“Certain. Tell me about Josiah Pye.” He’d caught her by surprise, which was precisely what he’d hoped for. The smile that had been playing about her mouth faded and she raised her chin, losing the flirtatious tilt to her head. Her blue eyes lacked the warmth and amusement they had shown earlier when she was teasing.
“Why do you want to know about Josey? Who are you?”
“McCall Landry. Josey’s disappeared. I aim to find him.”
“Why? Is he someone to you?”
“He’s of interest to me. Do you know him?”
“You already know I do,” she said flatly, “or you wouldn’t be here asking about him.”
“True. So what can you tell me?”
“He worked at Morrison Station. Something to do with the horses. He didn’t talk about his work.”
“What did he talk about?”
“He wasn’t a talker. He’d ask if I wanted to be on top or bottom and that was often the extent of our conversation.”
Call smiled thinly. “I don’t believe you.”
Desiree shrugged.
“You said ‘often,’ not ‘always.’ What did you talk about when he was feeling loquacious?”
“I’m having a drink,” she said, getting up. “Are you sure you don’t—”
“Sit. Down.” Call didn’t flinch as she turned her sharp, narrow-eyed stare on him. He merely lifted an eyebrow and waited. She sat.
“Josey never spoke to me the way you just did,” she said. “I can tell you that. He was a gentleman through and through. Decent.”
Call watched her make a show of crossing her legs andcarefully tugging on the hem of her shift so that her bare knees were uncovered. If she’d hoped to gain some advantage by the display, she was sadly out of it. He glanced at her shapely legs just long enough to appreciate them and then returned his gaze to her face.
“I’m not sure why you’re being protective of him,” he said. “Did he make promises?” When she blinked out of rhythm, he knew he had touched a nerve. “Were you expecting to go with him when he left Falls Hollow?”
“You’re talking out of your head. I don’t know what you’ve heard about me, but I do all right on my own.” Desiree pushed the hem of the shift back over her knees and leaned forward. “Look. I’d have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to know what folks are saying about Josey and the Stonechurch payroll. They’re both missing so they must be together. That’s the kind of thing that makes sense to men lacking imagination. Well, I’m telling you that Josey never expressed the least interest in money except when it came to giving me my due. Is that clear enough for you?”
“Clear.”
“Then...?”
“Does he know you’re in love with him?”
Desiree sat back as though pushed. She tried to recover by staring him down, but in the end she was the one who looked away. “You’re talking out of your head again,” she said quietly.
“I don’t think so.”
She closed her eyes, shook her head.
“Where is he from?” asked Call.
“Evanston.”
“And that’s in Illinois?”
She nodded. “Outside of Chicago, he says.”
“Family?”
