A Reluctant Melody - Will she risk losing everything … including her heart?

by Ardoin, Sandra

  “There’s no need for your protection. He isn’t trying to hurt me.”

  With his attention glued to Mr. O’Connor, Kit turned his head halfway toward her. “I saw what I saw, Jo. His arms were locked around you, and you were struggling.”

  “True, but like you, his purpose was to save me from harm.”

  He frowned at her. “Save you from what kind of harm?”

  Joanna placed a hand on Mr. O’Connor’s arm. “Thank you. We’ll finish another time.”

  “Whatever you say, Mrs. Stewart.” With a final glare at Kit, he stomped through the wooded area toward the house.

  He barely cleared the tree line before Kit rounded on her. “Finish what? What’s going on, Joanna?”

  ***

  “In the event I ever need it, Donovan is teaching me to defend myself.”

  Since the attack on Darcy, Kit had been more vigilant, escorting Joanna to the house in the afternoon and back at night—except on those occasions when Perry interceded.

  Kit had no idea she had taken the matter of her safety into her own hands. He merely knew his delivery of rotted wood slats to the trash heap was interrupted by her scream, a sound that plunged him into action. Unnecessary action, as it turned out.

  Joanna brushed dirt and bits of dead foliage from the hem of her skirt. “Please don’t scold him. I asked him not to tell anyone.”

  “So with another of your secrets, I’ve struck a friend. Why couldn’t you just tell me?”

  The day they moved the furniture into her house, she took the fighter aside. Had her plan for this instruction begun then? Kit stood stock-still. That was the day after her altercation with Liam. Was Joanna hiding a secret more sinister than lessons in protecting herself?

  “Who are you afraid of?”

  She lowered her gaze and gasped. “Oh, you cut your hand.”

  He hadn’t noticed the sting from the broken skin on his finger until she mentioned the cut. “I must have scraped it when I tossed the wood aside to come to your rescue.”

  “We should put something on that.” Joanna started past him, but Kit latched on to her arm and dragged her back. He had no intention of letting her brush this episode aside without an explanation. She had felt sufficiently threatened to ask Donovan to teach her self-defense. Though Kit believed he knew the answer to his last question, it was high time she told him why.

  “I don’t need yarrow salve. I need the truth. Who frightens you?”

  Her attention traveled to the toe of her boot as it kicked the pine needles on the ground, then to the soaring treetops and the hawk circling above. It landed everywhere but on him.

  “Liam.”

  Lost in his irritation, Kit almost missed the name. He released her arm but wasn’t ready to let her slip away. “No one has heard from Liam in the six days he’s been gone.”

  “He may have left the property, but as I found out a month ago, he can’t be trusted to stay away.”

  The tic above his eye eluded Kit’s struggle to maintain a semblance of self-control. Deep anger in Joanna’s voice assured him she still held the hiring of Liam against him.

  With her hands clasped behind her back, she paced one, two, then three feet, spun on her heel, and tramped the same number of steps in the opposite direction, as if weighing her next words to see if they would stand in a court of law. “That day in the park … Liam demanded I give him the money from the property sale.”

  “That was thousands of dollars.” No wonder she’d slapped him. Kit folded and unfolded his fingers, and the sting of the cut revived. “Liam thought you would hand over money simply because he demanded it?”

  “We had an agreement. He broke it when you hired him, so I refused to pay.”

  Like a primed pump, Joanna had begun to spew the information Kit sought, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy his thirst. Was this what Liam meant when he said Kit knew nothing and Joanna could “educate” him?

  “Why make such an agreement?”

  “Because he knew I’d do anything to keep—” She stopped pacing and guarded her expression.

  Kit’s teeth clenched at the spark of indecision in her eyes. She was about to tell him—or rather not tell him—the truth. What more could he do to gain her trust? “To keep what, Joanna?”

  “Liam hurt Rose on more than one occasion. He’s a despicable man. I’d finally had enough and fired him.”

  “What about Annie? Did he ever …”

  “He never laid a hand on her. His raised voice was sufficient to frighten her.”

  Kit relaxed over that piece of information … somewhat. “When did you fire Liam? Before or after we met in Perry’s office?”

  She hesitated before saying, “After.”

  “That’s why you changed your mind about selling me the house, and why you negotiated such an outrageous sales price. You agreed to pay him to stay away from his wife and child.”

  While the explanation sounded logical to Kit, Joanna still avoided eye contact with him. “Liam knew you were interested in buying the property, but his sum was more than I could manage. You’re right. I would do anything to keep Rose and Annie safe, and Liam knew it.”

  Kit stepped forward and cupped her face in his hands to get her to look at him. “You’ve deposited the money in the bank. He has no access to it now, and you’ve no need to worry.”

  “You believe that will stop him from threatening me or those I care about? Why do you think I stayed in Banesville after the house sold, Kit?”

  He had asked himself that question numerous times. While he’d assumed it was for Annie, lately, he’d hoped her purpose also involved him.

  She backed away from his hold. “Why did you bring him here? Couldn’t you see the type of person he was?”

  “Jo, Liam asked me to help him regain the life and marriage he had before the liquor took control. It’s one of the things Ben and I try to do for the men—reconcile them with their families. I didn’t know about the violence.”

  Hadn’t he suspected Liam’s true character?

  In his eagerness to keep Joanna in Banesville, Kit had been willing to overlook his reservations about the man. At the time, he cared about nothing more than receiving a chance to prove to her his new character. In doing so, his pride and self-interest hurt three women. How was he to make amends for that?

  “I’m sure Darcy was attacked because he was looking for the money. What happened to her was my fault, Kit.”

  “You aren’t responsible for Liam’s actions, Jo. I’m at fault.” Kit rubbed the scraped skin on his finger. “We should tell the sheriff.”

  “No.”

  “We can’t allow him—”

  “You’re right. He’s gone and not likely to bother us again.”

  Joanna hiked the trail Donovan took while Kit followed at a slower pace. Her refusal to report what she knew nagged at him. At least Liam was gone.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Joanna dressed in a hurry. She’d spent too much time cooing at Jamie, and now Perry waited for her. Over the past week, his pursuit of her had grown more bold and his jealousy of Kit more obvious. Today, she would tell him of her decision to court his rival.

  Her hand quivered as she buttoned the shirtwaist. Did this tremble have to do with dread of hurting Perry, or was the cause anxiety over allowing Kit to beguile her a second time? What if Kit broke his promise and ran from her anyway?

  God, please keep me from making another mistake.

  She inhaled a deep breath, and her lips curved with a grateful smile meant for no one but the Lord. Little things, like receiving this sudden peace of mind, encouraged the conviction that her father preached a dangerous dogma.

  God never turned his back on her but waited for her to turn to Him. In recent days, Joanna had chosen to embrace that truth.

  After brushing her hair, she pinned it in a simple chignon and added a hat that reminded her of the day she and Rose had sifted through the items in the attic. Annie still played with the old cloth
es and accessories they had carried downstairs. A wistful sigh escaped. Before they knew it, the girl would grow into those items.

  She eyed the top of the trunk and the empty spot where she used to keep Annie’s drawing. Because it continually fluttered off the top, she had placed it inside weeks ago, planning to purchase a frame. With all that had happened lately, the errand had been forgotten. While she was in town with Perry, she would look for one and hang the drawing on her bedroom wall.

  Joanna moved everything from the top of the trunk and dug through the contents inside, but the paper wasn’t there. After scouring the room, she entered the kitchen. “Darcy, have you seen Annie’s drawing? I thought I put it inside my trunk.”

  Darcy held Jamie and swayed back and forth while stirring sugar into a pitcher of tea. “Not lately. Are you sure you didn’t move it elsewhere?”

  Had she? For all the attention Joanna had paid to her surroundings lately, it could have been staring her in the face for weeks. Perhaps she’d misplaced it when straightening her room after the housebreaking.

  “Well, I’ll look for it later.”

  Joanna rode the horse car to the factory on the other side of town. During the ride, she’d rehearsed what she would tell Perry. Now standing outside Perry’s office door, she tried to relax the muscles in her neck and shoulders, but the rigidity only reminded her of her brazenness with Kit on Wednesday night. Why was she bound and determined to sully her character around him? Amazingly, he still asked to court her. That might change once she confessed everything to him.

  What if she never told him? It was in the past. Why bring it up and risk another rejection?

  Perry opened the door of his office, glanced at her face, and frowned. “Is something wrong?”

  She wore her emotions too visibly these days. “There’s something we must discuss before we leave for the restaurant.”

  “What is it?”

  Once inside the room, Joanna hesitated. No matter how she phrased it, he wouldn’t be happy. “Kit has asked to court me.”

  Perry stood with his hand wrapped around the knob of the office door as if it were an orange to be wrung dry of its juice. Several seconds passed before he replied. “And your answer?”

  “I agreed.”

  He turned away and grabbed his hat from the coat rack with a force that set the furniture piece rocking on its base.

  “I’m sorry, Perry.”

  “I suspected from the first day I saw the two of you together that you shared more of a past than you admitted to me. He’s a drunkard, Joanna. He’ll never be dependable.”

  She simmered with the need to defend Kit. “You’re wrong. He’s changed.”

  His grunt spoke his disbelief. “It was probably one of his men who broke into your house. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn he was involved, maybe even arranged it.”

  “He had nothing to do with what happened. We both believe we know the identity of the man.”

  Perry stiffened. “Who?”

  Although she regretted speaking from anger, Perry’s hurt would run deeper if she continued to keep the information from him. “I told you about keeping the money from the property sale in the house.”

  When she related the incident at the park, his eyes darkened with a fury she felt all the way to her toes. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  “It wasn’t necessary. Why upset you over a theory I’m not one hundred percent sure about?” As she had done with Kit, she told Perry nothing more than Liam wanted to be paid to leave Rose and Annie alone.

  “When it comes to you, Joanna, nothing is unnecessary. I assume Kit handled the situation while I ran that confounded race.”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you told the sheriff of your notion regarding McCall?”

  “I have no proof, and Darcy is afraid of the exposure her presence will cost me after an arrest. Besides, no one has seen Liam in a week, so I hope we’re rid of him.”

  After several seconds of hushed tension between them, the noticeable strain faded. Perry opened the door and gestured her into the hallway. Their luncheon progressed without another word about either the housebreaking or her courtship with Kit.

  ***

  The oars sliced through the water of Town Lake without much splash. From the bow, Kit pulled the rowboat through the water as they moved farther from the shore. Joanna sat in the stern, holding fast to each side of the wooden frame. A gentle breeze fanned her face while the heat of a full sun seared the back of her shirtwaist.

  Kit grinned as he rowed the boat toward the middle of the lake. “You can relax. I know what I’m doing.”

  With reluctance, she let go of the sides, returned his smile, and turned her attention to their surroundings.

  Numerous people filled the park on this lazy Sunday afternoon. At the south end, a group of a dozen or so teens played a game of football that, from a distance, resembled nothing more than a mob brawl. To the east, a man ran across the field in an attempt to show off his kite flying skills in front of his sweetheart. The paper toy shuddered, then flipped and plummeted to the ground. The courting couple laughed.

  Although she still endured moments of anxiety when preparing to venture out in public, Joanna now realized much of her fear was in her mind. Most people never gave her a second look. On occasion, she crossed paths with an old friend of Clayton’s who snubbed her, but she’d ignore the insult and go about her business. Unlike the day she first rode the horse car, apprehension simply nibbled at her without trying to devour her.

  Nevertheless, her stomach fluttered each time the boat rocked from side to side due to another’s gentle wake, or when Kit looked at her as he did right now—as though she had emerged from his dreams into reality. Without doubt, her face displayed the same happiness because for this moment, she was living a scene from her dream.

  “I’m glad you accepted my invitation, Jo.”

  “So am I.”

  A sudden fit of timidity overcame her and smothered conversation. Joanna leaned sideways and ran the tips of her fingers through tepid water that smelled of fish and algae. She tilted her head back and gazed into the silky, blue sky with its smattering of wispy clouds.

  Kit stopped rowing and permitted the boat to drift. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

  Alert to the seriousness in his tone, Joanna drew her wet hand inside the boat. “I suppose it depends on what you ask.”

  “It’s clear how Perry feels toward you. Is there any part of you that returns those feelings?”

  Joanna paused to control her relief. She could answer this question with total honesty. “It’s true that since his father died, Perry has sought more than friendship from me. Although I counted on his support, I never encouraged him in a romantic sense. Now he knows nothing more is possible between us.”

  Kit nodded. “You told him about us?”

  “Yes.” She added in haste, “Only of your request to court me.”

  “How did he react?”

  “Perry is used to getting what he wants. Of course he was upset.” Joanna leaned forward and clasped Kit’s hand. “Yesterday, I broke his heart. Please, don’t ever give me a reason to regret the need for it.”

  Kit’s gaze held hers as he raised the back of her hand to his lips. The fire that threatened to weld them together the day of Annie’s birthday celebration warmed her all over again.

  Too soon, their boating adventure ended, and Kit helped her to the shore. While he pulled the boat onto the grass, an older couple trotted past them. The woman pressed a hand to her chest. The distress in both their expressions dragged Joanna’s attention toward a mound of bedrock that had been removed when the lake was built a year ago. A group of ten or twelve people gathered in front of the jagged granite pieces of various sizes, from cobblestones to boulders.

  She tapped Kit’s shoulder and pointed in the direction of the growing crowd. “I wonder what’s going on over there.”

  He lowered the bow of the boat and glanced t
oward the assembly. “They’re curious about something.”

  Too far away to see over the heads and hats in front of them, Kit said, “Stay here, and I’ll see what this is about.”

  He pushed through the throng, and Joanna lost sight of him. She approached the onlookers but remained on the fringe.

  Once Kit re-emerged, he cupped her elbow and led her away from the gathering.

  “What happened?”

  “Let’s get you home.”

  She twisted to see over her shoulder, but he was driving her forward at a pace that risked a stumble. She planted her feet and yanked to free her arm. “Why are you rushing me? What’s wrong?”

  He turned, but kept his hold on her. “I’m trying to protect you from a scene you shouldn’t see, Jo. A man is dead.”

  She shot another glance toward the rock pile. “How awful. Do they know what happened?” His mouth compressed into a grim line, and a clump of ice chilled her insides. “Is it someone you know?”

  “It’s Liam.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Rather than allow Kit to see her home, Joanna chose to be with Rose when her friend learned of her husband’s death. Now, she sat in the cottage and wished Rose didn’t have to endure more sorrow due to Liam.

  Once the body’s identity was officially established, the sheriff and one of his deputies wasted no time in arriving at the Spencer Brockhurst House. The preliminary evidence suggested that late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, an unknown person picked up a large rock at the park and struck Liam with a force that caved his skull. At the mental image, queasiness assailed Joanna, and she was glad Kit had insisted she not follow him to the front of the crowd to witness the gruesome scene.

  Sheriff Myers asked and received permission to search the entire premises, including the cottage. Kit agreed. Afterward, Joanna took him aside. “Are you sure you want to consent to it? What if they find something incriminating?”

  “What would they find?”

  “If it pertains to Liam, it could be anything.”