Val nodded and pinched his lips together, his gaze falling back to the cross.
“Don’t blame yourself for what happened with David,” Morgan said, reading Val’s thoughts. “Nobody could have known how deep in trouble he was.”
“You did,” Val replied.
“It’s true I didn’t like him,” Morgan admitted with a shrug. “But if I had known what he was all about, he wouldn’t have been alive for Collette to kill.”
Val chewed on the inside of his cheek. “The brave Mademoiselle.”
Morgan raised an eyebrow. “You don’t condemn her for killing David, do you?”
Val sighed and ran a hand through his dark, wavy hair. “No. She didn’t have a choice. He went after her sister. I’d have done the same thing in her position.”
“Then why are you so tense?”
Val’s gaze fixed on a fan of sagebrush rippling in the breeze while he shuddered. “Our last encounter wasn’t very pleasant…nor the ones before, come to think of it. I wasn’t awake two seconds before she lit into me, calling me lazy for lying abed for a week. The fact I was unconscious during all that time didn’t seem to matter to her. That girl can’t speak but to cut and scold, spitting nails with every word.” He shook his head. “She stings like a peppercorn in the back of my throat.”
Morgan laughed. “I thought you two seemed to get on.”
“Yeah, get on each other’s nerves.” He pulled on the cane and stood, shrugging off Morgan’s offered hand. “Why do I get the feeling there’s more to her than she lets on? I don’t like being lied to, especially after what happened with David.”
“What do you mean?”
Val peered sideways at his brother. “A genteel French lady as an expert markswoman? You said she drew and fired at David before you even had a chance to lift your arm. You’re a pretty damn good shot. It would take a hell of a lot of talent to beat you. And she told me she’d been shot before. All a bit unusual for a French dressmaker, don’t you think?”
Morgan shrugged. “Who knows what kind of upbringing she had?”
The distant whinny of a horse drew Val’s attention. The mountainous hills overlooking the cemetery turned black against the brilliance of the setting sun. A horse and rider stood atop the rise in silhouette. The hem of her skirt flapped in the breeze.
“There’s the devil’s mistress now,” he said, nodding in her direction.
“How can you tell?” Morgan asked as he squinted.
“Oh, I can tell.” He knew by the outline of her hat and the gaudy bow tied beneath her chin. He hadn’t seen her in six months, but he would know her anywhere. “There’s more to her than she lets on. I don’t trust the feisty, little Frenchie.”
He and Morgan climbed onto their horses and trotted down the road. The weight of uneasiness crept into Val. How would life feel in Gold Hill, in the mines, without his brother? Morgan had given his half of their claim to Ellie’s fiancé, Sandy. Though he was a friend and had served them drinks for years at the Gold Hill Hotel, it wouldn’t be the same as tunneling through the bowels of the earth with his brother watching his back.
They deposited their horses in the stables behind Ellie’s boarding house and entered through the back door, which led into the kitchen. She had her back to them as she stood at the stove, stirring the contents of a pot while she hummed a lively tune. The sight of her warmed Val’s heart with a friendly familiarity. He held a silencing finger to his lips and Morgan slunk back into the shadows.
Val sneaked up behind Ellie and tapped on her right shoulder before ducking to hide behind her left. She spun and frowned when she saw no one. Once she turned back around, Val was there and she started with a yelp, resting a hand on her chest. Val laughed and gathered her in his arms. She hugged him back and laughed into his shoulder.
“Ah, Val!” she exclaimed. “I ought to boil you with tonight’s dinner for scaring me.” They pulled apart and she pursed her lips as she studied him. Finally, her brow relaxed and she smiled. “My, oh my, darlin’ you look wonderful.”
“Ha!” he scoffed. “I was just thinking the same of you.” He circled her, appraising her slimmer figure. “I think I might have to steal you away from that fiancé of yours.”
The very man strode into the kitchen from the dining room and smiled when he saw the Kelly brothers. “Morgan, Val! What a happy surprise,” Sandy said, shaking each man’s hand.
Val dropped Sandy’s hand to put his arms around Ellie’s waist. “I was just telling Ellie I was going to steal her away from you.”
Sandy laughed as he pulled Ellie from Val and wrapped his arms around her. “Not a chance. It took me long enough to stake my claim. I’m never letting her go now.”
“Oh, well,” Val shrugged. “My loss. How are the tunnels these days, partner?”
“Lucrative,” Sandy replied, shoving his spectacles back up the bridge of his nose to their rightful place. “Very lucrative.”
Val’s fist clenched in excitement. “Excellent.”
“You’re not planning to start back yet, are you?” Sandy’s eyes flicked to Val’s cane.
“I sure am,” Val answered, ignoring the stab of disappointment that Sandy would question his abilities. “That is, if I still have a room here, Ellie?”
She raised her chin in mock insult. “Of course you do. You don’t think I’d let your room go to someone else, do you? It’s vacant and exactly the way you boys left it. In fact, I was just about to serve supper. Why don’t you boys take a plate out to the dining table?”
Morgan stepped forward. “None for me, Ellie. Thanks. I’d best be getting back to Lila. Will you walk me out, though?”
“Of course,” she said. “But take some food for the ride, will you?”
“Now, that I can do,” Morgan said with a grin.
Val shook his brother’s hand and pulled him into a hug before making his way out to the dining room with a full plate.
After hours of good food and welcome camaraderie, he settled into his old room. The surroundings felt strange. He stared at the empty bed across the room, the one Morgan had occupied for the two years they lived there together as brother bachelors. Those were good times! He was happy he hadn’t taken the time for granted. He’d appreciated every moment of their travels and long conversations.
Val recognized the first stirrings of sadness. It had been just him and Morgan for years since their folks died in Pennsylvania. His brother’s companionship was the only thing to pull Val through harrowing months of deep, dark grief. He had come to rely on Morgan more than he realized, and felt oddly adrift and uncertain beginning life on his own with no true conviction to anchor him.
He turned onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Ellie already fed him a hearty dinner, a luxury he had sorely missed in the valley under Lila’s untutored cooking, and the raucous laughter of a robust poker game in the parlor below chanted through the floorboards to his second-story room. He considered joining the game, but he was not in the mood for cards. Nor was he ready to embrace the silence of his bedroom.
His mind drifted to a different sort of companionship, one he’d been without for six months. He yearned for the soft touch and words of a woman, the comfort and reassurance borne in the most basic, human act, and he wasn’t going to find it at Ellie’s boarding house. The place he needed had rose-papered walls and red carpets, sparkling chandeliers and plump pillows.
Juliet’s.
Cane in hand, he pulled his thick great coat over his arms and walked out into the frigid night. His breath blew out in great white clouds that grew thicker as he labored the mile uphill.
“This won’t do at all,” he said as he fought for breath. “Six months of recovery and I can’t even walk up a hill without losing my breath. I damn well better be able to get it up tonight.” He stopped and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm.
The lights and noise of Virginia City greeted him long before he crested the hill, and when the busy sprawl unfolded before h
im, he had to stand in awe of it for a few moments. It was as if he’d been gone for years. When he’d left, the town center was a cluster of five intersecting roads. Now, there were ten times as many streets. Miners huts gave way to permanent homes, some large and lavish. Mills that had been on the outskirts of town were now smack dab in the middle of it. A school had gone up, a post office and scores of saloons and restaurants, all riches sprung from the silver soil beneath the place.
He swallowed his shock and carried on until he reached a road bisecting Main Street. His eyes trained on the marquee of the corner shop and he thought about the tenant occupying it. Dressmaker. It was dark within, but of course she would have retired with the sun. Though he had little desire to exchange barbs with her just yet, he still wondered how she had fared the winter months.
“Valentine?” A rowdy female voice, thick with Britain, called from across the street. “Valentine Kelly!”
He smiled when the buxom redhead bounded across the road and showed him a smile of gleaming crooked teeth in the part of her painted lips. She spread her arms to welcome his hug and laughed as she pounded his back with her hand.
“It’s so good to see you again,” she declared.
“I tell you, Juliet, you are a sight for aching loins,” Val said with a laugh. “I’m glad to see there are still some of the old comforts in this town.”
“You rat bastard!” She pulled back and slapped him on the shoulder. “You ‘aven’t been shaking your willy around the Duchess’s, ‘ave you?” Her eyes narrowed and she planted her fists on her hips.
“The Duchess?”
Juliet rolled her eyes and groaned. “Some hot totty who opened a place on the other end of town. Calls herself The Duchess. And the thorn of it? She’s bloody American! Can you believe the cheek of it? I’m surprised she even knows what a duchess is! Stupid cow doesn’t know who she’s up against.”
Val snaked an arm around the woman’s shoulders. “Why would you be worried about her, gorgeous? There’s no one in this town who compares to you and your…” his hand slid down to fill itself with her bosom, “assets.”
“She’s undercutting my pricing, that’s why.” Her palm moved over Val’s chest, squeezing and massaging, while she lowered her voice to a seductive purr. “You wouldn’t go skirting around her place to save a bit o’ coin, now would you, Valentine?”
Val pursed his lips and tilted his head as if considering the idea. Juliet straightened and slapped his shoulder again and he barked with laughter.
“What’s wrong with a little competition?” he asked the Madame.
“Just remember this, Valentine Kelly. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”
Val’s laughter deepened. “I love watching women play dirty.”
Juliet’s smile turned sensual, and she ran her hands over his torso again. “I promise there won’t be any playing tonight.” She stood on her toes to nip at his ear lobe. “But there will be plenty o’ dirty.”
“Even better,” he murmured against her lips as he leaned down for a soft suckle.
She ran her hands down his arm and gasped when she felt the handle of his cane. “What’s this?” She leaned back to look down. “I heard you’d been shot, but I was told it was nothing serious.”
There was deep concern in her features and he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Nothing that isn’t healing.”
Her eyes flitted about nervously. “I was sorry to hear of David,” she said solemnly. “A shock to us all.”
“Thanks,” he said, clearing his throat. He combated the sadness with a smile. “Hope my new holy status doesn’t bar me from your doorway.” She said nothing, but he was moved by the shine of fresh tears in her eyes, and he cupped her face. “Let’s not talk about it anymore, gorgeous. I came here to forget. If anyone can help me with that, it’s you.”
She smiled and wrapped an arm around his waist, turning him down the lane toward the brothel with the red walls. “Come on, then, angel. Let’s get to forgettin’.”
Chapter 3
Val and Sandy filled the mine cart to overflowing, but Val couldn’t push it through the tunnels one more time. The sweat covering his body was more from the pain than the actual toil. He sat on the ground and took a swig of water while he breathed through the ache and burn in his back and shoulder. Sandy studied him with a look of pity, and Val wagged a pointed finger at him.
“Don’t give me that look,” he admonished his new partner. “I can take anger, disappointment, disgust…anything but pity.”
Sandy joined him on the ground, using his handkerchief to wipe the fog off of his spectacles. “Why don’t you knock off for today, Val? You’ve done enough for your first day back. Four hours is a lot of work and your body needs some getting used to.”
“Boy, ain’t that the truth? I’m weaker than a foal anymore.”
“Well, like the foal, you’ve got youth on your side. You’ll get your strength back, but not if you push yourself too much too quickly.”
Val grabbed his cane and ground the tip of it into the dirt. Sandy had impressed him. The man was a juggernaut, blasting through almost as much ore per day as Val and Morgan had combined. Improved construction, pumps and mills had benefited more than just the millionaires who financed the lion’s share of it all.
“Been wantin’ to tell you, Val. I’ve been settin’ aside half the profits for you while you’ve been down at Morgan’s. Ellie’s got it up at the house whenever you’re ready for it.”
Val shook his head. “That money belongs to you, Sandy. Keep it.”
“I wouldn’t even be here if not for you and Morgan handing me this share. I don’t feel right depriving you of the portion you’re entitled to.”
“You’ve been shoveling this rock on your own for months. You earned every penny. And besides, you know how puffed with pride I am.” Val smirked. “You think I’d take a scrap of fruits from another man’s hard work? Not a chance.”
Sandy frowned and scratched his bald head. “Will you take it as a gift from Ellie and me? We know you’ve been out of work for half a year.”
“That’s enough, Sandy,” Val said as his hand swiped the air. “No pity. No charity. All right? Those first two years in the mines were good to me. I’m not hurting for money. So, just calm yourself, my friend. I appreciate the gesture, but no thank you just the same.”
Sandy relented with a nod and Val struggled to his feet. “I will heed your sound advice, though, and call it quits for the day.”
They shook hands and Val limped down the road toward the three-story white boarding house. At least Gold Hill looked the same as when he left it. It had grown some, but nothing compared to Virginia City. The old bar and hotel where he, Morgan and Sandy had spent their evenings in cigar smoke, good conversations and whisky looked the same as ever. The church, the dance hall, the restaurant and, of course, Ellie’s sat as comforting strongholds in a transient excitement.
He entered through the front and rested against the door as it shut. His eyes closed and he sighed, weary of weakness. There had to be a way to recover quicker.
“Good morning, Val.”
His eyes opened to find Dr. Argyle Cameron sitting at the dining table, sipping his coffee and reading the morning paper. His suit was crisp, the black trousers and vest the only outfit he ever wore. His white hair was combed back and tucked behind his ear, the handlebars of his mustache stained near the bottom from coffee grounds. And he was alone. The timing couldn’t have been better. He limped to the table and sat across from his sister-in-law’s father.
“Morning, Doc.”
“How is my daughter?”
“She was well the day I left. She misses you, though, and speaks of you constantly.”
“The feeling is mutual,” Argyle said. “I am thinking of making another trip down there in a fortnight, if my schedule permits. Work is busy up here, and I want to make sure I’ve tied up all loose ends by the end of her confinement. I’ll want at least a month to be down there. Ther
e’s no telling the exact date with these things, you know.”
Val shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I don’t really know, but as long as you know that’s all that matters.” They laughed and Val noticed an advertisement on the backside of the paper as Argyle held it aloft. “Ha!”
“What?” The doctor looked askance at Val, who turned the sheet around to show Argyle.
“The Spring Rodeo is in three weeks.” He smiled in remembrance. “I had almost forgotten about it. Morgan and I ride in it every year. At least we have been for the last three years. Doesn’t look like I’ll make it out there this time.”
“Why not?” Argyle’s wrinkles deepened.
“C’mon, Doc,” Val scoffed as he held his cane up. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Valentine Kelly, the only thing obvious to me is you seem to feel somewhat inhibited.”
Val’s eyes bore into the doctor’s. “That’s because I am.”
Argyle leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I gave you a clean bill of health and cleared you to a normal, active life a month ago.”
“I know that, Doc, but I don’t feel normal. Sometimes, this pain gets to screaming so bad I can hardly stand it.”
“I know exactly how you feel,” Argyle said rubbing a hand over his collar bone, the site he’d taken a bullet in last summer. “Do you feel that intensity of pain every day?”
“Not every day, no.”
“Does it seem to be getting better, on balance?”
Val considered. “It doesn’t feel like it’s getting any worse, but if it’s getting better, it’s sure taking its time about it.”
“So, help it along, son.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Is there anything I can do to recover faster?”
Argyle leaned forward and braced his elbows on the table. “Listen to me. You are recovered. The pain is something you have to learn to live with. Some days it will be worse than others. Some days, you won’t feel it at all. But it’s not the pain that’s bothering you, is it? It’s the loss of your strength.”
Desert Sunrise (Love in the Sierras Book 2) Page 2