A Love to Cherish (3 page)

Casey went still. “You mean this isn’t the first time?”

Belle gave an inelegant shrug. “No, nor is he the first man to think he could take liberties.”

“What in the hell is a defenseless woman doing in a rough gold camp with no one to protect her? Didn’t I hear Dinks say you had a son? You must be crazy to stay here amid so much violence.” Casey couldn’t imagine why he was being so protective of a woman he hardly knew.

Belle’s stubborn little chin lifted and her brown eyes darkened with anger. Casey thought her magnificent. He saw now that her hair wasn’t really a true brown but a rich sable, so shiny it nearly blinded him. Except for her lameness her body was perfect. Slim and sinuous, she was also round where it counted, with a hint of long, supple legs hidden beneath her skirts.

“You’re quick to find fault with someone you hardly know,” Belle tossed back at him. “I’ve been in Placerville over a year and have managed quite nicely, thank you.”

Casey gave a sarcastic snort. “It didn’t look to me
as if you were managing. If I hadn’t been handy Dinks would have raped you.” His eyes narrowed and the searching look he gave her was almost insulting. “Unless I interrupted something I had no business interrupting. Are you in the habit of providing services to your customers after hours?”

Before she had time to consider the consequences, she lashed his cheek with the flat of her hand. “How dare you!”

Casey’s jaw clenched. He supposed he deserved that. But something inside him had snapped at the thought of Belle selling herself to crude miners. He stepped closer, grasping her shoulders and bringing her hard against him. He was so startled by how good she felt pressed against him that he immediately pushed her away.

Belle tried to remain calm, frozen in place by the mesmerizing power of his strangely beautiful, mossy green eyes. Every part of him where she was briefly pressed against him had been hard and unyielding. Intuition told her that Casey Walker could be utterly ruthless. He was so honed and lethal, so swift and sure of himself, that it frightened her.

“I’ll forgive you this time,” Casey growled. “I had no call to say what I did.” The urge to pull her against him again was so strong he had to consciously restrain himself. What in the hell had gotten into him? he chided himself. He wasn’t about to stoop to the level of the crude miner who had tried to force himself on her. He was a professional, for godsake, and if he didn’t act like one soon he was going to lose this job and be forced to return the bonus, which he no longer had.

“I find it difficult to believe you’ve managed on your own thus far. How many times have you had to defend yourself against men like Dinks?”

Belle flushed and stared at her hands. She’d had to defend herself plenty of times. “I’ve survived.”

“What you need is a bodyguard.”

Belle sent Casey a startled glance. That’s
exactly
what she needed. Not for herself, but for Tommy. If T.J. McAllister ever found them he’d take away her son for sure. And the law would let him. All T.J. had to do was reveal her background and she’d lose Tommy to a detestable man who had disowned his own son and ignored Tommy until he realized the boy was the last living heir. It would be comforting to know Tommy would be well provided for, but it was not worth losing her son to his grandfather.

Belle eyed him with distrust. “I don’t need a bodyguard, Mr. Walker.”

Casey gave her a look that suggested he believed otherwise. He could think of no better way to learn everything there was to know about Belle Parker than signing on as her bodyguard. If he was to talk her into giving up her son to her father-in-law, he needed to earn her trust.

“Why not, Mrs. Henderson? You could use a bodyguard and I need a job.”

Belle eyed him in silent contemplation. It was true Wan Yo, the faithful Chinese servant Naomi had sent along with her to protect her son, was getting on in years, and that McAllister was probably spending a fortune trying to locate her and Tommy. For all she knew, T.J.’s men were already hot on her trail. And Casey Walker looked like a man capable of giving Tommy the kind of protection he needed. But could she trust him?

“I don’t need a bodyguard,” she repeated.

“I think you do.”

Belle considered his words and seemed to come to a decision. “I can’t pay much. I don’t need a guard for myself, it’s for Tommy.”

“Tommy?”

“My son.”

“Why does your son need a bodyguard?”

“There are circumstances you can’t imagine.”

“Tell me so I’ll know what I’m up against.”

“All you have to do is keep a sharp lookout for strangers lurking about my establishment. You’ll soon recognize my regular customers. Anyone else requires attention. I can pay you ten dollars a week and all your meals.”

Casey nearly laughed aloud. If he told her the amount of money McAllister was paying him to find her she’d be appalled. “My hotel room will cost nearly that much.”

“You can sleep in the spare room off the kitchen. Wan Yo used to sleep there, but he moved into the house to be nearer to Tommy.”

“Wan Yo?”

“Wan Yo takes care of Tommy while I’m working. I’ve known him forever.”

“Do you have any other employees? Running this diner is a lot of work for one woman.” She wasn’t a slouch when it came to work, Casey thought as he admired the cleanliness and order of the kitchen.

“That’s all I’ll tell you until we come to an agreement.”

He stared at her, then nodded his head. “Very well, I accept your terms. Tell me everything I need to know.”

“I still haven’t decided a bodyguard is necessary,
but I will tell you that Sanchez and his wife Dolores help me in the kitchen.” She grew silent for a moment, then said, “On second thought, hiring someone I know nothing about isn’t such a good idea.” She must be out of her mind to consider giving her trust so easily. She wasn’t going to let anyone get close enough to her and Tommy to hurt them. “I know nothing about you. You could be a murderer, or rapist, or any number of things. I have Wan Yo, and I can protect my son better than anyone.”

“Mama! Mama! A bad man hurt Wan Yo. Hurry, hurry!”

A small boy bounced into the room, clutched Belle’s hand and pulled her out the door.

Completely forgetting Casey, Belle rushed out after Tommy. “What happened?”

Checking the position of his gun and removing the flap holding it in place, Casey followed.

Words tumbled out of the boy’s mouth in a rush. “Wan Yo and I were walking to the store when a bad man started calling him names and pulling on his pigtail. I tried to help but the bad man pushed me hard and I fell on the ground. Wan Yo tried to help me but the bad man knocked him down and kicked his leg. Now Wan Yo can’t get up.”

Casey saw a crowd gathered around a small figure crumpled in the dirt. He sprinted ahead and saw a frail old Chinese man, wearing baggy black pajamas, writhing in pain on the ground. Was this the man Belle depended on for protection? Wan Yo was so slight of build Casey suspected a good wind would blow him away. His face had turned gray beneath his fragile yellow skin and his leg was bent at an unnatural angle.

“Who did this?” Belle cried, dropping to her knees beside the old man. It frightened her to think that Tommy could have been hurt as well.

“Bad man, Missy Belle, a bad, bad man. He no like Wan Yo’s pigtail. Want to cut it off. No can do.”

“Where is the man now, Wan Yo?” This was from Casey, who had joined Belle and Tommy at Wan Yo’s side.

“Gone,” Wan Yo wailed, “but Wan Yo not forget face. He tell Wan Yo Chinaman not welcome in Placerville. He tell Wan Yo to go to Chinese Camp with his own kind.”

“Don’t worry, Wan Yo, I’ll take care of you,” Belle crooned as she took off her apron and placed it under his head. The man was as dear to her as her own flesh and blood. He had become indispensable to her since the day she and Tommy had fled from her father-in-law. “Someone go for the doctor,” she called out to anyone who would listen.

“I’ll go.” A man broke off from the crowd and headed toward the doctor’s office.

“What were you saying about not needing a bodyguard, Mrs. Henderson?” Casey asked as he watched Belle fuss over the old man. “I’d say you were in desperate need of someone to watch over you and your son. Since I’m not interested in mining, I may as well make myself useful to you.”

As much as Belle wanted to deny it, she couldn’t. Wan Yo couldn’t provide protection laid up with a broken leg, and God only knew what other injuries he’d sustained.

“Very well, Mr. Walker, you’re hired. I just hope I don’t live to regret my hasty decision.”

D
octor Lincoln arrived a few minutes later. A cursory examination confirmed that Wan Yo’s leg was broken, along with three ribs. The rest of his injuries were minor.

“I’ll send someone with a stretcher,” the doctor said. “Can’t have that leg jarred any more than necessary. You want to have him brought to my office, Mrs. Henderson?”

“No, I’ll take him home,” Belle said. “He’ll be more comfortable there, if that’s all right with you, doctor.”

“I’ll go back to the office then and gather up what I need to set Wan Yo’s leg. Keep him quiet until the stretcher arrives.”

“Does this kind of thing happen often?” Casey asked after the doctor had hurried away.

“People here don’t like Chinamen.”

Belle didn’t say what she was really thinking. She feared someone had tried to kidnap her son and Wan Yo was injured in the scuffle. Had T.J. found them? Oh God, she hoped not. She didn’t want to move again. She thought she’d be safe in Placerville
after a year had passed with no problems—except minor ones with men like Dinks. Would she and Tommy be safe from T.J.’s long arm
anywhere
in California?

“Do you want me to find whoever’s responsible?”

Belle turned and gave Casey an exasperated look. Casey inhaled sharply as he felt the full potency of her soft brown eyes settle on him. He felt as if he were drowning in a sea of sweet, molten chocolate that literally sucked him into its fathomless depths. Right now those expressive eyes were filled with contempt. “What’s the use? No one will care.”

“The sheriff …”

“… Can’t be bothered with something as trivial as an old Chinese man. Just protect my son, that’s what you’re being paid for.”

Belle returned her gaze to Wan Yo, but not before she saw Casey’s remarkable hazel eyes darken with some strange emotion she didn’t have time to interpret.

“Is Wan Yo going to be all right, Mama?” Tommy asked as he hovered over the frail Chinese man.

Belle’s eyes softened as she gazed at her son. She couldn’t lose him to McAllister, it would kill her. “Wan Yo is going to be fine, sweetheart. And so are you. I’ve just hired Mr. Walker to take care of you and Wan Yo while Mama’s working at the restaurant.”

Tommy let his gaze wander up Casey’s lean length, tilting his head back so far he had to shade his eyes against the sun. Casey noted that the boy’s eyes were the same warm brown as his mother’s, and his hair a shade lighter than Belle’s mass of gleaming sable curls.

“He sure is big,” Tommy observed. “Do you think he can protect me against mean old Mc …”

“Tommy!” Belle’s warning stopped Tommy’s words in mid-sentence. She didn’t trust Casey Walker enough to make him privy to her secrets. “We’ll discuss this at home. Here comes the stretcher. I have to get back to the restaurant and prepare for the supper crowd. Sanchez and Dolores will be waiting for me. You go along to the house with Mr. Walker and Wan Yo. I’ll see you later.”

“But Mama …”

“It will be all right, you’ll see,” Belle cajoled. “Wan Yo will need you now that he can’t do for himself.”

“If you say so, Mama,” Tommy said, not at all convinced that he should go with a man he didn’t know.

Two men were putting Wan Yo on the stretcher now, and Wan Yo’s pitiful moans turned Belle’s attention from Tommy to the old man. She patted his hand in commiseration. The minute the doctor arrived, they started the slow trek down the street.

“I don’t know where you live,” Casey said. He had remained silent until now, watching and waiting.

“Tommy and I live in four small rooms connected to the restaurant by a breezeway. It’s not only cheaper to live behind my place of business, but handy. There is a separate entrance, Tommy will show you. After I get Sanchez and Dolores started on supper, I’ll look in on Wan Yo.”

Looking decidedly worried over her hasty decision to hire a stranger to protect her son, Belle hurried off toward the restaurant.

“Well, kid, that leaves you and me,” Casey said
somewhat uncertainly. “We’re going to get along together just fine.”

Casey couldn’t ever recall conversing intelligently with a child before, certainly not one as young as Tommy. He felt like a bastard for what he had to do, but this assignment meant a lot of money to him, and the difference between life and death for Mark. Belle Parker might have been a whore at one time, but he could see no evidence thus far to suggest she was plying her trade in Placerville.

When Tommy made no attempt at conversation, Casey did not press him. Persuading Belle to give up her son to his grandfather without using force was going to be difficult, he reflected, and in order to do so he had to gain the trust of both Tommy and Belle. One day at a time, he told himself, and each day brought him that much closer to saving his brother from a lifetime of incarceration. He had already accepted McAllister’s money, returning it was out of the question. His entire reputation rested on his ability to settle this case in McAllister’s favor.

Belle worked silently in the kitchen, speaking only to relay orders to Sanchez and his wife about preparation of the evening meal. She usually fed close to a hundred men on good days. Even on bad days the number was impressive. She’d made a good living in Placerville, thanks in part to the money Naomi had given her when she’d fled San Francisco in panic.

She owed Naomi more than she could ever repay. Who would have thought that when Naomi found her all those years ago, a starving, injured urchin on the street, she would become the mother Belle couldn’t remember? The Lord certainly worked in
strange ways, Belle thought. Until today she and Wan Yo had been able to handle the rowdy miners who tried to take liberties with her. Now Wan Yo was injured and likely to be laid up for weeks, and she had been forced to hire a stranger to protect Tommy from his grandfather.