The Agent's Mail-Order Bride

by Heidi Vanlandingham

  A sneer appeared on the man’s face as his gaze traveled from her face to her chest.

  “Pleased to make your acquaintance, ma’am.”

  The oily tone coating his words made her uncomfortable. She didn’t like this newcomer and wondered how Tate was acquainted with him. The longer she thought about it, she decided she didn’t want to know.

  “My eyes are in the usual spot on my face, not on my chest,” she snapped, ignoring Thad’s snort of laughter and Tate’s sharp frown. At that moment, a bowl of stew was placed in front of her with a large chunk of cornbread balanced on the rim of the bowl.

  She waited for everyone to be served then scooped up a slab of butter and spread it over the top of the hot bread and sank her teeth into one corner. Chewing slowly, she savored each bite as she devoured the warm bread.

  She lifted her glass of tea but stopped halfway to her mouth as she caught Tate’s amused grin. She frowned.

  “What?”

  “I guess you’re starving?” He chuckled.

  Never dropping her gaze, she finished raising the glass to her lips and took a long drink. She set the tea down and licked the moisture from her lips, noticing Tate’s gaze follow the movement of her tongue.

  “Well, someone forgot to stop for groceries before he got married yesterday.”

  His lips quivered as if he were fighting a smile.

  “Can’t argue with that, but that someone was making sure the wedding could take place.”

  She smiled and, without responding, filled her spoon with the savory stew and took another bite, listening to the men talk about mining and the storm brewing over the mountains.

  From underneath her lashes, she watched Welder turn and say something to Big John. The man was unfamiliar to her but, for some reason, she got the impression they already knew each other. This newcomer also seemed well acquainted with Tate and Thad as well, which didn’t make sense. From Big John’s reaction, he hadn’t known either Tate or Thad before their arrival, so how did he know Welder?

  She glanced behind her, her gaze moving around the room. Where was James Black? He was never far from Big John’s side, especially when there was a discussion about mining. Unease spread through her, and she set the spoon on the table and rested her hands in her lap, her appetite gone.

  Maybe Ayana was right? Maybe she was putting herself in a dangerous position. Warm fingers curled over hers. She turned her hand over and linked her fingers through Tate’s and squeezed his hand. Her doubts ebbed but didn’t completely disappear. Something was off about this entire thing, and she was going to figure out what Tate and Thad were up to.

  Just then, James Black walked up to the table and whispered in Big John’s ear. He stepped back and assumed the same pose she saw him in every day—standing at ease behind his boss—like a coiled snake ready to strike. With his arms crossed over his chest and his legs spread, his all black outfit and cold gaze gave him a dangerous air. Not for the first time, she had to fight back a shiver, but she refused to let him see how he affected her.

  “Tate, tell Cat about Big John’s offer,” Thad said.

  Tate picked up a cloth from between their bowls, one she hadn’t noticed before now, and wiped his mouth. Goodness, Cat thought. What a fantastic impression she must have given him. Her mother would be so unimpressed with her terrible manners. Countless hours of deportment and practicing the art of being a lady completely gone after only a few months in this town.

  “As a wedding present, Mr. Sutton offered us the use of a house he owns not too far from here.”

  Cat gaze popped up to meet Big John’s, and she frowned.

  “You only have one house here in town.”

  “No. Just yesterday, I won the deed to the Tanner’s house next to where the hotel was. The one out by Emma Hill. After the hotel burned last September, Mr. Tanner hasn’t been able to raise the funds needed to rebuild, so his wife insisted they return to San Francisco. The house there is nothing more than a shack, but it’s more than enough for me.”

  Cat’s brow rose, but she clamped her lips shut. She knew better than to argue with Big John or to call him out in front of a group of people. The man was lying through his teeth, of that, she was certain. She also knew the house he was talking of, and it was more than a one-room shack. The hotel owner had lived well, and the house was a four-bedroom Victorian. Mrs. Tanner had been particularly proud of her home and had bragged to everyone in town who would listen.

  “So if you’re staying there, will Rose Marie be going with you?”

  He rolled his beady eyes and clamped his cigar between his teeth and lit it.

  “Heavens no, my dear. Rose Marie is moving into one of the spare rooms upstairs. I assumed you would no longer be needing your job, so she will fill in until someone...more qualified can be found.”

  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He was taking away her job and kicking Rose Marie out of her home so she and Tate could move in? Rose Marie had never been overly friendly to Cat, but now she would be downright hostile. That home was the only thing the woman had. The only thing she seemed to take pride in and, without batting an eye, Big John had taken it away.

  “As I was telling your husband earlier, you are more than welcome to move in tonight. James has already moved Rose Marie’s things upstairs, so the house is yours for as long as you need it.”

  Big John stared at her a moment longer then turned to Tate.

  “You will both be up at the mine first thing to make sure the shipment of dynamite arrived and that the boys make headway in the tunnels. The ore shipments have been lagging behind, and the company backing this endeavor is demanding a higher return on their investment. I expect the turnaround to be immediate and without excuses...unlike the last foreman. I also expect you to do whatever I tell you. Without questions.”

  Tate glanced over her head at Thad then turned back to Big John.

  “There won’t be any problems, Sutton. I can guarantee that, but I can’t have my authority undermined. When it comes to the miners and their safety, my word is law.”

  Big John’s dark gaze never wavered as he stared at Tate.

  “That’s what the last foreman said. Do we have a deal?”

  Tate gave Sutton a quick nod and she and Thad followed him from the saloon.

  Cat couldn’t believe Rose Marie had given up her home without a fight. It bothered her that she would no longer be able to help with finding out information against Sutton. She and Tate hadn’t yet discussed whether or not she would give up her job, but as far as Cat was concerned, she would continue working at the saloon. She could also help Ayana with the sewing. If, for nothing more than to discover what everyone was so determined to keep hidden. Nothing, so far, had changed her opinion about what happened to poor Mr. Adams. John Sutton, along with James Black, were responsible, though, of that she was certain. Proving it, however, would be quite another thing altogether.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” Tate said as they gathered their few belongings. He picked up their two satchels and followed her to the door.

  She turned around and met his gaze, not sure what to say.

  “I don’t trust this.”

  She threw out her arms.

  “Any of this. Big John gave in much too easy. And Rose Marie—she would never give up her home. Black wasn’t there helping her in the way Big John said he was. I’m positive he forced her out for us. The man’s up to something!”

  Tate smiled. “You bet he is, and I aim to find out what.”

  Chapter 8

  Tate stared down at his wife’s face as she slept. Part of him was still amazed he was actually married. He supposed it could have turned out a lot worse. Cat could be homelier with a sour disposition. He didn’t want to admit it, and he wouldn’t admit it out loud to anyone, but he found himself liking her more each day. She was a sight to look at, but it was her quick wit and no-nonsense manner he liked the best.

  The first night in this house, they had slept in the
same bed, and had been doing so since. Sharing his bed with another person was no longer as difficult but, at the same time, it was worse because he was lying next to Cat. It was getting more and more difficult to not touch her as they lay side by side. Thankfully, the bed was larger than the one in the cabin, so they weren’t forced to lie so close they touched.

  As it was, Cat still wore her night rail, tightly cinched at her waist, over her nightgown. As she put it, “so you don’t get any ideas in your sleep, or otherwise.” He smiled at the memory. He knew getting too comfortable with her wouldn’t be smart. So far, he managed to stay away from her during the day since taking the job with Sutton, but the nights...

  Turning, he quietly closed the bedroom door behind him and shrugged into his coat. He was supposed to meet Thad at the mine at seven o’clock, the same time they’d met the last three mornings to observe the comings and goings of the miners and try to figure out who they could trust and who they needed to look out for. This morning, they would arrive a bit earlier and see the men, face-to-face, for the first time. Sutton hadn’t been happy about the delay, but Tate didn’t care what the man liked. All he cared about was getting the evidence to take John Sutton into custody, and he was going to need the help of the men working for him to do it. No mining operation was honest, and in most cases, it was ruthless, so he had his job cut out for him.

  He stood on the front porch and glanced up at the overcast sky, not liking the way the heavy gray clouds hovered over the mountains, obscuring the peaks then dipping lower into the surrounding valley. The weather had changed sometime during the night and there was now a thick blanket of snow covering everything. He pulled his collar up high on his neck as a few snowflakes made their way underneath his shirt.

  He trudged along what he hoped was the path, but the thick white expanse made it difficult to see where he stepped. In two places, the steep ascent became treacherous when the path curved out over the edge of the mountain. As he moved further up into the forest, the path cleared enough for him to see the expanse below him, and a few places all but took away his breath. One misstep as the trail snaked along the high ridge, and he’d find himself falling to the valley below.

  “Tate! Over here!” Thad hollered.

  Tate maneuvered around a boulder and found Thad crouched over a body. Standing near the man’s boots, he saw the jagged hole in the chest.

  “From the looks of him, he hasn’t been here long. Snow’s barely covering him, and he’s still easy to move.”

  Thad pointed to the set of prints leading further into the trees and away from where the man lay.

  “Whoever killed him stood over him as he died then took off into the forest. More than likely, he heard me coming.”

  “You’re lucky you weren’t shot too. Do you recognize him? I don’t.”

  Tate dropped into a crouch beside the man and searched his pockets for something to identify him, but they were empty.

  “No, but we haven’t been here long. If this town is like the other mining areas we’ve been to, the miners will stay close to their stakes so they don’t lose them.”

  Tate studied the tracks. Something about the boot print niggled at his memory. It was long and narrow so, more than likely, the man had some height. The toe of the boot came to a point, and there was a chunk missing on one side of the right heel. He would also be somewhat thick set because of the depth of the imprint in the snow.

  “Do they look familiar to you?”

  “Hmm. Maybe. Seems like I’ve seen that heel nick before. It’s nothing if not distinctive.” Thad stood and motioned to the dead man. “What are we going to do about him?”

  “Go back and report it to the sheriff—if this town even has one. I’ll head on up to the mine and scout out the miners. You seen Welder yet?”

  “No, and that’s not like him. Man lives on his horse, so riding all day yesterday would be nothing for him. Didn’t he say he would meet us here this morning?”

  “Yep. I’ll keep an eye out for him.” Tate met his friend’s worried gaze. “Something’s off. I can’t put my finger on it, but let’s keep our reason for being here between us for a while longer.”

  Thad’s dark brown brows bunched together.

  “If you think that’s necessary. Welder’s one of us, and we’ve always been able to trust him before.”

  “I know. I’m not saying we won’t fill him in, but for right now, let’s just keep our suspicions and Sutton between you and me. Let Welder think we’re here for the money, like we did in the past.”

  “What about Cat? You made her a part of this too. Are you going to keep all of this a secret from her as well?”

  “For now, yes,” Tate said. “We need to figure out who’s doing the killing and why. Pinkerton believes Sutton’s behind everything that’s going on in Alta, and I believe he might be on to something. I got lucky playing cards last night. If he’d been any better, I wouldn’t have seen him substitute that card.”

  “I’ll head back to town, but you need to watch your back up here. To tell you the truth, I’m not liking any of this. Alta is definitely not your typical mining community. Walking up Main Street last night, I felt the undercurrent—led all the way into the saloon. I don’t like that place, nor do I like Sutton.”

  “Can’t say I do either,” Tate agreed. “But there’s nothing we can do about it…yet. Right now, all we can do is figure out what Big John’s up to and stop him. Lots of these miners have families back home and are relying on what they can pull from their claims to take care of them,”

  “Just be extra careful until I get back, you hear?”

  Tate nodded and watched Thad’s progress as he quickly disappeared into the forest and made a mental note to return to town the same way. With the snow falling steady and the wind picking up, by the time he headed back, the trail he’d used coming up here would be too treacherous, not that it wasn’t already. A man’s ribald comment echoed through the trees ahead of him and was followed by laughter. Tate easily walked the well-worn path leading directly to the mine’s entrance.

  He stopped behind the thickest pine tree he could find, the trunk covering most of him, as several men stood talking in front of the mine. One of them was Welder. Don laughed and joked with the other two as if he’d known them for years, which wasn’t unusual. Don’s talent was making people feel as if he was their best friend. Suspicion about his friend’s motives, however, plagued his thoughts as he watched the man he’d grown up with. Since the age of sixteen, they had been through bad times and even worse times.

  Now that he thought about it, it had been Welder who first suggested they steal food from the nearby grocer’s. Tate’s job had been to take the bread, Thad’s the cheese, and Welder’s a chunk of ham. It had been the best meal they’d eaten in several weeks. Because they hadn’t been caught that first time, it had been easy to continue taking things. At first, they only stole food, but then that grew into clothing, and once Thad had even swiped a pistol.

  With their birthdays just three days apart in March, Welder always upped the ante and wanted to celebrate with something more daring. Welder suggested they try for the gold shipment the train would be carrying later that week. It had been a brazen, stupid thing to do, but somehow, they managed to stop the train and take the gold. His stash was still buried back in Colorado. After that day, he refused to touch it. For some unexplainable reason, it hadn’t felt right. Some outlaw he’d been.

  The jobs had gotten easier. After their first bank job, paper money was easier to spend than gold. After awhile, though, even that hadn’t felt right to him, and he began stockpiling it in a bank in Denver. He would probably never touch it. Not after working for the Rangers and Allan Pinkerton. Tate had never been cut from the cloth of an outlaw. Welder on the other hand...

  A familiar voice pulled him from his reverie. His eyes narrowed as Welder and Black seemed to square off in front of each other. Both men’s arms were crossed over their thick coats, which looked a bit silly,
but it was the wary expressions on their faces that drew Tate’s attention.

  “What are you doin’ up here, Black? Thought Sutton said Tate would be managing this mine?” Welder asked.

  “He did and Tate is. I’m just here to make sure he does since he hasn’t shown up for work yet. Sutton told him to be here three days ago, so where’s he at?”

  “I’m not Tate’s keeper.”

  “Everyone under Mr. Sutton answers to me, whether they like it or not. Sutton has bigger and better fish to fry...if you know what I mean?” Welder nodded but the wariness stayed, and Black glanced around.

  “I’m asking you again, since you’re so well acquainted with them and all. It’s mid-morning, so where are Tate and Thad?”

  Tate stepped out from the tree line.

  “Don’t know what hours you keep, but seven o’clock in the morning is hardly mid-morning in my book.” He stopped in front of Black and let the disdain churning inside of him show for all to see.

  “I know how to do my job, so don’t be coming around here trying to tell me. I told Sutton when I took this job I’m in charge one hundred percent. No outside intrusion.”

  Black’s beady eyes narrowed until they were nothing more than slits. His swarthy coloring flushed a deep red, more so around his neck and along the tops of his ears.

  “No one talks to me like that and gets away with it, Tate. No one.” He stalked back down the trail, each step pounding the hard ground.

  “Has anyone ever told you, you have a heavy hand with people?” Welder chuckled. “Damn, but if you haven’t gone and done pissed him off. Time’s are gonna be gettin’ interesting around here now.”

  Welder took off his hat and grabbed a canvas mining hat from the natural rock shelf just inside the entrance and shoved it on his head, his chuckles following him as he moved into the tunnel’s mouth. Just as the tunnel turned completely black, a small, flickering yellow light appeared, growing smaller the further in he went.