"Just for a few days.” Her voice was pleading. “Long enough to convince my father. Then I'll take you to Sampson, and we can all leave, together."
It was a crazy plan. Dangerous, probably. What kind of man must her father be to drive her to such desperation? Or was she addled? Maybe her father was really kind, doing his best to care for her. Maybe she didn’t have a father at all.
He eased out a breath. “How do I know you’re speaking the truth?” A question from earlier slipped back in. “And how do you know who I am and about my brother?”
She dipped her chin, acknowledging the fairness of his questions. “I saw you at the general store last week. In Canvas Creek. You caught that boy stealing and made him admit what he’d done to the clerk.”
Once more, he raised his brows at her. His mouth was hanging open, too, so he shut it. “How could you know that?” He’d made sure to stay out of sight when the lad approached the clerk with a somber face and the nickel.
The corners of her mouth tugged, and a smile lit her eyes.
His pulse responded, surging until his chest tightened. She was…Beautifuldidn’t begin to cover it. An angel. She had to be. How else could she take his breath with only a tiny smile?
She opened her mouth to speak, and he leaned in so he didn’t miss a word. “I was in the next row over. I’m sorry I listened in. I suppose I should have made my presence known.” The smile faded from her eyes, taking with it all the light. “My father had a guard watching me. He wouldn’t have let me speak to you.”
Gil strained to remember who else had been in the store. He’d spent enough time in town these past few weeks, searching for Sampson, that he’d recognized most of the faces in the store that day. He’d even recognized the lad from passing him in the streets a time or two.
But there had been one man near the door… A bit on the small side, he didn’t look strong enough to be anyone’s guard. He wore his years in the deep lines of his leathery face, just like all the older miners in the area did. Gil’d had no reason to suspect he was anyone else than a miner come to town for supplies, lingering in the warmth the store’s woodstove offered before he headed back to one of the dilapidated shanties down by the river.
Gil honed his gaze on Miss McPharland. “What did the man look like?”
She frowned. “Jedidiah? He’s short and wiry. Doesn’t look like he’d be much trouble, but he’s brutal. And his men are loyal. They won’t cross him. They know better.”
That first bit described the man he’d seen. The latter…well, Gil had been shielded from men like that since they moved to the Territory. But he still remembered the Montgomery’s gang who rode through Fort Scott, where they’d lived in Kansas.Brutaldescribed them. Men who wouldn’t blink an eye before they’d shoot a woman or child at point blank range. Like they didn’t own a conscience. Or a soul.
Miss McPharland was watching him, her gaze unreadable. If her father was associated with men like that, she did need to escape.
And she’d said she could take him to Sampson. They’d been searching for him over a month now. If he could just find his brother, he could convince him he’d be welcome at home.
If finding Sampson and protecting this woman required him to get into her father’s good graces by pretending to be her husband, he could do that. He’d always had a gift for settling tense situations. A few pleasant words, a little something to make people smile, and they forgot about their anger or worry enough to think rationally.
Before he could commit to her plan though, he had a few more questions. “What makes you think your father would believe our ruse? I’ve never met him. If he never lets you leave here, how could we be married?”
Something flashed in her eyes—embarrassment maybe?—but then her face sobered. “Remember I said I tried to run away a couple months ago?”
He nodded.
“I was gone for three days before they found me.” She shrugged. “Enough time for a ceremony.”
He could imagine how she would answer his next question, but he had to ask it anyway, just to tease her. “I’ve generally thought it would take me more than three days to get to know a woman before I proposed marriage.” Though it had taken him less than an hour to decide he would agree to her proposal now.
For afakemarriage. That was the difference. No matter how a part of him wanted to suggest the real thing.
A ridiculous part of him, obviously.
Like he’d just said, he’d need to know the woman a lot better than he did this one before he’d contemplate spending the rest of his life with her.
She wrinkled her nose. “I plan to tell him we met when I was picking berries. You were riding through the mountains looking for your brother. You’ve been in the area a while, and we continued meeting.” Again, she shrugged. “It’s certainly founded on the truth, just not the same timing.”
He let silence settle as he mulled through the other things they’d need to consider.
She waited quietly. So many people couldn’t be so patient, always needing to fill the noise or rush off to get things done.
After another minute, he leveled a look at her. “If your father is the kind of man you describe, how will he react to the news?”
Her mouth pinched. “He has…other plans for me—a match that’s advantageous for him. He won’t like it.”
The news shot down Gil’s spine. “You’re betrothed?” Another surprise shouldn’t shock him. But truly, what other shocking news would she casually share?
