Felicia Andrews Read online

  "But, Trevor," she protested like a child denied a sweet, "I don't care what anyone thinks! I do as I please. "

  He grinned. " I could see that very well in San Francisco," he said, "but the fact remains that there are still your family and the people you work with. Amanda, really, I do not want to alienate them. I want to have them like me. And I know that's going to be difficult because I'm an outsider. "

  "You won't have to win them, " she said earnestly. "I know they'll like you. I know they'll love you."

  But he was insistent, and by the time they reached the intersection, she had relented, pulled him to the right and across the street toward a three-story, weathered gray building two doors down from the bank. It stood alone between two alleys, its large front porch even with the boardwalk, the rest of its bulk set back from the street and partially masked by two tall elms whose crowns were thick and dusty green. They were, in fact, the only trees left on Main Street, and Nate Kurtz, the proprietor, was forever chasing young boys from their heavy branches.

  "Judge, mayor, hotel owner," Trevor said as she filled him in. "Is there anything in this town the man does not do?"

  She laughed, and they hurried up the broad steps, nodding to the quartet of elderly men who had staked out the rocking chairs on the porch as their own territory. She knew them all by name and introduced them to Eagleton, who shook their hands solemnly as he mentioned briefly his delight with the town.

  Once inside, however, he fairly collapsed with silent laughter, shaking his head and wondering aloud if his arrival were the most exciting thing that had happened to them since they had staked out their claims.

  Beyond the door's half-green panes and half-sculptured panels was a large carpeted foyer which, on the left, led into a spacious and airy dining room, and on the right into a smaller sitting room replete with overstuffed armchairs, horsehair couches, polished brass spittoons, and three somewhat battered secretaries set in front of each of the windows. Directly in front of them, couched between the inward curving wings of an elaborate, narrow staircase, was the registration desk, its counter a white and black marble slab Kurtz claimed had come all the way from Italy. Though it was, in itself, a rather large area, it seemed smaller because of the embrace of the staircase whose juncture was directly above it, forming a landing much like a balcony.

  No one, according to Kurtz, could get in or out of his establishment without someone noting it.

  And few people wondered why he bothered to brag about it.

  At the moment Eleanor Kurtz, his robust and duly proud wife, was on duty, and when she saw Amanda come in on the arm of an exceedingly handsome stranger, she fussed quickly with her hair, her bodice, her flaring skirts, and was smiling broadly by the time they reached her.

  There was no problem about the room, though Eleanor was barely able to maintain the charade of checking both the leather-bound vellum register book and the warren of cubbyholes behind her. And when she had finished, promising him the best room, second-floor front, she almost choked when Amanda volunteered to bring him up.

  "Mrs. Munroe, I couldn't . . . "

  "Of course you can, Eleanor, " she said, snatching the large brass key from the counter top. "And would you see that someone brings M r. Eagleton a bath as soon as the water is heated? He's come all the way from Denver. "

  "Denver?" she echoed, then tried not to blush when Eagleton took her hand and kissed it lightly in thanks for her concern.

  "Denver," she whispered as the couple walked up the steps, laughing, chatting noisily, their voices loud in the high-ceilinged foyer. Then she slammed on a small bell by her right hand-her left was held close to her side where she could protect it until later, when she would examine it for traces of the handsome man's lips-ringing until a portly, sweating black bustled through a low door to the right of the mail warren. "Josh, a bath to room two oh eight, yesterday if you can manage it. "

  "Lord," the gray-haired black said, "you got the President up there?"

  "None of your business," she snapped. "And see what Cook has. Mr. Eagleton has come all the way in from Denver to see Mrs. Munroe, and he's probably starving. "

  Josh scratched the back of his head as he left, keeping his voice low as he muttered: "Ain't food he's hungry for, then, if'n he with that damned witch. "

  The room was large, fully fifteen feet square. A modest screen of woven reeds on the left marked off nearly six feet of the available space for the brass bed and walnut nightstand with matching wardrobe. The rest was furnished by a rock-hard divan and flanking armchairs, a low oaken table in front of the divan, and a gaming table with three chairs on the right. There were two heavily curtained windows, amber-globed gaslights on each of the walls, and a skeletal valet on the wall just inside the door where Eagleton immediately deposited his hat and coat.

  Amanda, trying not to appear anxious, strode across the thin carpeting and stood at the right-hand window, staring down at the street blindly. She wondered what he thought of the flowered wallpaper now faded and needing replacing, or the framed lithographs of Presidents Lincoln and Grant on the right-hand wall, or the dust she saw lying on the sills, or . . . She hugged herself tightly and looked for a way to calm down.

  She failed. She turned, then, and waited until he had made a cursory inspection of his accommodations.

  "Incredible, Amanda," he said, and she could not help but bridle slightly at the mockery just lacing the edges of his words.

  "Well, " she said defensively, "we certainly can't pretend we're in San Francisco, you know . "

  "For heaven's sake, Amanda, I was only pulling your leg," he said, rounding the divan and standing in front of her.

  She stared up into his eyes. ''I'm glad you're here," she said quietly.

  "And 1."

  "I was hoping you would write more often. "

  He placed his hands on her shoulders, and she thought they were burning. "I did not exactly find myself buried under an avalanche of your own manuscripts, Amanda."

  "I didn't know where you were."

  "Ah . " He leaned closer and brushed the top of her head with his lips. "My fault. I should have told you something more specific than simply Denver."

  She turned her cheek until it rested against his chest and felt his hands slip downward to her back. Her eyes closed. Her breathing calmed. She could hear the thudding race of his blood through his heart, and she hoped that her own was not deafening him with its pounding.

  "I thought you weren't going to come," she said, measuring her words slowly.

  "To be honest, I wasn't sure I was . "

  She frowned but did not look up a t him. Instead she drew her arms tight between them, as though she were cuddling to a fresh down pillow.

  "My work," he said as he gently stroked the length of her hair. "It appears that there was a good chance I would have been ordered back to St. Louis, or perhaps New Orleans. I had to fight to get the time off. "

  "Did you?" she said, snuggling closer and grinning.

  "I did." His lips again, lightly and warm. "I may have even jeopardized my standing in the company. "

  "Really. " Her grin broadened.

  "As a matter of fact, before I get too comfortable here, I'm going to have to go back to the station and telegraph my employer to tell him where I am. He thinks I've gone to Wichita for a few days of rest. "

  "Rest? In Wichita?"

  His chest rumbled with quiet laughter. "Indeed. But it was the first place I could think of to tell him. "

  "Why did you have to lie?"

  "Do you think he would have heard of a place called Coreville, Wyoming?" The laughter again. "A mere diversion, Amanda. He's used to it. "

  "Damn it, " she said then, pulling back her head, "are you going to talk all afternoon, or are you going to kiss me?"

  He was startled, amused, and when he finally complied with her demand, he did so with a tenderness touched with desire that was at once dizzyingly tantalizing and frustratingly uncommitted. She held him tightly, h
er fingers laced in his hair, and pulled until he grunted. To release him now was unthinkable, but the acceleration of her pulse warned her that unless she held back now, there would be no stopping her until she had what she wanted from him. Groaning, then, she broke the contact just as a deferential knocking sounded at the door.

  Eagleton grinned and brushed a hand over his chest.

  Josh came in, then, behind two young boys struggling with a large metal tub between them. The old man directed them immediately to the screen, though he himself did not move more than a pace or two over the threshold.

  "They fetch the water right soon, sir, " he said with a slight nod to Eagleton.

  "That's just fine. Josh, is it?"

  The black nodded.

  "Very good. Well, Josh, I'm also hungry as a bear. Do you have anything I can steal from the kitchen to tide me over until dinner?"

  The two boys scurried between them, their faces gleaming with perspiration, their sweat-stained white shirts clinging darkly to their scrawny chests and backs. Josh rubbed a slow, gnarled hand over his jaw thoughtfully before nodding. Trevor, smiling at the side of his mouth, fished in his pocket and tossed the man a silver coin. Josh did not look at it; he only buried it in his own trousers.

  "Bread," he said. "Some cold chicken. I have de boys bring it right away. " He shook his head. "Man, I tell you, this place goin' crazy now. You, sir, and the coach jus' come in, and dat man what J.s from old lady Quinn's place-that be the boardin'house, sir-he come in like he want to own the damn'place. " He shook his head again, took a faded red bandanna from his hip pocket, and mopped his brow wearily.

  "What man?" Amanda asked then, stepping away from the glare of the window so she could be seen.

  Josh snapped up his gaze as though he had not known she was there. "Why, de man, Mrs. Munroe. De one what's been here for a coon's age. He even ask me if I got anyt'ing to sell. He crazy, that one is. De boss, she say he have to pay two weeks advance. " He grinned toothlessly. " Don' trus' that one, she don'."

  "Wilder," she said.

  Josh nodded. "He the one, yes'm . "

  A pause, and Trevor pressed another coin into the man's hand. "Thank you for the news, Josh. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to have that food. "

  Josh gaped at the dollar, gaped at Eagleton, then sketched a quick and comical bow to them both before backing out of the room and closing the door behind him. Eagleton stared at it a moment before putting his hands on his hips and letting go with a loud, unbelieving laugh. And when he had recovered, almost as quickly as he had begun, he turned and enfolded Amanda back into his arms.

  "A gem, that one is, " he said, leaning down for her lips.

  "Don't underestimate him," she laughed, deftly twisting away from his kiss. "The boys, " she explained, pointing toward the door. "They'll spend as much time listening at the keyhole as they will fetching the water. "

  His look of consternation was brief, before prudence took hold and he nodded. Then he grabbed his bag and walked around the screen to the bed, dumping it on the mattress and snapping open the top. "I would have brought you a gift," he said, "but I don't know what wealthy ranch owners are buying these days."

  She knelt on the couch and set her forearms on the swooping, scalloped oak back. Her chin rested on her arms, and she smiled as he stood by the screen. "You're gift enough," she said. "I don't want anything more."

  He inclined his head in thanks.

  "This Wilder fellow," he said after a few moments of staring. "Is he someone important around here?"

  "Not very. Not really, that is. He comes from Kansas, I'm told, and he's looking for land. He wanted a piece of my own place, again so I'm told, but I think he's going to settle for the spread next to mine. The place where Harley Peterson works. You remember him. His friend was William Wilcox."

  Eagleton nodded. "Indeed, I remember him well. Both of them. " He stretched, called a summons when there was a renewed knocking, and watched as the boys fought with four pails across the carpeting, dumping the steaming water into the deep, almost ladle-shaped tub. He told them he thought only two more would do it, and two more of cold; and before the disappointment had even begun to darken their faces, he gave each of them a tip, which sent them racing from the room with whoops of impressed delight.

  "You're pretty free with that stuff, " she said while he began working on his shirt.

  He shrugged. "It's like grease, " he said, "and it's a lot less messy."

  She tried not to frown. Although she was still slightly dizzy from seeing him, actually touching him and feeling the comfort of his lips, she felt once again that sensation of something not quite right about him that she had experienced in San Francisco. She did not love him--though she admitted with a shudder that she had come close to talking herself into it while they had been separated-but she had hoped, she had dreamed that this meeting would carry with it something more of the dreams she had had while he was gone. The dreams, she realized, that had somehow glossed the reality.

  And there, she thought suddenly when he turned to strip off his shirt and place it carefully over the screen-there was that magnetic cruelty back at his mouth. His face was set in a mask that covered him while he thought . . . and she would have given a year's profits, then, to know what he was thinking.

  The mood passed as abruptly as it came on her.

  The boys returned with the rest of the water, followed closely by Mrs. Kurtz who carried a large silver tray laden with the promised food and a tall bottle of what she called her finest whiskey. Amanda had quickly slithered into a sitting position at the woman's bustling entrance and was amused to see the unabashed longing with which she stared at Eagleton's chest, a chest he had not bothered to cover when she set the tray on the nightstand and stood flustered for a moment before nearly bowing and leaving.

  Yes, she thought; all women must be affected by him that way. And it came to her then that a part of his charm was as calculated as his business smile. Calculated, but only hinting at the coldness that might lurk behind it. Like a snake, she thought, toying with a broken-winged bird.

  "Amanda, do you mind?"

  She could not shake the image of snake and bird, could not find the rationale that had brought it to mind. And she did not like it. It implied that she was entrapped by something that was false, and deadly. That much was not true. And as much as she told herself that she did not love the man, there was still that bubbling part of her that played mind games like a schoolgirl.

  She blinked when he repeated her name, saw him standing just behind the screen with a fluffy white towel held coyly in front of him.

  "My bath," he said, nodding toward the tub.

  "Yes?"

  "Amanda," he said sternly, "what are people going to say? Mrs. Kurtz and those kids know you're up here. If we come down and I'm clean as a babe . . . " He grinned boyishly.

  She was tempted to say he could show her nothing new, nothing she had not already seen during their interlude in his San Francisco home. But she knew too the proprieties that had to be observed. It had taken the community a long time to grow accustomed to her independence, skirting always on the thin edge of scandal and retaliation; she did not want to jeopardize her standing now.

  Sullenly, then, she rose, playfully racing a few steps across the floor toward him, making him yelp and duck behind the screen.

  "Coward, " she taunted.

  "I have my reputation, " he said haughtily and grinned immediately after.

  She nodded. "Of course you do. And I have mine. But since yours is the more important, I'll meet you downstairs in the lobby. " She put her hand on the glass faceted doorknob. "Trevor, don't be long. "

  "I won't. I just want to soak a bit and nibble on this chicken. Later, you can introduce me to the stalwarts of the town so I'm not run in for being a vagrant. "

  "Fat chance, " she said and stepped into the corridor; pulling the door reluctantly behind her just as old Josh waddled out of a room at the far end. She waited for him t
o join her, then walked with him to the stairwell, listening to him complain with more bark than bite about the demands of the stranger who had moved in.

  "Mr. Wilder, " she said, "is getting to be quite a figure around here . "

  "I don' know 'bout that, Mrs. Munroe, " he said, panting as he leaned heavily on the deep-polished railing, "but he sure do like his comforts. " He shook his head wearily. "Now I even gots to fetch his dinner for him . "

  "Well surely Mrs. Kurtz will bring it up. "

  "Oh no, missus, " he said, stopping on the landing and looking down over the foyer. "He gets to have sometin' special. Cots t'come right from Mr. Daniels, and that half-breed woman what got Mr. Daniels-" He stopped suddenly, glancing at her sideways.