“Yes, one and the same. Nancy was quite a character. She came out West to find her fortune. I’m a sixth-generation Coloradan. Not many of us natives left. So many people moving here, especially from California,” she said with an eyeroll.
“I’m from California.”
“Oh,” she said, like she’d just bitten into a lemon.
“And if this is typical Colorado weather, I can’t wait to get back home.”
She raised her eyebrows like,really?But then her eyes got wide and bright. “Yes. Yes,please, do go back to California and tell all your friends with moving vans pointed at my state that it’s always like this. That we have blizzards on the Fourth of July and the natives are super-rude.”
A deep laugh came up from somewhere near Kyle’s toes, surprising him. And from the looks of it, it took Arden by surprise, too.
“Rude, really?” He held up his mug of hot chocolate.
Her grin turned downright wicked. “Tell them up here in the hills, we turn cannibal in the winter.”
Kyle snorted. “So, you gonna eat me?” The words were out of his mouth like wild horses he had no chance of rounding back up.Jesus.Fucking smooth. What the hell am I doing?He tried his best to suppress his next thought:I’m having fun is what I’m doing. And how long has it been since that happened?
To her credit, Arden didn’t slap him. Actually, did she just give him the quickest little once-over? No way.
“You’re lucky I had a big dinner before you showed up, so you’re safe. For tonight anyway.”
He couldn’t tell in the firelight, but she might have blushed. He needed to shut this down before he did something really stupid. “Tell me more about Nancy.”
Arden yawned. “Sorry. I did have a long day rounding up critters. Well, Nancy died a respectable homesteader and the mother of six. But before that, she was rumored to be an outlaw, and beforethat, she was most definitely a Denver madame known as Nancy Satin.”
“You’re kidding me.”
She yawned again. “Not uncommon here. A lot of women got their start as ladies of ill-repute, then married well. That was Nancy’s case. She fell in love with my great-great-great-grandfather, who struck it big in silver mining. He was in love with her, but he also had a roving eye. He’d deny it, she’d get jealous, and they’d fight. So, her solution was to buy some land way off the beaten path, build a ranch, and put him in charge.” She grinned. “The isolation cure.”
“So, it worked?”
Arden laughed. “Six kids? Apparently so. But, starting the ranch took more effort and money than she thought it would. She purchased the land, had the ranch house and outbuildings built using her money and probably a good deal of his. All she needed were the steers. But then, she hit a snag.”
Kyle grinned. “Is that where the outlaw part comes in?”
Arden nodded slowly. “Before she could purchase a herd, the silver market crashed and it practically wiped them both out. His net value dropped, her clientele left town, and many of her girls followed them or quickly found husbands—with her encouragement and blessing, apparently. So, the ranch was their only chance at regaining any wealth. But without steers, they had no future.”
Kyle leaned forward. “Let me guess. Nancy turned to cattle rustling.”
“So it was rumored. They said with the last of her money, she hired some desperadoes to help her steal a herd of cattle out of Nebraska, and suddenly, she had a working ranch where she spent the rest of her days as a respectable wife and mother. Rustling cattle would have gotten her into more trouble than running a brothel—ifthey could have proven it. But, they couldn’t.” Arden leaned forward until her face was inches from his. She lowered her voice. “I have my own suspicions.”
“Yeah?” Kyle’s voice dropped to a whisper, less to match hers and more because of the lump in his throat as he watched her eyes dance with mischief and the firelight play off the gold in her hair.
“I think the law did have evidence against her, but Nancy had all their names along with a few prominent businessmen and politicians in her little black book, and she wasn’t afraid to use it.”
Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Smart lady, even if she had no scruples.”
Arden drew back in mock-offense. She touched her hand to her chest, covering her heart. “Hey now, she may have stolen cattle to get her ranch started, but she never stooped so low as to steal a man’s horse.”
“No? What about a man’s dog?”
Whoomp. A wall dropped between them.Shit, shit, shit. I’m a fucking idiot.
Arden’s mock-offense turned real. The mischief in her eyes faded and the sadness returned along with something worse—hurt.
Kyle set his mug down and reached for her. “Wait, I didn’t mean it, I was joking.”
She waved him off. In a flat voice, she said, “I’m going to finish my hot chocolate while I watch the fire, and then I’m going to bed, just like I’d planned before you showed up. I’ll call you a tow truck in the morning.”
