“Does he behave this unreasonable at camp too? I found him to be quite impolite tonight. I certainly saw a side of him I never thought he possessed.”
“You really are daft, Lizbe. Way too priggish to pull off this scheme. You’re just a woman. Why did I let you blackmail me into this whole mess? In less than a day, we will be on our way to the logging camp where danger lurks in every corner. How the hell am I going to get through the next couple of weeks with you on my heels? No. You’re not going.”
“What are you going to do when I tell the mayor that his pretty little wife is sleeping with a lumberjack?”
“Join the permanent camp and stay up in the mountain forever, and let you fend for yourself down here. I’ll keep my neck, but lose a troublesome sister.” Simon stroked his chin. “I could grow a beard.”
She threw him a brilliant smile and turned toward the stairs. Little did he know, he didn’t have a choice. “I’m going. You’ll love having me around…you’ll see,” she tossed quietly over her shoulder as she entered her room.
“You’re not going!” Simon snapped as he walked by her door. Beth grimaced as she waited to hear movement from Nana. When nothing but the tap of Simon’s boots heading toward his room filled the air, Beth relaxed. She was going, no matter what Simon said.
* * * *
“Thank you, sir! I don’t know how we can ever repay you.” Mrs. Ballard, his housekeeper, wiped the tears from her eyes, and Garrett turned to watch as her husband steered their scantily dressed, sixteen-year-old daughter through the door to their chambers.
The girl turned and shot Garrett a look that could kill a grizzly bear. After she realized what he’d intended by buying her from the barkeep, she’d tried to flee. He had to toss her over his shoulder just to bring her the remaining block to his house.
“How did you get her to come home with you?” Mrs. Ballard dabbed at her tears with the long apron attached to her skirt.
“It wasn’t easy. She’s not going to like me for a very long time. Let’s leave it at that.” After the talking-to he gave her on the way home, he’d be surprised if she ever spoke to him again. He had divulged information that would embarrass a gentleman, let alone a young woman, but she needed to know what the world was like. How men really behaved.
“I honestly don’t know why she keeps running away. I promise we won’t let it happen again.”
“Perhaps you might consider asking her why she chooses to run around dark-alley establishments dressed as a strumpet and willing to spread her legs for any man who has the inclination,” Garrett suggested.
Mrs. Ballard responded, but he didn’t really listen. The last thing he needed was to come home from his next log run only to hunt down his servant’s troublesome daughter, yet again. God knew he had his own problems. The least of which was Simon’s two-bit cousin. Hell, with the young man’s small shoulders and weak structure, Garrett doubted he could handle the physical demands of staying on the log while it rolled down the river, let alone dislodge a blockage and fling himself into the bateau before being swept downriver in the tide of crashing logs. But Simon had cashed in a favor owed, and brought the boy to the camp.
Garrett focused once more on Mrs. Ballard as she finished chattering about her wayward daughter. Words he didn’t hear, and didn’t care to hear. “Just keep her close to home until you can figure out what to do with her.” He made his way toward the passageway door.
“We will. Promise,” Mrs. Ballard said behind him as he walked into the hallway leading to the front of the house.
He needed a nice stiff drink. The whole evening—no, the whole day—was a mess. Starting with meeting Elizabeth on the street, and ending with his housekeeper’s daughter and Simon’s cousin. What was it about the boy that made him lose the ability to breathe?
And Elizabeth. Perfect, enchanting Elizabeth. With her carefree ways and ability to talk to anyone with ease, he couldn’t seem to get out more than a word whenever she was near. She was so different from him. Throughout the years, he’d gotten to know her through her brother, and all because he was too afraid to approach her himself. She was easygoing and always happy, where he had to analyze life with a critical and pessimistic eye. She moved in the waves of life with ease, and frightened him beyond belief. God. Why had his father refused to allow her as a candidate for marriage?
Garrett had begged his father to consider Elizabeth when he’d first brought up the topic of marriage years ago after he first started at Big Mountain. But no. If he were to enter into an arrangement with Beth, his father would cut him off. And all because of the scandals. Not that she was involved in any of them, but his father didn’t care. Simon had sullied the name Sanders, and now Elizabeth was paying for it. God forbid there was a Jones with a less-than-perfect reputation.
He should go back on his word and secure Beth for his own. Live with the consequences of choosing her over the family. Stand up to his father. Tell him he was going to marry Elizabeth no matter what he said. But Garrett would lose everything. His family, his fortune, and with his father’s connections, he’d even lose his job at Big Mountain. How would he be able to support a wife and family with nothing?
No.
He couldn’t do that to her. He had to fulfill his side of the agreement. Sacrifice his chance with Beth for one last season at Big Mountain, and a life of misery with the wife of his father’s choosing.
Elizabeth.
This morning he’d wanted to ask her how her day was. Engage her in witty conversation that would leave her dreaming of him for the remainder of her day. But no. All he could get out was her name, and even then he’d barely spoken the word. Oh what a fool he became in the presence of Elizabeth Sanders.
The only sound left in his dimly lit home were his footsteps as he trudged into his study and poured a glass of bourbon, swallowing the contents in one gulp, only to refill and take the decanter with him to settle into his favorite seat by the large fireplace.
He stretched out his legs, and the leather on his over-stuffed armchair squeaked in protest as he relaxed into its comfort. He would get Elizabeth and the young cousin out of his head, or drink himself to a stupor.
A log sat in the hearth, waiting to be lit. Stretching a bit farther, he kicked it into the pit and scowled. What he should be doing was preparing for the train ride to the site. Instead, he sat brooding about the next few months. Why did the presence of Simon’s cousin irritate him so much? It wasn’t like he was the first young man to want the riverman job, so why did it matter?
He swallowed the bourbon and refilled. Best to focus on what was to come at the end of the spring—his last spring as nothing more than a logger. What was Simon going to say when he found out about the deal Garrett had made?
Chapter 3
Beth peeked into the large, mud-covered railcar and panic rose, threatening to choke her. She curled her nose and tamped back the urge to flee. The place was a pigpen. The large men dotting the inside didn’t seem aware of the filth surrounding them. She thought about jumping off the platform and running for the safety of her home, but what good would that do? She was already committed. Was she really going to do this? If she wanted to pull it off, she would need to force her mind away from the muddy shoes of the men in the car and the grime threatening to soil her clothes.
Pull up your trousers and be a riverman, Beth. You can’t hide away for the rest of your life.
She searched the car for Simon, but he wasn’t there. Thank God. He’d left her behind this morning, but she wasn’t going to let him win, so she’d come alone. Beth hopped into the car and picked her way through the men to find a spot in the corner.
She’d never betray her brother to the haughty men of Missoula the way she’d threatened, but he didn’t need to know that. He would protect