That sounded somewhat ominous. Nonsense. She was letting Morgan’s rants about Sullivan get to her. But Morgan wasn’t a liar. Had his obsession with his mine colored his thinking about Sullivan’s efforts to acquire it? He had said that Sullivan had left a pile of notes for him at his hotel that he’d never even read. She supposed there was nothing wrong with persistence like that—as long as it didn’t turn into coercion. But she wouldn’t be in this town long enough to get badgered into selling a mine she wasn’t sure she had the right to sell. Even if she did have the right, she couldn’t do that to Morgan.
She spent close to an hour in the porcelain tub and didn’t care that the water got tepid, not when she’d longed for a real bath for more than a week. Abigail brought her dinner, which served as confirmation that dining with her hosts had been put off, but the housekeeper warned Violet that she would be carried to the dining room tomorrow evening if necessary. There was that Sullivan impatience again.
Of course, that wouldn’t be necessary. She was feeling better, more like herself already. But she was relieved by the delay. Once she turned down Sullivan’s offer for the mine, whatever it was, she’d probably have to leave his house immediately. She didn’t think he’d actually kick her out, but she’d feel uncomfortable remaining. It was too bad he hadn’t invited her to breakfast instead. Then she could go straight to the train station afterward.
She spent most of the next day in bed, getting as much rest as she could before her train journey home. Abigail confirmed that she’d sent the telegram to her brothers. With all of her clothes out of her valise for washing, she’d been able to find all of her hairpins and put her hair up properly. Her clothes had been returned clean and pressed, so she felt quite presentable for dinner. Abigail led her to the dining room.
The interior of the Sullivan house was as grand as its handsomely designed brick façade, which had so impressed her the day she’d come to see where he lived. She walked through well-lit, carpeted hallways past beautifully appointed rooms with fine furniture, tasteful fabrics, and gleaming silver bowls, vases, and mirror frames. She wasn’t the first to arrive in the dining room.
Kayleigh, who was standing by a chair at one end of the long table, smiled and greeted her. “Feeling better today, Miss Mitchell?”
“Still a little sore,” Violet replied. “But yes, much better and somewhat civilized again.”
“Callahan’s camp is primitive, is it?”
She didn’t confirm that she’d been there, saying instead, “Everything outside of town is.”
She glanced about the room at furnishings and luxury goods that couldn’t possibly have been bought in this town: fine china, silver cutlery, a crystal chandelier, a long dining table with ornate legs. It reminded her of Morgan’s dream to bring fine things to the people in the territory. She hoped he attained his goal—and she really ought to stop thinking about him.
“Do sit, Miss Mitchell,” Shawn Sullivan said as he entered the room.
She swung around to see the man she’d met at dinner with Katie and her fiancé. Sullivan had brown hair sprinkled with gray, but Katie had gotten her green eyes from her father. Wearing a well-cut charcoal-gray business suit, he was smiling and appeared as gregarious as he’d been that night in the hotel dining room. The man couldn’t possibly be as nefarious as Morgan had depicted him. He came forward to pull out a chair for her, one that placed her halfway between him and his sister, who took the seats at either end of the table.
“You have been most kind to offer me your hospitality, Mr. Sullivan.”
“Of course, of course, how could we not? I’m glad my men encountered you and were able to help you. We were concerned when you left so suddenly with Morgan Callahan after he was spotted in town. I know Katie said you hoped he would guide you to your father’s mine; I was just surprised that he agreed to. It couldn’t have been pleasant dealing with someone that stubborn and rough around the edges. But I expect you’re on good terms with him now?”
An actual direct question to get their assumptions confirmed. There was no point in denying it or trying to evade it this time, when she had in fact told Katie that. And she didn’t have an alternate excuse ready for where she’d been all this time.
“Somewhat,” she said. “At least when he’s not accusing me of working for you.”
Shawn laughed. “Did he?”
There was nothing funny about the frustration that Morgan’s misunderstanding had caused her, but she wasn’t going to be rude, so just said, “For a few days, yes. But we sorted that out.”
“My men didn’t see him when you rode toward town. Did he really leave you to get back on your own?”
He was asking far too many questions about Morgan. “Is dinner going to be late?” she asked politely with a smile, trying to mitigate her rudeness at evading his question.
He nodded at a servant standing silently by the door. Moments later, the first course arrived. She hoped eating would get his mind off Morgan, because his interest was making her distinctly uncomfortable. She didn’t want to reveal any information that might hurt Morgan or her family’s interest in the mine. If Sullivan was leading up to asking her where Morgan’s mine was, she was going to have to get up and leave.
She tried to distract him further by asking, “Will Katie be living in Chicago with her husband? I thought I might visit her briefly before I return to England.”
“Her husband has his own house in Chicago, yes,” Shawn answered, but then gave her a pointed look. “Do I need to let our sheriff know that Callahan left you out in the wilderness to die? Is that what you’re trying to avoid mentioning?”
She gasped. “He did nothing of the sort! He merely wasn’t ready to come to town, but I was, so I left to return to Philadelphia. My brothers will deal with our mine from now on.”
“But they aren’t here, are they?”
“No, they’re still in the East.”
“You would go home and then come all the way back here just to take them to the mine?” he said a bit incredulously. “When I could have one of my men do that for you?”
Coming back to Montana wasn’t an appealing thought, but she’d known when she slipped away from Morgan that she might have to. Waiting for her brothers to arrive in Butte was an even less appealing solution. Actually, she could probably give them directions, draw them a rough map. She knew the exact mountain range now, just not which exact gorge to climb; but there were only a few gorges, so they would find the right one in a matter of hours. Relief flooded her with that realization. She could catch the train in the morning!
As for Shawn’s offer, she merely reminded him, “You don’t know where it is, so how could you?”
“Because you will show me before you leave town—then you won’t have to return merely to be your brothers’ guide.”
