She shook her head. “Thank you.”
As she turned to go, the notice board on the side wall caught her attention. One of the papers fluttered in the breeze that swept in with a customer. She stepped closer,peering at it.
Her breath caught in her throat as she read the words, each one searing into her mind.
Reward: For information about a woman named Patsy, red hair, with a niece named Anna.
Patience’s surroundings faded as she stared at the poster, her pulse pounding in her ears.
It couldn't be. How could anyone have found her out here? She'd been so careful, leaving no trace of her past life behind.
The description matched her perfectly, down to the color of her hair. And Anna... Dear, sweet Anna. How did the men who’d killed Michael know about her niece? And why use Hannah’s daughter at all?
Where were Hannah and Phillip?
"Is everything all right, Miss Whitman?"
She jumped as Mr. Higgins’s concerned voice cut through the fog of her thoughts. "Yes, everything's fine." She jerked away from the notice, but her behavior surely looked odd. Maybe it would be better to confront his suspicion squarely. Surely this man wondered whether she was the woman listed.
She motioned toward the paper. “This seems an odd notice. I’d wonder if they were looking for me”—she patted her high chignon of deep red hair—“except my name isn’t Patsy.” She gave a conspiratorial smile, then made sure her voice turned casual. “Who posted this, do you know?”
Mr. Higgins’s brows furrowed. "A fellow named Jonah Coulter brought it in this morning. He's staying over at the hotel, I hear."
Her heart stuttered at the name. Coulter?
Could that be the man who had killed her husband? If only she’d stuck around the riverboat long enough to find out.
But if this was that cheating scoundrel, how could he have found her so quickly?
She worked to keep her voice steady. "Well, I suppose I should stop and see this Mr. Coulter, just to clear up any confusion. Others might think I’m the one he’s looking for."
Higgins nodded, then turned his attention to the next customer in line.
She meandered out of the store, her racing thoughts at odds with her casual step. She had to find out who this Jonah Coulter was and what he wanted with her.
As she walked briskly down the boardwalk toward the hotel, she did her best to calm her frayed nerves. She'd faced worse than this before and come out the other side. She could handle one man, no matter who he was or what he wanted.
But fear coiled in her gut like a snake, ready to strike. She couldn't shake the feeling that her past had caught up with her. That everything she was working so hard to build in this new life was about to come crashing down around her.
Taking a deep breath, Patience straightened her shoulders and quickened her pace.
She wouldn't let that happen. She'd fought too hard and come too far to let anyone take away her future now.
The hotel loomed ahead, its weathered facade casting long shadows in the afternoon sun. Patience paused outside the door, gathering her courage. Then, with a determined set to her shoulders, she pushed inside, ready to face whatever awaited her.
CHAPTER 2
The click of metal on metal jarred Jonah from a restless slumber. His eyes flew open before his mind fully engaged. The dark barrel of a revolver loomed less than an arm’s length from his face.
He shifted his focus to the person holding the weapon—and had to blink to get the image clear in his sleep-fogged mind.
A woman. Red hair.
Patsy?
This stop in Missoula was to be his last before trudging back to the ranch. He’d ridden through the night to get here and had been trying to get in a few hours of sleep before he started searching. Could he have found her, here at the very end?
When she spoke, her voice came out hard. "Jonah Coulter?”
