by Linda Tillis
He smiled as he moved toward Mae. She could see approval in his eyes, which caused a warm flush to spread throughout her body. To Mae’s mind, he was the most handsome man she’d ever seen.
They were securing the basket behind Edward’s saddle when one of the Huebner brothers spoke from behind them. “Beggin’ your pardon, miss, but if you’re lookin’ for a nice place to picnic, you’ll find a small creek a few hundred yards past the cemetery. There’s some good shade there, and cool water.”
Mae thanked the man, and they were off.
Edward said it was Mae’s turn to talk, so she spent the next half hour telling him about their home in Trenton, how she had helped raise her brothers, and how she had met Lady Wellington. She of course did not mention what had made their connection so strong. That telling would come later.
They had just passed through the cemetery and had fallen into a comfortable silence, so that Mae thought she could hear the trickle of running water, when Edward’s horse snorted and reared. Edward, caught off guard, was thrown off to the side. Before he had completely hit the ground, Mae had pulled the pistol and turned her horse toward him.
“Don’t move! Edward, please, do not move!”
By then Edward could hear the rattlesnake. He very carefully turned his head toward the sound, and there was the snake, coiled between himself and Mae. Mae slid slowly off her horse, and he saw that, of all things, she was holding a pistol. “Edward, be very still, and I’ll take care of this.” Mae turned her body sideways, slowly raised her arm, and shot the head off the offending snake.
Edward exhaled in a burst and only then realized he had been holding his breath. He wasn’t sure which had startled him more, the sudden appearance of the large snake or the speed with which a pistol had appeared in Mae’s hand. Where in the world had she been hiding it?
Mae stepped around the snake and ran to Edward. “Are you all right? Did he get you?”
Her obvious concern was a small balm to his ego. He stood, dusted sand off himself, and was about to speak, when Mae threw herself at him. She had both arms around his chest.
“I was so afraid you’d been bitten, or broken something in the fall. Thank the good Lord you are okay,” she sobbed.
Edward was undone by her tears. He pressed her to his chest, rubbing her back and speaking softly. “I’m all right, darling, just a little embarrassed I had to be saved by you. Now stop crying and let me look at you.”
Mae turned her face up to Edward, and he was lost. Her brown eyes were luminous with tears, and her mouth gave an invitation he could not ignore. He lowered his lips to hers. He could taste her tears as their mouths melted together. It was a slow, sensual kiss, fueled by Mae’s fears for his safety and his desire for her.
Edward raised his head and whispered, “The snake did me no harm, but I may never recover from that kiss.”
Mae laid her head against his chest and tried to compose herself. She was embarrassed. She had literally thrown herself at this man. So much for “making him work for the prize.”
She pushed herself away from him and raised her chin. “Well, if you are okay, then we should check the poor horse.”
She started to turn away, but Edward caught her arm. She looked back at him, and he lifted one eyebrow at her.
“So. We’re simply going to pretend the kiss never happened, are we?”
She gave him a hesitant look. “Well, I think we should at least try, don’t you?”
He looked at her for a moment before he burst out laughing. “Oh, woman, you have no idea what you’ve done to me, do you?”
Mae looked confused, and Edward laughed harder. “Never mind, love, let’s just catch the poor horse and find some water. I desperately need to cool off.”
By the time they had calmed the horse and checked him out, Mae needed cool water, too. They found the creek and opened the basket. On top of the food was a neatly folded blanket, which Edward spread out under a tree.
He dug in the basket until he found a cup, which he handed to Mae, saying, “You get us some water, and I’ll lay out the food.”
Mae moved to a flat limestone rock at the edge of the creek and knelt. The water was clear and cool as she dragged the cup through it. She sipped from the cup, then topped it off and stood. Edward had laid out linen napkins, slices of ham, cheese, and bread, and was popping the seal on the canned pickles when Mae gracefully lowered herself to the blanket.
She handed the cup to Edward. “Here, drink some, and it will help cool you off.”
It took all of Edward’s self-control not to laugh again. This beautiful creature had no idea what a woman could do to a man with just a look. He was never so grateful for anything in his life. He had found the perfect, pure treasure. There was no doubt she would belong to him. He accepted the cup from her hands and took a deep swallow. Setting the cup down, he smiled across the blanket. “Now, my lovely, you will tell me all about the pistol.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Garth and Mr. Bennett spent at least an hour going over all the plans. “Well, sir, I think maybe fifteen good men. I can drive the truck out in the morning, pick them up and transport them to the work site, then take them back to town each evening, so none of them will have much contact with the manor or the ladies.”
“It sounds like a good plan, Garth. I believe I can start getting the supplies, lumber and such, delivered by the middle of next week. We should be able to start work the following Monday, which will give Samuel and the Huebner brothers time to finish the apartments over the garage. We had never anticipated anyone else living there, so we never expanded beyond my apartment.”
Garth smiled. “Samuel always liked the idea of his own space, and Hansu has always lived separate from the family. I’m just glad we have enough room there to accommodate both of them.”
Mrs. Patrick stuck her head around the door. “Mr. Hinton, there was an officer at the front door. He said he would like to speak with you, so I have put him in the back parlor, sir.” Both men stood.
“Come along with me, Arthur. This is probably something to do with Margaret.”
As they entered the parlor, the tall, broad-shouldered man standing at the French doors, looking out across the lake, turned and came to meet them. “Good morning, sir. I am Captain Lance, with the Leon County sheriff’s office. I believe I have met your son, Samuel,” he said as he shook Garth’s hand.
“Yes, sir, you did. This is Arthur Bennett, my daughter’s business manager. Have a seat, Captain, and tell us why you are here.”
“Is Samuel around, sir? I would like to speak with him, as well.”
Arthur stood. “Keep your seat, Garth. I’ll get Samuel.”
“You have a pretty impressive place here, Mr. Hinton.”
“Truth be told, Captain, this all belongs to my daughter, Mae. I’m just keeping an eye on things until Mae reaches her majority. She inherited all this, and a great deal more, from the late Lady Wellington, which is one of the reasons we are concerned about what happened to Margaret. A young lady is always prey for those who would take advantage of her, but in Mae’s case even more so. Mr. Hardwick has everything to gain if something should happen to Mae.”
“Well, Mr. Hinton, after personally meeting with Hardwick, I can say your distrust of the man is totally rational.”
“I told you, sir, the man is cold,” Samuel said as he entered the parlor.
Captain Lance stood and reached to shake Samuel’s hand. “Son, after meeting with Hardwick, I remembered a lot of things you said.” To Garth, the captain said, “Your son has an insight into human nature that cannot be taught, sir, but is a gift from inside. When he is old enough, I’ll probably offer him a job.”
Garth nodded. “Captain, you have no idea just how insightful Samuel can be. Now, tell us about your meeting with Hardwick.”
“Well, I took the train over to Pensacola last Monday. I went first to the local police precinct and spoke with a detective there. When I told him what we were working
on, he was more than happy to accompany me to the San Carlo. We got there around eleven in the morning, and Hardwick was having a late breakfast, which we were happy to be able to interrupt. We introduced ourselves, and I told him that a young woman in Tallahassee had been murdered, and I needed to ask a few questions about his relationship to her.”
The captain turned to look at Samuel. “You were right, Samuel, the man is cold. Only someone watching very closely would have seen the greed light up his eyes. He said he would be glad to help in any way. I told him we were talking to everyone who had any connection to the manor belonging to the late Lady Wellington. He said certainly, the lady had been a distant relative of his, and he was familiar with the new owner, Mae Hinton.”
“Then I said we were investigating the murder of one of her female servants.”
“He was shocked, but only a trained eye would have seen it. The only hint he gave was a lowering of his eyes. He said, ‘A servant, you say?’ Then we established he had come straight to the San Carlo upon leaving Tallahassee and had been residing there since.
“As we were about to leave, he said, ‘Captain, why would you come all the way to Pensacola to question me about a servant’s death?’ I turned to face him and said that because the killer left a trail to the San Carlo, and since he had recently traveled to the hotel, perhaps he might know something. He never blinked. Just a long, cold stare from those blank eyes, and then, ‘Very well, I certainly hope you find the killer. We can’t have someone like that running around loose, now, can we?’ I thanked him for his time, and we left.
“But there was more, gentlemen. As we were walking out the front door of the San Carlo, Detective Harris asked me, ‘What day was your murder?’ I told him, ‘Wednesday the twentieth.’ He said to come back to the station, because he had a report to show me. We returned, and he handed me a folder.
“It was the report of a shooting death in a flophouse near the railway. He said women rented rooms by the week and had customers who paid by the hour. On the morning of the twenty-first, one of the cleaning ladies found the body of a man in room three. He had been shot once in the temple. The man had numerous scratches around his face and neck. His shirt was torn, with a piece of a pocket missing. Upon questioning everyone at the business, they determined the young lady who rented room four was missing. The general consensus was that she had, in fact, killed the man and left town. I continued to read and found the dead man had over fifteen hundred dollars on his person.”
“I asked if anyone had taken photos of the dead man, and they gave me the photos from the postmortem. I can say conclusively that the scrap of fabric Margaret held in her hand was torn from Frank Young’s shirt. Does his name mean anything to either of you?”
****
Mae had never learned deceit. She did not know how to lie convincingly. She looked at Edward with pain-filled eyes and tried to smile. “Well, in truth, your uncle, Doc Walters, gave me this pistol over two years ago. He said a young woman living in a remote area, quite often alone, needed to be able to protect herself. I agreed with him. So I practiced every day until I was very comfortable with it. When I feel the need, I keep it close.”
Mae picked up the cup and took a long swallow of water. All without making eye contact with Edward.
Edward was an intelligent man. There were so many things about Mae that screamed innocence; like the way she had touched his face the first day they met, or the way she was open and honest about everything, and how she had thrown herself at him a few minutes ago. Innocence in everything, that is, except this. She looked like she would burst into tears if he pressed her. So…he would wait.
There would come a time when she would know him well enough to share with him the thing that frightened her so much; whatever it was had robbed her of her innocence and made her a very bad liar.
“Well, I am certainly grateful for all those hours of practice.” He smiled. “The picnic would have been completely ruined if I had been bitten. Now, eat, woman.” He laughed. “Even heroines need their strength!” They ate in silence, each with their own thoughts.
Edward was trying to picture Mae in England, mingling with the London aristocracy he dealt with every day. They would think she was beautiful but of no importance. They would look down their aristocratic noses and find her unpolished and unworthy of their time.
Oh, how wrong they would be. Edward had seen enough of humanity to recognize a true gem when he was in the presence of one. Mae was a rare find these days. She was a woman who didn’t think about herself but did for others first. Edward gave an inward smile. She was the kind of woman who would make a great wife for a doctor.
Mae was not hungry. She was trembling inside. She hated not telling Edward the truth. They were not bound to each other, and yet she believed she had somehow violated his trust by keeping something from him. She nibbled on a piece of bread. He seemed genuinely interested in her plans for her village. Being a doctor, he seemed to understand her desire to help others. Was it such a great stretch of the imagination to think he would understand about her past? Perhaps she should leave this in God’s hands.
Mae turned to Edward. She had to know. “Edward, do you believe in God? Do you believe He made each of us for another?”
Edward was taken aback. He’d seen miracles occur in medicine, where there was no logical explanation. He looked into Mae’s beautiful eyes and understood his answer was very important to her. He did not want to tell her he had stopped believing when his sisters died. “I feel when a person believes in something, I mean truly believes, the something becomes very strong and powerful. I know I see things in my practice that have no earthly explanation. I’ve seen people pray until their knees were bruised, and their prayers go unanswered, and others who have seen a miracle, and believed it was a gift from heaven. Have I, personally, ever had reason to believe in a God? No.”
Mae’s eyes shone with unshed tears. She reached out her hand and stroked Edward’s face. “Then I shall have to have enough faith for both of us for a while. Now, tell me how long I have to enjoy your company? How long will you be staying here with your family?”
Edward moved closer and pulled Mae into his arms. Her head rested on his shoulder, and he could not see her face. “I have commitments in England, Mae. I have promised the man who has been so gracious in training me that I would give him another nine months before I strike out on my own.” He could not see the tears that pooled and then ran from Mae’s eyes.
They held each other for long moments. Mae closed her eyes, concentrating on the sound of Edward’s heartbeat.
Finally he spoke. “I will be leaving Wednesday, Mae.” Edward felt the shudder pass through her. “But the important thing to remember is that I will be back. I had not given a lot of consideration to where I would begin my practice once my commitment was filled, but now I know. I will be coming home. The question is…what will I be coming home to?”
Mae lifted her head from his shoulder and smiled through the tears. Edward tenderly wiped them from her cheeks.
“To me,” Mae breathed, as she moved her mouth to his, “to me.”
This kiss was different. It burned straight to Mae’s insides. She never wanted it to end. The longer it continued, the more it burned. She wanted Edward to hold her closer and tighter, and while this wanting embarrassed her, she could not control it.
Edward finally raised his head. He was breathing as if he’d run a mile. There was a slight shake in his hand, as he stroked Mae’s face. “Sweetheart, I am a man with some self-control, but I find you are testing me to the verge of breaking. I need some water, and we need to start home.”
Mae’s face flamed, while Edward walked to the creek and splashed water on his own. He must think she was some kind of loose woman. She had never suspected she had the kind of passion in her that would make her cling to a man. She straightened her blouse and her loosened hair.
When Edward turned to her, he smiled and shook his head. “Woman, you have no idea how t
empting you look, standing there like a goddess and still managing to look innocent.”
Mae returned a weak smile. “And you, sir, should know no man’s touch has ever made me feel so helpless and so strong, all at the same moment.”
The passion blazed in Edward’s eyes again for a brief moment, and then he burst out laughing. “Mae, you had better prepare yourself for my return, because when I get back there will be no stopping me.”
Mae stood a little straighter and exhaled slowly. “Edward, please don’t be gone any longer than absolutely necessary.” They laughed together as they packed up and headed for home.
Chapter Twenty-Five
It had been a few days since the law had come to visit. Hardwick wasn’t sure how many, because he had been drunk during most of them. There was unfinished business to handle now, and unfortunately he would have to do this himself. After Frank Young’s fiasco, he couldn’t trust anyone. He needed to make sure the little girl in room number four had a poor memory. He’d have a late supper and then pay her a visit.
Tonight he used the front door of the flophouse instead of the back stairs. He was surprised to see there was actually someone at a front desk. This woman had seen better days, but she hid it well. She managed a smile. “Good evenin’, sir, is there something I can do for you?”
“I was here a while back. There was a nice little bird in room four. Is she busy tonight?” he asked.
The woman had been in the business all her life. She had an inner alarm system, and it was screaming at her now. “You mean the little blond, about sixteen?”
“Yes,” Hardwick replied, “that sounds about right.”
“Well, honey, you’re a little too late. That one lit out for Texas. Found a cowboy type that wanted all her time.” She searched the gentleman’s face for any sign he might not believe her. He gave away nothing. “I’ve got another girl in number seven, not quite as young…” She let the invitation hang there.