Page 21 of The Bastard Heir
Caroline couldn’t resist one last glance over her shoulder, but Castillo was gone. When she looked back, Aunt Prudie’s concerned expression had changed to one of amusement. “Enjoying your evening, dear?”
They hadn’t seen the kiss. Caroline couldn’t allow herself to believe it, but her aunt’s gaze had dropped to her lips. The impulse to touch them was too great for Caroline to ignore, soshe’d pressed her fingertips against them before she’d thought better of it. They felt a little tender. Caroline dropped her hand, curling it into a fist at her side. “It’s a lovely evening. How about you?”
“Lovely indeed. Samuel and I have been having a pleasant walk. Perhaps you’d like to take a stroll with Mr. Jameson?” Aunt Prudie raised a brow and tilted her head toward the path Castillo had taken.
“I don’t…um…I think he had to go talk to someone.” Caroline glanced back at her father. He didn’t seem angry, but his brow was furrowed in concern as he stared out at the night sky. Perhaps he hadn’t seen the kiss and only knew they’d been talking.
Guilt tightened her chest. She didn’t like lying to these people she loved more than any others in the entire world. It suddenly felt wrong to give Aunt Prudie hope when Caroline knew that nothing would ever come of her relationship with Castillo. It seemed wrong to continue allowing her father to worry, as he so obviously was worrying right now.
But most of all, it seemed wrong to keep Castillo from the mission that called to him. He could have been out all evening searching for the man responsible for his grandfather’s death, but instead he’d been here with her.
“I’m going to go to bed. I haven’t been sleeping well.” She needed to get away and think about what to do.
“Is everything all right?” her father asked.
“I’m tired.” Caroline smiled and kissed his cheek goodnight. After some murmured words of concern from Aunt Prudie, Caroline made her way to her room to think.
Chapter Nine
Asaloon on the wrong of side of Helena wasn’t how Castillo had wanted to spend this night. He’d spent two days chasing Bennett Derringer only to have to deal with the unexpected presence of Caroline Hartford at the ranch the night before, coupled with the unpleasant conversation with Tanner. A day of playing attentive suitor to Caroline and that damn kiss just a few hours ago had nearly made him forget all the reasons he couldn’t have her.
Castillo was in no mood for saloons. He wanted to sleep in his comfortable bed back at the Jameson Ranch for one whole night and forget the mess his life was in right now. But that fire had been a signal. He’d gone out to meet one of the hands who’d told him Zane wanted to meet him in town.
It was early in the week, but the place was busy. A sign written in chalk out front had advertised a faro tournament, so most of the tables were filled with men competing. A woman in a low-cut gown and an abundance of cosmetics played what might havebeen a pleasant tune on a piano in the center of the room, but Castillo’s head pounded with every chord.
A few men at the tables took in his presence inside the door, but most were too busy concentrating on the cards before them. It was just as well. Castillo was in no mood to be friendly. In fact, he might appreciate a fight tonight to ease some of the frustration threatening to boil over inside him. It was a stupid disposition to bring to a saloon, evidence that he shouldn’t be here. He wouldn’t be here if Zane hadn’t sent him a message to meet.
Castillo kept his hat on as he stepped into the room on his way to the bar in the back. He wasn’t Castillo Jameson tonight. He wasn’t even Castillo Reyes tonight. He hoped that, with his hat pulled down low, he looked just like any other straggler passing through town. Someone these men would notice just enough to avoid.
He caught sight of Zane sitting at a table in the corner and changed course. “Do you have anything?” he asked as he pulled out the chair beside his friend and sat down facing the door.
“Good evening to you, too, brother.” Zane flashed a smile that did nothing to make him look friendly and upended a shot glass, filling it with whiskey from the bottle on the table.
Castillo grunted and looked over the men around them. He didn’t expect Bennett to be there playing faro, but Castillo had made many enemies over the last few years, so he was always looking for them in places like this. “Have you found out anything?” he asked again.
Zane threw back the whiskey and the smile dropped from his face. “I think there’s a spy at Victoria House. Someone went through my room. They didn’t take anything, so I can only assume they were looking for information.”
“Money?” Castillo asked.
“I keep a hundred or so in the armoire. It was still there.”
Castillo let out a breath. “A hundred is a lot, especially for someone working at the brothel.”
“It wasn’t touched.”
Castillo grimaced at the implication. Victoria House was the most exclusive brothel in Helena. Glory Winters, the brothel’s madam, had approached Hunter for help a couple of years ago when a group of men had decided that they’d be better at running such a lucrative establishment than she would. Castillo and the gang had provided the necessary muscle to make the men realize they’d have more success in another town. Since then, Castillo and Glory had become associates of sorts, coming to each other with bits of information the other might need. He didn’t want to think of her as a traitor, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility.
“The spy either didn’t need the money or is being paid more than that.” Glory was richer than sin and, as far as he knew, was the only one in that brothel who wouldn’t be tempted by that amount of money. She was also the only one who knew about their outlaw activities. It didn’t make sense that she’d have anything to do with Derringer, but Castillo had to consider it. “Have you mentioned this to Glory?”
Zane shook his head and his jaw clenched as his gaze passed over the room. Clearly, the possibility that she was somehow in cahoots with Derringer, or whoever had ordered Zane’s room searched, had occurred to him. Zane, who knew firsthand the risks involved with loving the wrong woman, harbored a soft spot for the madam. For his sake, Castillo hoped she wasn’t a spy.
Castillo tossed back the drink and rose to his feet. “Let’s go talk to her.”
Zane nodded and followed him out. A light drizzle had begun to fall while they were inside, but Castillo didn’t hurry his steps. It was a short walk to Victoria House, and they’d need to keeptheir eyes open for anyone who could be following them. Castillo had given it a lot of thought and he didn’t think Bennett’s presence in the area was a coincidence. Derringer had likely figured out who he was and was hoping to take him out before Castillo found him. That was the most logical explanation.
Castillo had stabled his horse across town and left one of the men behind to keep watch. But the streets were dark in this part of town, and now that they were deserted because of the rain, he wondered if it wouldn’t be better to have another man with them. The air was thick with the smells of mud and horses. The sounds of music and revelry were partially muted behind closed doors and windows. If there was ever a time to corner them alone…this was it. Zane’s hand went to the gun hidden in the holster beneath his coat, and Castillo knew he was worried, too.
Victoria House was a three-story brick building that towered over all the other squat structures in the district, and it would’ve been at home on the reputable side of town had it not been a brothel. Castillo exchanged a look with Zane and they navigated the two blocks to reach it. Despite the mud, they kept to the street and avoided getting too close to any darkened storefronts. Part of him wanted Derringer to confront them now, just to get it over with. But a confrontation in the dark on Derringer’s terms wouldn’t be wise.
