Chapter Two
STUART CLENCHED HISjaw. How could Ruthann ask such a thing of him? Jeremy might have been his friend once, but that ended the moment he refused to step away from trouble. And that trouble landed him in the place he deserved to be—the Territorial Prison at the edge of town.
“Are your parents aware of your plans?” He posed the question to Norah, knowing already what the answer would be.
“Of course not,” she said. When she looked up at him, her eyes—a fascinating shade of blue flecked with brown—were watery.
She was about to cry, and it was because of him.
He distracted himself from the guilt rising from his gut by looking at his sister. Ruthann had her chin lifted defiantly, and he knew he was about to hear every thought that had just gone through her head.
“Stuart Joliet. I know you’re angry at him and you have every right to be. But Norah’s done nothing wrong. Her family might have cut ties with Jeremy, but her heart has been heavy for so long now. Haven’t you noticed?”
He’d noticed. Always soft-spoken, though not shy, Norah had gone even more quiet. She’d attended social events, but had spoken only to those she knew best. And every time she smiled, it appeared as if it were a ghost of the smiles that had come before.
It hurt to see a girl so full of life turn into a quiet shadow. But Jeremy’s actions had hurt them all. Stuart would never forget that. Paying his former friend a visit would mean he accepted the choices Jeremy had made.
“You’d be better off forgetting him,” he said to Norah in a low voice.
Her unshed tears disappeared in an instant. “I won’t. He’s my brother, and Iknowhe did nothing wrong. I’ll never forget him, and I’llneverstop missing him.” Her words were like fire, matching the anger that had flared up in those fascinating eyes.
Her response was so unexpected that Stuart nearly took a step backward. Gathering himself, he thought that perhaps she would listen to reason instead.
“The evidence presented against him was irrefutable,” he said. And indeed, it had been. When Jeremy’s former employer, along with several other men of standing in the town, all testified to Jeremy’s change in habits, friends, and motivation to rob a train that sat overnight at the depot, there was no room left for doubt.
“I don’t care,” Norah said with a quiet intensity. Her fists were clenched now, Ruthann’s hand wrapped around her arm. “Jeremy would never steal, and hecertainlywould never murder anyone in order to steal.” She paused. “I know him. And I thought you did too.”
Her words were a knife to the chest, twisting through his heart. His resolve faltered for a moment. What harm could it cause, paying Jeremy a visit? He wouldn’t even have to say anything. He would only need accompany Norah and let her do the talking.
And if her father found out . . .
“No.” It came out more forcefully than Stuart meant it. Softening his words, he added, “Ruthann’s told me your parents have forbidden you from contacting him. I couldn’t disobey them like that, even if I wanted to. I have too much respect for your father.”
“How funny,” Ruthann said. “I seem to recall you not caring at all whatourfather said about riding up into the hills a few years ago. Where was your so-called respect to your own father? And what about that time he expressly forbade you to visit that old, dingy saloon—”
“All right.” He glared at his sister. How did she always know the precise way to sway an argument?
“All I’m saying is that your nobility as far as parents are concerned has a dubious history.”
Could she make him sound like less of a gentleman?
“My parents would never find out—not about my visit, and certainly not that you accompanied me,” Norah said. The anger had dimmed from her eyes, replaced now by an almost pleading look. It seared through his soul, making him feel as if he were a terrible sort of person for not agreeing to the one thing that could lift her spirits. She brushed a lock of her red-brown hair behind her ear, and Stuart knew right then and there that he couldn’t refuse her.
She’d been hurting for far too long, and he hated seeing any woman in pain, much less an old friend of his sister’s. If seeing Jeremy would make Norah genuinely smile again, he’d ignore his own opinions on the matter and take the risk.
“Fine,” he said, barely gritting out the word. “I’ll do it. But I have nothing to say to him myself.”
