How had everything gone wrong? She still couldn’t credit that she had only two dollars left. That would buy one more meal if this stage stopped again before reaching Newcomb. She had eaten atrocious meals and had lost weight she couldn’t afford to lose. Lucas Holt would take one look at her and send her packing.
She wasn’t supposed to be in this awful, hot place. She was supposed to be living comfortably in seclusion in some small midwest town with Charley to keep her company. Poor Charley. With his long, thick hair, he was suffering even worse than she was, losing great patches of fur, listless, panting constantly. How was she to know it would be this unbearably hot here? This was land she knew nothing about. But even if she had known, she couldn’t have left Charley behind.
She still couldn’t believe Stephanie had done this to her. Sharisse was the one taking all the risks, including risking their father’s wrath, and all for Stephanie. Why would her sister have wanted to make things even more difficult for her? Yet she had tried to talk Sharisse into going all the way to Arizona. Worse became clear when Sharisse found her jewelry missing. She remembered handing her reticule that contained the jewels to Stephanie while she secured Charley in his traveling basket. After leaving the house, she had not set her reticule down once, tucking it beneath her skirt when she napped on the train that first day. She had found the jewels missing when she searched in the reticule for Mr. Holt’s letter. Why had Stephanie taken the jewels? The thought of being stranded so far from home terrified her, and she had no money to get back with. She would just have to wait and see what kind of man Lucas Holt was.
His letter gave her no clue, though he sounded almost arrogant in making the stipulation that he have some time to approve her before they married. Well, that could work to her advantage if she had to depend on him for a while. She could use that excuse to postpone the wedding as long as necessary. She would have to disdain everything about him and his life so he wouldn’t be too surprised when she insisted it wouldn’t work out. And from what she had seen so far of Arizona and its hardy men, she didn’t think she would have to pretend very hard.
The large Concord stage swayed as it crossed a nearly dried riverbed. Only patches of slimy puddles remained of the river. The brightly colored stage had room for nine passengers, but there were just four on this run. Only Sharisse would be staying in Newcomb. Because of the ample room, no one had minded when she had brought Charley out of his basket. They had stared at him, though, as if they had never seen a pet cat before. Maybe they hadn’t. She certainly hadn’t seen another cat since changing trains in Kansas.
There were mountains ahead that actually had trees on them. This so surprised Sharisse after the deserts and wastelands and mountains of nothing but rock and cactus that she completely missed seeing the town until the driver called out, “Newcomb ahead. A one-hour stop, folks.”
Sharisse’s stomach twisted into knots. Her vanity surfaced, and she suddenly wished that she had changed clothes at the last stop. But that had been something she hadn’t been able to do completely since leaving home. She realized she had taken Jenny’s services for granted and had left wearing a blouse she couldn’t get out of by herself.
Sharisse got hold of herself and remembered that she wasn’t out to make a good impression. It was just as well if she looked as bad as she felt. Years of proper behavior, however, made her put her jacket back on as soon as she got Charley into his basket. She managed to get the last button fastened just as the stage pulled to a stop.
A giant appeared out of the scattered dust to assist the passengers from the stage. Sharisse gaped at him, then quickly looked away when she realized she was staring. By the time she accepted his hand to step down from the stage, she did it absentmindedly, wondering which of the men standing around was Lucas Holt.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
Sharisse turned back to the giant. He wouldn’t let go of her hand. “Will you, sir?” she said haughtily.
He had the grace to look disconcerted. “A figure of speech, ma’am.”
“I know,” she replied coolly, and was surprised to see him grin.
Standing on the ground, she was even more amazed by his size, so tall and broad-shouldered. He made her feel downright tiny, something she had never felt before. Her father was tall, but this man would dwarf him. Was this a land of giants? But no, a nervous glance around showed the kind of men she was accustomed to seeing. It was only this man, this man looking her over with a stamp of possessive ownership on his face.
Her heart skipped a beat. This couldn’t be Lucas Holt!
“You’re not—?”
“Lucas Holt.” His grin widened, showing a flash of even white teeth. “I don’t need to ask who you are, Miss Hammond.”
In her wildest dreams Sharisse wouldn’t have pictured Lucas Holt like this, so ruggedly male, so hard-chiseled and powerfully built. She sensed a quiet arrogance about him, and, oh, dear, he reminded her of her father. Immediately she decided she couldn’t risk telling him the truth, not if he was like her father.
She tried to look beyond the raw strength that frightened her. At least he was young, perhaps twenty-five or-six. And she couldn’t call him ugly. Some women might even find him terribly attractive, but she was used to impeccably clean, fastidious men. He wasn’t even wearing a jacket. His shirt was half-open, and he smelled of horses and leather. He even sported a gun on one hip! Was he a savage?
He was clean-shaven, but that only drew attention to his bronzed skin and unruly long black hair. His eyes were extraordinary. The color made her think of a necklace of peridots she owned, with stones of yellow-green, clear and glowing. And his eyes seemed even more brilliant next to that dark skin.
Lucas let the girl look him over. It was her, the girl he preferred in the picture. She was a bit wilted, but that only gave her an earthy quality. Damn, but she looked good. It almost seemed as if he had wished her here, and here she was.
“I guess I’d better get your things, ma’am.”
Sharisse watched him saunter to the back of the stage and catch the trunk and portmanteau the driver tossed down to him. He was grinning. Why did he seem so delighted? She looked a fright. He should have been appalled.
He returned carrying the trunk on his shoulder and the small case tucked under one arm. “The buggy’s over here.”
She looked around, saw the hotel. “But I thought…I mean…”
Lucas followed the direction of her eyes. “That you’d be staying in town? No, ma’am, you’ll be staying out at the ranch with me. But you don’t have to worry about your reputation. We won’t be alone at the ranch.”
She supposed it had been too much to hope that he would pay for her room and board, when he probably had a huge ranch house with an army of servants. She followed him to the buggy and waited while he settled her trunks.
“Do you need anything before we leave town?” Lucas asked.
Sharisse smiled shyly. “The only thing I’m in need of, Mr. Holt, is a long bath. I’m afraid I haven’t had a decent one since I left New York. I suppose it will have to wait until we get to your ranch.”
“You didn’t take lodgings on the way?”
