Kaitlin's Silver Lining (8 page)

“I’m not going to
argue ethics with you, ma’am, and I’m sure you think you’re right, but the law
is on Mr. Kaufmann’s side. You can’t continue this harassment. I suggest you
all go home. Otherwise, I’m obligated to take you to jail.”

“Prison doesn’t
frighten me.” Kaitlin held out her hands as if offering to wear handcuffs. “I’m
sure tomorrow’s headlines describing our arrest will only aid our cause.”

Dan shook his head.
“Ma’am, I really don’t want to arrest you.”

Bryce sympathized
with Dan’s position on the matter. He even understood Farley’s side. The man
just wanted to make a living, and Kaitlin and her suffragists had managed to
damage his business. Bryce just didn’t want any of these ladies hurt, and he
certainly didn’t want to see them jailed, but if something wasn’t done quick,
they might as well all be sinking in quicksand.

“Go wait outside,
Charley.”

“No.” Blonde curls
bounced as she shook her head. “I wanna see what happens.”

“Charley, I’ll buy
you that new dress you’ve been wanting if you’ll just mind me on this. Please
wait outside.”

Charley beamed at him
before skipping off to do as he’d asked. He probably shouldn’t have bribed her,
but as always, it got the desired result. His gaze focused on Kaitlin, who’d
begun singing again. Jack and Farley’s intense scrutiny singed his eyebrows.
Kaitlin was not his problem, and yet, tonight, Jack and Farley’s comments had
made him feel obligated to deal with this predicament. Kaitlin had become his
responsibility the moment she’d opened her home to him.

 “Ladies, your fun is
over.” Dan’s booming voice had little effect. “Go on home now. You’ve made your
point.”

“We are not leaving
until Kaufmann and Brewster close for the night.” Kaitlin pounded the end of
the sign on the floor.

Bryce tapped Dan on
the shoulder. It was time to rope a few calves. “I’ll take care of Kaitlin for
you. Once she’s out of the picture, I imagine the rest will leave peaceable.”

But how on earth was
he going to haul her out of here along with Maggie and Charley?

As if the man read
his mind, Jack stood at his side. “Need some help?”

“I reckon I do.”
Whatever happened, he didn’t want to insight a riot.

“If it’ll get rid of
this herd, I’ll do what I can. Farley can take care of the bar for a while.”

“Grab your coat and
hat and grab mine while you’re at it. You’ll find ’em on the second peg. We’re
about to escort the two ringleaders home.”

Jack eyed Maggie, an
odd twinkle in his eye. “I likes the sound of that.”

A few moments later,
Bryce slipped into his trench coat, put on his gloves and jammed on his hat.
With his eye still on the singing women, he motioned to Jack. Jack eased his
way closer to Maggie and waited for Bryce’s signal. Bryce nodded.

The singing came to
an abrupt halt when Bryce grabbed Kaitlin. He threw her over his shoulder and
an indignant puff of air grazed his ear. Jack followed his lead, securing
Maggie in a similar fashion. Amidst catcalls, hoots, and laughter, Bryce and
Jack exited the saloon with their squirming bundles. Shocked into silence, the
rest of the women stood frozen. Bryce expected that, without their leaders to
egg them on, they would soon decide to call it a night.

Bryce gave his horse
a perplexed frown. The saddle would only accommodate one rider and he didn’t
fancy perching on the horse’s rump even for the short ride to Kaitlin’s.
Besides, he had Kaitlin, Maggie, and Charley to cart home. He turned when Jack
tapped him on the shoulder. “I gots me a buckboard all hitched and ready to go.
It’ll be better’n waitin’ for a streetcar. Just tell me where to go, and I’ll
help you deliver these troublemakers. We can tie your horse to the back.”

“Ow!” Bryce yelped. A
sharp pain hit his ear. Kaitlin had reached around to yank his lobe. He grabbed
her wrist and hefted her body so she dangled farther down his back, her
backside nestled against his cheek. With a cry, she released his ear. Jack
chuckled.

Bryce narrowed his
eyes. “Make it quick before I lose body parts in this deal.”

“I think you gots the
wildcat outta the deal. Mine’s a sight more docile than yours.” He patted
Maggie’s backside and grinned.

Bryce would have
commented, but Kaitlin started kicking in earnest. He tightened his grip.
“Kickin’ won’t get you anywhere unless you’re a mule, so quit your bellyachin’
back there.”

“You let me down,
Bryce Stanton.”

He stumbled under the
weight, cursing the pain in his right foot. He caught himself quick enough.
Damn, but she wiggled more than a trussed up calf.

Jack set Maggie on the
ground. She straightened her skirts, looked up at the grinning man, and slapped
him across the face.

“That was for
manhandling me without just cause.”

Jack rubbed his
cheek, worked his jaw, and grinned. “You’re my kind of woman, Maggie May.
Yessiree, any woman that can wollup a punch like that has my total devotion.”

She pursed her lips
and stomped her foot. “Just get us home, Mr. Brewster. I think I’ve had enough
adventure for one night.”

“Yes’m. Right away.”

Jack untied the reins
of the lead horse and walked her around so the buckboard rested parallel with
the sidewalk.

Jack lifted Charley
and set her in the middle of the seat. With the manners of a well-bred
gentleman, he helped Maggie settle next to Charley. After making sure they were
both comfortable, he tied Bryce’s horse to the wagon. Meanwhile, Bryce wiggled
himself onto the back of the buckboard, still holding Kaitlin draped over his
shoulder. He tipped his hat at Jack, indicating he and Kaitlin were all set.
Jack climbed in and released the brake. The wagon lurched into motion, making
Kaitlin squeal.

Once under way, Bryce
allowed Kaitlin to slide off his shoulder. She landed none too gently, her rump
connecting with the wooden planks. He curled an arm around her waist and
prepared for her retaliation, but when nothing happened he turned his head to
look at her. She had her hands folded around herself, warding off a bitter cold
magnified by the moving wagon.

“Don’t you ever, ever
do that to me again.”

“Or else?” Bryce
kinda liked the way her puckered lips accentuated the dimple in her left cheek.

“When we get back to
the house, I want you to pack your bags.” She elbowed his stomach, and he
grunted. “You can find another place to stay.”

Bryce made no
comment. He didn’t feel like carrying on this conversation in the back of a
rolling wagon. He glanced back and noticed a blanket behind the seat. Worming
his way backward, he retrieved the blanket. Without her permission, he wrapped
his hands around her and pulled her back. The front of the wagon bed provided a
better wind block. With their backs to the seat, he draped the blanket over
them both.

Kaitlin shivered. He
drew her to him, draping his arm around her shoulder for added warmth. When she
tried to pull away, he pulled her closer. “Kaitlin, that coat you have on
wouldn’t keep a bear warm. I only mean to share my body heat.”

Stiff as a board, she
rested within the circle of his arms. Soon, she began to relax. Damn, she felt
good nestled against his body like she belonged. She was like a porcupine—sharp
and unapproachable until she laid her needles back. Like this, she was soft and
all woman.

He tightened his
hold, enjoying her docile acceptance of his warmth and wondering what it might
be like to have her really thawed. Given Kaitlin’s rigid, unapproachable
manner, he would probably never find out. It was just as well. With Emma spoken
for, he needed to find another woman to fill his need for a wife. The sooner he
began his search, the better. A dalliance with the suffragist, Kaitlin Kanatzer,
seemed out of the question.

Nine

“We’re here, Mr.
Stanton. You can let go now,” Kaitlin snapped, more angry with herself than
with him. Warmth wasn’t the only feeling she’d experienced when his arms
wrapped around her.

He obeyed without
comment. Immediately, her body reacted to the loss of heat. She shivered. Her
gaze focused on the house, and its familiarity gave her comfort against the
unfamiliar emotions assaulting her senses. She smiled, thinking of the moment
she’d bought the white, two-story structure framed in black molding and
shutters. All told, five years of hard work had gone into the down payment, but
the money had been well spent. Ruining her father’s plans made it all
worthwhile. The house represented her successful demonstration of independence.

She frowned. The
heavy oak door stood ajar. Foreboding snapped Kaitlin out of her angry
thoughts. She could have sworn she’d pulled it closed before leaving for the
evening. Frustrated with herself, she jumped off the wagon first. Her neglect
meant a very chilly abode. She started for the house, intent on stoking the
fires.

“Kaitlin! Wait!”

She turned, glaring
at Bryce, her lips pursed into a thin line. “Say what you want, Mr. Stanton,
but I meant what I said earlier. I want you out of here tonight.”

“If that open door
means what I think it means, I’m not leavin’. You girls can wait outside while
Jack and I check things out.” He peered around her to stare at the opened
portal.

Kaitlin turned and
followed his line of sight. Awareness of what Bryce implied made her eyes pop
wide. Surely he didn’t think someone had intruded?

“Jack, you got a gun
on you?” Bryce tugged off his gloves.

“Under the seat,”
Jack replied, pulling out a Winchester rifle before hopping down.

Bryce drew his own
Colt .45. Together, they entered Kaitlin’s home. Kaitlin stood in indecision
for a fraction of a minute before marching in after them. It was, after all,
her home. Maggie and Charley marched in behind her.

Bryce turned, his gun
lowered so it pointed at the ground. “I told y’all to wait outside.”

“It’s cold out there,
Uncle Bryce,” Charley whined, having no clue as to the possible dangers.

Over the top of
Charley’s head, Kaitlin glared at Bryce. “You have no right to order us about.
I want to see for myself what varmint dared enter without permission.”

“Bryce,” Jack called,
having gone on ahead without him. “You better come look at this.”

Kaitlin, Maggie, and
Charley followed Bryce into the parlor. Maggie screeched. Charley turned troubled
eyes toward her uncle. Kaitlin stared in shock at the carnage that greeted
them. Bryce stepped over a broken vase, shards of pottery crunching beneath his
boot. Someone had scrawled across the wall in bold warning,
Leave Denver or
else.

The room was in
shambles. Her mother’s brocaded settee had been broken, the intricately woven
upholstery torn and ripped. The tiny, French Provincial end table that had
survived the rough wagon train ride from New England lay splintered into a
hundred pieces. The delicate crystal in the china hutch glittered from the
floor where each piece had met its end. Moaning, Kaitlin sank to the floor. She
could find no chair to sit upon.

“Kaitlin?” Bryce sank
down beside her. “Jack and I are goin’ upstairs. Please stay down here with
Maggie and Charley. I don’t know if the culprit’s still inside.”

She nodded, too numb
to speak. Maggie sat beside her. Together, they commiserated on their loss.
Charley put her arms around her, displaying unrestrained affection toward her
for the first time. Her throat closed. It was too much, too soon. The sudden
contact snapped her from her bout of self-pity.

“Thank you, Charley.
I—I think we’ve huddled here long enough.” She stood, pulling Charley with her.
“Time to put this mess to rights.”

“Maybe you better
wait for Jack and Bryce to come back down. They may want to look for clues or
something,” Maggie offered.

“Nonsense.” She
stared at the litter and squared her shoulders. “There’s nothing here but our
own broken furniture. Besides, we can look for clues while we clean. I refuse
to stand here another minute feeling sorry for myself.”

“Uncle Bryce is going
to be mad at you.” Charley shook her head.

“Good, because I’m
still mad at him.”

“I think he likes
you,” Charley said with unabashed candor.

Maggie giggled. “How
can you tell?”

Charley shrugged.
“He’s always yelling at Julia when she’s around, and he likes her. Course,
she’s his sister, so he has to like her. He’s always yelling at me. I reckon he
wouldn’t yell if he didn’t care. Leastwise, that’s what he says.”

“Lord forbid he
should fall in love with me,” she rejoined before clasping her hand to her
mouth. Did she just say that?

Maggie dissolved into
full-fledged laughter. Charley beamed. Kaitlin gave them both a disgusted look.
Didn’t anyone around here understand sarcasm when they heard it? Ignoring them
both, she picked up broken pieces scattered across the wood floor.

“The bedrooms seem to
be okay.” Bryce entered the parlor with Jack close behind. “What are you
doing?”

“Cleaning.” She
dropped another fragment onto a pile she’d started.

“Stop right there.”
Bryce holstered his gun and grabbed her arm. “The police need to know what
happened here.”

“Why? So they can
tell me for the hundredth time there’s nothing they can do about it?” She
jerked free and bent to gather a broken chair leg and bits of cloth. “Don’t
bother.”

“I ’spect that
Officer Dan will want to see this.” He swiped a scrap of torn fabric from
Kaitlin’s hands. “I think that’s the only way he’s going to believe that someone
really wants to do you gals harm.”

“Harm?” Maggie
dropped the large shard of glass she’d picked up, and it shattered into smaller
pieces. “Do you think this person will really try to physically hurt us?”

“Whoever it is, he’s
getting braver. He wants you to leave one way or another. Yeah, I think he’s
quite capable of inflictin’ some serious pain. This,” he said, sweeping his
hand to indicate the destruction, “is just a warnin’, and you’d be as
bullheaded as a mule for not considerin’ all of its implications.”

“Then we’ll hire a
full-time bodyguard.” But even as she made this announcement, she had no idea
how they would afford to pay someone.

“You have a full-time
bodyguard.” Bryce quirked an eyebrow, his hands planted on his hips. “You have
me.”

“And what a great job
you’re doing, too.” Sarcasm flowed thick as honey from her lips. “You were out
drinking when you could have been here protecting the place.”

Her accusation must
have hit a nerve. Bryce flinched before straightening his shoulders. He glared
at her.

“Kaitlin, you’re
being too hard on the man.” Maggie put a hand on her shoulder. “No one had any
idea this would happen. Think what we would do if Jack and Bryce hadn’t
accompanied us home. I, for one, would have been hysterical, but having them
here made this a little easier to swallow.”

Kaitlin felt her
sanity snap. Maggie of all people should understand her feelings on the matter.
“I don’t want to feel helpless. I don’t want to need a man’s assistance.”

“Can you shoot?”
Bryce asked.

“As a matter of fact,
I can.” She shot him a smug look.

“Do you own a gun?”

“Well, no, but I
can—” She was cut off before she could say she would purchase one tomorrow.

“Can you punch a man
so hard he falls to the ground as helpless as a newborn calf?”

“Well, I’ve never
tried—”

“Katy,” Bryce began,
shortening her name like he had the right. “Your courage is admirable, but you
don’t have the skills. You need me, and until that changes, I ain’t leavin’.”

Katy,
Katy, not a lady. Briar patches and ugly ducks are purtier than Katy’s looks.
The
forgotten rhyme hit Kaitlin in the gut as Bethany’s ghost sang to her in her
head. She cringed. She was tired and scared, otherwise, she wouldn’t have given
the use of her nickname another thought. If she made an issue out of Bryce’s
familiarity, she would be giving him power she didn’t want him to have. She
said nothing, allowing him this small concession.

Jack stepped forward.
“You can’t watch the place all da time. Why don’t you send for me whenever you
gots errands to run, and I’ll step in for you.”

“I’m much obliged for
the offer.” Bryce nodded and again, Kaitlin’s hackles rose. These men planned
strategy without consulting her or Maggie, and Maggie played right along with
them.

“I don’t mind.” Jack
winked at Maggie. “I’m thinkin’ it’ll give me a good excuse to see this pretty
lady again.”

Maggie glanced down
at her black, high-top shoes then back up again, a bright smile upon her face.
“I’d be pleased to have you call on me, and you don’t need an excuse.”

“Then maybe you’d
have dinner with me tomorrow night.”

“I’m actually free
from work that night. I’d be honored to accept your invitation,” Maggie replied
with a coy tilt to her head.

Traitor.
Kaitlin couldn’t believe Maggie had been swayed so quickly by a handsome face.
No, that wasn’t exactly right. She should have known something like this would
happen the minute Jack picked Maggie up. Her friend had lain across the man’s
broad shoulders without any kind of fight. She had no business
allowing
a man to call on her and especially not one who was a primary investor in the
very saloon they were trying to close down.

“Mighty fine,
yessiree, that’s just mighty fine,” Jack said. “Since that’s settled, I reckon
I’ll mosey on home. I’ll stop by the police station on the way and relay what’s
happened.”

“Ask for Dan Cochran
if he’s there,” Bryce said. “He knows a little of what’s goin’ on around here.”

“I’d be right happy
to do jest that.”

“Hey, and if’n you
don’t mind, can you drop my horse at the livery while you’re headin’ that way.”
He handed Jack some change to pay for the care of Burlap. It was too cold to
leave him out in the elements tonight.

“Shor thing.”

“Thanks again for
helpin’ me wrangle these two she-cats, Jack.” Bryce walked him to the front
door. His reference to the two of them as she-cats electrified Kaitlin’s
already tingling nerves. She refrained from comment, storing up a healthy dose
of anger to shoot at him later. Instead, she turned her heated temper on
Maggie.

“Traitor.” Kaitlin
pointed a shaky finger at Maggie.

“What do you mean?”
Her friend gave her an expression of pure innocence.

“You’re fixing to
enjoy dinner with one of the investors of the Thirsty Sailor Saloon. Did you
think of that when you batted your dark eyes at him?”

“You’re just
jealous.” Maggie patted her coiffure, tucking in stray hairs that had come
loose during her trip across Jack’s shoulder.

“Of all the silly
things to say.” Kaitlin stomped her foot. “We’re at war, here. You can’t
compromise your position by going out with the enemy. He’s a saloon owner, for
Pete’s sake. Jack Brewster is trouble.”

“Hmm. I like
trouble.” Maggie hugged her body, a dreamy look pasted on her lovely features.
Kaitlin could have been talking to a wall. Maggie was smitten, and it didn’t
much matter to Maggie if the object of her affections was on the other side of
their fight. Kaitlin frowned. Maggie would just have to find out for herself
that men were bad news. She just hoped the woman wasn’t too hurt by the
revelation when it occurred.

A tap on her shoulder
made her forget Maggie’s troubles for a minute. Charley turned a puzzled gaze
upon her. “Kaitlin, where is Uncle Bryce going to sleep? It’s too late to try
and clean this entire room tonight.”

Kaitlin’s gaze swept
over the mess. Charley was right. If they worked all day tomorrow, they might restore
half the room but not tonight. Everyone was too tired. “Good point, Charley.”

Where was Bryce going
to sleep? They only had two bedrooms upstairs with the parlor and kitchen
downstairs. Charley had been sleeping in Kaitlin’s room on a palette while
Bryce had made a makeshift bed in the front parlor.

Maggie smiled. “You
and Charley can sleep in my room with me. My room’s less cluttered with furniture
than yours, so we ought to be able to fit a pallet on the floor for Charley.
Bryce can have your room until the living area is habitable again.”

Kaitlin nodded. While
she hated giving her room to that authoritative skunk, there seemed no other solution.
The idea rankled though. Bryce would be too close. Every time she heard the
wooden frame of her bed groan, she would know he slept there. When the
floorboards creaked beneath his weight, she would know he walked the floor.
Just having him in her room beside them would be enough to put him constantly
on her mind.