Authors: Vanessa Devereaux
Shaun and Jon
Evernight
Publishing ®
Copyright© 2015 Vanessa
Devereaux
ISBN: 978-1-77233-196-7
Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs
Editor: Kerry
Genova
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized
reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
No part of this book
may be
used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews
.
This is a work of fiction. All
names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events,
locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
To My Writing Students…I learn as
much from you as you do from me, thank you.
SHAUN AND JON
Big Sky
County, 4
Vanessa
Devereaux
Copyright © 2015
Chapter One
Grantsville, Big
Sky County-Present Day
“You
probably know every single one of Grantsville’s secrets from the past,” said
Jennifer, sitting on
the rocking
chair on
Mrs. Hunt’s front porch.
“Yes,
I probably do,” said Mrs. Hunt. Ninety-five years old, but still as sharp as
anyone half her age. Fifth generation Montana resident and
great-granddaughter
of one of Big Sky County’s
most well-known ranchers. The old lady picked up her glass of iced tea and gave
it a stir to dislodge some of the sugar that had settled at the bottom. “Some
tales aren’t for the faint-hearted and best left a secret.”
Yeah,
sharp as a tack and probably guessed why Jennifer was feeding her tea and
cookies. She wanted that job, had to get the scoop, and she’d do anything to
land it. Well, with the exception of sleeping with the editor in chief. That’s
where she drew the line and hence her desperation in trying to pry information
out of the county’s leading historian.
“Really?”
asked Jennifer.
Mrs.
Hunt nodded. “Grantville had its fair share of houses of ill repute during the
height of its copper mining days.”
That
wasn’t the first time that Jennifer had heard that. In fact, a few residents
claimed to be descendants of a few of those ladies of the night, but that
wasn’t anything new. Jennifer needed an angle, dirt…anything.
Jennifer
took a sip
of
her own tea before glancing
at her watch. She’d already spent two hours with Mrs. Hunt hoping to find
something, just one tiny skeleton in the closet she could use as a story for
her upcoming series in Big Sky County Magazine which would focus on the past of
all the candidates that were running for sheriff, the school board, and
district attorney. So
far,
nothing meaty
that she could sink her teeth into.
Mrs.
Hunt leaned back on her chair, making it squeak. “Yeah, lots of stories most
people
want forgotten
.”
Jennifer
looked across the table at her. Now she was intrigued even more. She could
spare another thirty minutes or so if Mrs. Hunt was willing to spill the beans.
“Any
resident have any skeletons in the closet?” asked Jennifer, pouring Mrs. Hunt
another glass of the sweet brew. Jennifer had never been one for diplomacy, and
the main reason she was a damn good reporter. Although according to her mother,
the reason she couldn’t hold on to a man long enough for him to think about
settling down with her.
“
Indeedy
yes. Some folks have so many skeletons rattling
around in the cupboard they haven’t room for even a pair of pants.”
Jennifer
laughed.
“We’ve
had our share of outlaws of course. But I think our biggest one might be the
Nolan-Delaney one.”
“Nolan-Delaney?
You mean as in Connor Nolan-Delaney who’s running for sheriff and his sister
who opened the…”
“Sex
shop. Yes, those Nolan-
Delaneys
.
Most people think it’s some upper crust, double hyphened name, but I’ve read
the journal. I know how that came about.” Mrs. Hunt took another sip of tea and
tapped her fingers on the table.
Connor
Nolan-Delaney, just thinking about him made her panties wet.
“Connor’s
one of Grantsville’s most eligible bachelors,” said Jennifer, wanting to know
more and hoping Mrs. Hunt would take the bait.
“Oh
yes, he is. Fine looking man. All of the Nolan-
Delaneys
are blessed in that department.”
“So
his family was involved in some sort of scandal?”
“I’m
not too old to know that you’re trying to lure me into telling all. The topping
up of the tea and yes, I will have another one of those cookies you brought
along with you.”
Jennifer
slid the plate of peanut butter cookies across the table.
“I’m
not sure if Connor or his parents, or even his grandparents know about it.”
“Is
it really bad?”
“Depends
on what you consider bad. I’m not a prude by any means, but some are.”
Prude.
It had something to do with sex. Now she was getting somewhere. Who didn’t love
a scandal that involved sex?
“They
had an
illegitimate
child?” asked
Jennifer.
“Lot
more scandalous than that.” She put her hand over her mouth again.
“If
it’s more than that and that would have been what the late 1800s, it had to be
pretty wild.”
“I
guess so.”
Mrs.
Hunt tapped her fingers again. “I can feel you looking at me, willing me to
tell you and I won’t.”
“I
love gossip.”
“Oh,
this isn’t gossip. Sarah’s journal shares the whole story.” She put her hand
over her mouth yet again. “Have you slipped something into this tea, the
cookies maybe?”
“I’m
a journalist so my stare alone makes people want to tell me everything.”
Mrs.
Hunt stood and Jennifer thought she was going to tell her it was about time she
left.
“I’m
going to give you
the journal
that no one
else has ever seen,” said Mrs. Hunt.
Jennifer
followed Mrs. Hunt into the house, to the living room to be exact. She opened a
safe by the gun cabinet and pulled out a well-worn leather bound notebook.
“When
Katherine Nolan-Delaney died she left instructions that her collection of books
on Montana history, along with her maps, be given to the Grantsville Historical
Society. I don’t think she had any idea that her mother’s journal was among
those items. Probably be horrified if she knew someone outside the family had
read it.”
Jennifer
ran her finger over the now scared leather.
“I
read it and let’s just say my hair wasn’t this curly before.”
“Bodice
ripper is it?”
“Erotic
romance of its time…not that I ever read those sorts of novels.” Mrs. Hunt
turned crimson.
“So
I can borrow this and read it at my leisure?”
“Absolutely
but what you read in its covers has to stay with you. I don’t want you using what
you’ve found out about the family against Connor or his sister or any of the
other Nolan-
Delaneys
for that matter. He’s a nice
young man and he’s going to make one hell of a sheriff.”
“What’s
between these covers won’t pass my lips.”
Chapter Two
Somewhere between Kansas City and
Montana, 1886
Sarah
looked
back one more time before the
train left the plains of Kansas. Maybe she’d see it again, maybe not. She had a
new life and a husband to be awaiting her in Montana. She closed her eyes
trying to imagine what the mountains and streams would really look like. So
far, they’d only been described to her by her future husband. He’d called the
scenery surrounding the homestead as breathtaking.
She
looked up to see Nina returning to her seat. She still looked pale. Maybe Sarah
should have insisted that they delay the journey until her cousin had
completely recovered from
the nasty
cold
she’d had for what seemed like forever.
“Did
your walk up and down the carriages do you some good?” Sarah asked her.
“I
think it did. Although the smoke billowing in through the windows has made my
chest hurt with all the
coughing
I had to
do.”
Sarah
reached across and put her hand on her cousin’s knee. “You look hot. Are you
sure you’re not running a fever?”
“I
believe I am, but I think it’s because so many people are on this train. Who
would have thought this many would be traveling west.”
She
reached into her tapestry bag and pulled out
the
dark
brown bottle in which Dr.
Hattesby
had
mixed a tonic to get her through the long journey. Nina twisted off the top and
took two big gulps before pulling a face. The train chose that moment to shake
from side to side, sending some of the liquid down the front of Nina’s dress.