Faith (Goldwater Creek Mail-Order Brides 1) (11 page)

F
aith whirled around
. The sharp jab of a splinter stabbed into her index finger.

“Rosie?” She recognized the other woman from the party. The saloon girl who’d had the bruise. Was she one of the women Jax came to ‘visit’ at night?

Rosie was looking at her with raised brows, waiting patiently for her answer. Faith’s cheeks burned. What the heck was she supposed to say? That she snuck out of the house and followed Jax, thinking he was going to a secret gold mine?

“Do you live here?” Faith decided to turn the question to Rosie so as to avoid answering her.

Rosie glanced at the building. “No one really lives here. At least not for long. It’s a safehouse. I live in the boarding house in Goldwater Creek.”

“Safehouse?” Faith studied Rosie skeptically. Apparently, ‘safehouse’ was a euphemism for ‘whorehouse’. “I’m not naïve. I think I know what goes on here.”

Rosie nodded. “Good. I was hoping Jax would tell you. He should have told you long ago.”

“Well, I don’t really think that’s something a husband tells his wife …”

“Why not? You should be proud of him. He’s helped a lot of girls.”

“Helped a lot of girls?”

“Yes, and now you’re going to join him. That’s wonderful. I can’t thank you or Jax enough.”

“Join him? What in the world are you talking about?”

“Why, the safehouse for the saloon girls.” Rosie nodded her head toward the building.

“Safehouse?” Faith felt like a parrot repeating Rosie’s words, but what in the world was the woman talking about? It almost sounded like this wasn’t a house of ill repute.

Rosie burst out laughing. “Don’t tell me you thought this was a…”

Faith nodded. “What do you mean that it’s a safehouse?”

“It’s no secret that Cleb mistreats the saloon girls. Sometimes they get beaten pretty badly. Jax and Ryder Devlin bought this house out here in the middle of nowhere so that the girls would have a place to go to recover. Away from Cleb. Of course, it was all mostly because of Mary.”

Mary again. Faith was getting a little sick of Mary. She just wanted to find out where the gold mine was and be gone, but this new information about Jax intrigued her and tugged at her heart.

“What do you mean, it was because of Mary?”

Rosie smiled. “Mary worked in the saloon when she and Jax met. You could practically see the sparks flying from across the room. Of course, that angered Cleb even more because he hates Jax … and to have him take an interest in one of ‘his girls’ really made him mad. Unfortunately, Mary suffered because of it.”

“And Jax let that happen?”

“No. Well, only once and just because he didn’t know the extent of Cleb’s anger. But once was enough. He got Mary out of there and married her. Of course, that made Cleb even angrier.”

“But he couldn’t do anything to stop Cleb after that, or he didn’t bother because he already had Mary?” Faith asked, thinking it was the latter. It was just like a man to get what he wanted and then not care about others.

“Oh, no. He wanted to stop him. But Cleb is even more powerful than Jax, so after they were married, they came up with the idea for the safehouse. Shortly after that, Mary was killed and we were afraid Jax would give up on the house.” Rosie gestured toward the building. “He pays for everything and brings us medical supplies almost every night.”

“But he didn’t give up on the house.”

“No. Though for a while he didn’t come out. He didn’t even leave his house for almost a year and he never spoke of Mary, or the baby, again.” Rosie’s face turned sad. “Bessie Mae and Ryder took up the slack. They doctor the women up as best they can. Sometimes Doc Schumann comes out, but not too often. We need to be careful so that Cleb doesn’t catch on.” Rosie looked at her curiously. “But surely you know all this. Jax must have told you.”

Faith worried her bottom lip. Jax wasn’t coming out here carousing, he was helping the women! Faith’s heart hitched. Earlier in the day, she had been so sure that Jax was the same kind of jerk that Charles had been. But now, judging from what Rosie had told her, she’d been terribly mistaken.

Shoot! She didn’t want to think that Jax was a nice guy.

“So, he’s not out here drinking and womanizing?”

Rosie must have recognized the tone in Faith’s voice. The tone of someone who knows what it’s like to be with someone who drinks, cheats and abuses you. Faith saw the same sympathy mirrored in Rosie’s eyes that she herself had felt when she’d seen Rosie’s bruises at the party.

“Of course he’s not. But I suspect you’ve been a victim of that before, haven’t you?” Rosie asked.

Tears pricked the backs of Faith’s eyes. “Yes. My first husband. He was a drinker and a womanizer and he beat me. That’s why I recognized the bruises that you had and why I felt so sympathetic toward the saloon girls.”

Rosie threw her arms round Faith. “I thought so. How awful for you. But now you have Jax. Jax would never treat you that way.”

Faith buried her face in her hands. “That’s the thing, Rosie. I don’t
have
Jax. I can’t have him. I have to pay for my husband’s debts and Jax will hate me for it.”

Rosie’s brows mashed together. “What do you mean?”

It was as if the dam broke. Faith hadn’t realized how much she’d wanted to unburden herself to someone. In between sobs she told Rosie about her marriage to Charles, how he’d died and left her in debt and Lefty’s threat to her sisters.

“So, you followed Jax out here thinking he was going to some gold mine?”

Faith nodded. “You see, I can’t let Lefty, or his henchman Silas O’Toole, hurt my sisters. Even if it means losing Jax. But now I’m not even sure there
is
a gold mine and if I don’t come up with one, I’m afraid Lefty will do something drastic.”

Rosie glanced toward the house. “And Jax knows nothing of this?”

Faith shook her head. “If he knew I followed him here, he’d probably send me out of town. You won’t give me away, will you?”

“Of course not. But I think you should tell Jax your problem. He can help you. Maybe he could even pay off Charles's debt. He trusts you and you should trust him.”

Faith hadn’t even considered actually being able to
pay
the debt. Jax did have a lot of money, but she couldn’t use him like that. She could never ask, not after everything she’d done and after her plan to betray him. And besides, that debt was
hers
to deal with. She didn’t want to burden Jax with it.

Her heart squeezed with the horrible realization that she still cared about Jax.

“I’m not sure he really trusts me. He never told me anything about Mary. In fact, the first I heard of her was today at Bessie Mae’s sewing circle.”

“But he trusted you with information about the saloon,” Rosie pointed out. “Jax is a good man. What happened with Mary and the baby nearly killed him. He would never talk to anyone about it. Ever. Hasn’t mentioned it once since that day. But I’m sure he would have told you in time.”

“Maybe.” Faith wondered. But he hadn’t exactly trusted her enough to tell her about the safehouse, either. Then again, given the way she’d acted when he’d kissed her, it was no wonder he hadn’t told her. Maybe he had been planning to tell her about all of it, but her stiffening reaction to the kiss had him thinking better of it.

What had she done?

“Jax never rode in a buggy since that day,” Rosie said.

“But we rode in it to the Easthams’ party and to the saloon yesterday,” Faith said.

Rosie smiled. “That’s my point. It’s one of the changes that’s happened to Jax since you’ve been here. He’s happier. He’s opened up. The dark cloud that used to follow him around has disappeared. I always knew a good woman could help him find his heart again. I’ve seen the way he looks at you and that woman is
you
, Faith. You have something great within your reach. Don’t let it slip away.”

Faith didn’t know what to say. She felt like a fool because she hadn't known about her husband’s past, but all the excuses to come up with earlier in the day to hate him—that he was a drinker, a cheater and a liar—were melting away.

And instead of her heart hardening against him, she was finding that she loved him even more.

No wonder he was afraid of the buggy. Did this explain why he’d been so distant to her at first? Maybe he didn’t want to let anyone new in. Didn’t want to fall in love because, like Faith, he knew how much it hurt when that got taken away. But unlike Faith, Jax’s love had been stolen by death. He must’ve loved Mary very much to still hold her in his heart like that.

Suddenly, everything became clear. Jax needed her as much she needed him. She couldn’t bear to betray him by giving away the mine entrance to Lefty, but she would not let anything happen to her sisters.

Maybe Rosie was right and there
was
another solution. She would tell Jax everything. About Charles and how he’d turned into a drunk and womanizer. About how he’d left her with the debt to repay. About how Lefty had used her sisters to force her into this situation.

Maybe Jax would understand. She wouldn’t take any money from him for her debt, but maybe they could figure out how to deal with Lefty together. Jax had trusted her with the information about the saloon, and now it was her turn to trust. Faith had already felt a bond forming between her and Jax. A bond with the promise of a future that could last a lifetime.

And what she was about to do would either solidify that bond … or break it forever.

J
ax went
to the empty saloon building early the next morning before Faith woke up. Next week, the town officials would vote and the saloon would hopefully become a reality. But something bothered him. Cleb had been acting very strangely and last night, when he visited the safe house, he’d thought he’d heard someone following him.

He’d heard a rumor that some of Cleb’s associates from Boston were coming to town. He just hoped Cleb had not gotten wind of what they were planning and was putting something in place to stop it.

Jax was still worried about the man who had visited Faith. The fact that he, too, was from Boston had not escaped Jax. Could it be a coincidence?

Robertson had sent several Western Union messages to his former Pinkerton associates back East and was hoping to hear back today. In fact, he’d gone into Golden City to pick up the replies before the crack of dawn.

Jax doubted O’Toole had anything to do with Cleb. The sooner they could open the saloon, the sooner they would drive Cleb out of business and hopefully he would leave town once and for all.

The wooden floor creaked as Jax walked around the saloon. Every table was in its place, the chairs set and ready to go. He turned his attention to the bar with its dark mahogany wood and brass foot railing.

He could still picture Faith leaning against it. His blood warmed at the memory of their kiss. But then his brow furrowed. She’d been acting rather strange ever since that kiss.

Jax knew he’d moved too fast, so he figured it was best to slow down and get to know his new bride better. He’d tried to be home for every meal since then. He wanted to win Faith over. But she’d stayed in her room almost every minute since he’d taken her to the saloon. Was she avoiding him because of the kiss, or did her reclusive behavior have something to do with Silas O’Toole?

At first Jax had worried that something had happened to one of Faith’s sisters or her mother back in Boston, but Maisie had assured him that was not the case.

Faith claimed she was ill, but Jax was afraid she was trying to avoid him. And she had not mentioned the poetry book with the note he’d left for her in the library. Maybe his bold statement about her beauty had scared her off. Though she hadn’t acted ‘scared off’ when he’d kissed her. She’d acted as if she’d thoroughly enjoyed it … at least at first.

A niggle of doubt wormed its way through his mind as he remembered the heated kisses of his first wife, Mary. How could he have forgotten her so soon? Now it seemed all the memories of Mary had been replaced by memories of Faith.

Were his feelings for Faith real or just a manifestation of his loneliness? It
had
been three years since Mary—or any woman—had warmed his bed. Could it be that he was mistaking lust for love?

Not that long ago, he couldn’t imagine loving anyone but Mary. What if his feelings for Faith were just a product of his physical needs and he tired of her after taking her to bed? Or worse … what if she tired of him?

Jax didn’t think that was going to be the case for either of them. He had a feeling this was the real thing and the thought warmed his heart.

He was almost certain Faith’s odd behavior was directly related to her surprise visitor. Maybe Silas really was a friend and she’d just been startled to see him, or maybe he was up to something. Either way, Jax would make sure no harm came to his new wife.

He’d had love stolen from him before and he was going to make darn sure that didn’t happen again.

He busied himself behind the bar. There were no whiskey bottles yet, but they had the glasses and plates necessary to run a good saloon. Bessie Mae had washed them weeks ago and now they were gathering a little film of dust. Jax ran his finger along one white plate, noticing how it left a trail of clean behind it. She’d have to wash them again before they opened.

The door opened and he flicked his gaze to it. Robertson came through, closing the door and then walking toward him.

“Did you find out anything about this O’Toole character?”

“I’m afraid so.” Robertson avoided eye contact and Jax sensed his reluctance.

“What is it?” A feeling of trepidation raised the hairs on the back of Jax’s neck. Robertson had never been reluctant to tell Jax anything before. Why was he acting this way now?

“I’m afraid it’s not good news concerning your wife,” Robertson said. “I double and triple checked because I just can’t believe it myself. It seems so out of character.”

“What are you talking about?”

Robertson sighed. “Maybe Faith has a good explanation, but according to my contacts, Silas O’Toole works for Lefty Brewster in Boston.”

Dread clutched Jax’s heart. “Let me guess. Lefty Brewster is one of Cleb Masters’ associates in Boston, isn’t he?”

“That’s right,” Robertson said.

Jax came out from behind the bar to stand next to Robertson. When he spoke, his tone was tinged with anger. “But what’s this have to do with Faith? Is Lefty threatening her with Silas?”

Robertson held up his hand. “Now listen. You should talk to Faith before you take this as gospel. I can’t believe she would be mixed up in this. She might have a good explanation, but my contacts told me that Faith is working for Lefty Brewster. Lefty intercepted your mail order bride letters and Faith answered them. She was sent out here on purpose to marry you.”

T
he news hit
Jax like a punch in the gut. Faith was working for Lefty? Sent to marry him on purpose? But why? What in the world would Lefty, or anyone, have to gain by that?

It had to be about the saloon and safehouse. Cleb must have found out he was up to something and wanted someone on the inside. Someone to spy on him and hand over all the information he and Ryder had worked so hard to keep a secret.

And Jax had played right into his hands by bringing Faith to the saloon. He was just glad he had stopped there and not shown her everything else.

Suddenly, it all made sense. He’d assumed she’d claimed to be dowdy and unintelligent in her letters because she did not see herself as attractive, but it had all been a clever act.

What else had been an act? Her response to his kiss? Most likely.

Cleb Masters and this Lefty Brewster had known just what he needed. And Faith had been a clever actress, worming her way in with her silky hair, innocent blue eyes and sensual curves.

She’d played him for a fool.

How could he have fallen for it? He’d been too alone, too vulnerable. That would teach him for opening up. He’d made a mistake, but now he’d make sure he'd never make the mistake of trusting again.

And with that thought, his feelings of love snapped closed like a shutter, his heart darkening and hardening once again ... this time for good.

But deep inside, one thing bothered him. What did Faith have to gain by fooling him? Probably money. Maybe something else. Jax had suspected that Cleb was into something other than the saloon. The stagecoach robberies? For all he knew, Faith was in on
that
, too.

He had no idea how much money they’d offered her, but it didn’t matter. What mattered now was getting rid of her and trying to undo the damage she’d already done.

His fists tightened in anger as he stormed toward the door.

“Jax, wait,” Roberston yelled after him. “You need to give her a chance…”

But Jax didn’t give second chances. He was beyond rational thought. He held his hand up, silencing Robertson as he ripped the door open and burst out into the street.

He had only one thing on his mind. Get Faith out of Wild Heart Ranch. He didn’t care where she went. He just knew he never wanted to lay eyes on her again.