“I don’t remember you ever telling Swede he wasn’t welcome here.”
“Of course not,” Angel said. “He was good for business. Seeing a good law-abiding citizen win like that all the time makes people more willing to part with their money. I haven’t had near the take since he and Becky left town. I got a letter from them last week, by the way. They send you their regards.”
“Things are going well for them?”
“They seem to be. Swede bought his grandfather’s blacksmith shop and Becky’s expecting again.”
Ox chuckled. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. Those two will probably have a dozen babies before they’re done. How’s our goddaughter doing?”
“Talking a blue streak and into everything. Becky says she’s a sore trial.”
“And they wouldn’t trade her for all the gold in South Pass City.”
Angel smiled softly. “No.”
“Ah, those two could almost make a man believe in marriage.”
“Nothing could make me believe in marriage,” Angel said, decisively. “I’m too fond of my independence.”
“No. It’s not something I ever care to try again either.”
Angel raised an eyebrow. “Again?”
An odd look, part anger, part pain, crossed his face. “It’s ancient history. It only lasted long enough to convince me a wife and children weren’t for me. Still, Swede and Becky do make you wonder if there isn’t something to it after all,” Ox said with a touch of wistfulness.
Angel shook her head. “I think marriages like theirs are few and far between. Most husbands and wives don’t even like each other. Becky and Swede were friends long before they were lovers.”
“That’s true enough. Maybe being friends first is the key.” He gave her a crooked grin. “What do you say, Angel? Shall we get married and see if we fall in love? Just think, we could roam the world together, seeing the sights, having one adventure after another.”
For a fleeting instant, she was tempted to take him seriously, then Terence’s face swam through her mind and reality intruded. She’d fancied herself in love before, and it had ended in disaster. “Sure, why not?” she said flippantly. “We might make it clear into next week before we drove each other crazy.”
“Probably, but it would sure be fun while it lasted.” Ox’s smile faded as he regarded his drink pensively. “Have you decided where you’re going?”
“No. Sam and I have been sorta thinking of Denver or California somewhere. What about you?”
“I don’t know yet either. There are a few things I have to take care of first.”
“Well, you can go just about anywhere you want. This country’s wide open, and everybody’s going to need supplies hauled in.”
“Actually, I’m thinking of looking into a less strenuous profession. I’m getting kind of tired of the freight business. Sleeping under the stars in all kinds of weather and eating my own cooking is beginning to lose its appeal. It might even be time to settle down in one place.” He downed the last of his drink and set the glass on the desk. “Then again, maybe not. At any rate, I’d better get moving. I have supplies for Fort Stambaugh and Miner’s Delight. I’m going to have to hurry to get everything delivered before dark.”
“You’re not staying the night?” she asked, trying to hide her disappointment.
“Nope. I’m on a pretty tight schedule. I probably shouldn’t have stayed this long.”
“I’ll walk you to the door.”
They moved through the casino wrapped in pleasant camaraderie, though Angel was aware of a deep feeling of melancholy. She stiffened her spine as Ox stopped to say good-bye to Sam. There was no way either of them was going to see her cry.
By the time Angel and Ox got to his wagon outside, she had herself well in hand. She was prepared for anything.
“Damn, I’m going to miss you!” Ox said, leaning down to give her a kiss. The feel of his lips on hers took Angel so completely by surprise, she didn’t stop to think, she just reacted. All her feelings for him rose in a tide, surrounding them in a bright velvet haze and rocking them both clear down to their toes. Ox put his arms around her and she sagged against him in total surrender. It was all she had ever dreamed of and more.
Angel was breathless and bemused, but she came to earth with a jolt when she saw the utter astonishment in Ox’s eyes. Oh no, what have I done?
“Good lord, Angel, that felt more like hello than good-bye,” he said.
Angel forced herself to give him a blank look. “What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
He stared down at her for a moment, then shook his head. “My imagination must be playing tricks on me.” He gave her one more bewildered glance, then climbed into his wagon, picked up the reins and took the whip out of its socket. “I guess this is good-bye then.”
“I hate good-byes.” She smiled as she reached up to take his hand in a farewell clasp. “I prefer auf wiedersehen; until we meet again.”
“Until we meet again, then.” He returned the pressure of her fingers, then lifted his hand to her face. “Va con Dios, Angel,” he said, softly tracing the curve of her cheek with the backs of his knuckles. Then, with a flick of his whip over the leader’s heads, he was gone.
“May God go with you, too,” Angel whispered, watching the wagon rumble down the street.
When he finally disappeared around a bend, Angel returned to her office and her sister’s letter. It didn’t take long to read. As usual, it was filled with dramatic threats of eminent disaster and very little real information. They were twins but complete opposites in everything but looks. Still, Angel sensed an unusual urgency in the way Alexis begged her to come to Cheyenne as fast as she could. That, as much as the tear-stained pages, convinced her.
“Sam,” she said, walking back into the main room of The Green Garter, “do you think you can finish up here by yourself?”
“Sure thing, Miss Angel. Is there a problem?”
“No, I just discovered some out of town business I need to attend to. I’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning.”
Angel spent the rest of the day putting her business affairs in order so she could turn the final details over to Sam. The Green Garter might feel like home to Ox and Sam, but Angel found she was ready to leave it behind. She thought back on her impetuous seventeen-year old self who had run away from home, bound and determined to make her own way in the world. She hadn’t pictured herself as the owner of an establishment like The Green Garter. At that time in her life, she hadn’t known such places even existed. Who knows where she’d be if she’d never met Terence.
Terence Woodhouse Edgington. Even after all this time, she wasn’t sure how she felt about him. Her tiny restaurant had just begun to show a modest profit when he’d swooped into her life with his tall, blond handsomeness and smooth southern charm. Smitten and completely blind to his manipulative self-centeredness, Angel had been easy prey. Before she quite knew what was happening, she’d found herself betrothed and completely ensnared in his schemes. Selling her restaurant and letting Terence invest the proceeds along with what was left of her nest egg seemed logical, right up until she saw the business he’d bought with her money.
They’d gotten married on her nineteenth birthday in a private ceremony with only a few of Terence’s friends present. Then they had retired to their new home, and Angel had discovered, to her horror, that The Road House was not a genteel hotel as she had been led to believe, but a combination saloon, gambling den, and whorehouse. When she demanded her money back, Terence pointed out that as soon as she’d married him, everything that had once been hers now legally belonged to her husband. Never one to back down, she’d stood up to him the same way she’d stood up to her father. It wasn’t until he’d knocked her to the floor with an opened-handed slap that the full impact of Angel’s situation hit her. Terence not only had all her money, he had total control of her as well. He even had the law on his
side. A husband had the right to discipline his wife any way he chose. Anything short of killing her was perfectly legal.
After giving her a lecture on learning her proper place, he had prudently withdrawn to the casino to give her time to adjust, as he called it. But Terence had never returned. He’d been killed within hours of leaving her when he tried to break up a knife fight between two patrons.
Shattered equally by betrayal and grief, she’d wanted to bury her head under her pillow and never come out. Instead, she’d descended to the saloon where she’d found Sam Collins. He was only eight years her senior, but he’d worked for the previous owner and had stayed on at Terence’s request. From him she’d learned Terence was the fourth owner to die in two years. The place had established a reputation for bad luck which, he told her, was going to make it almost impossible to sell.
Though he was skeptical, Sam had taken her to the small office at the back of the establishment and settled her with the books. Determined to salvage what she could, Angel had poured over the figures, trying to decide how to best recoup her losses and hoping there would be enough to start over again. It didn’t take her long to realize Terence had known what he was doing when he’d purchased The Road House. In spite of mismanagement, the business turned a profit every month, and the potential was enormous. She had emerged two hours later with a solid plan and hope in her heart. The Road House became the Lucky Lady, and with Sam’s help, Angel had learned the casino business from the ground up.
When Alexis and Duncan had relocated to Cheyenne, Angel had turned her eyes west. She’d sold the Lucky Lady for three times what Terence had paid for it and bought The Green Garter in South Pass City, close to Alexis but far enough away that Angel’s profession wouldn’t reflect on her sister. Yes, The Green Garter had been good to her. She and Sam were both walking away with a tidy sum, but it was definitely time to go.
The sun had long since set by the time she wearily climbed the stairs to her room. The events of the day crowded in on her as she began to remove the thick layer of make-up she wore. As her flawless white skin emerged, her gray eyes seemed to take on a luminescent shine, and ten years disappeared as if by magic. Angel made a face at herself in the mirror. Perhaps it was a good thing she was leaving. Usually, she shed the persona of the cynical casino owner with the grease paint she used. But lately, it had been harder and harder to find herself when she finished. Going to Cheyenne was probably exactly what she needed. Whatever her sister’s problem, it was sure to make Angel forget her own troubles.
She glanced through her sister’s letter again and tried to make sense of the sketchy information it gave her. It was useless; a pair of green eyes and broad shoulders kept intruding. After several minutes, she dropped the letter on her dressing table and stared into the mirror again.
What would Ox think if he could see her like this? Would it change his perception of her, or would he still look at her with indifference? No, not indifference. Friendship! As she picked up her hair brush and pulled it through the fiery mass that caressed her shoulders, she thought of the kiss she’d shared with Ox. She touched her lips with two fingers. Her reaction had shocked her as much as it had him. No man had ever moved her that way before.
Ox had felt the power of that kiss just as she had, though his reaction had hardly been lover like. He couldn’t have been more astonished if one of his mules had suddenly started singing opera and dancing the minuet. It was obvious he saw her more as a crony than a potential sweetheart.
Angel shook her head. What difference did it make anyway? It wasn’t likely she’d ever see him again, which was just as well. The last thing she needed was a man who would take away her freedom and control her life; a man like her father, like Terence. Good riddance. Her life would be much less complicated without him underfoot. Someday, she’d be glad.
Her lip quivered slightly in the mirror. The tears that had threatened all day suddenly spilled over and ran down her cheeks. With a sob, Angel dropped her face to her folded arms and let them flow unchecked. Someday maybe, but for right now, all she could think of was how much she was going to miss him.
Chapter 3
“Alexis, are you in there?” Angel pushed open the door and peered cautiously around the inside of the little cabin. The place looked as though it hadn’t been disturbed for a while. For the dozenth time, she wondered why her sister had insisted they meet here instead of the beautiful home Duncan Smythe had built for his young wife. With a sigh, Angel walked inside and shut the door.
Angel sent a message as soon as she arrived in town, but knowing Alexis, she probably wouldn’t be out of bed yet. Then she’d need to get dressed and have Martha do her hair. It could be a very long wait. But she barely had time to remove her hat before she heard the sound of a carriage outside. Seconds later, the door burst open, and Alexis arrived in a swirl of taffeta and perfume.
“Oh, Angel, you came!” she cried, enveloping her sister in a hug.
Any irritation Angel felt disappeared as she returned her sister’s embrace wholeheartedly. Even though it has been less than a year since they’d seen each other, being with Alexis was like rediscovering a part of herself. “Of course I did, you goose. Did you think I wouldn’t?”
“I was afraid you wouldn’t get my letter way out there in the wilderness.”
“I’ve gotten every letter you’ve ever sent. Besides, South Pass City isn’t exactly the wilderness,” Angel said dryly. “Now that I’m here, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
“Oh, Angel, my life is over unless you help me.” Alexis released her sister and gave a dramatic sigh. “I’ve fallen in love.”
Angel blinked. “What?”
Alexis glared at her. “Why is that so unbelievable? Just because your heart is made of stone doesn’t mean mine is.”
“Oh, I believe you’re in love all right. I just don’t understand why it’s a difficulty. You’ve been a widow for months now, and Duncan was almost seventy years old. Nobody will blame you for getting married before your full year of mourning is over.”
“That’s not the problem.”
“Oh?” Angel raised an eyebrow. “Then what is?”
“Father!”
“Ah, I might have known. He doesn’t approve of your swain, does he?”
“He doesn’t even know about Brandon.”
“Then I don’t see—”
“Father has arranged for me to marry someone else.”
Angel closed her eyes. “Oh dear, how bad is it?”
“I’m not sure, I’ve never met him. All I know is he’s thirty-three years old and graduated from Harvard with honors.”
“I’ll bet he’s rich, too.”
“His grandfather is.”
“Then he’s probably insufferably arrogant and self-centered. At least he isn’t as old as Duncan.”
“That’s not the point. Duncan was very kind to me.” Alexis took an agitated turn around the room. “Anyway, I don’t care what Jamie Treenery is like. I don’t want to marry him!”
“Not if he’s Father’s choice, you don’t. Still, I don’t see where I come into all this.”
“I want you to convince Father this match will never do.”
“You want me to what?” Angel laughed. “My dearest sister, I think love has muddled your brain. In case you’ve forgotten, I haven’t spoken to Father in almost ten years, not to mention that he disowned me and pretends I never existed.”
“I know. And that’s precisely the reason it will work.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I wasn’t positive until I saw you but...oh, come here, I’ll show you.” Alexis took off her hat, then led Angel over to the mirror on the wall. “What do you see?”
Angel peered into the dirty glass. “About four pounds of dust and the life’s work of a very diligent spider.”
“No, not that,” Alexis said in disgust, as she wiped away the worst of the grime with her lace handkerchief. “Now what do you see?”
“You mean besides the ruined handkerchief you’re going to have a hard time explaining to Martha?”
Alexis’s answer was a glare. Angel obediently removed the grin from her face and turned back to the looking glass. “I see two women staring at themselves in the mirror.”
“Right, and we’re as alike as ever,” Alexis said with satisfaction.
“I think you have a tad more hair, though it’s pretty hard to tell with it pulled back that way,” Angel said with a grin. “And you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing this particular shade of blue or such a scandalous dress.”
“But besides all that, we still look exactly alike.”
“We are identical twins, you know.”
“That’s right. If we dress alike, no one can tell us apart.”
Angel turned to look at her sister with dawning comprehension. “Oh no. You want me to pretend to be you?”
“Exactly.”
“Forget it. I’m not going to travel all the way to New York to see Father, not even for you.”
“You don’t have to. He’s here in Cheyenne. They came when Duncan died and have been with me ever since.”
“He’s here, and you didn’t tell me?”
“I knew you wouldn’t come.”
“I suppose Vanessa is here, too.”
Alexis nodded. “And the children. Father even brought a tutor along for them.”
“If that isn’t just like him. Not only does he come in and take over your home before your husband is cold in his grave, he expects you to feed and house his servants as well.”
“Jared and Shannon took care of that for me. They convinced the tutor to leave right away.” Alexis grinned. “In fact, they’ve managed to drive off three since they’ve been here. Father finally said they could spend the rest of the term studying by themselves. I think he’s sorry he brought them along.”
Silver Springs Page 3