last of the sun cast long shadows down the dirt streets. Few people moved about as the stores closed for the night. Farther down the street he caught a glimpse of the Wild Cat Saloon. The place was brightly lit and already a stream of cowboys and miners passed through the bat-wing doors. Saturday night, he remembered.
His mind swept back to memories of other Saturday nights in the thirty-two years of his life. Everything from suppers in a tuxedo to grabbing for the last pork chop off the platter in the lumber camp chow hall. Jared smiled at the thoughts.
His father had built a highly successful construction business in New York and had insisted that all of his five sons learn it from the ground up. That had meant summers at lumber camps and sawmills, sweeping up offices, working as an apprentice to architects and engineers before being sent off for a formal education. It had led to Jared, the oldest son, spending most of his time away from home.
And it had led to the death of his closest brother.
A different woman—this one with gray hair and a no-nonsense demeanor—brought him a plate of hot food. He dug in, turning his attention once more out the window. Jared took the time to study the buildings along Main Street as he ate, a habit deeply ingrained in him.
Wooden structures with simple lines. Functional. Nothing fancy. But that’s the sort of construction called for here. It would change, though, as the town grew and a bigger, more diversified population brought new ideas with it. Towns like Crystal Springs drew all sorts of people.
He wondered what it was, exactly, that had drawn the woman who’d run off with his brother’s baby to this place.
Clark. Younger than Jared by only a year. The two brothers had been inseparable growing up. They’d stayed close, exchanging letters even during the time Jared had been in Pennsylvania overseeing the construction of a mill for his father’s company, and Clark had been in Virginia doing the same for a factory and warehouse complex.
Jared had been surprised the day he’d received the letter from Clark saying he’d gotten married.
He’d been devastated the day he got the telegram telling him that Clark had died.
Jared had never met Beth Templeton Mason. No one else in the family had met her either, except his mother who’d traveled to Virginia for a visit shortly after the wedding.
No one in the Mason family knewquite what to think when the widow had shipped Clark’s body home to New York, along with his personal effects, and was never heard from again. They’d been content to leave it at that until a few months ago when Jared’s mother had come across a forgotten stash of Clark’s belongings. Among a stack of correspondence shoved carelessly into the crate she’d found an unfinished letter from Clark announcing the news that his wifewas expecting a baby.
A baby. A Mason. Heir to the hard-earned family wealth and social position. Amelia Mason’s first and only grandchild. She wanted that baby, and Jared was only too happy to take up the chore himself.
A hired investigator had tracked Clark’s wife through a series of towns and menial jobs until he’d located her here in Crystal Springs. She’d done a poor job of hiding her true identity, simply giving herself a new first name and dropping her married name.
Just why she’d run off with Clark’s son, no one knew.
All the family knew was that they wanted the boy in NewYork with the Masons, where he belonged. Jared had taken over the task himself and made the trip to Crystal Springs.
All he had to do was find the woman. That wouldn’t be hard in a town this size. He silently chastised himself for sleeping all afternoon. Otherwise, he was sure he could have located her before nightfall.
Jared pushed his empty plate away and Dixie caught his attention coming through the swinging door from the kitchen. But it wasn’t she who caused him to sit up in his chair. It was the woman he spotted behind her in the busy kitchen, elbow-deep in a tub of sudsy water.
The woman he’d seen across the street from the stage depot this afternoon.
Steam from the hot water made her face dewy. Tendrils of her dark hair curled around her cheeks. Her arms, exposed clear past her elbows, were smooth and a little pink as she washed dishes. Someone in the kitchen must have said something funny because she was laughing. Her face was lit up, glowing.
Jared wished he could hear her. He wished he was in the kitchen with her to listen to the melody of her voice, see her smile up close…see all of her up close.
Her bibbed apron outlined the swell of her breasts and the sash tied tight around her waist showed the flare of her hips. Sudden, strong desire claimed Jared, producing predictable results.
Dixie stepped in front of him, cutting off his view of the kitchen. She held a slice of berry pie in front of him.
“You look like a man who’d enjoy something hot and juicy,” she said, leaning toward him. “You interested?”
His desire cooled a little. He took the saucer from her hand. “This will do fine,” he told her.
She lingered just long enough to give him a knowing look, then disappeared into the kitchen again. Jared watched, catching another glimpse of the woman at the washtub as the door swung open, savoring the sight of her until it closed again.
Jared finished his pie and coffee and left money on the table. He held back the urge to leave a generous tip, as he usually did, not wanting to call attention to himself. Outside on the boardwalk, he drew in a breath of the cool night air. It was dark now; lanterns burning in the windows down Main Street provided faint light.
Things had picked up at the Wild Cat Saloon. Horses were tied to the hitching posts all along the street. Piano music flowed out along with the drone of voices. Jared considered going inside, having a beer, but decided to get the lay of the town instead.
He walked past the many businesses that lined Main Street, all closed for the night. Above them, on second floors, windows glowed with lantern light. Jared imagined weary merchants and their families having supper around a kitchen table, talking over their day, planning for tomorrow.
Across the street, the sheriff left the jailhouse. He was a big fellow with a pistol on each hip, carrying a sawed-off shotgun. A lot of firepower. Jared thought the lawman might need it. Every cowboy and miner he’d seen walk into the saloon tonight carried a gun.
He dropped his hand to the pistol on his hip. Maybe he’d hire a horse from the livery tomorrow and ride out of town a ways, find a spot to target practice. He wasn’t a stranger to guns, exactly, though he certainly didn’t carry one with him every day back in New York. He’d hunted for deer and wild turkey, on occasion. But he’d never fired a pistol, and he sure as hell had never shot at a human being.
At the edge of town Jared spotted a number of houses lining the street. Trees and picket fences, big porches with swings. Homes where families lived.
The thought of returning to his hotel room seemed less appealing by the minute.
By the time Jared ambled his way back down Main Street, loud, raucous laughter spilled out of the Wild Cat. He stopped across the street, but his gaze wandered down the block to the White Dove Café.
The restaurant was dark now. Had the woman he’d seen washing dishes finished her chores and gone home already? An odd feeling
