“No.”
“I thought you would be faithful, no matter how long I was gone.”
She curled her fingers over the nugget. “And I thought you were an honest man.”
He shook his head. “You’re not making sense.”
“You asked me to marry you, Ross.”
“And it’s something I intend to do. This afternoon, if possible.”
“You might want to speak to your wife about it first.” Outside the window, she saw Fanny strolling slowly up the walkway, a white parasol propped up over her head to ward off the sun. “She’s been waiting for months for you and your gold.”
Moments later, Fanny opened the door. When she saw Ross, she shrieked and rushed toward him, flinging her arms around him. As she clung to his neck, Ross looked over at Isabelle. She saw the shock in his gaze. Dismay.
Fanny had been telling the truth. And it seemed he hadn’t ever intended to make good on his promises to the woman he’d left behind.
“How I’ve missed you,” Fanny said, stepping back, though her hands remained on his shoulders.
He dropped back against the counter. “I’ve—I’ve missed you too.”
“I wanted to surprise you.” She took a breath. “I didn’t think you would ever come back.”
She kissed him and then let go, giggling when she realized that Isabelle was in the room too. Her gaze fell to the nugget in Isabelle’s hands.
“Look what Ross brought for you,” Isabelle said, holding it out.
Fanny squealed as she reached for it. “You did find gold.”
His smile was strained. “Of course I did.”
She examined the piece. “How much more did you find?”
“Plenty, but it’s all in dust,” he said, speaking as if every word pained him.
Fanny smiled up at him again. “Now we can buy back your hotel.”
Reaching for Ross’s hand, Fanny led him around Isabelle, back toward the rooms where she’d been staying. Isabelle slipped over to her refuge behind the counter. She thought about hiding upstairs in her room, locking herself in until Mr.and Mrs.Kirtland left the hotel, but she wouldn’t be able to hide for long. Instead, she tried to busy herself by writing a letter to a shop in San Francisco.
An hour later, after taking a bath and changing into the clothes of a businessman, Ross returned to the lobby. “Fanny is packing,” he said. “Can we talk upstairs?”
They walked up to the third floor, to the sitting area in the center of the lodging rooms. He sat on one of the damask-covered chairs, and she leaned back against the wall beside the window.
Ross was one of the most handsome men she’d ever known, but any affection between them was gone. “You should have told me you were married.”
He shifted on the seat. “Fanny and I never should have married. We had completely different dreams.”
“I heard her father paid you an ample sum as a dowry,” she said, crossing her arms. “Must have helped with your journey west.”
“I’d wanted to come to California since the first time I heard about the gold.”
“And you needed his money to do it.”
He glanced toward the window before looking back at her. “I planned to send for Fanny, before I met you and Emeline.”
“You used my aunt and me, like you used Fanny and her father,” she said, refusing to accept the blame for his indiscretion.
“That’s not true.”
