Ah, there she was, Mildred Crenshaw. His stomach churned until he felt sick with it.
“Good afternoon, Mr. McIvor.”
“Howdy, Mrs. Crenshaw.”
The woman looked tired and harassed and she wore a worried expression. He almost felt sorry for her, except he could not spare the sentiment as he was too busy feeling sorry for himself.
“How about we talk in the dining room over a cup of coffee?”
“If we must.” He sounded surly but could not help it. He stood to lose everything he had worked so hard for.
They did not speak until they got to a table set for two. He held the chair out for her before taking the one opposite. “Look, Mrs. Crenshaw, I don’t like to sound rude, but why did you want me to meet you here? I’m really busy. Unless…. Did you find out what happened with Betsy?”
“I’m afraid she has disappeared.”
Mrs. Crenshaw looked suddenly distraught and he felt ashamed of his behavior toward her. The woman had obviously done her best, which unfortunately, had not been good enough.
“She’s gone, left town with her husband. They were fraudsters.”
“What!”
“I’m afraid she duped me, as well as you and several other young men.”
“Oh, no. So, I won’t get my money back?”
“No. I will personally refund it.”
The small amount of chivalry he still possessed kicked in. “I wouldn’t expect you to do that.” The money would come in handy, though, especially if he lost the ranch.
“I might have someone else who could prove suitable.”
Yeah, some old hag no other man wanted, he thought. If she looked too ugly, the Land Agent would know it was a fake marriage.
“No, thanks. I think I’ll take my chances without a wife.”
“Don’t be hasty. You’re in dire need of this marriage and so is she. Her name is Jasmine Dunbar.”
He didn’t care if it was Cleopatra, he was no longer interested. “No, thanks, I’m not that desperate.”
“She is running for her life. For over a month she has been traveling all over the countryside trying to escape people who are planning to kill her. She needs somewhere to lie low for a while.”
The revelation slammed into his gut. He knew what it was like to be running for your life, hiding, never knowing who to trust or where your next lot of food was coming from. Knowing that a Union soldier escaping from a Confederate prisoner of war camp could expect no mercy if he got caught. He suppressed a shudder as the memories, long suppressed in the deepest recesses of his mind, were suddenly resurrected. His own problems paled into insignificance compared to what she would be going through. In the name of humanity, he could not turn her down.
“Meet her, talk to her, then make up your mind.”
“I don’t need to meet her. I’ll marry her because I know what she’s going through. It has to be a marriage in name only or I won’t do it. We can have an annulment once I get my land and she finds a solution to her problems.”
He glanced up without knowing why as a pretty gal stepped into the dining room. Well, she would be a real pretty gal without the scratches all over her face, and if she wasn’t wearing such a loose, ugly brown dress.
Mrs. Crenshaw waved her hand and the young woman headed toward her. He scrambled to his feet and offered her his chair. Surely, this could not be Mrs. Crenshaw’s assistant.
The young woman had pale green eyes with navy irises, and honey colored hair hanging down her back in a long plait. She had a light sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
“Zane McIvor, meet Jasmine Dunbar.” The statement punched the breath from his lungs. This was the woman Mrs. Crenshaw wanted him to marry? Who would want to kill a sweet looking gal like her?
He grabbed a chair from the next table and brought it over for her to sit on.
“Am I different to what you thought?” She smiled and he nearly toppled off the chair.
“I thought you would be….”
“An ugly hag.”
“Yeah.” His cheeks burned.
“Well, I thought you would be an ugly brute of a man.”
“I wouldn’t do such a thing to either of you,” Mrs. Crenshaw said. “How about I leave you two here to have a cup of coffee, then come back in an hour or so and you can tell me what you decide.”
“Well, I, um…” He stood and went around to pull the older woman’s chair out and help her rise.
“I forgot to tell you my friend’s brother, who was good enough to drive me here, served in the war with Jasmine’s father, Major Richard Dunbar. He is prepared to recommend her on the basis of that experience; that is how highly he thought of her father.”
Zane stared at Mrs. Crenshaw, then Jasmine.
“I will leave you two together. Jasmine will be staying the night here at the hotel, and if you don’t decide she is suitable for your needs, she will be coming with us when we leave here tomorrow.” The woman walked away with almost a spring in her step.
“I’m not a cow on the auction block,” Jasmine said.
He grinned. Maybe this might not be so bad after all. “I would put a bid in for you.”
“Well, the way I look now, I wouldn’t put a bid in for me.”
***
Jasmine stared at Zane McIvor. He was a handsome man in a rugged, weather-beaten way, but he did have kind eyes. His dark hair was cut short and a beard shadow was evident on his chin. He looked as embarrassed as she felt.
“Do you think you would recognize me again if you saw me?” he asked, staring intently at her.
“Sorry. You just don’t look like a man who would have a woman running away from you.”
“I didn’t have time to court a woman. I needed a wife quickly to make sure I didn’t lose my ranch.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Crenshaw told me the awful position you were left in. What a horrible person the woman was.”
“A fraudster apparently, as it turned out. She already had a husband and tricked gullible men all the time.”
“What about you? Mrs. Crenshaw told me you needed the protection of a husband. Did you leave some poor man standing at the altar?”
“No. I had to get away from a mother and son who planned to kill me, so I escaped from their clutches and have been on the run ever since. I guess I need a sanctuary where they can’t find me.”
“I can relate to you being on the run.”
“You can?”
“Yeah, I escaped from a Confederate prisoner of war camp and was on the run for weeks. Had they caught me, I would have been shot. So, that is why I told Mrs. Crenshaw I was prepared to marry you, sight unseen, and not wait for her to try and find me some other woman. Well, to be honest, I was also running out of time to save my ranch.”
“It must have been an awful experience for you.” She placed her hand over his.
“Tell me what happened. Why do these people want to kill you? If we do get hitched, honesty between us is about all we’ve got going for us.”
He was right. Only fair to let him know what he was getting himself into. “You swear, on your word of honor, you won’t repeat what I am going to tell you, even if you decide not to go through with the marriage? Ever?”
“I won’t say a word to anyone. I give you my word. Who would know better than me about being on the run? Hiding, trusting no-one, lying and stealing, not to mention the fear of being caught.” He shuddered.
“They will kill me if they find me, Zane.” She told him what she had overheard, about Esmeralda’s embezzlement of the brewery money. How she wanted Cedric to marry her so the people administering her father’s estate would hand her affairs over to him, before she came of age. That way no-one would know all her inheritance was gone.
“That’s terrible. I guess she thought if her son married you, he could legitimately take over your affairs and so cover up their crime.”
“Yes, but that’s not all.” When she told him about the business of her produ
cing a male heir to claim a title and land in England, his expression became grim.
“Where is this crazy, deluded woman getting her information from? It doesn’t make sense to me. Surely there would be other heirs in England. This makes her extremely dangerous, though.”
“It doesn’t matter what the truth is, she believes it and is vicious enough to kill me to get what she wants. Not to mention the thought of Cedric touching me fills me with revulsion.”
“I’m sorry, Jasmine, it’s an awful tale, those evil varmints should be stopped.”
“I know, but who would believe the word of a stranger like me against two pillars of St. Louis society like them?”
He gnawed his bottom lip. “Yeah, I guess. Mrs. Crenshaw obviously told you about my predicament.”
“Yes. We could help each other out,” she said. “If we had a marriage in name only, once your ranch was secure, we could have it annulled. By that time, the word would be out about the brewery money going missing, which would thwart all Esmeralda’s plans.”
He nodded.
“I thought it was a ridiculous idea when Mrs. Crenshaw first suggested it, but the more I thought about it the more reasonable it seemed. She was so upset about what happened to you with that Betsy woman. You were the only failure out of all her matchmaking couples.”
He scowled slightly. “Do you want a cup of coffee?”
She shook her head and suddenly realized she was still holding his hand. She snatched it away. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, I, um, I liked it. You have beautiful smooth skin. Well, Jasmine, will you marry me?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“A marriage in name only?” he quizzed.
“Agreed.” She felt slightly deflated because he obviously found her too unattractive to want to commit to anything except a temporary marriage. Was she mad thinking such crazy thoughts?
“My place is fairly isolated, and I have to warn you the house is comfortable enough, but not fancy. It still needs a lot of work.”
“I’m not some little hot-house flower you know. My father taught me to ride and shoot as well as any man, to hunt and fish, and how to use a sword.”
He laughed. “A sword?”
“Yes. Before he came to America he was in some famous English regiment.”
“What happened to it?”
“What?”
“The sword, what happened to it?”
“I don’t know. We brought it from Virginia to St. Louis and it disappeared. Except for a few clothes, everything disappeared.”
“That woman probably sold it.”
“I think she did. It would have been quite valuable, and she was desperate for money to keep up appearances. She didn’t get hold of the family bible, but it was in my luggage on the stage and that’s gone. Rusty, Mrs. Crenshaw’s driver, said it might have been off-loaded at the Laramie stage depot. He said he would check and see if it was there.”
“It would probably be unloaded with the rest of the luggage and kept in storage. Did you have your name on it?”
“Yes, but not my real name. A made one up, Polly Wilson. It’s only a plain brown carpet bag. I couldn’t use anything fancy as I was trying to keep a low profile.”
Zane waved the waitress away.
“Mrs. Crenshaw said you were wounded in the war.”
“I was shot in the chest. Luckily, it missed all my vital organs, but the bullet shattered on impact and the army surgeons had to cut me open to get the fragments out. When I recovered, I was sent back to my regiment and a few weeks later we were captured.”
“You had two lucky escapes. You certainly had a guardian angel looking out for you.”
“Yeah. I don’t want to sound rude, Jasmine, but I do need to get back to the ranch. I’ll escort you to your room.”
“Thanks, but there’s no need. Oh, here comes Rusty and his sister.”
“You did agree to marry me?”
“Yes.”
“I will come into town about eleven o’clock, will that do?”
“Sounds fine to me, Zane.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jasmine smiled and waved as Rusty and Mrs. Donaldson walked into the dining room and headed over to their table.
“Howdy, I’m Rusty, you would have to be Zane.”
“Yeah. Howdy.” The men shook hands.
“This is my sister, Mrs. Donaldson.”
Zane got to his feet. “Howdy, Ma’am.”
“Good afternoon.”
“So, will there be a wedding?” Rusty asked, dragging over one chair while Zane got the other from a nearby table.
“Yes, Jasmine agreed to marry me. It will be a marriage in name only,” Zane said.
Rusty rocked back on his heels. “You’re a fool for making that kind of stipulation, son.”
“Well, I….”
“If I had been twenty years younger, I would have married Jasmine. Her father was the bravest man I ever knew, and if she gets even ten percent of his courage and integrity, you’re getting yourself a mighty fine woman.”
Jasmine smiled at the flattery. “You say the nicest things, Rusty.” She suddenly wondered why such a nice man remained unmarried.
“He always was a charmer,” his sister said, with a smile that did not quite reach her eyes.
“Where is Mrs. Crenshaw?” Jasmine asked.
“Poor dear has a headache and instructed Rusty and I to take you for an early supper. You must be exhausted after all you’ve been through.”
“I am. I’m wondering about my luggage.”
“I’ll go and check at the stage depot later,” Rusty said. “Zane, do you want to eat with us?”
“No, thanks, I need to get back home. I’ve got a few chores to take care of.”
“Okay, I’ll go around and see the preacher in the morning early, and make sure he’s available,” Rusty said.
“Okay, thanks.” Zane grinned. “Save me from finding him.”
“You’ll need a wedding ring,” the older man went on, giving Jasmine a wink.
“I didn’t think of that. This marrying business is all new to me.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get her a ring from the mercantile, they should sell them. I’d be proud to give the daughter of Major Dunbar away.”
“Oh, Rusty, thank you, that’s so kind of you.”
“This Major Dunbar obviously made an impression on you,” Zane said with a slight edge to his voice. He sounded, well, almost jealous, which was ridiculous. He appeared not to like her overly much. He had been adamant about it being a marriage in name only.
“You never forget a man who risks his own life to save you.”
Zane stood “No, I guess not. Well, I’m off. I’ll see you all back here around eleven tomorrow.”
Rusty got up and walked to the door with Zane.
“Zane McIvor seems like a decent young man,” Rusty said when he returned. “I think he’ll make you a good husband. He has a strong grip and his hands are hard. Shows he’s a good worker, and he’s not bad looking, either.”
Jasmine laughed. “I’ve already promised to marry him, so you don’t need to talk me into it.”
They all laughed.
“Would you ladies, like to eat here or at the diner?”
“Here,” they chorused.
***
Jasmine could scarcely believe what a difference a nice, hot bath and a good sleep had done for her. The bags under her eyes had disappeared, and even the scratches had faded a little. The fact Rusty had been able to collect her carpet bag from the stage depot last night had been even better. At least she had a change of clothes now.
Mrs. Crenshaw had given her a pretty, dark green shawl, to place around her shoulders. It was a good match to the emerald colored dress she was now wearing, and the gold tassels around the edges really gave it a lift.
She had decided not to wear her plain, unattractive brown bonnet. This might not be a normal wedding, yet she wanted to look as attractive as possib
le, given her circumstances.
Poor Mrs. Crenshaw was still unwell and decided to stay in her room. The woman had taken Zane’s mail-order bride’s betrayal to heart. Had insisted on taking the journey to Laramie to see him face to face, to apologize and try to sort out the ugly mess he had been left in, through no fault of his own. According to Rusty she had not been well when they left Cheyenne but would not be deterred from coming here.
Mrs. Crenshaw was not to blame for what happened. How was she to know the references Betsy provided were fake? The fact she had insisted on trying to repair the damage done to Zane showed she had integrity and compassion.
Rusty and Mrs. Donaldson waited in the hotel foyer for her. She was not sure how to take Mrs. Donaldson who was rather strange, friendly one minute, abrupt and cold at other times.
What if Zane failed to turn up? Where would that leave her? It was selfish to be thinking of herself all the time, although her life could depend on what happened here today.
“Do you think he might have decided not to go through with the marriage?” she asked Rusty, who was also starting to look anxious.
“No, that young man is smart enough to know a good woman when he sees one.”
“You’re biased,” she said, giving his arm a gentle squeeze.
“I am not.” He grinned. “I always give credit when it’s due. You are your father’s daughter, Jasmine. Not only do you favor him in looks, you have his courage, too.”
He stared at her so intently she wondered whether he could see inside her head, see the doubts swirling around. “Zane told me he was a captain in the Union army, and he fought in a few of the same battles as your father and I did. The Major would approve of him.”
“Do you really think so? If he were alive, I would never have found myself in this perilous position.” She blinked back tears, inwardly scolding herself for such a show of weakness.
“Yes. I served with him for three years under often harrowing conditions, so I got to know him well. If I had not thought this young man was right for you, I would have said so. In fact, I would have sent him packing.”
Jasmine's Journey Page 4