by Anna Schmidt
Also by Anna Schmidt
Where the Trail Ends
Last Chance Cowboys: The Drifter
Last Chance Cowboys: The Lawman
Last Chance Cowboys: The Outlaw
Last Chance Cowboys: The Rancher
Cowboys & Harvey Girls
Trailblazer
Christmas in a Cowboy’s Arms anthology
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Books. Change. Lives.
Copyright © 2019 by Anna Schmidt
Cover and internal design © 2019 by Sourcebooks
Cover art by Craig White
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks
P. O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410
(630) 961-3900
sourcebooks.com
Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Author’s Note
Excerpt from Last Chance Cowboys: The Drifter
Chapter 1
About the Author
Back Cover
Prologue
February 1899
Lily Travis stood with the rest of the Harvey Girls, eyes brimming with happy tears at the sweet scene before them. Grace Rogers, former Harvey Girl, was repeating her vows with Nick Hopkins, the handsome ranch foreman they’d all met on the train from Kansas City just five months before. The lump in Lily’s throat was as much about her own sadness, however, as her happiness for Grace. A few years earlier, Lily had made a huge mistake—one that promised to prevent her from ever finding the true love Grace and Nick shared. She forced a smile when her friend Emma nudged her. This was Grace’s day, after all.
At the reception that followed, Lily helped pass slices of the wedding cake as Grace and Nick cut them. She nodded in agreement at guests bubbling with joy for the couple, until, cake in hand, she found herself face-to-face with Sheriff Cody Daniels. He was his usual serious self, a blessing considering Lily’s mood that day. On the rare occasions when he did smile, the man had dimples, and Lily was a sucker for a man with dimples. Emma and Grace used to tease her about that, and Lily couldn’t deny that the lawman was definitely good-looking. But he also played life by the rules—something Lily had trouble doing. Something that had been the source of her problems from the time she was sixteen. No, it was best to keep her distance from Cody Daniels.
She handed him a large slice of lemon cake. “Bon appetit,” she said as she prepared to move on.
“Nice fandango,” he replied, unintentionally blocking her way as he looked around the large hotel dining room. “You’re not having cake?”
“I…” He was being nice to her. That made her suspicious. In her experience, most men wanted something, especially when they took the trouble to be nice. “I’m helping serve…”
He surveyed the room. “Looks to me like everybody has cake.” He turned his gaze back to her. “How about sharing this piece with me?” Dimples weren’t his only appeal; he had deep-set eyes that were brown with flecks of gold.
To avoid getting lost in those eyes, Lily deliberately focused her attention on his forehead, where a cowlick of dark-blond hair was in need of taming. Her breath quickened while her cheeks grew hot, and she forced herself to concentrate on the dusty tips of his boots. Finally, she thought, a detail that is just ordinary.
Sheriff Daniels didn’t seem to notice her discomfort. Instead, he retrieved a clean fork from a nearby table and placed it next to the one already resting on the glass plate. “Could we sit a minute, Miss Travis?” He nodded to a table for two near the windows. “The truth is I owe you an apology, and I’d like to get that covered.”
Get that covered? She imagined him seated at his desk and making a list: arrest drunks at Sagebrush Saloon, attend Hopkins’s wedding, apologize to Miss Travis. She straightened to her full height, just a few inches shorter than his, looked him in those deep-set gold-flecked eyes, and smiled. “Consider it covered,” she said sweetly, deliberately placing emphasis on the last word.
She edged past him and went to join Emma Elliott and Jake Collier, the hotel’s kitchen manager. Everyone who worked in the hotel was well aware that Jake had a huge crush on Lily. But employees of the Harvey Company were not allowed to pursue romantic relationships with each other—friendships, yes, but nothing more. Lily liked Jake but really could not see any chance for romance between them. Even if it were possible. And kind as he was, he had accepted that. Still, for the remainder of the afternoon, she flirted shamelessly, laughing at his jokes and later even taking his arm as everyone headed outside to watch the happy couple leave for their new home.
All the while, she was aware of Cody’s whereabouts—the ease with which he chatted with guests, which made him seem so much a part of the community, even though he was relatively new to Juniper and his position there as sheriff. Clearly, he was well-liked, and more than one of the town’s unmarried women were making blatant efforts to draw his attention. Well, good luck to them. As far as she was concerned, she and the good-looking sheriff were like oil and water—they simply didn’t mix.
Once the guests had seen Grace and Nick on their way and drifted back to their homes, everyone on the hotel staff pitched in to make sure the dining room was back to normal and ready for receiving customers the following day. After bidding good night to Jake and the rest of the kitchen staff, Lily followed Emma and the other girls up the three flights of stairs to their quarters. The room she and Emma had shared with Grace suddenly seemed too large for just the two of them.
Bonnie Kaufmann, head waitress and housemother for the girls, had seen to it that the third bed in the room—Grace’s former bed—was removed. “The new girls can share a triple,” she’d told them at the party. “You and Emma have earned the right to spread out a bit. After all, you have seniority.”
It was true that she and Emma were among the waitresses employed the longest by Fred Harvey’s Company—five years for Emma, and Lily was beginning her fourth. Was this her entire future? Waiting on train travelers who stopped for a meal or stayed for a few days in the
hotel? Serving them with a smile, all the while wondering what adventures awaited them once they moved on?
She stood in the doorway of the room she now shared with only Emma and wondered, Where is my adventure?
Chapter 1
June 1899
Summer came with a blast of heat and drought. No matter how much Lily and the other girls cleaned, there always seemed to be a fine coat of grit on everything. The dust made for longer hours, making sure everything met the strict standards of the Harvey Company. Lily felt like she was smothering by the time she and Emma climbed the stairs to their room in the evenings.
“Are you having a bath?” Emma asked Lily as she untied her apron and lifted the bibbed front of the white pinafore over her head. The two of them had worked a double shift, and even as they climbed the stairs, Lily had plucked at the fabric of her uniform to separate it from her sweat-soaked skin. The high-necked, long-sleeved black dress, apron, and heavy black stockings looked smart, but the summer heat was not kind.
“You go ahead,” Lily replied. She lay back on her narrow bed and covered her eyes with her forearm. “I’m exhausted.”
“Well, at least take off your uniform and hang it,” Emma advised.
Lily knew Emma was right, but she heard the caring suggestion as an order and bristled. “I’ll get to it,” she muttered.
Emma hesitated before gathering her toiletries. “I won’t be long,” she said softly before stepping into the hall and closing the door behind her.
Lily sighed and sat up. The months since Grace and Nick’s wedding had been especially busy. It seemed they barely had a chance to catch their breath after one train before a new one was arriving with a flood of passengers, all eager for one of Fred Harvey’s renowned meals and the welcoming smiles of the crew of waitresses known as Harvey Girls. And yet the time had dragged. Lily was at loose ends, the future stretching out before her as a great unknown.
Still frowning, she undressed, hung her uniform, and put on her robe. It had been some time since the hotel staff had done anything that could be remotely called fun. They were short-handed, and business was booming. On top of that, she missed Grace. The fact that her friend was now married and expecting a baby made Lily consider her own future—and her past. Perhaps Emma had the remedy. A nice soothing bath would wash away some of her melancholy.
Lily stood at the open window that overlooked the yard at the back of the hotel while she waited for her turn in the bathroom shared by all the girls. Part of their compensation was room and board, not to mention free travel.
Maybe I should take a trip.
Below, she saw the hotel’s kitchen manager, Jake Collier, pacing in the courtyard. He was smoking a cigarette and kept looking around as if expecting someone. Maybe at long last he’d given up pining for her and found a girl worthy of his attention. She treasured Jake’s friendship, and thankfully, Jake had agreed that if friendship was all she could offer, he would accept that.
She was about to step away from the window when two men approached Jake. He tossed his cigarette on the dirt yard and crushed it with the toe of his shoe. He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground. One of the men—neither of whom she recognized—was talking to him and making threatening gestures, although she could not make out the words. The man gave Jake a shove. He stumbled but regained his balance and said something, glancing nervously from one man to the other.
What’s going on?
Lily watched until the strangers finally left and Jake returned through the hotel’s kitchen entrance below. “Something’s up with Jake,” she said as soon as Emma opened the door. Lily reported what she’d seen.
“Did you recognize either of them?” Emma peered out the window, but there was nothing there now for her to see.
“No. But trust me, Jake was afraid of them. Do you think I should talk to him?”
“He’ll just laugh it off the way he does everything,” Emma replied. “Why don’t you mention what you saw to Sheriff Daniels? At least then he’d be aware something might be amiss.”
Lily glanced at the clock on the table between their beds. Nine o’clock—an hour until curfew. Plenty of time to walk to the sheriff’s office and back. She took off her robe and grabbed a skirt and shirtwaist from the wardrobe.
“Well, no need to go tonight,” Emma said. “I mean surely—”
“You didn’t see the way Jake was acting. What if those men come back?” Lily tugged on her shoes, checked her reflection in the mirror, and pushed back an errant strand of hair. “I’ll be back before curfew,” she said as she left the room.
Another girl was just going into the bathroom. “Going out at this hour?” she asked, her eyes filled with curiosity.
“Just a quick errand,” Lily replied as she ran down the back stairs. On her way, she decided that if Jake was in the kitchen, she would speak to him first about what she’d seen. If not, she would go to the sheriff.
The kitchen was dark and deserted, so she slipped out the back door, making sure to leave it unlocked so she could return. She hurried across the plaza to the building that held the jail as well as the sheriff’s office and living quarters. Music and raucous laughter spilled from the Sagebrush Saloon, the rowdiest of three lining the main street of Juniper. She was also aware of the blackness of the night and the fact that the two men she’d seen in the hotel yard could be lurking about. She quickened her step and was out of breath by the time she reached her destination.
She hadn’t seen much of the sheriff since Grace’s wedding. He rarely ate in the hotel dining room. She’d seen him a couple of times passing through the lobby, and he’d tipped his hat to her as he continued on his way. Now, once she reached the office door, she hesitated. The window that faced the street was dark, but a dim light was coming from a window at the side of the building. She rapped sharply on the door and after two seconds repeated the action, doubling the force.
“I’m coming,” a male voice grumbled, and light flooded the window that overlooked the street. Lily stepped back, and when the door opened, she rushed inside, brushing past the sheriff, who was hooking his suspenders over his broad shoulders.
“Miss Travis?” He ran his hand through his tousled hair. “What on…” He stepped outside and glanced around before returning and shutting the door. “Are you all right?” He looked her over.
“I’m perfectly fine.” She touched her fingers to her hair. “I would like to report a possible…situation that requires your attention, Sheriff Daniels.”
The man had the audacity to smile just enough to expose those dang dimples.
“This is serious,” she informed him.
He cleared his throat and indicated she should take a seat while he took his place behind the scarred table that served as his desk. “No doubt. Why don’t you tell me what’s got you so riled up?”
“I am not riled up. I am seriously concerned about a friend.”
He leaned forward, his eyes studying her face. “I can see that, Miss Travis. Tell me what I can do to help.” Both his tone and demeanor had shifted to something more professional and distant.
All of which made her aware that the three small cells at the rear of the room were unoccupied and she was alone with this man at an hour that would surely raise both eyebrows and questions were she to be discovered.
She stood and started for the door. “This was a mistake,” she murmured.
* * *
Despite knowing he should just let her go, Cody was at the door ahead of her. “If you have information about someone in danger,” he said softly, “at least give me the details while I see you back to the hotel.”
His words were straightforward, but he couldn’t seem to drag his gaze away from a tendril of her white-blond hair that fluttered around her cheek, moved by his breath. He swallowed and stepped away.
Although he’d accepted her lack of interes
t and kept his distance ever since the Hopkins’ party, his fascination with Miss Lily Travis had not abated in the least. Sure, he’d thought about finding a woman he could spend time with, but Lily Travis? She was impulsive and headstrong—hardly a suitable match for a law-and-order, by-the-book man like him.
“Let me get my hat,” he managed in a voice that was suddenly hoarse. He stepped just inside his living quarters and returned with his Stetson and jacket. She stood in the open doorway where he’d left her, but she’d crossed her arms and was hugging herself, rubbing her upper arms. The June days might be unusually hot, but the nights could still be chilly. He realized she’d come in such a hurry, she hadn’t worn a coat or shawl.
“Here,” he said, draping his coat over her shoulders, and for once, she didn’t argue. It occurred to him that in every encounter he’d had with Lily, she had taken offense at something he’d done. When he’d had to arrest her friend Grace for a crime he was sure she hadn’t committed, Lily had challenged him. And during the lead-up to the trial, although he had done his best to protect Grace, Lily Travis had made it clear she did not trust him. Then there’d been the Hopkins party, and she’d taken offense again when all he’d wanted to do was share a slice of wedding cake and apologize for any misunderstandings still lingering over her friend’s arrest.
“It’s Jake Collier,” she said as soon as they started across the plaza to the hotel. She told him what she had observed from her window earlier that evening, whispering as if someone might overhear.
“Did you speak with Jake about this?”
“No. He would just laugh it off. That’s what he does, but I am telling you, he was frightened by these men. Trust me, I know frightened when I see it,” she added defensively.
He wondered just what in her life had made her an expert in fear. “And you didn’t recognize the two men?”
“No. It was dark, and they wore hats with wide brims. They didn’t look to be the sort of men who might patronize the dining room.”