“I’ve only met my so-called intended once. He’s twice my age. While he was crossing the street to meet us at the cafe, he kicked a dog and then backhanded a boy who was trying to get out of his way on the boardwalk.” She narrowed her gaze. “During the conversation, he ate his food as well as half of mine while boasting about how powerful he was in whatever mining town he came from. His exact words were, ‘There’s not a man for miles around who isn’t under my thumb. Some come easily, others learn the hard way.’”
The way she’d lowered her voice to a man’s pitch might have been humorous, if not for the desperation in her gaze. Her eyes pleaded with him even more than her words did. “I don’t know if he’ll be worse than my father, but he’s the same kind of man. I can’t risk it.”
Gil would be tarred and feathered before he let her be legally bound to a man like that. But there was one more question heneeded to ask, now while she might be most open to answering. “Where is my brother?”
She pulled back a little, her gaze searching him. Was she looking for something in particular? Or trying to decide whether to answer?
He leaned forward, letting her see his earnestness. “I’ll help you, Miss McPharland. But I need to know that you really can take me to Sampson. I’ve been searching for him for weeks now. If he’s in this area, I have to find him.”
She regarded him a few more seconds. “He works for my father. He’s done so for more than a month now. When we’ve convinced my father we’re truly married and feel confident he’ll let us leave together, I’ll take you to your brother.”
The way she pressed her mouth closed made it clear that was all he’d get on the matter. It was enough though. The daughter of a man like she described may not be entirely trustworthy—after all, she was asking Gil to help her deceive her own father—but he’d get her to safety, whether he received anything in return or not. But if he could possibly find Sampson and the sapphires stolen from them at the same time, he wouldn’t let the opportunity slip through his fingers.
“I’ll do it.” He extended his hand across the table.
Her eyes grew wide. Because of his nearness, or did she not know that was usually part of business dealings?
Whatever the reason, the way she looked so startled would never do.
“Jess.” He kept his voice gentle and used her given name, as he would if they were married.
“Yes?” She blinked, her voice weak.
He had to bite back a smile. “If we’re husband and wife, you’ll have to let me touch you. There’s no way we can convince anyone if you shrink back from my hand.”
Fear crossed her features, making itself evident in the trembling at the corners of her lips. What had he said?
You’ll have to let me touch you.
He was a clumsy, numb-brained oaf.
He leaned back and gripped the edge of the table on his side. “I didn’t mean it like that. Nottouch you. Just…touch you.” He raised his hand, palm up. “You know. Like your hand.”
He was making a mess of this. Where were all his charming words when he needed them? He had to get them past this, and maybe he could even pull a smile from her in the process.
He hunched low to be eye level with her. “I’m sorry, Jess. I said that all wrong. But it makes me realize there’s something that needs to be said between us.” He swallowed to moisten his throat. He needed her to hear this clearly. “I’m honored that you asked for my help. Honestly, it scares me a little to think what might have happened if you asked someone you couldn’t be sure would value a lady’s…” The heat searing his neck wouldn’t quite let him get the wordvirtueout. So he pushed on.
“I promise I won’t misuse your trust. We will have to be friendly enough to be convincing, but I promise I won’t touch you in any way that’s indecent.” He let out a breath. Surely she understood the point he was trying to make without him having to turn any redder.
He half-expected her to have that little smile at her mouth at his embarrassment, but instead, her eyes held a sheen of moisture. Had he made such a mess of it? Or was she so affected by his promise to be honorable?
By the openness in her expression—was that wonder?—his insides twisted. She must have only been exposed to men with the lowest of characters in this remote place.
Sampson was working with these men?
That thought knotted even tighter in his gut. Had he become like them? Surely not. His brother was young and ambitious,no doubt, but he’d been raised just like the rest of them. He wouldn’t turn his back on God and decency completely.
Would he?
Gil had to find him, soon. Had to get his little brother away from this place. And now Jess too. He’d doubled his mission, but he would fulfill it. He had to.
CHAPTER 4
Jess pulled the pie from the oven and set it atop the cookstove. Was it underdone? That would be better than burnt even a little. Father hated burnt food. But if the dried apples weren’t soft enough, the pie she’d baked to put him in good spirits would have the opposite effect. She poked the knife tip into the apple that peeked through the opening in the top crust. Soft enough.
She slid it onto the warming burner, then turned to see what else could be done. Her gaze tugged her all the way around to the man sitting at the table.
Lands, he was handsome. The way one corner of his mouth tugged upward, revealing a dimple. Those rich brown eyes, the slight wave in his brown hair.
