Evan elbowed his brother. “I told you she wouldn’t agree to it.” Then he smiled at Violet. “But I’m happy that you came back, Vi, even if it is to such a desperate mess.”
“Thank you, but the Perry option is crossed off the list.”
“We have others?”
“Of course,” she said, though a bit prematurely. “Give me a moment to gather my thoughts.”
She started pacing in front of them. Obviously, they could return to England with her, even if they didn’t like it there, but that would mean they would lose this house, the house they’d all spent their childhoods in, the house the boys had lived in all their lives. Maybe her uncle would pay off the loan for them, but sending a letter to London and waiting for a reply would take time.
She stared at the ceiling in exasperation. “You do realize that if you had mentioned any of this in your letter to me, I could have come here with enough money to pay off that loan so you could at least stop worrying about losing the house?”
“We did discuss it,” Daniel said, “and agreed that Father would be furious if we asked the Faulkners for money. That’s why I wrote to you in the hope you’d be interested in Mr. Perry’s...” At Violet’s glare, his voice trailed off. Then he added, “But there’s a glimmer of hope now that Father’s got a mine. We just don’t know exactly where it—or he—is.”
A mine that wasn’t paying off yet, but still could, though it might not happen in time. Maybe she could make the next loan payment with the money her father had given her when she first sailed off with Aunt Elizabeth. She’d never needed to spend any of it. But if she used that to make the payment, she wouldn’t have enough to solve their other problem: finding their father.
Chapter Three
THEY MOVED TO THEkitchen to continue their talk because the dinner hour was approaching. They, or rather she, had come up with a reasonable plan of action. At least, it struck Violet as the most reasonable option she could think of. It was amazing she could think at all, considering how unsettled she felt after learning she was no longer an heiress but a pauper. But then Jane put a dent in her plan when she stopped in the hall to explain to the maid where they were going tomorrow. And was met with a flat refusal.
“I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t have money to return to London, and a good thing I insisted on that,” Jane said, her expression quite bullish. “So I’m returning. You’ll be needing to hire a new maid, miss.”
There wasn’t time for that! “Jane, it will take just a few days traveling by train to reach Montana. It will be interesting! Don’t you want to see—”
“I’ve read me a few dime novels about that wild place west of here. There’s Indians and bears and duels on every corner. No, miss, I most certainly am not going anywhere except back home.”
The woman grabbed her bag and marched out of the house. Violet gave her brothers an exasperated look, which warned them not to laugh. But she had a brief respite from their dilemma when they reached the kitchen and her brothers paused, looking at her expectantly. They were hoping she’d cook for them, she realized.
She laughed. “D’you really think Aunt Elizabeth would let me near her kitchen? I can’t cook, but if you’ve been on your own all these months, surely you’ve learned how to by now.”
“Not really,” Evan said. “But at least the meal will be filling.”
“If very bland,” Daniel warned. “And eating standing up doesn’t make the food taste any better.”
They really had sold everything, even the kitchen table, which was why she suggested, “I could take us to dinner at a restaurant.”
“You can’t, not if we’re keeping your arrival a secret,” Daniel pointed out. “What if we ran into Mr. Perry?”
That wasn’t likely, but if it did happen, then her plan would be over before it started. So she just nodded and said, “My maid’s defection doesn’t alter my plan—well, it does, it just means one of you will have to accompany me to find Father, while the other stays here to stall Mr. Perry for another month’s extension. D’you need to draw straws?”
They’d already discussed this part. Perry was to be told that she’d sent them a letter explaining that she needed time to think about marriage to him. She was even going to write that letter tonight, in case he demanded to see it. But she was confident she would be back from Montana in less than a month, either with enough money from their father to save the house, or with their father himself, who would talk the banker into modifying the loan.
Daniel spoke up first. “Evan has to stay. He’s courting a rich heiress and can’t lose momentum on that. His marrying her would solve our dilemma—but he has to hurry it up.”
“There are three others courting her as well, so it’s not a sure solution, though I am hopeful. But these things can’t be hurried.”
“You love her?” Violet asked Evan.
“No, not yet, but at least she’s pretty, so I’m willing to make the sacrifice, even if you aren’t. And she likes me,” he added with a rakish grin.
She rolled her eyes at him. Of course the young woman would like him. He and Daniel were both so handsome. But they were never supposed to have to sacrifice when choosing a wife. Then again, they were never supposed to end up poor either. She was going to give her father a blistering tongue-lashing for thoughtlessly squandering his inheritance and putting them in this dilemma.
She turned to Daniel who, by default, had become her traveling partner, but he winced and admitted, “I hate to say it, but I’m also committed. I would have gone to look for Father myself if I weren’t. Although I’m sure he’s fine. You know how charismatic he is. He makes friends and charms people into helping him wherever he goes.”
“Committed how?” she asked, daunted by the thought of traveling to Montana without at least one of her brothers.
“It’s a debt to a friend,” Daniel said, then blushed. “We gambled. I really thought I could win, but I didn’t, and I didn’t have the money to pay him. If he weren’t a friend, he probably would have had me tossed in jail. He was willing to wait for payment, but then his sister came to town and he offered to cancel the debt if I would agree to escort her during her visit. It was worth it to him to get out of the task himself. And I was delighted that I wouldn’t have to admit that I couldn’t afford to pay him back. It was only supposed to be for a few weeks, but she decided to extend her stay.”
“How much do you owe him?” Violet asked.
