Ana Seymour (5 page)

Carter leaned back against the kitchen counter and surveyed her. She presented quite a different picture than the harried young woman with dough sticking to her neck he’d encountered before dinner. Her hair was back up in a proper chignon and she was wearing some kind of bustled blue silk thing that sculpted her slender silhouette as if she’d spent the entire afternoon being pinned and stitched by a seamstress.

Carter reckoned that nine men out of ten would pick either of the two blondes in the next room over Jennie Sheridan. Kate was a sleek beauty and Dorie a vivacious charmer. But there was something about Jennie. Half the time she was acting stubborn and prickly, daring the rest of the world to say something bad about her baby sister. But then she had those moments of looking like a child who had lost every anchor she’d ever had in life. And somewhere in between both those Jennies was a glimmer of the woman she refused to admit to being, a woman whose passions might fit the sensual promise of that sculpted, low-necked dress.

Suddenly he realized he’d been staring for too long. And that Jennie was staring right back. Barnaby had whisked past them three times now, carrying the bowls of dessert one at a time into the dining room.
He cleared his throat. “So he was lucky to find you,” he said.

Jennie looked confused and blinked her unfocused eyes. “Who?”

Carter smiled gently. There was definitely a woman inside there waiting to find her way out. He wouldn’t mind being the one to help make it happen. “Barnaby. He was lucky to find this place to live with you and your sister.”

Jennie swallowed hard and said, “Well, we were lucky to have him. He’s been a tremendous help.” She reached out and gave Barnaby’s shoulder a pat as he passed by with another bowl. Then she and Carter lapsed into silence as they watched the boy swing through the door. Neither one was thinking about Barnaby.

“Goodness,” Jennie said suddenly. “The coffee!”

She was slightly flushed, and just at the side of her slender neck in the precise spot where the dough had stuck earlier, Carter could see her pulse beating. “Relax,” he said, in a voice that was lower and more intimate than any he had yet used with her. “There’s no hurry. Everyone’s having a good time. Including me.”

He leaned over and brushed a kiss on her mouth, then backed away almost before Jennie could realize what he had done. He waited for a protest, but she simply stood and looked up at him, her eyes grown wide. Finally he flashed a smile and turned to cross the room to the sink. “All right,” he said briskly. “Put me to work.”

* * *

All the parlor lamps were lit, the wicks turned up full, but it seemed to Jennie as if a kind of haze hung over the room. She was feeling much the same kind of fog she’d felt after her parents’ deaths, though without the pain. She’d worked hard all day and knew that she was nearly giddy with exhaustion as they’d sat down to eat. But this was something else. It had started when Carter had followed her into the kitchen. As soon as the door had swung shut, closing them off from the other guests, her heart had begun to accelerate. When he’d touched her with his lips, it had settled into a fast staccato that was still drumming away inside her chest.

It was silly, of course. Carter was a handsome, eligible man, used to flirting, used to teasing. The little peck he’d given her had meant nothing. He’d have done the same to Dorie. In fact, it might have been more than a peck with Dorie. She bit her lip.

Her animated friend was addressing him this minute. “So someday you might be
governor
of the state, Carter?” Dorie asked breathily. “I can’t imagine knowing anyone so important. Will you still come back and talk to us little folk in Vermillion when you’re such a famous man?”

Carter did not look the least embarrassed by the question. In fact, he appeared to consider it before he answered. “A good politician is able to relate to people at all levels, Miss Millard. I would hope that I’ll keep my friends wherever my career might take me.”

Dorie made a show of sliding nearer to him on the settee and took his elbow in both hands. “Just in case you don’t ever come back here, I want to be able to
say that I touched the future governor,” she said with a flirtatious giggle.

Carter looked over Dorie’s shoulder and gave Jennie a conspiratorial smile. Jennie wasn’t entirely sure, but it looked to her as if his expression said, “Your friend’s a bit of a goose.” At least that was the way she chose to interpret it.

Her attention turned abruptly from Dorie and Carter when Dr. Millard said suddenly, “Are you feeling all right, Kate?”

With a pang, Jennie realized that Kate’s wan face was even whiter than normal. Jennie’d been so busy working that she hadn’t thought to ask about her sister’s condition today. Though she hadn’t let Kate do anything in preparation for the dinner, she had allowed her to sit with her in the kitchen all afternoon instead of taking her usual nap.

She jumped up and went to Kate’s side, laying a hand on her shoulder. “You should be in bed, sis. You’ve been on your feet for hours now.”

Kate put her hand on top of Jennie’s and gave it a little pat. “I’m fine, my little nurse. You worry too much about me. You too, Dr. Millard,” she added, giving the old man a smile.

The doctor’s expression was grave. “Perhaps I should have you stay over with me and Dorie for a couple nights so I can keep an eye on how you’re doing.”

Jennie felt a panicky sensation in her middle. She and Kate belonged together. She could face anything as long as the two of them were facing it side by side.
But she waited for Kate’s reply, which was as she expected.

“Nonsense, Doctor. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offer—”

Across the room Carter stood and interrupted. “What Miss Sheridan undoubtedly needs is some rest, which she’s not going to get if her visitors sit around all night talking.”

Dorie jumped up next to him. “Carter’s right. It’s been a lovely party, Jennie dear,” she said. She smiled at her friend, then let the smile dance its way around to each of the gentlemen in the room.

Jennie was not going to argue. There was a definite pallor around Kate’s mouth. She wanted to get her to bed. Besides, she’d had just about as much as she could take for one evening of struggling to keep her eyes and her mind off Carter Jones. And if Dorie didn’t stop grabbing his arm that way, there was a likelihood that Jennie would end up giving one of her very dearest friends a smack.

Dr. Millard stood slowly, his eyes still on Kate. “I’m coming over tomorrow morning. If your color’s not any better, we need to think about having you see an obstetrician in Virginia City.”

“What’s an obste…?” Jennie stumbled over the word.

“A special doctor who looks after ladies,” Dr. Millard told her. “It’s a person who specializes in birthing babies. They have one at Mercy Hospital in Virginia City.”

Carter frowned. “Perhaps she should see one anyway.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Dennis Kelly added. “You’ve been looking mighty peaked, Miss Kate.”

Kate took her hand off Jennie’s and straightened up in her chair. “You’re all very kind, but I wish you wouldn’t make such a fuss. I’ll be perfectly fine.”

Jennie could tell that having a room full of men discussing her personal health was making her sister decidedly self-conscious. She gave Kate’s shoulder a squeeze as she shifted uncomfortably in the hardbacked chair. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I think what my sister needs most right now is some rest. We should say good-night.”

The three miners had shuffled to their feet and begun mumbling apologies for keeping their pretty landlords up so late when Barnaby appeared, ducking under the parlor entrance curtain. “There’s a visitor at the door,” he told Jennie.

Jennie’s surprise came from more than the late hour. The only visitors she and her sister had had for weeks were already in the room. “Who is it?”

“Mr. Wentworth.”

“Lyle?” Kate asked, her hand fluttering to her throat.

When Barnaby nodded, Jennie looked at her sister, then said, “I’ll go speak with him.”

Kate nodded and whispered. “I can’t see him.” The hand moved from her throat to her rounded stomach.

“He says he wants to see both of you,” Barnaby said. “He says it’s important.”

Jennie hesitated and the others in the room remained
silent. Finally Carter stepped over next to Jennie and took her arm. “I’ll speak to him with you. There’s no need for Kate to see him if she doesn’t want to.”

Kate’s look of gratitude was not lost on Jennie. She herself was feeling grateful for the solid support of Carter’s hand at her elbow. In spite of her brave words to Kate, Jennie had also felt herself affected by the ostracism of the town. It wasn’t easy to be shunned by people you’d known for years. In addition, Carter’s warm hand brought back the moment in the kitchen earlier when he’d kissed her. The sudden memory gave a lift to spirits that had been dampened by the sight of Kate looking so drawn and exhausted.

“Thank you,” she said to him, starting toward the door.

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Jones,” Kate said. “But I guess if Lyle’s braved his mother’s wrath to come to this house, the least I can do is hear what he has to say.” She stood, swaying a little, the exertion flushing her cheeks.

Carter reached out with his free hand to steady her, guided her toward Jennie, who slipped an arm around her waist. “Are you sure, Katie?”

At Kate’s nod the two sisters went into the front hall, followed by Carter, the Millards and the three miners. There was scarcely room for Lyle Wentworth to enter the narrow vestibule when Barnaby opened to door to admit him.

His eyes went immediately to Kate’s, then to where her shawl discreetly covered the now noticeable pregnancy.
There was a flicker of pain in his eyes, but his voice was businesslike. “Evening, Kate. Evening, Jennie.”

“It’s a late hour for a social call, Lyle,” Jennie said. She noticed that Lyle was bigger than Carter and softer. Carter’s hand on her arm was strong with long, lean fingers. Lyle’s hands, rubbing across the top of his thirty-dollar felt hat, were short and puffy.

He nodded. “It’s not a social call. I came to tell you that Sheriff Hammond’s back in town and old lady Billingsley’s after him with the rest of her pack, my mother included.” He turned to Kate with a shrug of apology. “I’m sorry, Kate. She usually listens to me, but Mrs. Billingsley’s so all fired up about you girls…”

Jennie felt Kate stiffen. “We don’t need to talk about this tonight,” she began, then stopped to stare behind Lyle and out the open door. Sheriff Delbert Hammond, a shotgun cradled in his arms, was marching up their front walk, followed by a veritable army of women.

Jennie tightened her hold around Kate’s waist. “Don’t let them bother you, sis,” she said quickly in an undertone. “They’re just busybodies with too much time on their hands.”

“We’ll protect you, Miss Kate.” Brad Connors pushed past Lyle toward the front door, pulling a derringer from his boot en route.

After a minute’s hesitation, Dennis and Smitty moved to each side of him, forming a flank, pushing Dr. Millard heavily against the hall whatnot.

Dorie shouted, “Papa, are you all right?” then
scooted around Jennie to grab Brad by the shoulder and spin him around. “Don’t be an idiot!” she barked.

The delegation had reached the front stoop. Sheriff Hammond looked shamefaced and, in spite of the weapon in his arms, not the least bit fearsome. But the two women directly behind him, Mrs. Billingsley and Miss Potter, were skewering Kate with frightening stares.

“Do your duty, Sheriff,” Mrs. Billingsley said coldly.

“What’s this all about, Hammond?” Carter asked.

The sheriff stammered for several seconds, but finally managed, “I’m serving these here papers, Counselor. Closing the place down. I’ve got an order from Judge Hickory. Says here ‘for immediate execution.’”

Carter stepped around Jennie and reached out to take the crumpled paper the sheriff had pulled from his pocket. No one spoke as he began to read it silently, his expression hardening. Jennie’s breath stopped in her throat. Surely they couldn’t close them down just like that? They wouldn’t turn her silverheels out on the streets of the town in the middle of the night with nowhere else to go? It was a lucky thing that Carter was here tonight. He’d take care of it.

She studied his face as he bent over the paper. The hard line of his jaw was dark with evening whiskers. She’d felt the barest touch of them when he’d kissed her. In spite of the circumstances, a smile played about her lips. She wondered what Mrs. Billingsley
would say if she knew that only an hour ago the town prosecutor had been kissing the older of those sinful Sheridan sisters. It almost made her want to giggle. Henrietta would explode when Carter told her that he was on the Sheridans’ side now.

Carter looked over at her, his gray eyes stormy. Then he said, “The sheriff’s right. You men are going to have to get your gear together and head on out of here or the sheriff will have the right to seize this place and turn everyone out.”

Jennie looked up at Carter in shock. Had she heard him correctly? What had happened to his promises to help them?

“It just don’t seem fair,” Dennis Kelly was protesting. “Miss Jennie and Miss Kate need the money and we need the place to live.”

Mrs. Billingsley poked her head around the sheriff and said, “I’m sure you’d all like to continue with whatever…
arrangements
you gentlemen have made with these…
girls
…but this is a decent part of town. And we decent folks aren’t going to put up with it.”

“No, we’re not,” Miss Potter echoed.

Behind her Lucinda Wentworth had the grace to look embarrassed under the withering glance of her son.

Jennie heard Dorie’s gasp of indignation through the sound of blood rushing behind her own ears. She let go of Kate and took a step toward the women. She addressed them, totally ignoring Sheriff Hammond and his shotgun. “I don’t know how you can call yourself decent when you come here in the middle of
the night to a house of bereavement and say vile things—”

She broke off and whirled around as, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dr. Millard straighten himself up from the whatnot, shove Dennis Kelly aside and take two surprisingly spry steps across the hall, just in time to catch a collapsing Kate.