When Kat's Away [Sequel to Anna Doubles Down] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (6 page)

Kat looked at David and raised her brow.

“They were killed along with some others of their tribe. They’d always told Win to come here if anything happened to them.” David touched his hand to Win’s cheek. “He’s been living with us ever since.”

“Win, can I ask how old you are?”

“I have passed my twenty-eighth summer.”

“You’re pretty wise for such a young guy.” She took a couple of bites. “What are we gonna do today?”

David poured her a cup of coffee. “I’m going to get some of my sister’s clothes so you can get out, and I thought we’d show you the town. It’ll give you a chance to get used to your surroundings, and then tomorrow we’ll ride up to Treasure City to get some more clothes.”

“Did you happen to see my purse in the basement?”

Win looked at David and frowned. “What is a purse?”

“It’s a small leather bag that holds things.”

He shook his head. “I have been to the basement several times since you arrived and there were no bags of any kind down there.”

She sighed. “That’s okay. I was just hoping it made it through with me. I hate to lose it. It had the last bit of civilization left in my world.”

Win bowed his head. “Then I am truly sorry for your loss, Kat.” He looked up at David. “If you and Kat would like to get dressed I’ll take care of cleaning up the breakfast dishes.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Kat said.

Win looked at her quizzically, and she laughed. “It’s just an old expression from my time, Win. It means I agree to the plan.”

He smiled. “Good, then let’s get through with breakfast and we’ll get out of here for a while.”

* * * *

Anna looked up when David walked into her sitting room, a bundle of clothes in his hands. “Did you get everything she’ll need?”

“Yes, Eva gave me some of her pants and a shirt and vest. I figured it might be better to ease Kat into corsets and such.”

Beau threw back his head and roared out his laughter. “It’s been twenty-eight years and your ma still won’t wear the blasted things.”

Anna smirked. “It had to have been a man who invented a garment that squeezed us so tight in the middle our boobs popped out the top.”

David groaned. “Mom, do you have to be so plainspoken?”

She laughed. “If you think I’m bad, wait until you spend a little more time with Kat. I don’t think a little tumble through time will have mellowed her mouth any. There are times she can curse with the best of them.”

“Well, it doesn’t sound so weird if it’s coming from somebody else’s mouth. It just shouldn’t be coming from yours.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “You’re such a chauvinist.”

“A what?” asked David.

“You’re a throwback, David, a Neanderthal when it comes to women.” She walked over and took his hand. “You’ve got to back off, David. Kat just arrived and she’s not for you.”

He took a step back. “Why do you say that?”

She clenched her fists and tried to control her temper. “You just listen to me. I don’t have to explain myself. I’m telling you to back off. She’s not for you.”

David walked toward the door and then turned back. “Mom, I love you, but you get no say in who I spend my life with. I’m a grown man and it’s up to me to make that decision.”

Anna took a couple of steps toward him. “What about Win? Don’t you care what he thinks?”

He put his hand on the doorknob. “We talked last night and he’s as taken with her as I am.” He stared at his mother. “Let’s just let things ride and see where they lead us. If it’s meant to be, it will be. You know what Win says about fate. We can’t change it.” He nodded at Beau. “We’re going to take Kat and show her around town. I’m gonna lock the place up since we don’t open until later.”

“All right, son. Be careful and keep a watchful eye. If people ask about Kat, we want you to tell them that she’s our niece.”

“No.” David opened the door. “I won’t say she’s related to us.”

Anna sighed and ran her fingers through her long hair. “Then tell them she’s a daughter of a friend of mine from back East.”

David nodded and then closed the door behind him as he left.

Beau walked over and took Anna into his arms. “You’ve got to let up on the boy. You know how he’s practically drooled over that picture of Kat you had in your wallet. The boy’s been dreaming about her since he was eight years old.” He took a hold of her chin and brought her face up. “Is there a reason you’re so against it? Do you not think she’s good enough?”

“No, of course not. She’s the finest person I know. It’s just weird to think about my best friend getting romantic with my son. I don’t think my psyche is up to that. Besides, I always pictured some nice, sweet, innocent girl for David just like any mother would. Kat’s a wonderful person, but she’s never been serious about any of the men in her life. I don’t want to see the boys get hurt if she moves on.”

Beau chuckled. “Why don’t we do as the boy asked and let nature take its course? Who knows? She might not even want to be with them.”

Anna slid her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his neck. “There’s no danger of that. She’s already hot for the pair of them.”

Beau pressed his lips to her head. “Then, just maybe our boy can find the kind of happiness the three of us have had all these years.”

* * * *

Kat gazed at the buildings lining the long, winding dirt road. “So, what all do you have in this town?” She started down the wooden boardwalk that connected the buildings. Several horses were tied to hitching posts along the way, but only three other people were outside.

David pointed to a huge building that looked like an oversized barn. If the double doors were open, a large wagon could drive right through. “We’ve got a livery over there.”

Win pointed in the opposite direction. “Over there is the church, and down three buildings from that is the schoolhouse.”

David took her arm and helped her step from the boardwalk into the street. “The place at the end of the street is a mercantile of sorts. They carry a small number of supplies. Anything bigger, or special, has to be ordered, and it’s delivered to Treasure City.” He took her arm as they crossed the street. “All the places on the right are houses where people live. They all work for the mill or the mine in some capacity.”

Win took her other arm. “Anna told us you’re a teacher, so we thought you might like to see the school.”

Kat smiled. “Sure, I’d love to.”

She walked with the men down the street until they reached a small, white one-story building. She could see a privy out in the back. They climbed the two steps and walked inside. She looked around and promptly sneezed. “This place is a mess.”

A thick layer of dust covered everything. A black iron wood-burning stove sat in the dead center of the room, the chimney going straight up. On each side were two rows of students’ desks and chairs. In the front of the room sat a larger desk for the teacher, a lone oil lamp sitting on the surface. A blackboard, on the wall behind the desk, had various statements of how much the children hated the school. There was a lovely drawing of a male figure standing on a platform, his head in a noose. Someone had drawn a circle with the word
Teacher
inside and had drawn an arrow to the man about to be hung.

“Wow, the kids really liked their last teacher, didn’t they?”

The men laughed.

Sunlight poured through the six windows, enabling her to see all the signs of infestation. It was clear several critters now called the building home. A stack of books lay neglected and forgotten on the teacher’s desk.

“It’ll take a lot of work to get this suitable to hold classes.”

David put his arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry. We’ll help you get it cleaned up.”

“I’m not sure I…” Kat turned at the sound of footsteps.

She felt David stiffen when two people walked through the door. The man was tall, maybe six feet, with broad shoulders, dark-brown hair and eyes. His eyes looked cold, almost sinister. The woman was fairly tall and had long brown hair in a braid. She was lean and muscular, her calico dress dragging the dirty floor.

David’s hand moved to her wrist, tightening almost painfully. “What are you doing here, Timothy?”

Timothy gave a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I saw you come in here when I was walking my sister home.” He nodded at Kat. “This lovely young woman is a new face, and I’d hoped to get an introduction.” He bowed slightly at the waist. “Good afternoon. My name is Timothy Canders, and this is my sister, Alicia.” He gave her a little quirky grin. “I know all the beautiful women for miles around, so I know you’re not from around here. Are you visiting?”

David pulled Kat closer to his side while Win came up on her other side. “This is Kat Evans. She’s visiting my family.” He cleared his throat and glanced over at Win. “Her mother is a good friend of Anna’s.”

Timothy narrowed his eyes. “Hmmm, is that so?” He walked over and held out his hand.

Kat stared at it a moment and then reached out with her own. He enclosed her hand, squeezing tighter than she would have liked. She forced herself to keep from wincing.

“It’s a great pleasure to meet you, Kat. May I call you Kat?”

Feeling confused, Kat nodded her head. “Sure, okay. It’s nice to meet you too.” She pulled her hand away.

David nudged her toward the door. “We really need to be going now. We’ve got a lot to do this afternoon.”

Timothy moved to block their path. “Perhaps you’d do me the honor of having dinner with me tonight?”

Before Kat could answer, David pulled her toward the door. “Sorry, Timothy, but she’s spoken for.”

Kat stared up at David as he led her out into the sunshine.

* * * *

Timothy watched David and Win practically drag the lovely young woman down the street. “This is our lucky day, Alicia.” He turned and grabbed her arm, leading her toward the door.

She yanked her arm free and scowled. “What are you yammering about?”

“Don’t you see? It’s happening again.”

Alicia raised a brow. “What are you talking about?”

He sighed. “She’s just like David’s mother, Alicia. She’s from the future.”

She laughed and batted his hand away when he tried to take her arm. “Don’t tell me you’re as crazy as Pa was.”

Timothy growled and grabbed her roughly by the shoulder, smiling when she cried out in pain. “Don’t you ever say anything bad about him. There wasn’t anything crazy about him. He found out the truth about that woman.” He pulled Alicia out the door and stopped on the boardwalk. “If he hadn’t been caught, there’s no telling where we might be by now.”

Alicia stopped, pulling at her arm. “What, exactly, did he tell you about her, Timothy?”

He started walking, leading her toward the livery. “He said that she knew things before they happened.” He lowered his voice. “The day the mill burned, Anna was there. She told Pa that she’d come because she knew he was going to be there and that the mill was going to burn to the ground. Somehow she knew it was going to happen before it actually did.”

Alicia let out an unladylike snort. “I’ve heard the stories all my life, brother dear. Our father set that fire to cover up that he was stealing from the mine owners and to kill some harlot he was messing around with.”

Timothy tightened his fingers and shook her harshly. “Not another word against Pa. He was a good man. That woman is some kind of witch. He didn’t start acting crazy until she showed up. He told Ma that we’d all be rich if he could get her off alone somewhere and make her tell him about the future.”

“But it didn’t work that way, did it? They say he got her alone, all right, but not to ask her questions. I heard some Indian rescued her from a cabin where he’d left her tied up until he could get back.”

“Yeah, he left her in the old line cabin on the other side of the Silver Bell Mine. He wanted to get back to town and be seen so people wouldn’t think anything about it. He’d hoped they would think she just up and run off. He didn’t know that damn Indian had followed him when he took her from Beau’s cabin.”

Alicia sighed when they stopped in front of the livery. “What does any of this have to do with Miss Evans?”

“You heard them. They said she’s a daughter of some friend of Anna’s back East. In all these years that woman’s never left this town, and she never gets any mail. She doesn’t have any friends, at leastways not in this time. Kat’s got to be someone that came back in time to check up on her friend.”

She shook her head. “Even if that were true, what does it have to do with us?”

“It means if we can get her alone, we can do what Pa never could. We can make her tell us about where she came from.”

“But how will that help us?”

“I won’t know for sure until I make her talk. Pa was convinced that knowing what was gonna happen in the future was the key to making money, being rich, and having an easy life.” He looked down at his sister. “That’s what I want, Alicia, to have an easy life. I want to get out of this lousy town that looks down on us because of our last name.” He blinked back the moisture he could feel in his eyes. “I wanna make Pa proud of me.”