Authors: Noelle Marchand
“How can you say that?”
“What’s wrong with us meeting here?”
“It’s a church, isn’t it?”
She laughed. Maybe God had a purpose in allowing her to get sick after all. “Don’t tell me you came to church just to talk to me?”
He glared at her.
“Did you have to sit through the whole sermon?”
“Yes, I did. I don’t understand why you’re so amused by it.”
She shrugged. “I just thought it might have done you some good, that’s all.”
“Like it did you good? Just imagine what these people would think if they found out what you were really like.”
She bristled at his tone but found his words achingly true. She was trying to deceive the town just as he was, only not with the same intentions. He wanted to steal the town’s livelihood. She was just trying to protect her reputation. She glanced back at Mr. Smithson and realized he expected a reply, so she shrugged nonchalantly. “They’d never believe it.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. I have to talk to you about something serious. Our old plans have been delayed, so we’re creating a new plan. I’m going to need you to produce on that information you promised me.”
“What do you need?”
He shook his head. “Not now.”
“When?”
“Meet me Tuesday evening at 7:30 in the alley where we first met. We have a lot of planning to do.”
She returned his nod as they went their separate ways. A few minutes later, Lorelei leaned across her mother’s brightly colored quilt to snag a sliver of Mrs. Greene’s famous cornbread from one of the three plates stationed in the middle. A few crumbs managed to drop from the moist cornbread before she captured it in her mouth.
Her father grinned at her from where he sat to her left. “Is it good?”
“Delicious,” she said, finishing off the rest of the piece.
“Lorelei,” her mother called softly. “I think you have a visitor.”
She glanced up in confusion to see her parents smiling. Following their gazes, she turned around to see three-year-old Grace standing at the edge of the quilt. She held her hands behind the skirt of her blue-and-white dress while she watched Lorelei shyly. Lorelei’s lips lifted into an amused smile. “Grace. Hello.”
“’Lo.” The girl smiled impishly, then pulled a bouquet of wildflowers from behind her back. “Yours.”
Lorelei stared at the bouquet in surprise. “Are you sure?”
The little girl nodded so adamantly that a little red curl slipped from its place to dance around her shoulder. Lorelei heard her parents chuckle. She shot a helpless glance at them before she turned back to the girl.
“Thank you so much.” She took the flowers from the girl. “They’re beautiful.”
The girl grinned, her blue eyes sparkling. She dropped to her knees and placed her hands on her lap as though ready for a long chat.
“Did you pick these flowers all by yourself?”
Grace shook her head. “No.”
“Did someone tell you to give them to me then?”
A smile blossomed on the girl’s face. Her brow lowered earnestly as she said something that sounded almost unintelligibly like, “Unca.”
“Uncle.” Her eyes instinctively swept the picnic blankets laid out against the green lawn, searching for Sean. A moment later, her suspicious gaze connected with his. He was kneeling on one of the O’Brien family’s picnic blankets, obviously having just sent off his little emissary. He caught her watching him, and a slow smile spread across his face. She shook her head slightly even as a reluctant smile teased her lips.
“Yes, I see,” she murmured.
His smile and gaze were completely genuine, which meant he was really going through with his misguided attempt to court her. That didn’t mean she was going to make things easy on him. Oh, no. If she had her way, things were going to become very interesting.
He was trying a new strategy on her, but he had no idea she had a strategy of her own. She was no longer an insecure child half-afraid of the attention she might arouse. She was going to guard her heart, but she was also ready to fight fire with fire. She glanced back to Grace. “I think I’m supposed to take you back to dear old Uncle.”
The little girl gave a careless shrug and pointed to the flowers. “I like those.”
Lorelei laughed. “Which one is your favorite?”
The girl pointed to a bright yellow one. Lorelei pulled it from the bouquet and deftly shortened the stem before tucking it into the girl’s hair. “There.”
Grace beamed and carefully lifted her hair to touch the flower. “Pretty.”
“Very pretty,” she said as she stood, then glanced down at her parents. “I’ve been summoned.”
“Go ahead, dear,” Caroline said. “We’re almost through here anyway.”
Her father scooped up Lorelei’s abandoned plate and winked at her. “More pie for me.”
Lorelei pulled in a deep breath, then stood and extended her hand to Grace. “Let’s go see Uncle Sean.”
Instead of grasping Lorelei’s fingers, Grace extended both arms upward in a sign that she wanted to be carried. She swept the girl onto her hip as she approached the other blanket and sent Sean a grin. “Look what I found.”
“I knew I’d left her someplace.” He stood to greet them with a smile.
Grace lurched forward and placed her hand on Sean’s cheek in order to get his attention. “I did it.”
“Yes, you did. You are such a good girl.” He leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “I think your mama was looking for you.”
Lorelei set Grace down, then watched as she raced the few yards to where Kate was talking to a few other women. “I talked to Silas.”
“I know. I saw you. What did he say?” He listened as she explained about the meeting before frowning. “You did well, though ideally you should have tried to arrange it for a public place in daylight. That’s my fault for not instructing you to do that. We’ll go over what you need to say again before you meet him. I’ll be present, but you won’t see me. Do your best to act like I’m not there.”
“Yes, sir,” she dutifully agreed.
“By the way, did you like the surprise I sent you?”
Impulsively, she stepped forward onto her tiptoes to place a quick kiss on his cheek. “I did. Thank you. It was an adorable surprise, and the flowers were lovely.”
She had the pleasure of watching him blush. He cleared his throat, then raised a brow. “That almost sounded sincere.”
“I think it almost was,” she said teasingly.
A suspicious smile played at his lips. “Why, Miss Wilkins, I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re up to, but I think I like this side of you.”
She felt a pink warmth steal across her cheeks even as her heart gave a decided thump. For goodness’ sake, what was wrong with her? It wasn’t as if she’d never flirted before. Of course she had. She’d just never flirted with Sean. She covered the sense of panic bursting through her by tilting her head and sending him a mischievous look. “What makes you think I’m up to something?”
“Aren’t you?”
She’d hoped to somehow even the playing field by unnerving him. It was the only way she could think of defending her heart from the onslaught of his unfeigned courtship. Perhaps she was overestimating her abilities. She’d hardly seen more than a fleeting flash of attraction in Sean’s eyes. Still, it was too early to concede defeat yet. She swallowed. “So what if I am?”
“Nothing,” he said as he casually stepped closer to her. “Just do me a favor, will you?”
She lifted her gaze to his questioningly.
He dipped his chin to capture her gaze more completely, then grinned slowly. “Don’t stop.”
Her breath stilled in her throat. Then again, there was the possibility that she was in
way
over her head.
Chapter Fifteen
S
ean’s fingers carefully followed the curving wood of the headboard for the bed he was making. As soon as he finished this, he would start on a set of new kitchen cabinets for Lorelei. The ones in his new place were hardly worth looking at. He was also planning another project. A wardrobe that he hoped might interest Mr. Johansen at the mercantile. It was a wild idea, but it might give him another source of income besides what the town allotted him.
He glanced up at the sound of the barn door swinging open and met Ellie’s gaze with a welcoming grin. “Hey, I thought you were helping Kate with the mending.”
She carefully settled on a chair he’d made for the kitchen. “We finished, so I thought I’d come out here to spend some time with my big brother. I can hand you tools or something.”
Right.
He shot her a wry glance. “What’s on your mind?”
She froze in surprise for a moment before her green eyes began to sparkle and her lips pulled into an annoyed pout. “You think you’re so smart. What if I had actually come out here to help you?”
He laughed. “Then you wouldn’t have settled onto that chair like you were ready for a good, long chat.” He grabbed a nearby chair and straddled it. “I’m ready for a break, so shoot. Just try not to make it fatal.”
She rewarded his jest with a smile before she leaned back onto the chair and met his gaze seriously. “I was just wondering how things were progressing between you and Lorelei.”
Glancing away, he shrugged. “I don’t know, Ellie. I think we’ve made a lot of progress in some ways, but we’re still at a stalemate.”
“What kind of stalemate?” she asked gently.
He met her gaze. “As best I can figure, she doesn’t want to love me because she doesn’t want to get hurt.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?” He rubbed his hands together to rid them of the dust from the wood. “I’m trying to love her—”
“Trying to love her?” she asked in amused derision. “No woman would want to hear a man say he is ‘trying to love her.’ What does that even mean? It sounds like you’re telling her that despite her best efforts, you haven’t been able to make yourself actually fall in love. That’s just awful.”
He sighed and crossed his arms over the back of the chair. “Well, Ellie. Would it sound any better if I said that there are lots of things that make her easy to love—but lots of reasons why it doesn’t seem like a good idea? I’ve had a whole list of reasons why I shouldn’t fall for Lorelei for years now. Even now that I want to move on and care for her, how can I just let go of that?”
A compassionate smile pulled at her lips. “Well, I think you should stop trying so hard to love Lorelei and just love her.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Sure, it does. I don’t have to think about loving you, Sean. I just do.” She glanced up to the rafters of the barn as if the words she sought were just out of reach. “It’s like when you’re trying to breathe. If you just sit there and think about it, you become so aware of it that it’s harder to do. You just kind of have to surrender to it. You just have to trust that it will happen without you trying. Then it does. Don’t worry about the reasons why you should or shouldn’t fall in love with her. Just let it happen naturally.”
He stared at his sister for a moment before letting out a short, low whistle. “That’s a little too deep for me, Ellie.”
She sent him an exasperated look. “I’m being serious.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“I know I’m right,” she said earnestly. “Sooner or later you’ll figure it out.”
He rolled his eyes. “So that’s it? You just came out to impart wisdom, and now you’re going to leave?”
She lifted her eyebrows. “As if you’d actually let me touch one of your projects anyway.”
He grinned, knowing he usually didn’t. “Get out of here.”
She wiggled her fingers in a little wave, then flounced out the door. He shook his head. All right, so she made some good points. He’d made some progress so far by deciding to court Lorelei for real. She’d dropped the cool, unemotional act. The problem was she’d picked up another. Suddenly she was being warm and friendly. She’d even gone so far as to flirt with him more than once. He couldn’t tell where the act ended and her real feelings and personality started. She wasn’t playing fair anymore, but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t giving up on her or himself. Meanwhile, he’d do his best to ignore that whisper of fear—the one that told him it would be far easier to convince himself to love Lorelei than it would be to convince her to love him back.
* * *
Lorelei grasped her hat by its black ribbons and held it tightly in her hand as she stepped from the house onto the porch. She cast a careful glance to where her parents sat together on the porch swing. Her mother was the picture of peaceful contentment as she sat within the circle of Richard’s arm. Her father lifted his book closer to his face to compensate for the rapidly fading light. Lorelei knew better than to attempt to sneak off, but she wanted to make her leaving seem as natural as possible. She breezed past them with a quick smile on her way to the porch stairs. “I’m going to meet Sean. I’ll see you two later.”
“Just a minute, Lorelei,” her father’s strong voice called out.
She tried not wince before turning around with an innocent expression. “Yes, Papa?”
“I just wanted to say that I’m proud of the way you’re dealing with this courtship. You’re handling it well. What’s more, you actually seem to be giving Sean a chance. That shows great strength of character.”
“Thank you. That means a lot. Our relationship has improved, but I’m still not interested in falling in love with him. That hasn’t changed. He hurt me once before. I may have moved on, but I haven’t forgotten.”
Caroline sighed. “I hope one day you’ll be able to, dear.”
“Well, try to have a good time and enjoy yourself,” Richard said. “If you come back after dark, make sure he walks you home.”
“Yes, sir.”
A few minutes later, she waited in the alleyway beside the bank for Silas to join her. She heard a sound in the alleyway and turned abruptly only to see Mr. Smithson making his way toward her. Her heart rate ratcheted up a notch from nervousness, but his grin was actually rather calming. “Well, what do you know? You’re here.”
“I told you I would come.” A cool wind blew through the alley, sending chills across her skin.
“That you did.” He stepped farther back into the alley. “Follow me around the corner. I’ve got a place all set up for this meeting.”
Hoping Sean would be able to see her from wherever he was hiding, she followed him farther into the alley. Sure enough, as she turned the corner she saw a barrel set up against the back wall of The Barber & Bath House. A shadow opposite the barrel moved as she approached. Her steps slowed as she met the gaze of the stranger who straightened from where he’d been leaning against the wall. Silas stepped forward to shake the man’s hand. “I didn’t know you’d decided to come. How are you holding up, Calhoun?”
The man shook his head. “This waiting is bad business.”
Mr. Smithson nodded. “Don’t I know it? Calhoun, this is Miss Wilkins. She’s going to help us make our wait as strategic as possible.”
Lorelei stepped forward with a polite nod. “Mr. Calhoun, how do you do?”
Mr. Calhoun looked her up and down, then met her gaze for a long moment before he grinned. “It looks like we’ve got a real live lady present. I haven’t talked to one of them in a long time. It sure is a pleasure. Evening, Miss.”
She hid her smile, then glanced at Mr. Smithson for direction. He stepped forward, then lifted her carefully onto the barrel before she had a chance to react. Pulling a small pad and pencil from his pocket, he glanced at them. “Let’s get to work. Lorelei, you may as well know I’m giving you information as needed. I’m guessing you’ll do the same with us. The first thing we need to know is the location of the safe.”
“Do you have a layout of the bank building?”
Calhoun handed her a piece of paper.
She looked at it for a minute, then frowned. “Is this it? It’s just a big square with little notches for the tellers.”
Calhoun grimaced. “We couldn’t get past the lobby.”
“I’ll draw a better one for you.” She took a pencil from her reticule, then turned the paper over and found herself staring at a telegram.
On my way STOP Do not do anything stupid STOP.
She glanced up at the men. “Does anyone have a blank sheet of paper?”
Silas took a small notebook from his coat pocket and tore out a piece for her. She folded the telegram and held it under the closed notebook he gave her to write on. She carefully drew a diagram of the bank complete with the back offices and hallways. She drew an X near the back wall. “The safe is all the way back here.”
“Who knows the combination to the safe and where do they sit?” Calhoun asked with a greedy gleam in his eyes.
“Only my father and the manager.”
Silas smiled knowingly. “Yes, but your former fiancé has left town so there is no manager.”
Lorelei rolled her eyes at him. “This town talks too much. I can’t wait to get my ticket out of here. Speaking of which, how am I going to get my share of the money?”
“I’ll stick around a few days after the robbery to keep from looking suspicious. I’ll get you the money.”
Calhoun edged toward her. “You two can figure that out later. Tell us about the safe, Miss Wilkins.”
“The new manager is coming in from out of town. He’ll be a good target because he’ll be too new to care about anything other than not getting hurt. His office is right here. He won’t get here for a week, though. Is that going to be a problem?”
“Not the way things are going with the boss,” Calhoun said dryly.
She handed them the new layout and the notebook while nonchalantly tucking the pencil and the telegram in her reticule. “What else do you need to know?”
* * *
Sean couldn’t help feeling a bit proud as he shifted into a more comfortable position to watch Lorelei act her way through the meeting. If he didn’t know better, he might even believe Lorelei was really in league with the possible bank robbers for a percentage of the safe and a quick ticket out of Peppin. Trusting her to handle her part of the plan hadn’t been a mistake after all. Of course, they’d gone over her role in this a hundred times, leaving no chance of a mistake, but she’d taken his instruction with relative complacency and already given him a big break in the case.
Calhoun was involved just as he’d suspected. Just from listening to their conversation, he almost had enough to charge both Calhoun and Smithson with conspiracy to commit armed robbery. He’d been planning on that very thing until Calhoun uttered one word that changed everything.
Boss—
their boss wasn’t here yet.
That proved his suspicion that these two men weren’t acting alone but as part of a larger gang that had set its sight on Peppin. Smithson seemed the highest ranked of the two men, but when it came down to it they were muscle men. If he wanted to keep this from happening to Peppin again or to another less suspecting town, he needed to go after the top. That made things infinitely more complicated.
Twenty minutes went by. It felt like an eternity, especially once the mosquitoes discovered his hiding place and tried to give him away. Finally, Calhoun slunk down the alley toward the saloon, leaving Lorelei alone with Silas. The two continued talking for a few minutes until Silas set her on her feet and walked off. Lorelei seemed to wait until she was sure the fellow was gone before she smiled, lifted her skirts and took off half running, half skipping down the alley away from Sean and toward their meet-up point.
He grinned at her obvious excitement at a job well done. He rose to his feet to leave, then immediately sank back into his hiding place when Calhoun appeared again. The man scanned the alley and seemed to catch sight of Lorelei’s fluttering hem as she disappeared around the corner. The rough drifter started following her at a leisurely pace.
Sean surged to his feet and rounded the corner back onto Main Street. He had to catch up with Lorelei before Calhoun did and before Lorelei could find him absent, start calling out for him and give them both away. He saw Silas had nearly reached the boardinghouse and hoped the man wouldn’t turn around to see him running down the sidewalk or at least wouldn’t draw the connection from him to Lorelei. There were only a few folks on the street he had to avoid so Sean was certain he was making better time than Lorelei and Calhoun.
He rounded the hotel and slipped back into the alleyway skirting around the tall wooden fence that sectioned off the expansive garden of the hotel. Lorelei ought to come along at any moment now with Calhoun not far behind her. Sean tugged at the thin fence door that led from the alleyway into the garden. It opened easily. Relief filled him. He’d told Mr. Martin a dozen times if he’d told him once not to leave this gate open to the alley. Thankfully he hadn’t listened. It would provide the perfect getaway if he could manage it.
The lanterns in the garden cast golden shards through the slats in the fence to warm up the murky twilight as he stalked silently along the fence. He positioned himself so he’d be within easy reaching distance of Lorelei once she turned the corner. He heard her accelerated strides as they approached. He timed it perfectly so that as soon as she turned the corner, his arm went around her waist and his hand silenced her startled scream. Her eyes were wide with alarm. They widened more as recognition filtered through them.
“Quiet,” he whispered, then ushered her through the open gate mere feet away. He closed it and locked it behind them. She began to speak but he shook his head abruptly. He grabbed her arm to urge her to hide behind some tall bushes in case Calhoun got a notion to peer through the fence slats. They knelt together. Her eyes met his in confusion. A minute passed between them in silence until it was filled by quick uneven footsteps. They went past the fence gate then slowed to a stop. Calhoun rattled the locked gate, then a quiet curse punctuated the air. “Lost her. Fool woman.”
Sean and Lorelei waited as the footsteps faded away. He helped Lorelei stand. She held on to his arm, tensely whispering, “He’s gone?”