The Heart's Pursuit (4 page)
Rick continued, “The type of men who do this sort of work are more often than not hardly better than the criminals they seek.”
Jared moved to the office doorway, then stopped and waited to be noticed.
The woman answered Rick. “I don’t care as long as they do what they’re hired to do.”
Jared cleared his throat, announcing his presence. Rick leaned to the side to peer around the young woman, and Jared gave a quick nod of greeting.
Then Miss Matlock turned, and Jared found himself looking into a pair of familiar gray eyes. He would have known her anywhere. The angry bride from Twin Springs, only without tears this time. He’d thought her pretty the first time he’d seen her. Now he realized
pretty
was an inadequate description.
Striking
seemed a more appropriate word.
He knew the moment she recognized him too. Her face paled, then flushed with what he supposed was embarrassment.
Rick stood. “Morning, Newman.”
“Cooper.”
Something in Rick’s expression changed. A slight widening of the eyes, followed by the hint of a smile. He held Jared’s gaze a moment, then motioned him into the room before looking back to the woman between them.
Why did Jared have the feeling he was stepping into a well-set trap?
“Miss Matlock,” the sheriff said, “may I introduce Jared Newman? He’s someone I could recommend to you.”
Miss Matlock had regained her composure. “How do you do, Mr. Newman.” Her tone was frosty. He supposed he couldn’t blame her, given the last time they’d seen each other.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, miss.” He bent the brim of his hat.
Unflinching, her eyes continued to study him. All sign of her embarrassment had disappeared. No simpering female, this one. He saw grit and determination in her gaze. He found the look appealing.
“You’re a bounty hunter?” she asked.
“That’s what some call what I do.”
“Are you looking for employment?”
He glanced at Cooper, wondering how he should respond. The sheriff shrugged.
“The sheriff seems to think you could find someone for me, Mr. Newman.”
“You don’t say. And who would that be?”
Her shoulders squared. “I need you to find my . . . my fiancé.” She shook her head. “My former fiancé.”
Was this some sort of joke? Chase down the man who’d jilted her? He hadn’t been reduced to that kind of work, had he? At least with real criminals he could feel he’d accomplished something for the greater good when he turned them over to the law.
Something in his expression must have conveyed his thoughts. Her eyes narrowed. “It’s imperative I find him soon, Mr. Newman. Will you help me? I . . . I’m offering a reward.”
“Miss Matlock,” Rick interrupted before Jared could answer, “why don’t you go back to your sister’s and let me discuss the matter with Mr. Newman?”
“But I—”
“Go along, Miss Matlock. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
She looked between the two men, pink rising in her cheeks for the second time since Jared’s arrival. “Very well. I’ll be at my sister’s. You know the address.”
Rick nodded.
Jared stepped to the side. Miss Matlock avoided his eyes as she moved past him. He waited until she exited to the street before speaking. “Cooper, I don’t hunt down missing bridegrooms.”
“There’s more to it than that. Miss Matlock believes the man she was to marry stole money and jewelry from her parents before he left town. A considerable sum.”
“That’s adding insult to injury, but I still don’t—”
“If you’re looking to collect a reward, that’s all I’ve got to offer you right now. Otherwise I guess you can wait around for the paperwork to get straightened out on Peterson.”
Jared swallowed the oath rising in his throat.
“Look. You’d be helping me out. She’s determined to find this guy, and I’m afraid she might get herself into trouble if left to her own devices. She just might get robbed a second time. Or something worse.”
Jared thought of his sister. Katrina had been like Miss Matlock. Not in appearance. His sister had been fair—straight blonde hair and blue eyes—while Miss Matlock had an olive complexion and curly black hair. But Katrina had had a stubborn streak a mile long. When she’d determined
she wanted something, nothing had been able to stop her until she obtained it. He suspected Miss Matlock was much the same. Rick was right. She would probably get herself into trouble without his help.
“What’s she offering?” he asked, fearing any attempts to refuse this job would fail, and both men knew it.
“We didn’t get to that part.”
Twin Springs’ leading family. That’s what the bartender had called the Matlocks. Reason to assume the reward could be substantial. It couldn’t hurt to look into it.
“Think of it as a favor to me,” the sheriff added for good measure.
Silver paced the length of the Downing parlor. Back and forth. Back and forth. Each time she arrived at the fireplace, she looked at the clock on the mantel, noting the passage of time. Two hours. It had been two hours since she’d left the sheriff’s office. Why hadn’t Rick Cooper come?
He just wanted to get rid of me.
She’d failed. Her beloved father would lose his store and the family home. Her stepmother would never forgive Silver. Never.
What am I to do? What am I—
A knock at the door stopped her midpace. “I’ll get it, Rose,” she called up the stairs. A moment later she yanked
open the door, hoping beyond hope to find Sheriff Cooper standing on the front porch.
It wasn’t the sheriff. It was the bounty hunter—tall and lanky, a close-trimmed mustache riding his upper lip, the shadow of a beard framing his sun-bronzed skin, a gun belt fastened low on his waist, the holsters strapped to his thigh. Jared Newman exuded confidence, power, and . . . and danger.
“The type of men who do this sort of work are more often than not hardly better than the criminals they seek.”
A chill ran up her spine as she remembered the sheriff’s warning.
“Miss Matlock.” He bent the brim of his dusty hat. “May I speak with you?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. Yes, of course. Please come in, Mr. Newman.” She stepped back, opening the door wide.
He moved inside.
The breath caught in her chest as he turned on his heel to face her again. There was something disconcerting about the way he looked at her. As if he could read her thoughts. And although he couldn’t be more than a half dozen years older than she, his penetrating gaze seemed ancient, as if it had seen all the troubles of the world firsthand.
“The type of men who do this sort of work are more often than not hardly better than the criminals they seek.”
He swept the hat from his head. “So, you want to find your fiancé.”
“Yes.”
“Still want to marry him?”
“No.”
A smile crossed his mouth. There and then gone.
It wasn’t the first time he’d found humor in her distress, and her dislike of him returned. She wished she could send him on his way. But she couldn’t. For now, he was her only hope. “Bob Cassidy’s a thief, and I want back what he took from my parents.”
“The sheriff tells me there’s no arrest warrant for him.”
Wringing her hands, Silver walked into the parlor. “We have no proof it was Bob who broke into the safe. There’s conflicting information about when he left Twin Springs.” She spun around. “But I
know
he did it.”
“And you’re offering a reward.”
“For the return of our property, yes. I want to see Bob brought to justice.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “How much of a reward?”
“A hundred dollars.” To Silver, the amount was a veritable fortune. But if Jared Newman was able to return the money and jewelry that had been stolen, it would be worth every penny.
He didn’t react to the offer in the slightest. He simply watched her with that intense gaze of his.
“And three dollars a day up to . . . up to thirty days,” she added quickly, fearing he would refuse. “To cover your expenses.” If her math was correct, that would be almost
another hundred dollars. Was it too much to offer? Should she take it back? Offer him less?
Still he said nothing.
Please, God. Make him agree to help me.
A hundred dollars wasn’t a large reward, but if Jared found the missing fiancé within the next couple of weeks, it would be a good use of his time while he waited for the Peterson reward. And those two sums put together meant he wouldn’t have to take on another job until fall, maybe even winter. And that would leave him free to focus on his personal quest for justice. Or should he call it
retribution
?
“I’ll need a cash advance to buy supplies,” he said at last, “and I’ll need all of the information you can give me about the man you seek. Known associates. Occupation. Family. How long he lived in Twin Springs. Where he might have gone when he left. A photograph if you’ve got one. That sort of thing.”
“Of course. But you needn’t buy supplies. My parents own the mercantile in Twin Springs. They can provide whatever you need.”
He shrugged his agreement. It was okay with him if she wanted to pay three dollars a day for expenses but put up the supplies as well. It would leave more money in his pocket. “Fine. Let’s meet at the mercantile on Thursday
morning. Say ten o’clock. You can answer all my questions then.”
Relief covered her face. “Thank you, Mr. Newman. I’m forever grateful.”
S
ilver awakened on Thursday morning in her own bedroom. Not that she felt rested. She’d had a horrible argument with her stepmother the previous day after her return to Twin Springs, and the fight had invaded her dreams.
“Hiring a bounty hunter! What were you thinking? Your reputation is already in tatters. Why must you be so foolish, Silvana?”
The words had stung then. They still stung in the morning light. She could do nothing right in her stepmother’s eyes. It had always been that way, no matter how hard she’d tried to win her approval. Silver wasn’t socially adept like her younger stepsister. Rose never failed to know the right thing to say or do in any given situation. She was always
a lady, always impeccably groomed, never short-tempered. And from the time she was a child, Rose had instinctively known how to charm men and boys alike.
