on their minds—taking the shortest route to the shower. That seemed like a lifetime ago.
The hat Connor had worn was still on the floor from his missed toss. She picked it up, grabbed his jacket, and headed off to find him.
Elliott had returned to the kitchen, drinking from a full mug. Connor was leaning forward on the counter, elbows propping him up. The two men were having a quiet conversation. Connor’s head shot up when Olivia entered the room, and the pain in his eyes sliced her heart into itty-bitty pieces.
“If ye’re ready, Connor, let’s get out of here,” David said.
Olivia handed him the coat and hat. “Thanks,” Connor said. “I’ll be sure to have both professionally cleaned when I come back.”
Elliott hugged Kenzie, David, and Connor, and gave Olivia a quick kiss on the cheek. “Be safe. Don’t take any chances and come right back home. I’ll be sitting here drinking coffee until I see ye again.”
“Let’s go outside,” David said.
On the way to the lighted porch, Connor said to Elliott, “Give JL a hug.”
“Give it to her yerself when ye get yer ass back here.” Elliott remained in the kitchen, calmly sipping coffee and scrolling through messages on his phone as if Olivia and the others had just stepped outside to take in the evening air.
David, Kenzie, and Connor didn’t seem as calm as Elliott. But she sensed no fear from them, only anxious anticipation. David and Kenzie linked arms, and he waved his other elbow at Olivia. “Come here, lass, and hook up.”
She would have preferred to hook up between David and Kenzie, but they were laced tighter than a Kim Kardashian corset. Connor took her arm.
“What happens if the bond breaks?” she asked. “Will we be scattered like pick-up sticks?”
“That happened when we went back for Amy Spalding.” Connor sounded impatient and uneasy. “We were scattered all around Central Park. But there was a purpose to the stone’s madness, although frightening and frustrating for us.”
“What happens if we get separated now?” Olivia asked.
“We were fine when we landed in Leadville,” Kenzie said. “But sometimes the stones have something special in mind for a particular traveler. Don’t get scared. Just go to the meeting place.”
“Have ye picked a location?” David asked.
“Let’s meet at Olivia’s house,” Kenzie asked.
“The address is 5431 California Street,” Olivia said. “But how does the stone know where to go?”
“Focus on Amber. Picture her in your mind and say her name over and over,” Kenzie said.
Connor softly hummed “Hotel California.” For a moment she thought of nothing except the warmth of his breath against her cheek, and the comfort his presence had given her the last few days.
David opened a large diamond brooch and spoke in an odd language. As soon as he finished speaking, a fog formed at their feet and quickly enveloped their legs. She leaned into Connor as the fog reached her shoulders. Her heart pounded, adrenaline pulsed through her veins, and an intense pressure squeezed her chest. She watched David as she often watched flight attendants. If anything went wrong with their flight, he would know.
The fog slapped her face like an open hand and the scent of peat filled her nostrils, swept into her lungs. The fog was like being dunked in a whisky barrel filled with only the distinctive aroma. She licked her lips, hoping for just a drop to coat her mouth, dry from fear.
And I was thinking to myself/‘This could be heaven or this could be hell’/…/Welcome to Hotel California.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Connor hugged her arm to his side. “Relax and enjoy the ride.”
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair…
Conversation ceased as the porch floorboards creaked beneath her feet. A whirling motion jolted her right, left, and back again like Dorothy in the tornado. And that was the last she knew…
32
1878 Denver, Colorado—Amber
Upon their arrival at the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad station at Sixth and Walnut Streets, Daniel took the baggage and went in search of a carriage for hire while Noah took Ripley for a short walk. Amber and Rick stayed inside the station instead of waiting on the breezy uncovered wooden platform. To the near side of the platform stood a water tower and coal shed to fuel the trains, and to the far side a telegraph pole slung wire to a shack where the station master dozed on a stool.
A tide of people poured out of the station toward the street in one direction, new arrivals pushed through the front door in the other. The station’s noise rang in Amber’s ears—the sighs and clanks of a squat locomotive with a coffee-grinder stack coupled to a car and started up the grade toward town. Inside the depot, carts loaded with baggage rumbled this way and that across the sawdust-strewn plank floorboards.
“Did you know railroads have served Denver since the end of the Civil War, but no consolidated station existed until the completion of the Union Depot in 1881?” Amber asked.
Rick looked pointedly at her, shaking his head. “I didn’t know that. And that piece of information certainly made my day.”
She’d been around him long enough now to figure out when he was teasing, when he thought she was acting odd, and when he wanted to grab her in a bear hug and squeeze her last breath out of her. Right now, it was a combination of the first two. She’d thought, over time, he would drive her nuts, but just the opposite had occurred. He was attentive, funny as heck, and resourceful.
Occasionally, though, his black moods cancelled out the funny ones, and his temperament turned toward the dark side at least once a day, with no rhyme or reason to what set him off. He didn’t talk about the war, but she knew when the darkness came, he’d slipped into a quagmire of despair. The first few times, she’d snapped back at him, but that only played into some perverse game, so now when his mood flipped, she sang spicy sea shanties. The upbeat energy of the music flipped his brain back to normal and by the second verse, his eyes would be bright again. She couldn’t imagine what he’d been through, or what Trey had been through before his life ended.
“I’m glad it made your day. The only reason I know stuff like that is because Olivia is a Denver history aficionado. Did I tell you that already?”
He grinned around an unlit black cigar clenched between his teeth. “If you did, I must not have been listening.”
“I don’t believe it. You always pay attention, especially when you pretend to be asleep.”
He made a face as if he’d heard wrong. “You knew I was awake in the stagecoach? God, I thought I was better than that.”
She laughed. “I didn’t know. You had me fooled.”
“I was just watching out for you, sweetheart. I didn’t want Daniel to take advantage of you while you were sleeping. You never know about those Scotsmen.”
“Thank you for watching out for me.”
“It’s my job.” He looked at her, one eyebrow slightly raised. “Now, what were you saying about your sister being a Denver history buff?”
“So now you want to hear? Well, every time a client asks a question about Denver that Olivia can’t answer, she researches the topic until she drives the family crazy with a bunch of unrelated tidbits. That’s how I know about the railroad.”
He removed his cigar, looked at the teeth marks, grimaced, then put it in his pocket for later. “I bet you don’t overwhelm your family with details when you learn something new about dinosaurs.”
“You think you know me so well, huh.” She shrugged. “You’re right. The family is sick of hearing about the creatures.”
“Would you like a piece of advice?” he asked.
His non-sequitur threw her off a bit. “No
t particularly. But tell me anyway.”
He cleared his throat as if preparing to make a major announcement. “You should stay clear of Daniel unless you’re just interested in a hookup.”
“Why’d you bring that up?”
“Because if you two get anywhere near something combustible, the sparks you generate will ignite and burn the town down.”
One side of his mouth curled up, and that set her back on her heels a little. Whatever she thought she was keeping from him—about her feelings for Daniel—she wasn’t. The advice was like a giant hand pushing down on her chest.
“You’re exaggerating. It’s not that bad.”
Rick pushed his hat back, scratching his head distractedly. “You’ve got color in your cheeks now and a sharpness in your eyes. How come? You didn’t get that much sleep on the trip here.”
“The altitude. I can breathe easier.”
“That’s your story, huh? Whatever… Look, you’re beautiful, intelligent, and a natural with Noah. A man would have to be blind not to see that. And trust me, Daniel would qualify for sharpshooter school. Guys live for the maybe. And the look in his eyes when you’re in the room is one of hope. You should have seen him grinning when you were sleeping on his shoulder.”
“O’Grady, you’re sick. Just because your mind is on sex twenty-four/seven doesn’t mean all men are like that.”
“What rock have you been living under?”
“Did you really say that?” she asked.
“Yeah, I did, but I wasn’t thinking about you being a rock hound. Look, I want you to be happy, but screwing a nineteenth-century Pinkerton man will be moving you backward not forward. You’ll be Timothy Buttoning, and no telling where you’d end up. Maybe the Jurassic Period, but you’d like that.”
“Timothy Button? Where do you come up with this stuff?”
“I watched a ton of movies during my deployment.”
“I thought you only watched Westerns.”
“I watched whatever I could to escape boredom, the horrors of war, and loneliness.” He took a deep, shivery breath, then another. “But we’re not talking about me.”
“Don’t worry about me and further complications with Daniel. He’s leaving tomorrow.” The thought of him going away made her belly ache. But what could she do? Short of hog-tying him, nothing.
She moved to stand in front of one of the station’s street-facing windows, one gloved hand gripping the edge of the sill for balance. After riding in a stagecoach and train for twenty-four hours, she had yet to regain her land legs. The air was only slightly warmer here, and not as thin as in Leadville. That eased her breathing somewhat. When had her breathing issues started? A few weeks ago? That couldn’t be right, but as she thought back, she’d been having problems even before she rode up to the cabin that Saturday morning.
A train departed with another load of passengers, and the station quieted. She checked the time on her yellow gold lapel watch decorated with tiny seed pearls that Kenzie had insisted Amber purchase before leaving Leadville.
The door swung open, and she turned quickly, hoping it was Daniel. It wasn’t, and her face drooped with disappointment. A gust of cool air, carrying the hint of rain and the stink of sewage, blew in with a man, almost obscured under a bundle of packages. Behind him a porter pushed a cart loaded with crates marked PROPERTY OF YALE UNIVERSITY FRAGILE.
The man set the packages down on top of the cart and she got a decent look at him—Van Dyke beard, a great mane of obsessively groomed black hair fiercely tamed with a copious amount of grease, a worsted sac coat, and a badly tied two-in-four knot. He didn’t look like a rock hound, so what could he be shipping from Denver to Yale in crates marked FRAGILE? Only one thing—fossils. That could only mean someone was digging in Morrison.
She nudged Rick. “See the man over there with the Van Dyke beard, snapping his pocket watch open and shut repeatedly? He’s shipping crates to Yale University marked FRAGILE.”
“So?”
“He’s shipping fossils.”
“How do you know?”
The porter pushing the cart spit and hit a spittoon with remarkable accuracy. Amber scrunched up her nose. “Short of looking inside the crates, I don’t, but historically, it fits. If he’s shipping fossils, that means a dig is going on in Morrison. Tomorrow we’ll look around.”
“Great. I can’t wait.” Rick snapped a sarcastic salute, then slowly dropped his hand and adjusted his kerchief, revealing a small spy camera attached to the bandanna. He turned his body at an angle and snapped pictures of the man and crates.
“I didn’t know you had a camera.”
“David asked me to take pictures of people and places.”
“Did you get pics in Leadville, too?”
“He did. Then he switched out the memory card, so he could transfer pictures to his phone. You know, in case he needed evidence to show your sister.” Rick turned to get shots from another angle. “I’ll give you another piece of advice, if you’re open to hearing it.”
She sighed. “Okay, one more. And then we have to go. Daniel is standing outside with the carriage.”
“If you’re sure where you want to end up, let that guide the decisions you make while you’re here.”
“That’s philosophical, Mr. Samwise.” She swept through the sawdust on the way to the door, her hat box swinging at her side. “You better be careful, or this story we’re in will put you, like Sam, in your greatest moments of peril.”
“Ha! I’ve heard of Sam, I know he’s Frodo’s loyal sidekick, but I’m not a big Lord of the Rings fan. I guess you’re my Frodo then, and I’m taking my bodyguard job seriously.” He opened the door and held it for her. “That includes guarding your heart, too.”
She paused and looked up at him. “That’s more than you signed up for. Just get me back in one piece. My heart can take care of itself.” She leaned against him as they walked toward the street, feeling the solidness of Rick’s arm tight against her side.
A second carriage squeaked to a stop next to where Daniel stood waiting, its harnesses jingling. She was surprised to find the street crowded with carriages, buckboards, and horses. Whatever had detained him, it wasn’t searching for a carriage.
The driver hopped off his perch and pulled open the door. Daniel took her hat box and gave her a hand up into the carriage, the touch tingled her fingers. It was an electrifying effect she tried to ignore but couldn’t. How could she, with her hand trembling ever so slightly? He returned the hat box to her, smiling as if he knew exactly what he was doing to her.
“Sorry I took so long. I bumped into another agent and I couldn’t break away.”
“Anything you can share?” she asked, settling into the seat.
“As soon as I get ye settled at the Robinson residence, I need to leave for a meeting.”
“Will you be back before dinner?”
He stood aside and allowed Rick to enter behind her. “Meetings typically run long.” Daniel closed the door and stepped out of the way. “Noah and I will ride in the other carriage.”
The carriage wheels churned the mud as the pair of horses strained forward and pulled away from the curb. “Does it bother you that we’re staying with Daniel’s late wife’s family?” Rick shifted in the seat and his knees briefly brushed hers.
Her fingers still tingled from the touch of Daniel’s hand, but when Rick brushed her knee there was nothing more than awareness.
“I couldn’t say no when Daniel asked me to stay there to watch over Noah. If he settles in quickly and doesn’t need us there, we can leave and go stay in a hotel.”
Rick smiled. “I’m with you, babe.”
“I’m glad I’ve got you to hold my hand.”
He grinned even bigger. “And I got you to kiss good night.”
“In your dreams, O’Grady.”
He put his arm around her shoulders, pulled her to him, and kissed the top of her head. “After this is over, if you ever need me for anything—a drinking bud
dy, a confidant, someone to give you a hug, and if you insist, a one-night stand—you can count on me for more than great sex.”
Amber’s smile turned quickly into a laugh that vibrated up through the soles of her dainty shoes. “Are there really four more just like you?”
“Jeff’s married, but Connor’s got the itch. He wants to settle down, have kids, the whole nine yards. Shane and I will have to carry on by ourselves.”
“Olivia has that itch, too. Maybe we’ll be related someday.”
He turned to face her and took her hand. “Let’s make a pledge. If Connor and Olivia get married, you’ll be maid of honor and I’ll be best man, and we can hook up if there’s no one else in our life. What do you think?”
“If that happens, O’Grady…” She paused, did a little mental shimmy, thinking about being naked with him, then finally said, “As long as there’s nobody else for either one of us on the horizon, then you’ve got a deal.”
He did a fist pump. “Yes.”
“You’re something else.” She squeezed his hand. “Thanks for hanging out with me.”
“I’m at your service, sweetheart.”
As they crossed the Larimer Street Bridge, he gazed out the window and she studied his profile. He was a hot, sexy guy, but he wasn’t long-term relationship material for her or anyone.
She turned her attention away from him and focused on the scenery. During the ride she saw little that resembled the twenty-first century city she knew. Tiny buildings and structures were sprinkled along a grid of platted streets. Small trees courageously guarded the main boulevard.
He turned his head side to side, looking out the windows of the carriage. “Do you know where we are?”
“Without street signs I’d be completely lost. The city is a step up, though, from the frontier towns we stopped in to change horses on the way to Morrison.”
“There’s a boom coming, right? When does it hit?”
The Amber Brooch: Time Travel Romance (The Celtic Brooch Book 8) Page 37
