Midnight Lover (30 page)

"I wouldn't keep doin' that, Markham, unless you got yourself a pot of black coffee with you."

The door swung open and there in the doorway stood Jade, exotic and lovely in a dress of dark gold silk that clung to her fine-boned frame. "Been a long time, Jesse."

He rose to his feet and crossed the room to greet her.

"Where you been, gal? Expected you back a few days ago."

Her narrow shoulders rose and fell in a graceful shrug.

"Hit me a few bumps in the road but I managed to get back."

He noticed a faint purple discoloration beneath her left cheekbone and touched it gently with his index finger. "What's this?"

"Like I said, we hit a few bumps in the road. I fell against the side handle of the coach."

"You seen Doc Willoughby?"

"Don't need to see nobody, Jesse." She paused and laid a hand against his chest. "Nobody, that is, except you."

He took a step backward then turned toward the bar set up near the window. "How 'bout a whiskey to welcome you home?"

She closed the distance between them again. "Used to be you'd think up more excitin' ways to welcome me home."

He rubbed his temple. "Used to be I was younger, darlin'. I got me a head today fit to explode. Only cure's the hair of the dog what bit me." He poured them each two fingers of his best private stock and handed her a tumbler. "Drink up. There's plenty more where that came from."

Jade accepted the whiskey and settled herself down on the small blue sofa opposite the bar. "Miss me, Jesse?"

He took his seat and propped his feet up on the desk.

"Town ain't the same without you, gal."

She smiled slightly and took a sip of whiskey. "Lot of talk goin' on about you, Jesse. I hear you been spendin' an awful lot of time with her lately."

"Part of the deal. You know I moved into the Arrow to stake my claim. Got to see the gal don't get everything she wants."

"Seems she already has."

"Talk plain, darlin'. I ain't one for riddles."

"I hear you been spendin' your mornings with her, Jesse, riding out on Diablo, lookin' real cozy together."

"Gettin' the mine set to open. Gal's got a right to keep an eye on what she says belongs to her."

"Just like you and the Crazy Arrow."

"Now you got it, darlin'. Besides, the League likes havin' one of their own inside, keepin' his eye on all those man-hungry spinsters."

Jade rose slowly from her chair, her dark eyes glittering. "I'm feelin' kind of man-hungry myself, Jesse."

Jesse swung his feet back down to the floor and waited. Jade took her sweet time walking toward him, letting him enjoy the sight of her graceful hips swaying with each step she took. Jade knew what she was doing to him with that provocative way she had of looking right into his eyes, not at all like Caroline whose cheeks turned a real pretty shade of pink when she caught him looking at her. He never would have thought it, but innocence could be right appealing.

Jade's perfume filled his nostrils with the deep scent of musk and jasmine as she draped herself across his lap. "Come on, Jesse," she said, her voice husky. "Show me how much you missed me." She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought her mouth to his. Her hot, insistent tongue slid into his mouth before he knew what hit him.

It wasn't that what she was doing didn't send his blood rushing to all the right places. Jade was the best when it came to getting a man ready and willing for anything—and Jesse was definitely ready.

Willing, however, was a whole other thing.

He didn't know exactly why it was but the feel of Jade's hands just didn't set right with him this time and he reached behind his neck and gently pulled her hands away.

"You got somethin' else in mind, Jesse?" Her voice was cooler this time, less ready to please. "I don't mind tryin' new ways."

"Bad timin', gal. I got a passel of receipts that need doin' so's Sam can place an order with Frank Carter." He had to hand it to Jade; she didn't bat an eyelash, just sat there looking straight at him. "You understand, don't you, darlin'? Business comes first."

Gracefully she rose from her perch on his lap and leaned against the edge of the desk. "If it were only business comin' between us, Jesse, I'd be real understandin', but I got me a feeling there's something else going on."

He leaned back in his seat and tried to look casual.

"Now that you mention it, darlin', there is something else going on: I'm openin' the mine back up day after tomorrow."

Jade's dark eyes narrowed. "How'd you get the mine away from that gal?"

"Circuit judge struck up a deal between us," he said, which was true enough. "I get to re-open the mine and we split any profits."

"Old man Rayburn lost his shirt and that yellow-haired gal's daddy didn't fare no better. Seems like you could come up with a better way to spend your money."

Somehow he felt strange telling Jade about his plans for Silver Spur. She was a practical woman whose own dreams revolved around one day moving on down to Mexico and building a castle on the Gulf. Now and again she'd tease Jesse, telling him he could be the king of her castle, free to live in the lap of luxury, and he would laugh and forget her promises as easily as she made them. Silver Spur was home to Jesse, the first and only home he'd ever had, and the only way he'd leave it was feet first in a pine box.

"I got me a hunch about the mine," he said at last, "and it don't hurt none to show that uppity Bennett gal who's runnin' this town."

"I suppose it don't," Jade said slowly, "but why is it, Jesse, I got the feelin' you ain't telling me everything?"

"Hey, Jesse!" Sam Markham's voice boomed through the closed door. "Get yourself out here pronto. We got trouble."

Jesse leaped to his feet and grabbed for his gun.

"Jesse!" Jade's voice rose in protest. "We haven't—"

"Sorry, darlin'," he said over the sound of breaking glass coming from the bar room. "You heard what the man said. We got trouble out there."

He was out the door before she could say another word.

#

Jade sank into the desk chair the moment the door closed behind Jesse. Her heart was pounding furiously and beads of sweat were snaking their way down her back, soaking the waistband of her dress.

I'm openin' the mine back up...day after tomorrow...openin' the mine back up...day after tomorrow...

"No!" The word tore from her throat against her will. This last stagecoach robbery had nearly cost Jade her life. She'd spent the past three days up in Golden Gulch while a doctor tended to the fractured rib and bruises she'd ended up with, thanks to an overzealous passenger. She'd been lucky up until now but if there was one thing Jade knew, it was that luck didn't last forever.

A month; six weeks at the most. That was all that stood between her and the Mexican coast—the dream that had sustained her for longer than she cared to remember. If Jesse re-opened the mine, it would only be a matter of days before her cache of gold and silver bullion was discovered. A matter of days before her dreams were dashed. They'd come so far, the two of them had, so far from those angry, violent days when Silver Spur was up for grabs. Couldn't he see they were meant to stay together?

"You don't need the mine, Jesse," she whispered to the empty room. Or that yellow-haired bitch. "Just wait a little longer and I'll give you everything you ever dreamed of."

#

Caroline and Abby had just stepped from the dim vestibule of the Howell Bank and onto the busy street when they saw Jade leaving the King of Hearts Saloon.

"Would you be lookin' at that," Abby said with an indignant sniff. "And him a married man."

"Be quiet, Abby!" Caroline ordered the outspoken young maid. "Mr. Reardon can do whatever he pleases. I have no hold on him."

"The Almighty would be havin' somethin' to say about that, miss, what with you two having said your vows and—ouch!" Abby rubbed her arm where Caroline had pinched her.

"Hush!" Caroline hissed. "She's coming this way."

"Mornin', missy." Jade's smile was quicksilver. "I was headin' down your way to talk to you."

Caroline did her best to hide her surprise and could but pray Abby was capable of doing the same. "How pleasant. Perhaps we can walk together."

Jade cast a pointed look toward Abby then looked back at Caroline. "What I got to say's for your ears only."

"Go on ahead, Abby," Caroline said, praying her maid would give her no trouble. "I'll be there directly."

Abby glowered and grumbled but, thank God, she finally turned and marched off down the street toward the Crazy Arrow. The last thing Caroline needed was for Abby to say anything that might pique Jade's curiosity about Caroline's relationship with Jesse Reardon.

"She don't like me much, does she?" Jade gestured toward Abby's small form as the girl made her way through the crowd of gamblers and gunslingers and young mothers with toddlers in tow.

"She's protective," said Caroline. "She means you no disrespect."

"I was just wonderin', is all. Don't reckon it really matters. Respect don't pay the bills, does it?"

"No, I don't suppose it does." Caroline had always worried about things like respect and reputations and responsibility and see where it had gotten her. It had taken a secret marriage to a saloon keeper with a dangerous penchant for gambling for Caroline to even begin to make a success of her life in Silver Spur. The two women started off down the street. "What is it you wish to speak about, Miss Jade?"

"I know you're needin' money to spruce up the Arrow, missy. There's an easier way than strugglin' to get a bank loan."

"I appreciate your interest, but I'm afraid I—" Jade raised a small and graceful hand. "Hear me out, missy. I got me a way to do it where you won't be beholdin' to anybody."

"Miss Jade, listen to me. I'm afraid it's—"

"I'll buy the Rayburn mine." Jade named a price that made Caroline gasp. "Cash money. You'll have it in your hands by dinnertime."

Dear God, what couldn't she do with such a magnificent sum of money! But, of course, there was no hope for it, no matter how tempting it was. She and Jesse had an agreement and she must abide by it or suffer the consequences.

"Thank you for your most...generous offer," she said carefully, "but I'm afraid I must decline."

Jade stopped short and a lanky young cowboy following close behind almost tripped over her skirts. "If it ain't enough, say so, missy. I'll sweeten the pot."

"Your offer was exceedingly fair. Money is not the issue."

Jade's laugh was sharp and not without bitterness. "Money is always the issue." She named an amount considerably above her first offer. "Can't say that ain't fair value."

"Please listen to me." Caroline touched the woman's arm. "It isn't a matter of money." She took a deep breath and plunged ahead. "The mine simply isn't for sale at any price."

"Everything's got its price." Again a higher offer.

"Am I gettin' close?"

"I am committed to opening the mine." What on earth was going on? How much had Reardon told Jade about their situation?

"Jesse can be real persuasive, can't he?" Jade mused.

"Wonder how much he paid the circuit judge to get his way."

"Wh-what do you mean by that?"

"Purty obvious, ain't it? He's got you runnin' scared, missy, and all over a good-for-nothing mine that ain't never going to cough up so much as a nugget ever again." Jade gave her a pitying look. "He'll sell it out from under you and you'll be lucky you see a hundred dollars gold when he's done with you."

"It wasn't Mr. Reardon who made the decision. It was Judge Fitzgerald."

"Like I said, it must have cost Jesse a purty penny."

"If he is simply looking to sell, then why is he planning to reopen the mine?"

"Ain't happened yet. Probably just a game to keep you off-balance. Wouldn't be the first time he pulled the blanket over some gal's eyes."

Caroline's spine stiffened. "No one is pulling a blanket over my eyes. Mr. Reardon and I have a business arrangement and I intend to uphold my part of the bargain."

"And you're certain Jesse's upholdin' his?"

"Yes...yes, I am." He had married her in order to facilitate their business arrangement. Surely that implied a serious commitment to upholding Judge Fitzgerald's decision, did it not?

Jade put a hand on Caroline's arm and Caroline was amazed at the strength hidden by the woman's delicate exterior. "I'll double my offer, missy. Take it or leave it."

Caroline pulled away. "I am afraid I must leave it."

"You're makin' a big mistake."

"Perhaps, but it is my decision to make."

"Gal, as long as you're involved with Jesse, ain't nothing you can do. Whatever he wants, he'll take, and no city gal like you'll be able to stop him."