“With four children around, it seemed like a good idea to leave them. Actually, they’re with Ben at his office.”
“Are you a good shot?”
“Better than adequate. No sharpshooter, that’s for certain. Eminent domain, remember? I had to learn to shoot back.” He frowned slightly as he turned to examine her profile. “Do you not feel safe?”
“Oh, no, it isn’t that. You have permission to be here. No, I was wondering if you’d teach me to shoot. I don’t expect thatI’ll ever own a gun or even have cause to use one, but I’d like to learn. Ben said his mother is a crack shot, or she was when she worked at Twin Star. I had no idea. And Fedora Chen’s father taught her to hunt. Hitch escorted them south of town yesterday to target shoot. I thought about it and decided it’s something I’d like to do.”
“Did you mentionthatto Ben?”
“No. Why would I? I figured I should tell you first.”
“Thank you for that, but I’m wondering if Ben really wants a vigilante band of women taking to the boardwalk. From what I can tell, he has his hands full with Mrs. Springer’s temperance league.”
“Vigilante? It’s nothing like that.”
“If Ellie Butterworth is honing her shooting skills, it’s because Fedora has been threatened. Tell me I’m wrong.” When she didn’t, he said, “I’m thinking this interest of yours has something to do with that.”
“Did you hear me say I don’t expect to own a gun or ever use one? Really, Roen, I don’t know Fedora Chen except to see her in passing. That certainly hasn’t happened often. I have sympathies for her, but I don’t intend to take up cudgels on her behalf. Why would I when you’re one of the people she feels threatened by?”
“What? Where did you hear that?”
“Ridley told me. And perhaps ‘threatened’ is too harsh a word. It would be better said that she mistrusts you.”
“I haven’t done anything to earn her mistrust.”
“Of course you haven’t. I know it’s not personal. Ridley says it’s who you represent. As to what Ellie is thinking, I don’t know because I’m not party to it. All I want to do is learn to handle a gun like women used to do when this was unsettled territory.”
Roen fell quiet, thinking it over. “I’m not opposed to it, Lily. You need to keep in mind that I have experience with a woman and a gun and it wasn’t a good one.”
“Oh. I hadn’t forgotten. I just hadn’t thought of it. Maybe I should ask Ben to teach me.”
“No. I’ll do it.”
“You don’t think I’d shoot you, do you?”
“I’m not sure I’m a good judge. I didn’t think Victorinewould do it either.” He felt Lily’s eyes on him. When he turned, she was studying him narrowly, trying to evaluate how serious he was. He kept a straight face and let her wonder for all of a ten count before he allowed his grin to give him away.
“Beast,” she said, not unkindly.
For some reason, he didn’t mind that at all.
Chapter Twenty-four
Roen left some of his calculations for later so they could leave while there was still a chance of arriving home before school was done for the day. Lily knew what he was doing by setting a quicker pace, and she appreciated the effort, but her thighs and bottom ached from holding her own and she finally had to ask him to slow down.
“Unless you want to go ahead,” she told him. “I think Dancer can find her way back without my help.”
“Not leaving you,” he said. He tugged on the reins and waited for her to come abreast.
Lily used the remainder of their ride to tell Roen about the dinner party she almost hosted and the dinner party they were going to be attending. “I don’t know when it will be, but Ridley is anxious for it to happen so I suspect it will be sooner rather than later.”
“And this is for Fedora’s benefit?”
“Well, it was when I thought we would invite her to dinner, and Ben’s intention was the same when he took over my idea, but Ridley has a slightly different motive. She wants to impress her mother-in-law.”
“I don’t know how Ridley could be any more impressive. Ellie has a high regard for her. She speaks of her often and in terms that can blind with their glow.”
“That’s what I thought, but Ridley thinks differently. Hazarding a guess, I would say it’s because she hasn’t yet had a child.”
