“Abby isn’t being melodramatic, Violet,” Charles put in. “Sullivan and his sister came up to the attic the other day. They thought I was still unconscious and were arguing about getting rid of me. They’re losing patience, waiting for me to wake up. I’m surprised I didn’t give myself away, with them standing there talking about killing me in a few more weeks.”
“It’s going to happen sooner now that they have you, child,” Abigail warned her. “They will use him as leverage against you if you don’t pretend to cooperate and take them to the mines. But once they have what they want, they can’t just let you go, either. So this needs to be resolved before that happens.”
“How?!” Violet was terrified for both her father and herself.
“He plans to leave with you and his men in the morning. He’s certain you can lead him right to Callahan’s camp because you’ve been there. Can you?”
“Yes, I can now. But when Morgan took me there, he went by a circuitous route that took a full extra day, and he blindfolded me for the last six hours of that trip, just so I couldn’t lead anyone back there.”
Charles grinned. “That’s perfect—you can honestly say that it took you nearly two days to reach it, when it’s only a half day’s ride from town. Try to stay on the east road as long as you can, so the sheriff can easily find you.”
She glanced between them. “You two have already planned this?”
Abigail nodded. “And for it to work, you will have to go with Sullivan willingly. If he has to force you by revealing that your father is alive and threatening to kill him if you don’t take him to the mine, he’ll leave too many men behind to guard the house, and I won’t be able to help Charles escape.”
“Aren’t there a lot of servants here who could stop you?” Violet asked.
“They won’t, but Kayleigh will try to. However, she leaves the house every day for one reason or another, usually before noon. We will leave as soon as she does and go straight to the sheriff. And I’ll count how many men Sullivan rides out with to make sure the sheriff takes more than that number with him. So just cooperate as long as you can. You can do so grudgingly if you think that will help—yes, I was listening outside the dining room door tonight and heard your protests against taking him to the mine. Just get as far from town as you can before you admit you’re not sure where the mines are. We need half a day at least to sneak your father out of the house and get him to the sheriff, and the sheriff may need a few more hours to round up a big enough posse.”
Violet nodded, trying not to reveal how worried and scared she was. She wished Morgan were here to deal with all of this for her.
Her father must have sensed her unease, because he said, “I’m sorry for putting you in this dangerous situation, Violet. But I’m so proud of the brave, capable woman you’ve become. I have faith that you will keep a level head and lead Sullivan and his men astray until the sheriff can apprehend them.”
She smiled weakly, but to put her father at ease, she joked, “It sounds like I’ll be sleeping outdoors again tomorrow night.”
“You just need to buy us time tomorrow until the sheriff catches up with you,” he stressed. “Can you do that?”
“Of course,” Violet said. Well, what choice did she have?
Chapter Thirty-Five
FOUR DAYS. MORGAN THOUGHTthat by now he would have found Violet—one way or another. He’d searched all the hotels and lodgings in Butte, checked the train station each day to make sure she hadn’t bought a ticket, spent half a day watching Shawn Sullivan’s house, though that had been a waste of time. And each day he returned to the wilderness to continue the search, south, north, even a day farther east.
His anger kept him going, refused to let him stop. It had been with him from the moment he’d realized she’d sneaked off while he was working in the mine. The one day he didn’t come out for lunch, damnit! And she’d done it after they’d made love, after he’d felt a closeness to her that he’d never felt with another woman. And she’d started it by asking him to kiss her and telling him not to stop. Had that been her way of thanking him because she’d already known she was leaving? Yet he recalled how upset she’d been that day after being captured by the claim jumpers and witnessing their deaths.
She was a young lady out of her element who’d been scared that night and needed someone to comfort and protect her, and while she had desired him at the time, she might have regretted what she’d done. Of course she would. She was used to sophisticated, wealthy noblemen, even talked about marrying one. She’d never settle for a mountain-man miner like him. One more thing to infuriate him, that she didn’t think he was good enough for her.
No matter what came to mind to explain her taking off like that, it didn’t diminish his anger. It was a fact that she’d left the moment she’d gotten what she wanted from him, the money to pay off that loan on her family’s home and a mining partnership that would last long enough for her to pay it back. Would she have stayed if he’d agreed to a permanent partnership? Possibly, but he’d never know now.
He couldn’t even guess which way she’d gone. That was why he hadn’t found her yet. The rain had washed away her horse’s hoof marks, and he’d done too good a job confusing her about the location of the mines. He’d even ridden to Dillon, the last town before Butte on the train line, to see if she’d bought her train ticket there. If she’d ridden directly west and run into the train tracks, and remembered that town from when she’d arrived, she might think she was closer to Dillon and head south to it. But she hadn’t been there either, and his anger had turned into fear. Four damn days. Could she really still be alive out here in this heat, without food?
He’d returned to his cabin late last night for a few hours of sleep and to check if Texas had left another note. His friend was out searching for Violet, too, but his latest note was no more encouraging than the others. Morgan had ended up sleeping till noon, a waste of good daylight, but he wasn’t surprised, with as little sleep as he’d been getting since she’d left him. Left him? It did feel personal when it shouldn’t.
He had planned to check Butte again and then Helena today, though with this late start, Helena might have to wait until tomorrow. She might have gone there just to hide while she waited for her brothers to arrive.
He rode north to the east road. Halfway there he saw the dust cloud, not big like the ones stagecoaches made because of their speed, but big enough to indicate more than a couple of riders. He stopped and pulled out Charley’s spyglass. Eight horses riding at a slow trot—and he spotted Violet on one almost immediately. How could he miss that silly parasol?
His relief was tremendous, until he saw who was riding next to her, and then his rage surged back, worse than ever, because he’d been right from the start—she really was in cahoots with Shawn Sullivan. Had the man promised her a fortune for her mine that night he met her at the hotel? She’d just had to find her way there first, and she’d done that and was now leading him right to both mines for her big payday. Sullivan wouldn’t care that she wasn’t in a position to sell Charley’s mine; he’d pay just as much for the location.
And they were almost there. They would notice him soon after they left the road to ride south. He was so furious he couldn’t even think how to keep them away from his mountain. They were too close, and besides, she was leading them right to it. He really had misjudged her.Thiswas what she’d apologized for with the gift of her body. She’d known all along that she would betray him.
He headed back to the mountain to take cover in the first copse of trees, a mile or so before Texas’s camp. He pulled out the spyglass again; Sullivan’s party hadn’t come into view yet. He waited, still not sure how he was going to handle this. Fire the first shot? He’d have cover, they wouldn’t. Or maybe he should just go blow up both mines before they reached them. Now,thatsounded like a plan he could live with. And he’d beat them to town and have Charley’s mine invalidated to boot. Revenge at its finest. So why did it give him a sick feeling in his gut?
He trained the spyglass again, then frowned when there was still no sign of a dust cloud. Cautiously he rode, back toward the road, but still didn’t see it. What the hell? He kept going, and when he finally reached the road, he saw the tail end of their cloud—beyond his mountain.
He started to laugh. She didn’t know where the mines were. Had she found her way back to Butte by sheer luck, or had she encountered someone who had shown her the way?
He began to follow them, staying far enough back that he could only see that dust cloud with the spyglass. When they made camp for the night and settled down to sleep, he was going to steal her away from them. He wasn’t going to leave her out here with Sullivan long enough for her to eventually figure out where the mines were. He was going to take her straight to the claims office in Butte and have her watch as he invalidated Charley’s claim. Just desserts, as far as he was concerned.
