Jared, aren’t you?” she asked. “Clark spoke of you. I knew you’d be the one to come.”
His eyes cut toward her and Kinsey saw the hard edge, the toughness—both mental and physical—Clark had told her about. Jared, the oldest of the brothers. Biggest, smartest. The leader.
The only Mason tougher than Jared, Clark had said, was their mother. Kinsey knew that was true.
She knew, too, that she was cornered. Escape wasn’t possible, not at the moment, and she’d have to deal with this man.
He shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking a little unsure of himself.
“About last night….” Jared cleared his throat. “I didn’t know that was you in the alley. I sawyou across the street from the stage depot and again working in the restaurant kitchen, but I didn’t know who you were. I wouldn’t have…kissed you, if I’d known. Sheriff told me afterwards.”
Heat rushed into her cheeks. Kinsey glanced away.
“It’s dangerous for you to be on the streets like that at night,” Jared said.
“Worried that somebody might grab me?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Like you did?”
His gaze hardened a bit. “I only meant to protect you when the shooting started at the saloon.”
Kinsey gestured toward his pistol. “I’m surprised you didn’t start shooting, too, like most men would have done.”
“Oh.” Jared looked down at the gun. “Well…”
“So I owe you my thanks,” Kinsey said. “For that.”
Jared walked to the window. Kinsey turned and they stood together watching Sam in the swing. Several long minutes crept by, the silence reminding Kinsey of exactly who this man beside her was, even if she had raised onto tiptoes to kiss him.
“He’s healthy?” Jared asked.
Kinsey nodded. “Smart, too. He’s in school. The schoolmarm was impressed that he can read already.”
“You taught him?”
“Sam’s got a quick mind,” Kinsey said. “Like Clark.”
She sawthe hard look on Jared’s face soften again, revealing the hurt and sorrow that he surely still felt for his brother, and that he probably preferred Kinsey didn’t see.
“His name is Samuel?” Jared asked.
“After your father,” Kinsey said. “Itwas Clark’s idea.”
Another quiet moment passed before Jared spoke again.
“We need to talk this out,” he said.
“No, we don’t. You need to leave.”
“I won’t do that.”
They squared off. Kinsey felt her anger rise. She saw Jared’s jawtighten, but he drewin a calming breath.
“I want both of you to come back to New York with me,” he said, “and live in our home.”
“We have a home.”
“Sam’s family is there.”
“I’m Sam’s family,” Kinsey said. “I’ve been taking care of him since the day he was born and I don’t need any—”
“You call this taking care of him?” Jared demanded, waving his arms. “Living in the back room of a boardinghouse? Working two jobs to scrape by?”
“I take excellent care of Sam!”
“How much money have you put away?” He edged closer. “What if he gets sick? Can you buy medicine? Pay a doctor?”
“I’ll find a way—”
“What about his future? His schooling? His education?”
“I can manage—”
“You’re robbing him of what’s rightfully his. Did you think about that?” Jared asked. “The boy’s entitled to Clark’s inheritance.”
“I don’t need—”
“The Mason family is one of the most powerful in the East,” Jared told her. “We’ve got money—lots of money. We’ve got political connections. Social position. We know important people in high places who can get things done. All of that is Sam’s birthright. He’ll have everything he could ever need.”
“I don’t want that sort of life for him,” Kinsey said.
“It’s too late for that,” Jared said. He jabbed his finger toward the window. “He’s a Mason.”
She shook her head frantically. “No.”
“And so are you.” Jared pointed at her now. “You can make up a new first name and call yourself Kinsey, and you can drop your married name and pretend you’re a Templeton again, but you’re still a Mason. Still my brother’s wife. Still a part of the Mason family.”
Kinsey gasped and pressed her lips together, forbidding herself to say another word. Jared glared down at her. She drew in a breath, forcing herself to stay calm, to think.
She lowered her lashes, then looked up at him again.
“You’re right, of course,” she said quietly. “I just need some time to think things over.”
Jared backed off a little and nodded. “Fine, then.”
Kinsey opened the back door and stepped outside, watching as Jared cast a last look at Sam in the swing, then headed toward town.
Her heart thundered in her chest and she wondered how she’d gotten so lucky.
Jared Mason didn’t know who she really was.
Chapter Four
No trains today.
Kinsey made her way down the boardwalk, her mind whirling. No trains expected through Crystal Springs until the end of the week. No stagecoach due for two more days. She’d committed the schedules to memory a long time ago. That’s how she knew there’d be no escape from the town—from Jared Mason—today.
When Nell and Lily had come home from church yesterday and inquired about her abrupt departure, Kinsey had calmed herself enough tomake a reasonable excuse that they hadn’t questioned. If her two friends noticed that she’d been on edge the whole evening or watched Sam in the backyard like a hawk, they hadn’t mentioned it.
No one had noticed the family resemblance between Sam and Jared Mason either, thank goodness. But why would they?
She
