Miner's Daughter (21 page)

“We’re waiting for the insurance man to show
up. We didn’t want to move anything in case it turns out to be
vandalism or something.”

Tony snorted. “Even if it is, what’s anyone
going to do about it? Do they use that newfangled fingerprinting
method out here in California?”

“I have no idea. Probably not.”

“Yeah. California’s kind of behind the times,
isn’t it?”

“Indeed. That’s one of its many charms.”
Martin chuckled dryly.

“Right.” So far, California’s primary charm
for Tony was a pigheaded mine owner. He was almost glad for this
latest catastrophe, because it at least took his mind off Mari for
a few minutes. Probably no more than that, but at least a few.

He turned around to see a huge furry black
head heave into view. His heart did a double back flip and a
forward somersault; and he tried to keep from shouting out with
joy. Tiny! If Tiny had come to town, Mari couldn’t be far
behind.

“Good God,” he said, trying not to let his
elation leak into his voice. He’d thought he wouldn’t see her again
today, and here she was! Almost. “There’s that blasted dog.”

Martin turned to see what was what, but he
was too late to prevent Tiny leaping on him and kissing him,
doggie-fashion. “Blech!” He grabbed the dog’s feet and lowered him
to the ground. “Tiny, you’re a menace.”

“Good grief! Tony! I mean, Tiny! Come here
this minute!” Mari rushed up and captured her dog by its collar.
“I’m so sorry, Martin. I only came here to thank you for taking
such good care of Tiny while I was away.”

Laughing and wiping his face with his
handkerchief, Martin said, “You were only gone for a couple of
days, Mari. It was no trouble. As you can see, Tiny and I have
become fast friends.”

“I wish he wouldn’t jump on people, though.
He’s . . .” Mari peered into the shed, where Tony still stood
behind the pile of expensive rubbish, enjoying the view of her,
although he wished like thunder she’d stop calling her dog by his
name and vice versa. “Good heavens, what’s that? What
happened?”

Tony let Martin answer her. He was too busy
feasting his eyes. He didn’t understand his reaction to her. Sure,
she was pretty, but there were lots of pretty women in the world.
His heart and soul didn’t light up when he saw them; only Mari gave
him this feeling of pleasure.

When he tried to be objective, which he
couldn’t be, he guessed his reaction might have something to do
with the mere fact of her existing here at all. Mojave Wells was
the very devil of a place. Yet this bright light of womanhood had
been born and reared here. Watching her now, slender and fine boned
with her classic features and dark, shiny hair, it was difficult to
imagine her handling that dog. And mining for nonexistent silver.
And being all alone in the world.

Tony’s heart pinched painfully. Fortunately,
Martin began explaining the camera disaster to Mari, and Tony was
able to pay attention to him for a second or two.

“I’m so sorry, Martin.” Mari squinted at the
ceiling of the shed. “I’ve never heard of ceiling beams just up and
falling down like this. I’m sure it hasn’t happened to anyone else
in town. It’s generally too dry for termites to flourish.”

Martin’s smile vanished as he, too, peered up
at the ceiling. Tony decided to make it unanimous and he looked, as
well. “You don’t think it has anything to do with the dry weather
out here, do you?” he asked without much enthusiasm for the
idea.

“Well,” said Mari. “Like I said, I’ve never
heard of it happening before. Do you mind if I take a closer
look?”

“Not at all. Come on in,” Tony offered,
delighted at the notion of her getting close to him.

“Why not?” said Martin. “Just don’t step on
anything. I want the insurance man to see it as it is.”

“Sure.” Mari turned to her dog and said in a
stern voice, “Tiny, sit!”

The dog wagged its tail harder, slapping
Martin on the leg so hard, Tony was surprised Martin didn’t
object.

Mari sighed. “Come on, boy,” she pleaded.
“Please do what I tell you to do. Just this one time? It’s
embarrassing, the way you constantly defy me.”

Tiny let go of an excited yip, which on him
sounded like the boom of a cannon. Tony put his fists on his hips
and grinned. He didn’t know why, but he’d come to like that
dog.

“Tiny!” Mari said sharply. “Stop playing and
sit!”

Tony would have sworn on a stack of Bibles
that the dog grinned at his mistress. “Why don’t you try to hold
him back, Martin,” he suggested. “We don’t want him running in here
and trouncing on the evidence.”

Another sigh leaked out of Mari. “Would you
mind, Martin?”

“Not at all. Come on, Tiny. Sit beside me
“

Instantly, Tiny trotted to Martin’s side,
turned so that he could observe the action inside the shed, and
sat. Just as if he were a good dog. Mari scowled at him

Tony laughed. “You’ve got a sure touch with
the dogs, Martin.”

“Right.” Martin grimaced then laughed out
loud. He patted Tiny’s head. “Good boy, Tiny.”

The dog glanced up, grinned again, and
proceeded to create a dust storm with his tail.

Mari shook her head and went inside the shed.
“It’s awfully dark in here. Do you think we should get a
lantern?”

“Martin doesn’t want to muck around with the
mess until the insurance people have come and gone.” Tony held out
a hand to help her maneuver around the wreckage. Not that she
needed his help, but at least she didn’t argue with him before
accepting his hand this time.

“Here. Let me open a window, at least. Might
give us a little more light on the matter.” She followed her words
with the action, and a stream of sunshine flooded the scene of the
catastrophe. As, she batted dust out of her eyes, Mari squinted at
the floor.

Tony squinted at her. Lord, she was an
appealing creature. She still wore that thousand-year-old dress
that looked as if somebody’d swum the English Channel in it, but
she also still had the blue crepe-paper flower behind her ear. And
the sunlight, which made dust motes shimmer like precious metal
chips as they wafted in the calm, hot air, cast its golden aura
upon her, too. Her skin glowed like deep ivory, her hair shone with
copper and mahogany highlights, and her eyes were as deep and dark
as rich chocolate. Unless that was his heart making him think
so.

Good God, he hoped not. Tony’d never had
trouble controlling his heart before. This might get out of hand if
he didn’t do something.

What he did was hold out his hand to her
again. “Come over here. You can see where the roof beam came from.
It almost looks as if somebody took a saw to it, but you might be
able to tell better than I.”

Mari didn’t bother to fault him for his
logic, probably because she was curious and felt more like
investigating than arguing. She merely took his hand and stepped
gracefully around the mess in the middle of the floor. Shading her
eyes so the encroaching sunlight wouldn’t interfere with her view,
she craned her neck and stared at the ceiling. “I really can’t see
much from here.”

“I can lift you up, if you want to see more
closely.” It was pure inspiration that made him say that. He hoped
she’d fall for it.

She didn’t immediately. Instead, she frowned,
glanced around the shed, and muttered, “It would be easier if there
was something for me to stand on.”

Tony shook his head. “Nope. The only
stand-onable thing in here is the camera, and Martin would have a
fit if you climbed on top of the remains before the insurance
people show up.”

“Hmmm I guess you’re right. But—”

“Come on, Mari. You sure as the devil can’t
lift me, and somebody ought to check out the ceiling.” He forced
himself to sound austere, in an effort to make her think she was
being unnecessarily balky.

She fell for it that time. Tony’s heart gave
a happy hop when she said, “I guess so. Okay. Lift me up.”

“Turn around.” He held his smile in until
she’d done so. He didn’t want her to think he had any ulterior
motives, like putting his hands around her waist or holding her
close to his chest or anything. As soon as he was sure she was
secure in his grasp, he hefted her up.

“Say, you don’t weigh much, do you?”

A muffled snort from outside the shed
prompted him to turn his head. Shoot, he’d forgotten all about
Martin standing out there and watching them both. Oh, well. He
frowned at Martin’s impish grin, then gave it up and grinned
back.

“I don’t have any idea how much I weigh, but
I don’t suppose it’s much. I work too hard to get fat.”

Mari’s artless comment brought Tony’s
attention swerving back to her. “Can you see anything?”

“Not very well. The light doesn’t get this
far. Can you lift me any higher?”

“How about you sit on my shoulder? I can
balance you there.”

“Well . . .”

“Oh, come on, Mari. We’re trying to solve a
mystery here. Hold on tight.” He heaved, and by God, she sat on his
shoulder. Tony was pleased with himself for his cunning and
foresight under the circumstances, when Mari’s nearness and the
feel of her lithe body under his hands was stirring him to things
other than investigating camera crashes.

“Can you see anything?” Martin asked from
outside.

Tony felt Mari shake her head. She said, “Not
yet. But I don’t think it’s been sawn.”

“No?” Damn. Tony had been hoping she’d stay
up there for long enough that he’d be able to catch a peek of her
ankles and calves.

“No, but there’s something . . .” She reached
up and teetered on Tony’s shoulder. “Oh!”

“I’ve got you. Don’t worry. I won’t let you
fall.” He expected he had a relatively stupid smile on his face,
because her attempt to balance herself had prompted her to throw
her arms around him. At the moment, his face was pressed smack into
her bosom. And a delicious bosom it was. He praised his Maker that
Mari was too poor or too independent for whalebone.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. Tony suspected she
was blushing.

“Don’t even mention it.” Tony hoped she
wouldn’t guess at how titillating he found this experience. He was
disappointed when she pulled away from him, and sighed when he lost
his soft pillow.

“I didn’t mean to . . .”

He suspected she was too flustered to mention
the unseemliness of having shoved her bosom at his face and,
because he didn’t want her to spoil the moment by bringing it up
and prompting constraint between them, he said, “Did you say you
saw something else?” He tried to sound merely practical.

She cleared her throat and got back to
business. “Um, I think so. Let me look again. I’ll try not to move
so quickly.”

Darn. But Tony knew he couldn’t expect his
luck to last very much longer. For one thing, even though Mari
wasn’t fat, she was a full-grown woman, and his shoulder and arms
were beginning to tire.

Mari called out, “Martin, I think you’d
better tell the insurance guy to take a look at this. I’d swear
somebody went at it with an ax.”

“An ax? Good God, who’d do that?”

“I don’t know.” Mari tapped Tony on the head.
“Thank you, Tony. You can put me down now.”

He’d been afraid of that. But it was probably
a good idea, given the state of his muscles, which had started
quivering. “Okay. Let’s take it easy now I’ll get you around the
waist and let you down slowly.” As slowly as possible.

He did so, making sure he held her as close
to himself as he could without giving her an excuse to get mad at
him. He felt every inch of her body as it slid against him His
blood raced, his sex thickened and grew hard, and he wanted to slam
the door of the blasted shed, rip that old dress off her, and make
love to her here and now.

“Thanks, Tony.”

“Sure.” He marveled at how nonchalant and
unruffled she seemed as she stood in the beam of light, patting her
hair and straightening her skirt. Was she honestly as impervious to
him as all that?

“I’ll be sure to tell the insurance people
about the possible axing of the beam,” Martin said

His troubled tone made Tony wrench his
thoughts from Mari, albeit painfully. Since he was supposed to be
accomplishing something other than a seduction here, he bent over
and inspected the floor. “I don’t see any wood chips or
sawdust.”

“How can you tell? There’s so much rubble in
the way.” Mari, too, bent over and stared at the ground.

Because she was so close to him, and since
his blood was high, Tony turned his head slightly. At the same
instant, Mari did likewise, and he found himself staring her
straight in the eyes. He felt more than heard her tiny exhalation
of breath. They were so close, he could have kissed her if he’d
only moved a little bit. He saw her eyelids flutter and her mouth
open slightly, and the temptation was so great, he very nearly
succumbed to it

Martin brought him back to harsh reality with
a jolt. “See anything?”

Tony heard the worried note to Martin’s
voice, and suddenly realized that Martin was trying to protect
Mari. Dammit, Tony resented that. He was no despoiler of virgins.
He stood up abruptly. “No. Can’t see anything for the mess of metal
and dirt that was brought down when the beam fell. At least, I
guess that’s where it came from.”

Mari, who’d also risen quickly and who now
appeared chagrined and nervous, said, “Right. I think so, too.”

She bent at the waist again and stared hard
at the floor of the shed. Tony figured she’d done so as a bluff to
take her mind away from other, more earthy matters.

“But wait a minute. This might be . . .” She
reached down and delicately fished in the rubble.

“What might be what?” Martin asked
anxiously.

Tiny, who was attuned to variations in the
human voice, stood and stared into the shed, for all the world like
a sentient being, curious about their investigations.
Good pose,
Tiny
, Tony thought, caught somewhere between frustration find
amusement.