Page 12 of The Gilded Lady
“You’re thinking it’s not someone on her staff?” Hunter asked.
“Doesn’t seem to be. There was a singer who performed last night. When Glory introduced her she said that she was from St. Louis. I’ll look into her, but if it’s not her then…” Zane let out a frustrated breath and kicked at the dirt with his boot. “Then I don’t know.”
The lines between Hunter’s eyes deepened. “You’re worried, aren’t you?”
“Aren’t you?”
Hunter shrugged. “Glory has the money to pay this person. I hope we find who it is, but if not she’ll be fine.”
Zane shook his head in disbelief at Hunter’s cavalier attitude. “She can pay, but what’s to say this person doesn’t report back to his boss that he found her?”
“I think that’s unlikely.” Hunter’s gaze narrowed, his eyes becoming slits as he studied Zane. “What has you so upset?”
Maybe the fact that he was suddenly sharing tight quarters with the woman who’d kept him tied in knots. Or maybe it was because he’d barely slept last night because the pillow she’d given him had been covered in her scent. He’d recognized it asone from her bed, which meant she’d laid her head on it the previous night…or maybe even hugged it against her body as she’d slept. The thought of all the places on her body that pillow could’ve touched had kept him awake far into the morning. As a result he was tired and irritable today.
“I don’t want anything to happen to her on my watch.” His words came out forced and flat, a sure sign that they were only the partial truth. He didn’t want anything to happen to her on his watch, but that’s not what had kept him tossing and turning all night. That had been compliments of a near constant erection. It wasn’t a surprise that Hunter picked up on the partial truth. They’d spent enough time together in their hunt for Derringer that they could read each other well.
“You realize Glory never entertains men, right?”
Zane gritted his teeth. “That’s what I’ve heard. What are you saying?” In addition to learning that no one knew where she’d come from, Zane had learned precious little about the woman who fascinated him so much. But the fact that she never entertained clients was one of them. He’d been unsure if she occasionally might or had retired from that some time ago. No. He’d learned that she never slept with men, and she never seemed to take a fancy to any man. None ever appeared to call on her. He wasn’t sure what to do with that information or why it mattered so much to him. Instead of analyzing it, he tucked it away to bring out later on.
“Nothing. Just making sure you know,” Hunter said.
“I’m not interested in having her entertain me.” Zane shot back, stepping away to walk back to the front of Victoria House.
“Hmmm. Interesting.” Hunter said the word as if Zane had just given him a fresh nugget of information.
Zane shook his head. This was a conversation he wasn’t ready to have. The truth was he didn’t know what he wanted from Glory. He couldn’t offer her a future because he didn’t want that.It appeared that she didn’t indulge in casual affairs, so he didn’t know where to go from here. Right now all he wanted was to tuck her against him to shelter her from the world, but he knew that she’d bristle. She wanted his help in tracking down the person out to extort her, and she might even take his protection in the form of a hired gun, but nothing more. She valued her independence and knew how to take care of herself. In fact, she was one of the strongest people he’d ever known. He’d watched her put grown men in their place with only the flash of her eyes. God help the poor fool who dared to go up against her, she’d verbally flay them alive or have Able toss them on their ass in the street. No, Glory didn’t need him, at least not in that way. Maybe that’s why she was so interesting to him.
“You want to talk about it?” Hunter asked.
Zane bristled. “About what? Glory?” He waited on the front stoop for Hunter to catch up to him.
Hunter shook his head, a half smile on his face. “Look, brother, I don’t think it’s any secret how you feel about Glory. I’ve seen the way you look at her. We’ve all seen it.”
“We’re doing this?” Zane took in the people going in and out of the general store down the street, ready to do almost anything to avoid this conversation.
Hunter sighed. “Glory isn’t like Christine. She’s cut from a different cloth.”
Zane winced at the sound of her name and clenched his jaw so hard his scar throbbed. No one had mentioned Christine to him in years. After what had happened, it’s almost as if they’d come to some silent resolution that no one would talk about her. Hunter was right. Christine had been the opposite of Glory. She’d needed his help to do everything from saddling her horse to accompanying her on rides around the Reyes hacienda because she hadn’t wanted to ride alone. Those rides had giventhem plenty of time to talk which had led to kissing and so much more.
Christine had been a virgin when he’d taken her. Even now, though he loathed himself for it, he could hear her soft whisper as she found him in his bunk and told him that she loved him. That she wanted a life with him. He’d believed her then, and he still believed her. She had loved him, and yet, when it had mattered, she’d turned her back when her brother had beaten him to within inches of his life.
“I know that she’s not the same, but it doesn’t change what happened. It doesn’t change the fact that love doesn’t mean anything.”
Hunter shook his head. “I understand why you’d feel that way. You have every right to. But it’s not always that way.”
Zane was glad that Hunter had found Emmy and things seemed to be working out for them. No way in hell was Zane going to open himself up to that hurt again. The pain of the whip splitting open his face had nothing on the agony of watching Christine turning away from him as her brother hit him over and over again.
Derringer and his men had blown through the ranch that night to demand that Castillo’s grandfather give up trying to get his money back from them. One minute Zane had been in the barn brushing down a horse, and the next he’d heard shouting and the whole place had swarmed with men on horseback wielding rifles. He’d run for his gun but Bennett, Derringer’s son, had come out of the darkness riding his horse and blocked Zane’s path.
Christine had told him about their affair and he was out for blood. Not only was Zane’s skin the wrong color for Bennett’s sister, but he didn’t have nearly the social standing required to touch her. The whip had come from nowhere, lashing the side of his face before he’d had a chance to react. When Zane hadrun, Bennett had jumped off his horse and lashed him across the back several times bringing Zane to his knees. Bennett hadn’t even stopped when Christine had ridden out of the darkness pleading with him to spare Zane.
After her token protest that Bennett stop, she’d watched in silence. She could’ve handed Zane his gun, but Bennett had told her to stand down. He’d sweetened the deal and ensured her compliance when he’d promised her she’d lose her cut of the money they’d stolen if she helped Zane. She’d turned and left. It was the last time he’d ever seen her.
Some might say that it was a sure sign that she hadn’t ever loved him. Zane knew that she had. He’d seen that look in her eyes, the same one that Caroline and Emmy gave their husbands. Christine had loved him as much as Zane had loved her. But it hadn’t been nearly enough.
He wasn’t going to let himself get pulled into that emotion again. He also wasn’t about to open himself up to Hunter on the street in front of the brothel. “I appreciate your concern, but right now we need to focus on helping Glory.” Hunter gave a reluctant nod, and Zane continued, “I’m going to talk to Sally Roarke, the singer from last night. I’ll let you know what she says. It’s suspicious she showed up here around the same time as that note.”
