Whirlwind Secrets

by Debra Cowan

  “It isn’t a good idea for us to get involved that way.”

  “Why not?” Just because he agreed didn’t mean she had to know it. “Because we’re business partners?”

  “Yes.” Though she stayed behind the chair as if it were a shield, there was no uncomfortable shifting, no squirming. Still, Russ saw the rapid flutter of her pulse in her throat.

  “Okay,” he said.

  At his easy agreement, she looked startled. He wasn’t fighting her on this. His head said steer clear and that’s what he intended to do.

  She moved to the door, putting even more space between them. Tension vibrated from her, and she looked as though she might bolt any second.

  In the short time he and Lydia had worked together, Russ had learned there was always more to the story with her. And he would bet his interest in The Fontaine that it was more than their partnership that had Lydia broaching this subject. Because last night, she had been just as involved in the dancing and the kissing as he had.

  To his way of thinking, she was more anxious than gunshy. It was as if she were trying to head him off at the pass, trying to keep something from happening. And that’s when he realized. She was trying to “manage” him, just as she had with The Fontaine.

  Lydia hadn’t thought Russ might pursue her. She was trying to make sure he didn’t. Now, why would she do that?

  He quashed the urge to stand and walk over to her, trap her against the wall.

  She glanced out his door and stilled. A frown puckered her brow as she brought her gaze back to his. “So, you understand what I’m saying?”

  “Why, yes, ma’am,” he drawled, irritation flaring. “And I even got your meanin’ right off.”

  Her lips tightened at his sarcasm. She exhaled loudly as though he were trying her patience. She was damn sure trying his.

  Her bringing up their kisses was behavior most females would consider too forward. Lydia’s plain speaking told Russ she had been as rattled by what had happened between them the night before as he had. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be trying to maneuver him in the direction she wanted.

  She stepped outside his office, an urgency pulsing from her as though she were in a hurry. Why? Did she have somewhere to be? What did she keep gawking at out there?

  “Do you disagree that we shouldn’t get involved?” she asked.

  “No.” Arms still folded, he studied her.

  “Then things can continue as they were before we…before.”

  “As far as I’m concerned.” Maybe she was skittish because she had been spooked by the same reckless desire that had spooked him last night. But there was something else, too, though Russ couldn’t pin it down.

  Her attention drifting to a point outside his office, she asked absently, “So, you agree?”

  “I said I did.” His eyes narrowed. What was going on with her?

  She gave him a faint smile. “Oh. Good. Thank you. Have a nice evening.”

  She turned in a whirl of skirts and Russ listened to the rapid tap of her heels against the wood floor as she walked across the lobby. Curious as to why she’d been so antsy to leave, he pushed away from the desk and peered around the door.

  Lydia and Naomi were walking toward the dining room, their heads close together, their voices low.

  What were they discussing? Was it about the hotel? If so, wouldn’t Naomi be telling both he and Lydia?

  He wasn’t being paranoid and he wasn’t imagining things. The woman was up to something.

  He didn’t care how delicious she tasted, how her scent tied him in knots, how intrigued he was by her. He’d had his iron in the fire before with a woman who hid things from him, and he wasn’t doing that again.

  He thought about how Lydia had shown up in Whirlwind early. How her being shot had seemed more a deliberate attempt than an accident. How she was trying again to keep him out of her way. And how twitchy she’d seemed just now.

  He had gotten nowhere on his own in trying to figure out what she was up to, and he knew better than to expect answers from her. He needed help and he knew where to get it.

  Chapter Eight

  S till as suspicious as he had been the night before, Russ was waiting at the jailhouse before the sheriff arrived. He rubbed his hands together against the November chill. He’d left the hotel before even seeing Lydia that morning. If she weren’t his business partner, he would walk away right now. But he couldn’t. However, that didn’t mean he had to stay in the hotel with her every minute of every day. Or even in Whirlwind. He was making boot tracks out of town. Today.

  The woman affected him far too strongly and he didn’t mind admitting it. To himself. He wasn’t only wary of getting involved with her physically. He was also concerned about his interest in the hotel. No woman was pulling the wool over his eyes again, not in love and not for money.

  As the morning sun speared over the church at the east end of town, he caught sight of Davis Lee and Josie walking up the alley between Haskell’s and the newspaper office. They lived behind the general store and every morning, Davis Lee escorted his wife to her thriving seamstress business, located in the back of the mercantile. While the couple said goodbye, Russ waited at the top of the wooden jailhouse steps.

  His gaze moved from Haskell’s, down past the newspaper office. Next door to The Prairie Caller, the saloon was closed, quiet except for Pete Carter’s son, Creed, who was sweeping the porch before school.

  Russ’s attention shifted and he stared absently at the hotel. Its limestone facade glittered in the sunlight. His breath frosting the air, he stuck his hands in his trouser pockets to keep them warm.

  A movement on the third floor had him looking up and squinting against the sun’s glare off the glass. Lydia stood at one of her narrow windows, watching him. Russ’s gut pulled tight as she tentatively raised a hand in greeting.

  Her hair was down, swirling around her shoulders like black velvet, spurring that urge to bury his hands in it, his face. The sight of her put a funny ache in Russ’s chest. One arm was wrapped around her waist. Her free hand lay across her chest and she fingered the watch pinned to her bodice. She did that when she was nervous. What was she nervous about?

  He knew better than to think he’d find out from her. Russ tipped his hat then turned away.

  Davis Lee called out to him as he crossed Main Street and started up the jailhouse steps. When the sheriff reached the landing and unlocked the door, Russ sent another look in Lydia’s direction. Yep, she was still there. Watching him, pulling his muscles taut.

  He followed the sheriff inside. As he closed the door, Davis Lee moved past his desk to a glass-front gun cabinet, making sure his three shotguns were locked inside and undisturbed. Davis Lee never took anything for granted. Russ didn’t plan to, either.

  “What brings you over today?” the lawman asked.

  He didn’t see any reason to pussyfoot around. “I need you to find out whatever you can about Lydia.”

  Davis Lee frowned. “What? Why?”

  “She’s hiding something.”

  The other man walked toward Russ, adjusting the gun belt that held his Peacemaker. “What makes you think so?”

  “My gut,” he said baldly. “She doesn’t hem and haw when I ask questions, but even when I get a straight answer from her, it seems like there’s more she isn’t saying.”

  “I guess I could—”

  “Being with her is like a dance and sometimes I’m not sure who’s leading.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “That bothers me. She bothers me. It’s damn annoyin’.”

  Davis Lee leaned one shoulder against the wall behind his desk. “You sound intrigued.”

  He was, Russ admitted grimly. And that could only get him in a heap of trouble. “Are you going to help me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Here’s the kind of thing I’m talking about.” Russ told the lawman about Lydia’s early unexpected arrival, about all the telegrams she received, how she had been trying since her second day he
re to get him out of the hotel. “She wants to maneuver me. She’s tried more than once.”

  The lawman eased down on the corner of his desk. “I can see why those things would make you curious, but none of them sound that suspicious to me.”

  “Well, they do to me. Something about her is…elusive. It doesn’t sit right.” Russ wasn’t telling Davis Lee about the kisses that had turned him inside out and honed his wariness to a knife’s edge. “And then there’s her gunshot wound.”

  “What about it?”

  “Dawkins shooting Lydia wasn’t an accident. She wasn’t armed. I was, plus I had him in my sights. Yet Dawkins seemed to aim at her. Why didn’t he shoot me? Or Naomi? Lydia said she didn’t know him, had never seen him before.”

  “Good questions.” The other man frowned. “I haven’t learned anything new about the man and his wife since I came across that letter in his saddlebag. Do you think whatever Lydia’s hiding has something to do with the woman who was killed in your hotel?”

  “I don’t know. It might. Might even have something to do with the reason Lydia was shot.”

  Davis Lee stood and moved around his desk to open a side drawer, pulling out a piece of paper and stubby pencil. “The first thing I’ll do is send a wire to the law in her town. What do you expect me to find out?”

  “I have no idea, but I’d lay money there’ll be something.”

  His friend jotted a couple of notes. “Seems like you’re just swinging a rope and hoping to lasso some answers.”

  “Maybe I am. The woman has layers and I want to know what’s under them.”

  Davis Lee chuckled. “Are you sure her layers is what you’re wanting to get under?”

  If this conversation had been about any woman except Lydia, Russ would’ve grinned, but he didn’t. “That badge gives you a better chance of finding out things. She sued her fiancé for breach of promise when their engagement was broken. That might be a good place to start.”

  “So, that’s really true,” Davis Lee murmured. At Russ’s puzzled look, the other man said, “Josie heard tell of the lawsuit from Matt, but she wasn’t sure she got the story right.”

  “She did,” Russ said flatly. “Pa told me the man left Lydia standing at the altar. Can you find out more details about it?”

  “I’ll try. Are you sure you want to do this? What if you find out something you don’t want to know?”

  “There’s no such thing. I want to know everything, down to the number of hooks on her corset and the brand of tooth powder she uses.”

  Davis Lee considered Russ for a moment. “You this itchy because of what happened with Amy?”

  He gave a sharp nod, ignoring the look in his friend’s eyes that said he understood Russ was trying not to fall for another deceitful woman.

  “How urgent is this? You want me to hunt you down when I’ve got something? Or just send word to you?”

  “Either way is fine with me.” Russ rolled his shoulders against a sense of misgiving. He didn’t understand that. It wasn’t wrong to have Davis Lee do some nosing around. “You’ll send a wire today?”

  “Consider it done. She’s from Jackson, Mississippi, isn’t she?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Learning anything helpful could take a while.”

  There was nothing to be done about that. “That’s okay. I’m betting it’ll be worth the wait.”

  “All right.” Davis Lee walked outside with Russ, tugging his hat low over his eyes as he looked toward the hotel. “Does she know you’re suspicious?”

  “I’m not sure.” Even if she did, it didn’t matter. Russ wasn’t going to be taken in by a woman ever again. A quick glance over showed she was no longer in the window. “And I’d prefer this stay just between the two of us.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “I’m headed over to Abilene and I’ll be there for several days. Staying at the Texas Crown if you need to get a message to me.”

  Davis Lee nodded and Russ shook his hand before going down the steps and angling over to Ef’s. Under a side awning, the blacksmith already had a fire blazing in his forge, which consisted of a raised brick hearth outfitted with bellows and a hood to let the smoke escape. The heat put off by the fire was tolerable today because of the cool temperature, but in the summer Russ found it unbearable even though it was outside. It never seemed to bother Ef.

  If the other man were still working on the ironwork for The Fontaine’s balcony or making wheel rims or other goods, his hammer would be banging out a loud and constant noise.

  Today, Ef was using his hammer to anchor a piece of steel in place on the anvil. He was filing one side of already-tempered metal into what Russ recognized as the cutting edge of an ax head.

  Knowing if his friend stopped in the middle of making the tool, the metal would cool and he would have to start over, Russ went to stand under the awning. He leaned against one of the support columns and propped one booted foot behind him.

  Muscles flexed in Ef’s forearms and shoulders as he glanced up from his anvil. Sweat glistened on his black skin. “Mornin’.”

  “Mornin’.”

  “Want some coffee?”

  “No, thanks. I just stopped by to tell you I’m on my way to Abilene and I’ll be there for a few days.”

  Ef smoothly stroked his file down the ax’s edge then did it again before straightening. “Goin’ for any special reason?”

  Russ kept his back to The Fontaine. “The bank loan is due in forty-five days and I haven’t found a buyer yet for my share of the hotel. There are a couple of businessmen over there who’ve expressed interest before in other ventures so I plan to talk to them about it. Depending on how that goes, I may meet with the bank officer about extending the due date.”

  “Good luck.”

  “Thanks.”

  The blacksmith dragged his arm across his perspiring forehead, drying his skin against his rolled-back sleeve. He set the honed ax head on a bench behind him and reached into the deep pocket on the front of his apron for a rag then wiped his hands. “You want me to keep an eye on the hotel for you?”

  “Yeah, the hotel. Not just Miz Jones.” Russ grinned at the pleasure that lit his friend’s eyes. “Actually, I’d appreciate it if you would check on both ladies while I’m gone.”

  A smile creased Ef’s dark features. “Happy to do it.”

  “I didn’t figure you’d consider it a hardship,” Russ drawled. “And let me know if you notice anything odd.”

  The other man frowned. “You thinking about something in particular?”

  “No. Just anything that catches your attention, whether you think it’s important or not.”

  “All right. You gonna tell me what’s going on?”

  “When I have an idea, yeah, I’ll let you know.”

  “Good enough.”

  Russ stroked his bare upper lip. “One more thing. Would you mind telling Lydia where I’ve gone?”

  Looking surprised, Ef swiped the rag over his knuckles. “Is there some reason you don’t want to tell her yourself?”

  “Just ready to get on the trail.” Hell, Russ didn’t want to go anywhere near her.

  His friend’s shrewd black eyes zeroed in on him. “Does it have anything to do with what Naomi and I saw the two of you doing in the kitchen?”

  “She’s not interested and neither am I.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. He was lying and Ef knew it. “The information about Abilene doesn’t have to come from me. She just needs to know.”

  “Sure. I don’t mind talking to her. What about your pa and Matt?”

  “Tony Santos is going to ride out to the Triple B later this morning to tell them.”

  “All right then.”

  “Thanks.” Pushing away from the wooden column, Russ gave him the name of the hotel where he’d be staying. “In case you need to reach me.”

  “Watch your back.”

  That’s what Russ was doing. He shook hands with his friend then strode past the front of The Fonta
ine on his way to the livery.

  There was no sign of Lydia in her window or in the lobby. A strange ache unfurled in his chest, but he dismissed it. He didn’t want to see her. He sure as hell didn’t want to talk to her.

  If her sweet drawl and tempting scent were the last things on his mind before he rode out, he wouldn’t be able to get her out of his head the whole time he was gone.

  Russ was doing whatever he had to in order to keep Lydia Kent from getting to him, and if he had to leave town to do it, that was fine by him.

  Lydia wasn’t sure what to think when she looked out her window and saw Russ going into the sheriff’s office.

  Was he talking to Davis Lee about her? She couldn’t dismiss the possibility. Not after last night when she had felt him watching her and Naomi like a hawk from his office doorway.

  She had done the right thing by going to see Russ and addressing their interlude in the kitchen. By telling him they couldn’t get romantically involved. The provoking man had agreed right off, which stung her pride.

  Despite believing she had done what she should, it had left a hollow feeling in her chest, as though she had turned her back on something that could’ve been…more.

  After leaving his office, she had been occupied with settling the travelers who had been delayed by a day. The two women had reached Whirlwind later than expected because one of them had broken an ankle the night they had fled their homes.

  Lydia and Naomi had reset the bone and fashioned a crude splint. Tending to the woman had taken Lydia’s focus from Russ for a while, served to remind her that these women were her priority.

  But her focus came back to her business partner the following day when Ef delivered a message from him. Lydia stared incredulously at the blacksmith. “Russ did what?”

  “Left for Abilene.” Standing in front of the registration desk, the blacksmith ran his hat through his fingers. “He thinks he’ll be there for several days.”

  “I see.” Her heart sank. When she had asked the man for some distance, she never thought he would take her literally.

  “He had to get going.” Ef shifted from one foot to the other. “I told him I didn’t mind gettin’ word to you.”