The Heart's Pursuit (27 page)
After eight days of hard riding, Jared had camped last night a few miles outside of Virginia City. He’d been up at the crack of dawn, determined to find Silver without delay, anxious to know that she was okay. “Why is that? Who is Miss Corinne?”
“Corinne Duvall. She owns the Rainbow Saloon. Fanciest place this side of the Mississippi, I reckon. Some folk here in town turn their noses up at her ’cause of her past. But I kinda admire what she’s done. For herself and others too. Guess no one could call Miss Corinne a real lady, but she keeps those girls from goin’ down a bad road, if’n you know what I mean.”
Jared wasn’t sure if he understood or not, but he didn’t want to waste any more time trying to find out. “Where do I find this Miss Duvall?”
“Just turn left at the bank, and you’ll see the house up on the hillside. Can’t miss it. Looks like a palace, it does. And she’s got terraces all around with flowers growing everywhere. Don’t know how her gardener gets ’em to grow like that. My missus surely can’t.”
Jared thanked the man and left the hotel lobby. The pinto and Cinder stood in the street, tied to a post. Jared stepped into the saddle and rode in the direction the clerk had indicated, turning at the bank. There was no doubt he’d gone in the right direction, not once the house on the hillside came into view. It did resemble a palace.
A circular drive brought him to the hitching rail in front of the veranda. He dismounted and tied the horses, then went up the steps into the shade of the porch. He removed his hat and smoothed his hair with his free hand. The air was still and already growing warm. In the distance, he heard the sounds of the mines—ore cars rolling on tracks, the grind of heavy chains, the rumble of wagons, the pounding of picks—but here on this hillside, there was an aura of serenity.
Just who was this Corinne Duvall?
He rapped on the door.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a lace curtain flutter at the window. High-pitched giggles reached him from
beyond the beveled glass. He turned his head, but the curtains dropped back into place. At the same moment, the door opened. A slightly built Oriental man, clad all in black, stared up at him, saying nothing.
“I’m looking for Miss Matlock. Miss Silver Matlock. I was told she might be staying with Corinne Duvall. Is she here?”
The manservant motioned for Jared to follow him, and he was led into a large parlor and left there. An enormous painting commanded his attention from the far end of the room. He walked toward it, captured by the look of love on the subject’s face. He supposed it must be a portrait of the lady of the house. If so, she was a remarkable-looking woman. Not to mention wealthy. He’d been in some fine homes in his life, but nothing like this.
“Chung tells me you are looking for Silver.”
He turned around. It was the woman in the portrait, older now but just as beautiful. She wore a morning gown of sunshine yellow, something light and breezy with plenty of froth around her neck and wrists.
“I don’t believe I’ve seen you at the Rainbow. Are you new to Virginia City?” She indicated they should be seated.
“Yes, ma’am. Just got here this morning.” He sat in the nearby chair. “I’m a friend of Miss Matlock’s and was told she might be staying with you.”
“Ah.” She raised a brow, her expression thoughtful. “So you’re the one.”
“Pardon me?”
“Nothing.” She smiled. “We seem to have forgotten the formalities. I’m Corinne Duvall.”
“Jared Newman.”
“A pleasure, Mr. Newman. Silver is here, but she isn’t up yet.”
Not up by this hour? That wasn’t like her. “Is she ill?”
“No, she isn’t ill. But it is rather early for callers. I’ll let her know that you’re here and see if she’s ready to receive you.”
There was a light rapping on Silver’s door and then Corinne’s voice. “Silver, may I come in?”
She groaned and rolled onto her other side, pulling the pillow over her head.
“My dear, you have a gentleman caller.”
A gentleman caller? She’d been working at the Rainbow Saloon for only a week, but she knew Corinne Duvall’s rules. She didn’t allow men to call on her girls at the house. Not unless there was a serious relationship developing that might lead to marriage.
Corinne entered the room and came to the side of the bed. She gently pulled away the pillow. “Are you unwell? I can tell Mr. Newman you’re not able to receive him.”
“Mr. Newman?” Fully awake in an instant, Silver sat up. “Jared’s here?”
“Yes. In the parlor. He seems quite anxious to see you.” Corinne smiled. “He is your bounty hunter. Yes?”
Jared was here. She’d thought he’d left for good, but he was here and asking for her. Her heart raced at the news. It shouldn’t make her feel so relieved. She should stay angry with him. He’d left her, after all. But now he was here, and that was all that seemed to matter to her.
“Shall I tell Mr. Newman you will see him, or shall I send him away?”
“I’ll see him.” She pushed aside the bedding. “I’ll be down shortly.”
Corinne chuckled as she turned away. “I’ll tell him.”
As soon as the other woman left the room, Silver rose and hurriedly washed and dressed, her mind churning the entire time. What would she say to him? What would he say to her? Should she forgive him at once for abandoning her and Dean in Winnemucca? Or should she make him suffer first?
Jared felt himself being observed from the doorway.
He turned and met the curious gazes of two girls. They were young, midteens at most, both of them wearing morning gowns similar to the one Corinne Duvall had worn, except the colors were different. Were these her daughters? He doubted it. They looked nothing like her. One was a redhead, the other a brunette.
“Hello,” he said.
They giggled.
Ah. They were the ones who had watched him through the window. He stood. “I’ve come to see Miss Matlock. Do you live here too?”
The redhead opened her mouth to reply but was cut short by Corinne’s reappearance.
“Idonna. Helene.”
They jumped and turned toward the woman.
“Can you explain what you’re doing here?”
“No, Miss Corinne,” they answered in unison.
“Then I believe you had best excuse yourselves and return to your room. We’ll talk about this later.”
They obeyed without a backward glance.
“They weren’t bothering me,” Jared said.
“Perhaps not, Mr. Newman,” Corinne replied as she came toward him. “But they know the rules.”
“Rules?”
“Gentlemen callers are rarely received. Only on very special occasions. As for those two?” Her smile was tender. “Idonna and Helene are much too young to entertain gentlemen callers at any time.”
“Where is Silver?”
“She’ll be down presently. In the meantime, let’s sit down. Oh, good. The coffee is here.” She settled onto a sofa. “Chung is the most remarkable man. I have two maids who help with the housework and a wonderful woman to do the
cooking. And, of course, there’s the groom to care for the horses. But Chung truly runs everything. Did you see the gardens? They are his creation.”
“Very pretty,” he replied, not caring one bit about her gardens.
Corinne poured coffee into a china cup and held it out to him. He took it, then set it on a table next to his chair. He wanted answers, but he wasn’t going to get them from this woman. He could tell that.
“Hello, Jared.”
His pulse jumped at the sound of Silver’s voice. He rose and turned toward the doorway.
He hardly recognized her. The simple blouse and split riding skirt were gone. In their place she wore a rose-colored gown that had to be in the latest style. It made her look like royalty, framed by the archway, holding her slender form erect, her head high, her expression sure and proud. Trail dust was gone, as was the exhaustion that had weighed upon her shoulders for the weeks they were together. A beautiful, confident woman had replaced the desperate girl.
“I didn’t know if I would ever see you again.” She moved toward him, accompanied by the soft swish of silk skirts.
“I can explain.”
“Can you? I believe I’d like to hear that.” She turned toward Corinne Duvall. “May we have some privacy, Miss Corinne?”
“You know the rules,” the woman answered, “but I shall withdraw across the parlor.”
Jared longed to put her from the room, forcibly if necessary. Instead he drew Silver to the mantel beneath Corinne’s portrait. “What is this place? Where’s Dean? Are you all right?”
“Dean is here. We’re both fine.” Her voice was soft and calm, but he heard the hurt all the same.
“I didn’t just leave you in Winnemucca.”
Silver’s eyebrows rose.
“No, I did leave you, but there was a good reason. I heard Carlton might be in jail up in Idaho Territory, so I went to see if it was him.”
“And it wasn’t,” she said.
“No, it wasn’t.”
“So you came to Virginia City to find him.”
“No, I came to find you.”
The look she gave him said she didn’t believe him yet.
He pressed on. “Before I caught the stage to Silver City, I sent you a note of explanation along with money to hold you over until I got back. I was wrong not to tell you in person. And I sure never expected the clerk would keep the money himself. I couldn’t believe it when I got back and found you’d sold Cinder and caught the train to come here on your own.”
“What else could I do?” she asked softly. “I had only a little money, and you were gone.”
You could have waited for me. You should have trusted me.
“I brought Cinder with me.”
“Cinder?” Silver whispered, eyes widening again.
He jerked his head in the general direction of the front door. “She’s tied up outside.”
“You bought her back from the blacksmith?”
“Yes.”
“How could you afford it?”
“Wells, Fargo didn’t want a disgruntled customer saying their agents can’t be trusted. They gave me back what was stolen and then some. Enough to take us back to Colorado if we’re careful.”
“Back to Colorado,” Silver said softly, then walked back to the settee and sat, folding her hands in her lap.
He followed and sat beside her.
She stared at her hands. “A week ago I saw a man who looked like Bob. It frightened me, even though I knew it couldn’t be him. It made me wonder if I should ever have hired you to chase Bob down. I’ve become so obsessed with getting the money and jewels back or maybe getting some of the reward for Matt Carlton, and it’s made me imagine things and make foolish choices.”
Jared had thought her foolish too, but he understood a thing or two about that kind of obsession.
“If Miss Corinne hadn’t rescued Dean and me off the streets of Virginia City, I don’t know what would have become of us.”
“I’m here now,” he said. “I’ll take care of you.”
“Why?” She looked up. “Why would you?”
Because I’ve fallen in love with you.
“Why, Jared?”
“I hoped you’d know why.”
He placed the flat of his hand against her cheek. All he wanted to do was draw her into his arms and kiss her until they were both breathless. He wanted to take her in his arms and carry her out of this house and out of this town. He wanted to put an end to the old chapter of his life. He wanted something better, something finer, something new. He wanted Silver.
Corinne Duvall cleared her throat, and Jared stopped himself from following his instincts. A good thing too. He needed to capture Matt Carlton. He couldn’t have something better and finer and new without putting an end to the old, once and for all.
He rose to his feet. “I’m going to talk to the sheriff and look around Virginia City. But I promise you this, Silver: I won’t leave again without you. Not for any reason. I think you’re safe here with this woman, or I’d take you and the boy with me right now. I’ll be back for you. Trust me.”
