“No.”
“Why are you being so bloody stubborn about this?!”
He straightened. “Maybe I’m going to enjoy having you around. Maybe I think you’re so good at your job that you planned for all contingencies, including paying a visit to Philadelphia first to find out what you could about Charley. Lady, there’s all sorts of ways you could have prepared in advance to pull off this scam.”
Chapter Fourteen
VIOLET GLARED AT MORGAN.He had to be an idiot if he thought his comment about enjoying having her there could disarm her into telling him what he was convinced was the truth. It occurred to her that he might have been taking what he could from her father’s mine before relatives arrived to claim it. And that was why he didn’t want to show her where it was and why he might insist to the bitter end that she wasn’t a Mitchell.
“What are you going to do when you find out you’re wrong and I’m not working for Shawn Sullivan?” she asked.
“I’d rather hear you admit the truth and give me a reason to shoot the son of a bitch.”
“Men don’t seem to need much reason to do that out here,” she replied, remembering that frightful duel she’d witnessed in Butte. “Are you a thief? Have you been working my father’s mine all this time since he died? Is that why you’re being so evasive?”
“If you want to see me angry, you’re sure working in the right direction.”
He didn’t sound angry. Actually, the bear sounded amused. “Doyou have his money?”
“No.”
An actual answer, but not the one she’d hoped for. “If you’re not a thief, why won’t you talk about my father or his mine? I have a right—”
He cut in, “That’s just it, you don’t. D’you think I don’t know that you’ll take anything I say right to Sullivan’s ears? So give it a rest, ’cause I’m damn tired of reminding you that it’s simply not your business.”
She sighed. Her belly rumbled, but he hadn’t mentioned eating yet, and she’d rather bathe first, so she asked, “Where is that bath you mentioned? You said there’s a water hole.”
He laughed. “Oh, hell no, that’s for drinking and cooking in case the stream dries up. There’s a spot in the stream that’s backed up a little and has formed a small pool. It’s where I bathe when I feel like it.”
That implied he didn’t bathe often. She grimaced as she carefully stood up. Her legs still hurt, but she hoped soaking in cold water would ease her thigh muscles. She reached for the valise he’d set next to the bed and pulled out some clean clothes. Very wrinkled clean clothes. She might have asked if he had an iron, but it would no doubt make him laugh again.
“You’re determined?” he asked, watching her.
“Of course.”
“The pool is outside the fence, so it’s not safe for you to go alone.”
“I’ll brave it.”
“You’d still need a gun—if you know how to use one.” When she frowned, he sighed, adding, “I’ll take you, as long as you’re quick about it. And don’t worry, the only thing you’ll see of me is my back. Come on, the sun will be setting soon.”
“Then take a lantern.”
“I said quick, but should have added, or not at all. Take your pick.”
She was beginning to think disagreeability was ingrained in him, but before he got out the door, she asked, “Do you have soap?”
He turned about and went to his wall of shelves to rummage through a basket, then tossed her a very large bar. The coarsest type of soap—it would probably rub the skin right off her hands. “A washcloth?”
“Lady, does this look like a hotel to you?” Yet he tossed a small towel at her, then, as an afterthought, the longer one around his neck. She started to ask for a clean one, but he read her mind: “That’s the only one, take it or leave it.”
She closed her eyes for the briefest moment, wondering what Sophie would think if she could see her now. Her cousin would either faint or laugh, most likely the latter. She was fond of saying that when situations became absurd, they turned comical. But Violet, in the thick of absurd situations and such primitive choices, hadn’t reached that point yet.
She followed her host outside. He was waiting at the top step, she assumed to help her down them. She noticed a wheelbarrow full of rocks that hadn’t been there before.
“You were mining?” she asked in surprise.
“Why not?” he replied. “I make use of daylight even if you don’t.”
