Wildcat Bride

by Lauri Robinson

  Bug glared, his best menacing look, but it didn’t seem to affect Jack.

  The man cocked one brow before he continued, “By not telling me, they left the opportunity for you to walk back into her life wide open.” He leaned forward, planting his elbows on the table. “I’m not your enemy, Bug. Even if I’d known about you, I wouldn’t have tarnished Eva’s mind against you, unless,” he held up a finger as if making a point, “I’d felt it was in Eva’s best interest. I’ll always want what’s best for her, so remember that.”

  “And you’ll always want your fifty percent of her earnings,” Bug replied, ready to get to the point of the conversation.

  “Yes. I will. I won’t deny that I make a lot of money off her work, and that I want it to last for a very long time. But let’s be honest, the bottom line is if Eva’s not happy, she’s not painting. If she’s not painting, there’s no work for me to sell. Therefore, the base of my interest is in her happiness not in her work.”

  Bug let Jack’s comment roll around in his mind for a bit. He finished his glass of water and pushed his plate aside. “And that’s where I come in.”

  Jack nodded. “Eva’s my oil well. I’m not in love with her, but I love her. Just like you love oil. Like I said, we aren’t enemies if we both want the same thing. Eva’s happiness. But…” he let the words settle before he continued. “If you aren’t in love with her, and just out to hurt her, I won’t think twice about eliminating you from her life.”

  Bug turned to the window, not to watch the traffic, but to decipher the thoughts rolling around in his head. He wasn’t out to hurt Eva, never had been and never would be. What he was mulling was how respect for Jack had filtered into his mind. The man was honest, and Bug had to admit, Eva was lucky it was him peddling her works across the nation, or world for that fact. There were plenty of other shysters that wouldn’t have her best interest at heart.

  “I take it we understand each other,” Jack said.

  “Yes,” Bug admitted, “we understand each other.”

  “Good. Now I can tell you that she went home.”

  Bug spun about. “Home?”

  “Yes, she and September left for Kansas yesterday.”

  The paper crinkled as Bug dug it out of his pocket. A picture of one of Eva’s paintings had been on the front page of the New York Times this morning . “This article says there will be two more shows.”

  “There will be. She just won’t be at them.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because she thinks you hate her. She didn’t tell me why, or what had happened. All she said was that she wanted to go home.”

  “I don’t hate her.” Bug’s guts rolled, remembering their last conversation. He had his apology ready. Had practiced it over and over again.

  “Damn it. Why’d you let her go?”

  “Because going home is what would make her happy.”

  “Alone?”

  “No, September is with her.”

  “Two young girls? You sent two young girls off on a train, alone? Anything could happen to them.

  They could get robbed or abducted or—”

  Jack laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Eva’s twenty-three years old, Bug. She’s grown up the last three years. She can take care of herself, has been for quite awhile.”

  Bug frowned. Eva had grown up. The girl he rode away from in Kansas would never have slapped his face the way the woman had the other night at the art show.

  Jack rubbed a hand over his mustache. “Let me give you a word of advice, my friend. Don’t go riding in to her place claiming you came back to protect or take care of her. You might get chased out faster than you rode in. With a load of buckshot trailing you.”

  Chapter Five

  Eva stretched out on the bed and patted the space beside her. “Let’s rest for a bit. That storm last night was impossible to sleep through.”

  September crawled onto the massive bed that took up most of the space in the bedroom of the luxury train car. “That lightning was something wasn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Eva agreed. She pointed to the curtains pulled back and tied away from the glass windows.

  “But today the sun is shining.”

  “What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get home?” September asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe visit Willamina’s grave. Tell her all about our trip.” Guilt stabbed at her chest. Bug had been so hurt by her actions. His family, especially Ma, wanted to wire him about Willamina’s passing right away, but Eva had asked them not to. At that time, she believed he’d be home within a few more weeks and didn’t think a wire would be the appropriate way for him to learn the news.

  The two of them had been close, back before he left for Pennsylvania, and she knew how much he loved Willamina. Or at least how much he had. The man she met in New York was different in so many ways. He not only looked older, more distinguished, he acted different. The old Bug would never have suggested she was gullible. He would have talked to her, not acted like he knew everything when he clearly didn’t. Perhaps it was a good thing he’d left three years ago, for she really didn’t know how well 47

  she liked the man he’d become. Oh, she still loved him, would always love him, but right now, after she’d had plenty of time to think about it, she really didn’t like him much. Or the tiny blonde that had been glued to his side.

  For three years, Eva hadn’t so much as looked at another man, but it seemed Bug was on very friendly terms with the blonde.

  “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?”

  Eva turned her head. September smiled and asked, “Have you?”

  “No, I’m afraid I haven’t.”

  “That’s okay. I was just rambling. Talking about how much everyone is going to like the gifts we brought back to them.” The girl crossed her ankles, making the bed shake even more than the rambling wheels beneath did. “Do you think Mr. Hampton will like the ink pen you bought him?”

  Eva let a pent up sigh escape. “Yes, I think he will.”

  “Me, too. A lawyer does a lot of writing.”

  Elliott Hampton had moved to Scott City a few years back, but Eva hadn’t met him until Jack enlisted Elliott to take care of her financials. Jack also insisted the contract between the two of them be drawn up by the lawyer, and then Jack had Kid review it, before she signed it. Elliott Hampton had also handled the adoption that made September and her little brother August, legally Quinters. That alone was all it had taken for the entire family to like and trust the lawyer.

  “Don’t you?”

  “I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening again,” Eva admitted, once again glancing at September.

  “I said that I think Mr. Hampton likes you.

  Don’t you?”

  “I think Mr. Hampton is a nice man, and that he likes everyone.”

  48

  “Not like he likes you. Even Dora says he has a crush on you.”

  “Dora needs to mind her own business,” Eva supplied. Though four years older than September, Dora Zimmerman had been September’s best friend for years. Eva smiled, hoping to soften the way she’d snapped.

  September giggled. “I know. But that’s just Dora. She’ll always be a busybody.” September flipped on her side and propped one elbow on the bed. Settling her chin on the heel of her palm, she continued, “Dora says all the girls in Scott have tried, but that Mr. Hampton isn’t interested in them.

  The only person he danced with at the last social was you.”

  Piqued, Eva asked, “Really?” Now that she thought about it, they had danced together twice that night. And Elliott had looked quite handsome in his brown vested suit. But then again, it was the same suit he always wore.

  September nodded. “Do you like him?”

  “Of course I like him. Everyone does.”

  “Yeah, but do you like him?”

  Eva wasn’t wil
ling to answer, not because she felt September’s question was too personal, but because she really didn’t know. She did like Elliott, as a person, she’d just never thought of him as someone she could fashion loving. Bug was the only man she ever thought of in those terms.

  She pushed her head deeper into the pillow. “I thought we were going to take a nap.”

  September plopped back onto her pillow. “All right. It’s going to be a long night. Our train arrives in Scott at seven fifteen, and then we’ll have to gather all of our luggage and travel home. I know Pa will be at the station when we pull in, so we don’t have to worry about waiting, but once we get home, everyone will be full of questions about our trip. I predict we’ll be lucky if we get to bed before midnight tonight.”

  “Midnight, uh?” It was a game they played on the trip, predicting different things. They never wagered anything on their predictions, just being right was the only prize they needed.

  “Yes. What about you?”

  “I think Summer will say ten o’clock is your bedtime, no matter how many questions the others have.”

  September smiled and closed her eyes. “It sure will be good to be home.”

  “Yes, it will.” Eva closed her eyes as well. The image of Bug appeared, not the one she’d met in New York, but the friendly, happy young man she’d fallen in love with years ago. She tugged her lids apart and turned to watch the great flat land of Kansas flow past the window. Would she be able to keep the fact she’d seen Bug from Ma? The woman had a way of getting information out of people without them even knowing it. September would be so hurt when she learned that Eva had seen Bug and she hadn’t.

  Eva closed her eyelids again, mainly so she could keep the tears prickling at her eyes at bay.

  Why did he have to change? Why had he ever left in the first place?

  She twisted and rolled onto her side, wiping at the tears dripping onto her cheeks. It was life, she knew that. Nothing ever stayed the same. To do so would be impossible. Yet, she found herself wishing.

  Even after the deaths of her parents and Willamina, she hadn’t wished to turn back time, for she understood death was a part of life. No matter what, everyone would some day die, leaving room for others to be born. Maybe that was it. Bug hadn’t died, he just changed. No longer loved her.

  She rubbed her cheek against the pillow.

  Perhaps he’d never loved her like she’d thought he did. After all, he’d never said as much. Images of him, of them together, flowed across her mind. Her heart skipped a beat recalling the time out by the badlands that he’d been hurt, and they’d all feared he’d die. Then there was the big party in Dodge, when they’d danced together on the front lawn of the Majestic. Other memories emerged; happy, wonderful times, and the images, along with the constant chug of the engine and rumble of the train wheels, lulled her to sleep.

  The blast of the train whistle, loud and long, brought her upright. Eva rubbed her eyes and glanced out the window. The land looked no different than it had when she’d fallen to sleep. Neither did the bright blue sky. Yet, she felt as if she’d slept for hours.

  She scooted to the edge of the bed and carefully climbed off since September still slumbered. Quietly, she walked from the bedroom to the main part of the train car. The bright red velvet that covered most of the walls and all of the furniture had been a bit overwhelming when they’d first entered the car in New York, but now, days later, the décor seemed as natural as the continual swaying.

  The train whistle sounded again, and she reached the car door as someone tapped on the other side. Pulling the door open, she smiled at the friendly porter.

  “We’ll be arriving in Dodge in five minutes, Ma’am.”

  “Thank you. How long will we be there?”

  “Just long enough for folks to get off or on.” He glanced down at the watch he held in one hand. “No more than fifteen minutes if we want to stay on schedule.”

  “Thank you,” she said, stepping back to close the door.

  The porter glanced into the room. “Will you or the young miss be needing anything? I could fetch you something during the stop if so.”

  “No,” she whispered. “September is sleeping. We won’t need anything. But thank you just the same.”

  “You’re welcome, then Ma’am,” he, too, lowered his voice to a whisper.

  Smiling, Eva closed the door. It seemed the young porter was a bit smitten by September. It was no wonder, with faded blue eyes and hair so blonde Eva didn’t mix any other color with yellow when she painted the girl’s image, September was very pretty.

  And her sweet, caring personality only added to her beauty.

  Eva’s forehead crinkled with thought.

  September was close to the same age she’d been when she met Bug for the first time. The train jerked and rattled, slowing down for their arrival in Dodge. She sat on one of the thickly stuffed chairs.

  Why did everything remind her of him?

  The whistle blasted again.

  “Sheesh!” September said, making her way from the bedroom. “Has that whistle always been so loud?”

  Jerking as it braked, one hard lunge sent September tumbling into the chair beside Eva.

  Laughing, Eva answered, ‘Yes, it’s always been that loud.”

  September stretched her hands over head. “Oh, well, I slept like a log. How about you?”

  “My nap was wonderful as well. Thank you.”

  “We’re in Dodge, uh?”

  “Yes, we are. The porter said we’d be leaving again in fifteen minutes,” Eva explained.

  “I know. I read the schedule. I was hoping we could see Uncle Hog and Aunt Randi, but by the time we walked to the hotel, it would be time to leave.”

  “Yes, it would. Maybe another time.” Eva grabbed the arms of the chair, bracing for the final lurch as the train stopped. It came as expected, and once again, she was shocked that everything in the car stayed put.

  It seemed as if the train was still rocking on its wheels when a loud pounding happened on their door. They both stood, but neither she nor September had time to move across the room before the door flew open.

  “Aunt Randi! Uncle Hog!” September screamed before the door was all the way open. Flying across the room, she landed in Randi’s petite arms. Then after a long hug, she stepped into an embrace from her barrel-chested Uncle Hog that lifted her feet off the floor.

  Eva, laughing with delight, accepted hugs from both as well. “What are you two doing here?” she asked. If there was one thing that held true for each of the Quinter brothers, it was that they adored their wives and their wives worshipped them, but the unique thing was how that loved flooded to include everyone else in their family just as strongly.

  “Are you kidding?” Randi looked as beautiful as ever with her hair pulled back in a flounce and fluff way that made it puff out above her ears. The style always made Eva wish she could make her straight, brown hair look so elegant. “Did you think we’d let you pass right through town with saying hello?”

  “Besides,” Hog said, hugging September one more time, “my brother sent three wires making sure we knew exactly what time his daughter was traveling through.”

  “He did?” September asked. Smiling brightly, she added, “That sounds like Pa.”

  Randi held up three fingers. “Yes, three.”

  Eva laughed. Shortly after Snake married Summer, he adopted her younger siblings, September and August. But to meet him, the way he loved those kids, one would think they were his from the day they were born.

  “One wire,” Hog started as he picked a large basket off the floor outside the doorway and carried it to a nearby table, “was to tell us to be sure and bring you something to eat.”

  No matter how many men Eva met, Hog would forever be the largest. He was the tallest and broadest of all the brothers.

  His grin grew as he continued, “The next one was to make sure we got the first one, and to confi
rm the time of your train. And the third one was to make sure we got the first one, that we’d remember to bring you something to eat, to confirm the time of your train, and to give you this.” He picked September up, hugging her all over again. “The biggest welcome home hug ever.”

  “Really, he did,” Randi explained. Hog was still hugging September, and Randi leaned closer to whisper, “So, did you see Bug?”

  Eva’s throat constricted.

  “You did!” Randi hugged her again, but kept her voice low. “How is he? As handsome as ever? When is he coming home?” Her questions, fired rapidly, stung Eva all the way to her toes.

  She had to say something. Whispering, she admitted, “I saw him, but September didn’t. There wasn’t time. He’s fine. But please don’t say anything.”

  Randi leaned back and patted both of Eva’s cheeks. The woman’s big, brown eyes bore into hers as if she was trying to read Eva’s mind, to learn more of what had happened. Randi hugged her again, “Don’t worry, Eva,” she whispered, “he’ll be home for good soon. I know he will.”

  Eva wanted to say she wasn’t worried, but it would be a lie, so she returned Randi’s hug and then changed the subject by asking, “Where’s Josephine?”

  “She’s home taking her afternoon nap,” Randi said. “Believe me, when you get a two year old to sleep, you don’t wake them up for anything.”

  “Ohhh,” September groaned. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen her.”

  “I know, but we’ll be at your place next weekend.” Randi gracefully slipped beneath the arm Hog folded around her shoulders.

  “You will?” Eva and September asked at the same time.

  “Yes, we will,” Hog agreed.

  “Why?” September giggled. “I mean, I’m happy about it, but it’s not someone’s birthday or anything.”