Between Love and Lies (20 page)

She clutched her skirt to stop herself from grabbing hold of him in return, and never letting go.

“Sadie, you can trust me. How do you feel?”

Loved…and more afraid than ever.
She closed her eyes against the admission, even if it was merely a silent one whispered by her heart.

“I feel—” She stopped before saying fine. He wouldn’t accept such a blatant lie. “Better than yesterday,” she said and forced her gaze to meet his.

He nodded, but his brow remained furrowed. An echoing clank claimed his attention. One of the girls had pushed the copper tub on its side to drain the last of the water.

Noah laughed under his breath. The melancholy sound filled her with her own questions.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“When my brother was young, he loved playing hide ’n seek. The one time he fooled me was when he overturned our washtub and hid under it. He was so much smaller than me that I never thought to look there.” He shrugged one shoulder. The boyish gesture made her chest ache. “Haven’t thought about those days in years. Silly to think of them now.”

“Jacob was lucky to have you as his brother.” She’d never felt more certain of something.

He released her and drew back, shaking his head as he went. A handful of words wouldn’t stop him from blaming himself for his brother’s death. A death he wished he’d prevented.

Another similarity they shared.

She reached up and linked them together in the same manner he’d done a moment earlier. Under her palms, his face was a network of unwavering bone and muscle. She was always amazed when he yielded to her uncertain strength. Now was no different.

He leaned into her hands as if she were the only thing keeping him standing.

“You made a life with him.” She relaxed her hold, readying herself to release him if he started to pull away. “You gave him the greatest gift you could give anyone—your time.”

“I wish I’d spent more time with him. But working the ranch kept me busy. And before long, he was dogging my heels and insisting he share the work.”

“He sounds stubborn.” A sudden urge to tease him made her say, “Must be a family trait.”

Noah’s lips parted in surprise before curving into a smile. “He was a determined little cuss.” He stroked her chin. “When you lift this, you remind me of him.”

“I do not—” She bit back the lie and ended up lifting her chin, which immediately made her laugh.

His laughter joined hers. Then his gaze locked on her mouth and he drew even closer.

Finally, he was going to kiss her.

Behind her, a cough intruded. Then the girl who’d delivered Gertie’s message spoke. “Madam said she wants the room emptied to make ready for the next payin’ customer.”

The next customer…
That truth leeched the happiness from her soul. She let go of Noah and turned to face the door and the saloon beyond.

“Will you walk me out?” He’d told her last night that the only way he’d leave this room was with her by his side.

She walked with him to the double doors opening onto Front Street. He didn’t step through them though. He stopped in front of her, halting her as well. The intensity in his gaze stole her breath and filled her with foreboding.

“The promise that holds you here, the one you mentioned at the rail depot, the one you made to a friend—if you tell me your friend’s name, I’ll be better able to help you both.”

“You can’t help him,” she blurted. “He’s dead.”

“He’s—” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “He’s Edward.”

Too late, she clamped her palms over her mouth. She’d feared this would happen. She’d said too much.

“How can you call him your friend?” He kept his head lowered as he rubbed his nose, hiding his gaze, and his mood, from her.

She let her hands fall to her side. “Because he was.” She refused to lie about such a gift.

“He bought you and made you—” Crossing his arms, he stared over her head at the room they’d left. “I’m a fine one to talk.”

“Neither you nor Edward are responsible for giving me a whore’s life. My father and Gertie, plus a string of bad luck, did that. Edward never forced me to…do anything.”

Jealousy twisted his features. “Then he was indeed a good friend. And a better man than me. I’m glad he was here to help you when I wasn’t.”

She fought the urge to grab hold of him again, to bind him to her, to tell him the whole truth. “You’re here now.”

“And I’ll be here tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. I’m stubborn. Remember?” He turned, but stopped short of giving her his back. His profile resembled an impenetrable mask. “I’ll be down the street. If anything happens, come get me.”

The weight of one promise she might not be able to keep made her reluctant to make any more. She ducked her head. “I can’t promise you—”

“I know. Only Edward was worthy of your promises.” The saloon’s half doors complained loudly in the sudden void his departure created.

She seized the swinging panels and held tight. Solid under her hands, the wood gave her no comfort. She pushed up on her toes to peer down the street. Head and shoulders above the crowd, Noah continued to walk away from her. Then the throng swallowed him from view and left her alone.

Strident laughter echoed in the room behind her, reminding her that she wasn’t completely alone. Cora stood by the piano with the girls who’d helped hasten Noah’s departure. Their laughter faded as they cast hesitant looks from her to Cora.

Cora remained silent, her gaze fixed on Sadie.

A bitter taste filled her mouth, not unlike the medicine the woman had pressed upon her. She stormed toward her. “If you truly want to kill me, a bullet would be quicker than poison.”

The saloon went quiet as a graveyard.

“Sadie darlin’, you sound distraught. Or has the pox finally pushed you to the point of insanity?”

A series of gasps followed hot on the heels of Cora’s question.

“You’re a fine one to cast stones. You’re possessed by an evil nature. Edward would’ve sensed that.” The truth stole her breath. “That’s why he chose me over you.”

Cora turned to the women hovering behind her. “Leave us.”

Only when they’d gone, did Cora face her again—with a glare so sharp it could have sliced the tail off a squirrel at fifty paces. “Edward chose you because he needed an obedient lapdog not a bed partner.”

Sadie’s heart clenched tight as a fist. The odds were high that Cora’s hands would be in the same state.

“He wanted the world to revolve around him,” Cora continued. “If he’d picked me, Orin’s attention would’ve been split between us.”

“Your conceit—” she shot back with forced bravado, “—knows no bounds

“I know you never slept with Edward.”

“You know nothing. You weren’t there.”

“But Orin was.” Cora shook with barely restrained anger. “He told me
everything
.”

“Ha! You ooze lies. Orin wasn’t the sharing type. He never willingly spoke with me, so don’t expect me to believe he’d tell you one single, solitary thing.”

“He was my brother.”

The revelation left Sadie speechless until the truth hit her. “Gertie found you both at an orphanage.” Her voice was no louder than a whisper.

Cora lowered her voice as well, but hers maintained a cutting edge. “We were inseparable until she sold him to Edward. She assured me we’d be reunited—when Edward could pay her fee. But gamblers are unpredictable with their earnings. When Edward’s luck returned mine disappeared. You came careening into Dodge. You stole my place.”

“You know I don’t have the syphilis.”

“Of course I know. Orin told me that whatever woman Edward hired would only exist to create the illusion of sexual goings-on. But it all comes back to this: do you want Gertie to know? She’ll inform all of Dodge that you’re recovered, then sell you to the highest bidder again. That won’t be your cowboy.”

Fear squeezed the air from her lungs along with one word. “Wardell.”

“Not if I have my way. An’ I will. His money’s mine. You’ve taken too much from me already.” Cora’s smile resembled the bared teeth of a dog sensing fear and growing bold. “Everyone believes Orin ran off with Edward’s tawdry family trinkets. I know better.”

She knows Gertie killed Edward.
Like a trap sprung, the pressure around her chest squeezed tight.

“You stole his possessions,” Cora said quietly.

Shock made her stumble back. Her vision blurred. A distorted world of gray whipped around her. She groped for something solid. Anything. Her fingers found the piano. She couldn’t recall the sound of Edward’s music or the exact color of Noah’s hair. She was alone in her haze.

“Orin came to me before he fled.” Cora’s voice drew nearer, close to her ear. “He begged me to help him. Suddenly, after months of ignoring me, I had value again. He babbled about murder and vengeance. I told him he was a fool. I’d take care of him again, like I always had. When I turned my back, he took my money and disappeared. He stole everything I’d saved, because he hadn’t been able to reach Edward’s hotel room before the law showed up, gathered everything of value an’ stowed it in the jail. You were the only one in that room between Edward’s suicide an’ the law’s arrival.”

“I didn’t take—” Her throat closed around the denial, wouldn’t open again.

“What you did with them afterward is anyone’s guess. All I know for certain is that I lost my brother and every penny I saved. I’ll take Wardell’s wealth in payment, along with your life.”

The fog circling her thickened. She couldn’t breathe. Only the piano’s solid mass under her hands kept her upright
. I need help. I need Noah.

She lurched in the direction of the door, ready to run to the jail…or crawl if she had to.

A familiar hand shackling her wrist halted her. “Tell your cowboy an’ he’ll come barging back in here, brandishing his badge an’ his holier-than-thou attitude. Waste of my time informing him you’re a thief. He won’t believe a word I say. He’ll have to die as well.”

She shook her head, rejecting Cora’s declaration. “Noah’s too strong, too vigilant, too quick with a gun.”

“When the time’s right, the mighty fall as fast the scrubs. It’ll be easy taking him down.”

“He’s not alone. He’s got the law on his side. He’ll throw you in jail.”

“My challenge is patience. Don’t want to give your Texan his medicine too earlier.”

“No...” Her world turned black.

“Oh yes. In fact, when you failed to leave town yesterday, I was sorely tempted to slip a dollop of arsenic from the rat trap into the whiskey bottle delivered to your room. You’d have been responsible for his death.”

From the darkness she dredged up her last ember of strength and blurted, “Leave Noah alone. This is between you and me.”

“Finally.” Cora’s sigh, dripping with satisfaction, filled her ear. “I hold your acceptance to the last nail in your coffin. Couldn’t be certain before. Now, I am.” Her words snapped with scorn. “Should’ve known. Love is a weakness, a burden. Never again. Not for me, or for you.”

The restraint on her wrist fell away. The satisfied click of boot heels retreated, fading into silence.

She stood alone. Utterly defeated.

Why couldn’t she have found Edward’s watch and jewelry box? Then she’d be long gone from Dodge. And so would Noah. Now she couldn’t even go to the jail to warn him.

The jail…
What had Cora said about the jail and Edward’s possessions? The jail held the deceased’s property. She sucked in a ragged breath, then another and another until her vision cleared.

What if Edward’s watch and box were there as well? What if after Gertie stole them, she’d decided to hide them with his other belongings? So they wouldn’t be found at the Star? So she could retrieve them whenever the time was right?

Sadie had to find them first.

CHAPTER 13

When the storm
had provided the distraction required to slip from the saloon unseen, Sadie hadn’t hesitated. Now doubt and fear buffeted her along with the rising wind.

Her absence would not remain unnoticed. This time it would not go unpunished…unless her plan succeeded. Once more she’d gambled everything on leaving the Star.

Lightning illuminated the world beyond—the boy standing on the jailhouse porch talking to Noah and Marshal Masterson. Then darkness returned. Thunder boomed. And once more Front Street stretched before her, an intimidating expanse of murky ground. But tonight even Dodge’s most notorious throughway seemed inconsequential compared to the hurdles she needed to cross once she reached the other side.

Get inside the jail, find the watch and box, jump another train for Chicago, run even farther so she wouldn’t be caught and dragged back…all so Noah would be free to leave as well without being involved and held accountable.

Repay a friend. Protect the man she loved.

The man now departing the jail alongside the whip-smart lawman…and the messenger she’d sent to make them leave. The boy trotted beside the men, striving to keep up with their long strides. All three moved swiftly down the road in her direction. She turned her face to the wall, hoping to hide her paleness, praying to become another shadow.