"I've just come from Denver." Pelham sneered at her. "And I barely managed to escape arrest. The police are searching for me."
"Whatever for?" Mary truly couldn't imagine her former fiance doing anything even remotely illegal. He was always so controlled.
" 'Whatever for?'" he mimicked. "You really don't know, do you? You had no idea that the only reason I was courting you was to keep an eye on your precious brother, David, and to get my hands on all that lovely money your family possesses."
"You're wrong about that," Mary told him. "I knew you only wanted to marry me for my money, but I didn't know why. You have money of your own." The kitchen table was between them and Mary couldn't see Pelham's hands.
"I had money of my own," Pelham told her. "Until my father found out that I was creating my own money upon occasion. I guess he didn't appreciate my artistic talent. He disowned me. Cut me off without a penny."
"But you always had cash," Mary insisted. "I've seen you with lots of money. You live very well. Too well for a bank clerk—unless that clerk has money behind him."
"And so I did until your husband"—he sneered the word—"intervened. Until he caused the death of the source of all my money."
"Lee didn't cause anyone's death!" Mary defended her husband.
"Tell that to Senator Warner Millen. Tell that to his wife."
"Judas Priest!" Mary exclaimed, using Lee's favorite oath. "You worked with the senator."
"So you do know," Pelham said. "I wondered."
"I don't know what you did for the senator, but I know it couldn't have been good." Mary eased back from the table. She could see through the window of the back door from where she stood and she almost let out a scream as someone tiptoed up onto the back porch. She stifled a sigh of relief as Lee passed by the window behind Pelham.
"I see you do appreciate my talent," Pelham said as he watched Mary's brown eyes widen. "Before I moved to Cheyenne, I created currency for Senator Millen. And a few stocks and bonds and legal documents when he needed them. But once I settled in Cheyenne, the senator hired me to watch David. And look how dedicated I was! Why, I was even willing to marry his half-breed sister to be close to him."
"You—you—snake!"
Pelham took another step forward. "It took me a while to recognize your husband, but I finally placed him. You see, we ran into each other in Denver a few years back."
"You're the forger." Mary watched as Lee raised a finger to his lips and shook his head. "The pen man." Lee frowned at her.
"He told you about that, too? That's too bad, Mary. Now, you know all my secrets. And I don't like having people know my secrets." Pelham stepped around the table. He had a gun in his hand and it was pointed at Mary.
"Don't come any closer," Mary warned. "I'll shoot." She reached into her right pocket for the silver derringer. But her pocket was empty. Lee had her gun. She'd given it to him.
"It appears we're at a standoff. But I don't think you'll shoot me, Mary. After all, I was your beloved intended." Pelham took another step.
"You're wrong," she bluffed. "I will shoot you."
"No, you won't," he replied confidently as he raised his gun to fire.
"She might not," Lee announced from behind him, "But I will, you sorry son of a bitch!" Lee held the silver two-shot derringer in his hand.
When Pelham saw that Lee held the derringer, he smiled. "I'll kill her," he warned.
"No, you won't!" Mary screamed as she flung the teapot at his head, then dropped to the floor behind the kitchen table.
Pelham fired, but the shot went wide, missing its mark.
Lee fired back.
Pelham clutched his shoulder and fell back against the table.
Lee grabbed Crosgrove by his shirtfront, lifted him off the furniture, clipped him on the chin with a vicious uppercut, and let him fall to the floor.
In seconds, Lee was around the table kneeling beside Mary. "Mary, are you all right? Where did he hit you? Christ, Two-Shot, are you bleeding anywhere?" He ran his hands over her body feeling for blood, searching for the wound.
She sat up. "I'm fine, Lee. He didn't shoot me."
Lee grabbed her and lifted her to her feet. He hugged her tightly, kissed her hard on the mouth, then released her to cover her whole face with kisses before releasing her again. "Why in the hell did you do such a stupid thing? You could have been killed! Whoever heard of throwing a damned teapot at a man holding a gun. Are you crazy?"
"I was afraid he'd shoot you!"
"I had a gun," Lee reminded her.
"A gun that's not very accurate from a distance."
"You're right," he said, momentarily distracted. "It shoots high."
"You hit him in the shoulder."
"Hell, I was aiming for his black heart!"
"Oh, Lee." Mary threw herself in his arms. "I was so scared!"
"I know, my love," he soothed. "Me, too. I swear you scared ten years off my life. And if you ever do anything like that again, I'll kill you myself! Jesus, Mary, I thought I had lost you! And I don't know what I would do if something happened to you. Christ, woman, I love you."
Mary pushed back from his chest and stared up at his face. "You do?"
"Of course, I do."
"Since when?" she demanded.
Lee reached out, took her by the shoulders, and looked her straight in the eyes. "I think I fell in love with you the day you took your drawers and petticoats off to please Maddy."
"What?"
"I was always attracted to you, Two-shot, right from the beginning in Peaceable. And when I walked into the church in Cheyenne that day and saw you standing at the altar with Cosgrove, my life—my empty life—seemed to flash before my eyes. I wanted you for myself. I looked at you that day, and I thought you were the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. But I was wrong. You grew more beautiful the day you took off your drawers to make Maddy happy and you continue to grow more beautiful. You become more precious to me every day. I love you, Mary Alexander Kincaid. I have from the beginning and I intend to spend every day showing you how much—right up until the end of my life."
"Oh, Lee…" She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, until they both forgot their fright and remembered only their love for each other.
* * *
Epilogue
Two weeks later, Lee sat relaxing in a big leather easy chair in the red parlor of Ettinger House. Reese, David and Judah sat with him. Each man had a snifter of brandy and a fine Havana cigar by his side. Judah hadn't spoken a word and Lee had had to snip his cigar for him, and light it, but after spending much of his time in the company of women, Judah seemed to enjoy the male camaraderie.
Mary had redecorated the entire house, stripping the walls and floors of their dark coverings, but she had left the red parlor inviolate.
Lee leaned back in his chair. "I'm sure glad Mary didn't change this room. It's gaudy as hell, but I like it."
"Yeah," Reese agreed, "It must be nice having a billiard table and a bar and a roulette wheel in the comfort of your home—having a room with all of your favorite vices in it."
"You have a room like that, too, Reese," David teased. "It's called the bedroom."
Reese grinned. "Yes, so it is."
The three of them laughed.
"Well, Lee, what are you going to do now that you've finally resigned from the Agency and Sarrazin and Cosgrove are behind bars?" David Alexander asked. "Become a silver baron?"
"From what I've seen," Reese added. "He's well on his way."
"And so are you," Lee reminded him. "As stockholders in the Ettinger Silver Mine."
"So what are you planning to do?" David repeated his earlier question, then took a sip of his brandy.
Lee stretched his long legs out in front of him. "I've decided to build a bank."
David swallowed his brandy in one gulp, then coughed and nearly choked on it.
"We heard about that incident at the Ajax Saloon, Bank, and Assayer's office," Reese told him. "We heard how you marched
into the saloon and punched Hugh Morton right in the eye and told him that since your wife was supporting the whole damned town of Utopia, and since she had enough money deposited in his bank to own the damn thing, Morton had better get down on his hands and knees and welcome her into the Ajax. In fact, he'd better get down on his hands and knees and beg her apologies. Because if Mary Alexander Kincaid was welcomed everywhere else in town, she'd sure as hell better be welcomed in a miserable excuse for a business like the Ajax."
David laughed. "We thought the incident was settled after he apologized."
"Well," Lee began, "it was as far as Mary is concerned. But you know, the more I think about it, the more I hate having to go to a miserable son of a bitch like Hugh Morton every time I need to deposit or withdraw money. I think I'd be much happier in my own bank. Besides, I'm going to need a bank now that Mary's decided to turn the teaching of the school over to Sylvia for a while."
David sat forward in his chair. "Mary's giving up teaching?"
"Yep." Lee grinned with satisfaction.
"What's she going to do?" Reese asked. "Stay home and run the house?"
"Are you kidding?" Lee teased. "Mary's got the running of Ettinger House and Utopia School down to a fine art. She needs a bigger challenge."
"What now?" David couldn't believe how his sister had blossomed since her marriage to Lee.
"She's decided to run the mine."
"What?" Reese and David asked in unison.
"I think it's a wonderful idea. The mine doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Maddy. And one day, Maddy will be in charge. Mary thinks the miners and the businessmen around Utopia ought to have the opportunity to become accustomed to the idea of a woman running things. She's going to learn the business so she can teach Madeline. Mary's convinced it's what Tabby had in mind all along."
"And what do you think?" Reese asked.
"I think she's right. I think Tabby had a reason for every one of her demands and I think they had everything to do with what she hoped the town could be."
"She did, young man," Judah said suddenly. "And that's why she sent for you. Tabitha wanted Madeline to know her father and be part of a family, but most of all, Tabitha needed you—and a woman like Mary—to rescue the people and the town she loved. Tabitha trusted your judgment. She knew that with the right incentive, you would pick the perfect woman for the job."
Outside on the front porch, Mary sat with Tessa and Faith watching as their children—Joy, Hope, Coalie, Maddy, and Lily Catherine—played a game of tag in the front yard. Lily had come a long way in two weeks. She was running and playing and talking and laughing right along with the others.
The town of Utopia was shaping up nicely, too. The mine would reopen soon and the miners would go back to work.
The children had a school, and the women who wanted jobs had them.
Mary sat in her rocker and beamed with pride. She and Lee had each other, and Maddy and Judah, Louisa, and Syl and a whole town full of good friends. She patted her stomach; they also had an addition to the family on the way. Another Kincaid to carry on the family traditions she and Lee were establishing.
David and Tessa had Coalie and Lily and a thriving law practice in Peaceable. Reese and Faith had Joy and Hope and the responsibilities of running the Trail T.
Life was good. Life was very good. And Mary knew she owed everything to Tabitha Gray—to her foresight and wisdom—to her selfish determination to make things right, but especially to the love Tabitha had felt for Lee Kincaid and the love she had left to them all.
* * *
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