Sullivan (The Rock Creek Six Book 2)

by Linda Winstead Jones

  “My children,” she said simply, offering no other information. Let him figure it out for himself!

  “Your... children.”

  “I’ll explain later,” Sin said as he stepped around the table.

  It was embarrassing to have this personal exchange take place in front of Cash and Jedidiah and those horrid women, but she didn’t want to face Sin alone, not ever again. And she had to know.

  “You don’t love me,” she said, “do you?”

  “I never said I did.”

  An unpleasant flutter jumped in her chest, and she felt momentarily light-headed. “No, you didn’t. You’ve always been very honest with me, haven’t you?”

  She pulled her eyes away from Sin and looked at Jedidiah. “All right,” she said. “Null and void. I hope you’re satisfied.” She walked away with as much dignity as she could muster. “But you still can’t move back into my hotel,” she added as she reached the swinging saloon doors.

  * * *

  He’d never seen anyone look so hurt, but what choice did he have? If he told Eden he loved her, she’d never let him go. She’d be determined to make their marriage work. She would never give up. And Jed was right; she deserved better. Eden deserved better than to hear a man tell her what she wanted to hear just to make her happy for the time being. She deserved better than a lie.

  “There’s a problem, you leave the hotel,” Cash said, “and another warning mysteriously appears.”

  “She kicked me out,” Sin said, waving Laurel aside when she made an attempt to sit on his knee again. “Why would she write a threatening note to keep me around when she just booted me out of the hotel?”

  “Because she’s a woman, and they rarely make sense.” Ethel protested that statement, and Cash added a polite, “Present company excepted, of course.”

  And the truth was, Sullivan had to admit, Eden hadn’t kicked him out until she’d come in here and found him with a woman on his knee. Now that he’d all but told her he didn’t love her, she’d never forgive him. She was so sure what they had was love. He was just as sure it was purely physical and wouldn’t last.

  “It’s not like Eden to lie,” Jed said, shaking his head slowly. “She wouldn’t make up something like that.”

  “Is it like Eden to do whatever she must in order to get what she wants?” Cash asked dryly.

  Jed shook his head. “No. Eden’s always thinking about other people, not what she wants for herself. She’s always been that way. You should’ve seen her as a little girl.” A wry smile crept across the big man’s face, a smile that spoke of his loving protectiveness of his sister. “Even then she was pretty as all get out and sweet as sugar. She was always taking in animals. She’d take in any old stray that crossed her path, wounded, disfigured, sick animals no one else wanted.”

  “I don’t think she’s outgrown that trait,” Cash said, his voice low.

  Jed apparently didn’t hear. “One time we had a three-legged cat, a blind hound dog, a bird that couldn’t fly, and a half-dozen scrawny kittens she’d found down by the lake.”

  Sullivan’s gut tightened. Damn it, he didn’t want to be one of Eden Rourke’s wounded strays. He didn’t want her to feel obligated to take him in and heal him. “Teddy and Millie,” he said.

  Jed looked pained. “Her children. Is that what happened? Has she graduated to taking in people now?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Sullivan answered.

  They both agreed that Eden didn’t belong in Rock Creek, that she deserved better, but they couldn’t decide on how to make her leave.

  Cash looked thoroughly disgusted. “You’re both considerably bigger than she is. Why don’t you just toss her in that wagon of hers and take her home?”

  Jed shook his head in dismay. “She’d just turn around and come straight back. She has to want to leave. She has to be ready to go.”

  “So,” Cash said, being unusually helpful today, “how do we get rid of her?” When Sullivan and Jed both glared at him, he said, “I mean, how do we convince Eden that it’s in her best interest to return to Georgia and the fine life she so richly deserves?”

  In the still air that followed his question, in that moment of complete silence, a far-off scream split the air. Sullivan jumped up and ran toward the door; Jed was right behind him.

  “That was Eden,” the big man said as they ran across the street.

  “I know.”

  Chapter 14

  Eden slammed the cast-iron skillet against the floor and then stepped quickly away to observe the results from a distance. She shivered, but she didn’t scream again.

  Mere seconds later Sin ran into the kitchen, a six-shooter in his right hand. Jedidiah, armed with his rifle, was directly behind him.

  They stopped abruptly when they saw her standing there with the skillet in her hand.

  She knew good and well why they were here; the scream had been quite loud. “Sorry,” she said. “I’ve never seen one of those things before.” She pointed to what remained of the creature on the floor.

  “Scorpion,” Sin said in a lowered voice.

  Eden wrinkled her nose. “Are they poisonous?”

  “Yes,” Sin and Jedidiah answered at the same time.

  “I suppose one just wandered into the kitchen,” she said with a weak smile. “I looked down and... there it was.”

  “And you killed it with a skillet,” Jedidiah said proudly, casting a grin in her direction.

  “You should’ve gone across the street to get me,” Sin said, censure in his voice and in his eyes. “You had no idea what you were dealing with.”

  She was too annoyed with him to acknowledge his concern. “I knew it was considerably smaller than me,” she snapped. “And there was just the one.”

  “Two,” Jedidiah said, his smile fading as he stepped past Sin and stomped on a scorpion that skittered out from under her worktable.

  “Three,” Sin muttered as he caught sight of yet another scorpion boldly making an appearance from near the base of the sink. After he squashed the creature with his boot, he lifted Eden off her feet and tossed her over his shoulder. She landed with a sudden expelled whoosh of air and a gentle bounce, and she dangled there while Sin and Jedidiah checked the corners and crevices of the kitchen for more scorpions.

  From her undignified position, Eden gathered her breath and said haughtily, “This is not necessary, Mr. Sullivan. Please put me down. Jedidiah,” she said when Sin didn’t comply, “would you please tell him to put me down?”

  “Later,” Jedidiah said as he found and killed a fourth scorpion. “We don’t want one of these scorpions running up under that skirt of yours.”

  The idea made her shiver, and then she sighed, trying to maintain her self-respect as she hung from Sin’s shoulder like a sack of meal. When she spotted something slithering near the rear door, she pointed and squealed. So much for dignity, she thought as Sin spun around and did away with the small but dangerous creature.

  All in all they killed seven scorpions before Sin carried her from the kitchen and set her on her feet in the dining room.

  “How do you suppose they got into the kitchen?” she asked as she did her best to straighten her hair. Hanging upside down from Sin’s shoulder had ruined her once-neat hairstyle.

  Jedidiah and Sin exchanged a look that excluded her.

  “You don’t suppose someone purposely put them there, do you?”

  If the two most important men in her life were worried, and they clearly were, she certainly should be. A note was one thing, but this... This was more than she’d bargained for.

  “You stay with Eden,” Jedidiah said, wagging his rifle in Sin’s direction. “I’ll check the hotel from top to bottom.” He took a couple of long strides toward the lobby before stopping and turning around. He frowned and narrowed his eyes. “On second thought, I’ll stay with Eden and you check the hotel.”

  Sin didn’t argue, but left without so much as glancing in her direction.

  “Where a
re Rico and Nate?” Jedidiah asked when they were alone.

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “They left about an hour ago. Before I found the note.”

  It was the first chance she’d had to be alone with Jedidiah since his return, her first chance to be alone with her brother in years. She looked him over thoroughly. He hadn’t changed too much in the past five years. There were, perhaps, a few lines around his eyes that hadn’t been there before, and his hair was a little bit longer than she remembered. Apparently, he still didn’t think to shave often, and his clothes were chosen with comfort in mind. He favored soft buckskins and leather and always had. But, oh, he was a sight for sore eyes... even when she was angry with him.

  He took a long stride toward her. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked in a kind voice.

  “You’re here,” she said softly. “I don’t have anyone left but you, Jedidiah. We’re family. We belong together.”

  He shook his head. “If you’d married Mayfield or Cooper or any one of the dozen other suitable gentlemen in Spring Hill, you’d have your own family by now.”

  “I didn’t love them,” she said softly.

  Jedidiah stopped in his tracks. “But you came to Rock Creek and within what—a few days? maybe a week?—you thought yourself in love with Sullivan?” He shook his head. “Just like a woman. That doesn’t make any sense at all.”

  “You’re right,” she whispered, not bothering to tell him that it hadn’t taken any time at all to fall in love with Sin. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense. But that doesn’t make what I feel any less real.”

  “He’s not good enough for you,” Jedidiah said without anger. “Sullivan’s... Well, he’s too much like me. We stay on the move, we live by our guns, we’re beholden to no one. We’re too rough around the edges for the likes of you, Eden.”

  “Maybe I like a man who’s rough around the edges,” she said, trying to remain calm.

  Jedidiah shook his head almost viciously. “No, you don’t. You’re a woman. You don’t know what you want.”

  “So, would you like to choose my husband for me, Jedidiah?” Eden asked, her anger and frustration rising. “Goodness, how silly of me to think that I have the right to choose my own!”

  “Now, Eden,” he began.

  “How foolish of me to listen to my heart, instead of asking you who I should love.”

  Jedidiah shook his finger at her. “You can’t tell me it wouldn’t be just as easy to fall in love with a shopkeeper or a gentlemen farmer back in Georgia, as it was to fall in what you think is love with Sullivan. You’re just... fascinated with him because he’s different. That’s all there is to it.” He nodded with finality.

  She shook her head in wonder at his skewed reasoning. “You don’t know anything about love.”

  “I know all I need to know,” he said in a wise voice that made Eden roll her eyes. “Come on, Shorty, you know I only want what’s best for you.”

  “Yes, I know,” she conceded. “Misguided as your actions are, I realize your intentions are good.”

  He gave her a big bear hug, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around. “It is good to see you,” he admitted, “even if you shouldn’t be here.”

  “It’s good to see you, too,” she whispered. “I’ve been so worried about you lately. I started to have those dreams again, like I had during the war, where people I can’t see are shooting at you.”

  “I told you not to worry about me,” Jedidiah said, his anger fading as he set her on her feet again.

  “Easier said than done,” she replied. “Were the dreams true? Have people been shooting at you?”

  “Now and again,” he said, trying to appear unconcerned. “This last job I was on did get a little risky at times. There were lots of bad guys,” he added casually. “A few of them we thought for a while were on our side. But we rooted them out.” He winked at her. “As you can see, they were all lousy shots.”

  “How can you make light of danger when I worry so? You know I adore you.”

  Jedidiah leaned down, placing his rough and hairy face close to hers. “So, can I move back into the hotel?”

  “No.”

  His friendly grin disappeared.

  “I adore you, but I’m also very angry with you,” she said calmly. “With you and Sin both. What do you expect? You chased my husband of less than a full day away, and then I find him sitting in a saloon with a floozy on his lap. I love Sin with all my heart, but he doesn’t mind telling me and everyone else who’s present that he doesn’t love me. I thought he did. I made myself believe I could see it... and now I’m just disappointed and confused. And to top it all off, someone is apparently trying to scare me into leaving town.”

  “You really should leave town,” Jedidiah said. “This place is too rough for you.”

  She lifted her chin. “Maybe I’m tougher than you think.”

  That got an annoying grin out of him, just as Sin appeared in the doorway.

  “Nothing,” Sin said. “The place is empty, and no one’s lurking around outside, either.”

  “What next?” Jedidiah asked, turning his back on Eden and walking to Sin.

  Sin spared a quick glance for Eden, then returned his attention to Jedidiah. “We don’t leave her alone, not for a minute. Rico and Nate will help keep an eye on her.”

  “Excuse me,” Eden said, stepping toward the big men to join the conversation. “Don’t you two think you’re overreacting over a few ugly bugs?”

  They ignored her.

  “I need to check with the sheriff in Ranburne,” Sin said. “We ran across some rough characters on the way to Rock Creek. I want to make sure they’re still in jail.”

  “The Merriweathers?” Eden asked in a lowered voice.

  Sin cast her a quick glance and nodded once. “Then there’s Lydia to consider. She disappeared as soon as she found out Grady had left the hotel to Eden. Maybe she thought the old man was going to leave the place to her and this is her way of getting even.”

  Eden decided she’d much rather face Lydia than the two remaining Merriweather brothers. The memory of that morning on the trail gave her chills.

  “There’s a third possibility,” Sin said softly. “I’m heading over to the saloon to check it out.”

  “What possibility is that?” Eden asked, but again Sin ignored her.

  * * *

  While it was true that Eden needed to get out of Rock Creek, he’d be damned if he’d sit back and allow someone to frighten her, or worse, hurt her. Scorpions!

  Cash was sitting at the table in the corner, cleaning one of his fancy six-shooters.

  “I want you to tell me right now,” Sullivan demanded. “Did you do it?”

  Cash lifted tired, bored eyes. “Did I do what?”

  “Did you plant scorpions in Eden’s kitchen?”

  To Sullivan’s dismay, Cash grinned. “No, but at least her adversary is showing some imagination this go-round.”

  “Runt,” Sullivan muttered. “You think this is funny?”

  Cash sighed. “Of course not, but I assume all’s well with our nice girl Eden. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here harassing me.”

  Sullivan didn’t always like Cash, but the gambler had a way of reasoning things out, of making sense of a situation that didn’t make sense to anyone else. It was like he could see around corners. His judgment was never clouded by emotion.

  He took a seat and leaned slightly over the table. “Okay, if it’s not you, then who? You can’t believe that Eden would release seven scorpions in her kitchen just to make me think someone was after her.”

  Cash set dark eyes on Sullivan’s face. “Seven?”

  He nodded. “And we can’t be sure who put them there. Could be what’s left of the Merriweather brothers. We ran across a threesome of bandits on the way to town and they tried to ambush us at sunup. One of them ended up dead, and Eden shot one in the gun hand.”

  Cash grinned. “She did? Well, maybe there’s hope for your g
irl. That’s not nice, not at all.”

  Sullivan ignored the comment. “Sheriff Tilton was supposed to collect them, but I want to make absolutely certain they’re behind bars. This doesn’t feel right, not for those two, but until I know for sure...”

  “I’ll ride to Ranburne this afternoon and check on the Merriweathers’ situation, myself,” Cash said, taking the threat seriously at last. “Any other ideas?”

  “Lydia,” Sullivan said softly. “She disappeared after Grady died and left the hotel to Eden. Maybe this is her way of getting revenge.”

  “Notes and scorpions,” Cash said thoughtfully. “Sounds like a woman to me. There is, however, one other possibility.” He set his six-shooter aside. “What if the stories are true?” he asked, his voice low as if he were sharing a secret.

  “What stories?”

  Cash grinned. “Did you never hear a drunken Grady ramble on about his days as an outlaw?”

  “Sure, but...”

  “Did you never hear the story about the last big haul he and his partner made? The gold he supposedly hid away?”

  “I never believed it. Did anyone?”

  “Maybe someone did,” Cash supposed. “Maybe someone wants Eden out of that hotel so they can tear it apart to look for the gold. Think about it. They waited and waited for Grady to die. Hell, he’s been dying for months, an inch at a time. They figure he dies, the old place gets closed up, and they’ll have all the time in the world to search for the gold. But then Eden comes along, and Grady leaves her the hotel, and she acts as if she has every intention of staying. Maybe this someone doesn’t want to wait anymore. Maybe they figure they’ve waited long enough.”

  “Who could it be?” Sullivan asked softly, an unpleasant gnawing in his gut.

  “Could be anyone,” Cash said with an air of indifference. “Anyone at all.”

  * * *

  Eden was already tired of her contingent of guards, and it was just now suppertime. Good heavens, she couldn’t turn around without running into an armed man!

  All four of her guards, as well as Millie and Teddy, were presently eating steak and potatoes and green beans in the hotel dining room. Even Nate was eating a little bit. She hadn’t seen him take a drink all afternoon.