One Heart to Win (6 page)

Tiffany finally turned around and looked at the town of Nashart, Montana. Anna had exaggerated. Several streets led off the wide main one, though they appeared to be mostly residential. And the one main street, which was lined with stores and businesses, was at least long. The town had obviously doubled in size since the time Rose had lived there, no doubt due to the arrival of the railroad.

“Well, that’s a surprise,” Tiffany said. “Nashart is bigger than I expected based on my mother’s description of it. We can’t even see to the end of the street. There could be all sorts of other stores down there—oh, my, they have a theater!” Tiffany said excitedly when she saw it. “And a restaurant next to it!”

Anna wasn’t impressed. “One is open, the other is closed according to the sign on the door, so don’t get your hopes up, Miss Tiffany, in that regard. Actors live in cities. They only travel to a small town for a few performances and then move on to the next small town.”

“Yes, but we still might get lucky and see a troupe pass through in the two months we’ll be here. Now, since it looks like Nashart does have a hotel, I’ll get us a room while you find some dye. If the general store doesn’t have any, you can try the barbershop.”

“If they have one,” Anna grumbled. “You know you will be
stuck with dyed hair for many months to come, and you will look silly with hair that is two different colors until your hair grows out—or you cut it all off.”

Tiffany was horrified at the notion of cutting her hair and threw up her hands in defeat on that score. “I concede. I’ll wrap it in a scarf or hide it some other way. We’ll think of something.”

Anna shook her head. “You’re not considering all the consequences of this deception. Your father will be pleased to have you show up at his door early, surprising him. He will not be pleased when you show up at his door deceiving him. And what reason will you give him when you’re done with the charade and admit who you are?”

“The truth. I’ll try to present it without rancor, but I
will
tell him the truth. I’ve been harboring too much resentment not to.”

“Fair enough. Just remember you said
without
rancor. I suppose you want me to remain in town while you carry out this trickery?”

“Why?”

“Because housekeepers don’t travel with personal maids,” Anna replied.

Tiffany frowned. “That won’t do.”

“It would for one day. I won’t agree to more than that because anything longer and it becomes a deception rather than a surprise.”

Having won, Tiffany couldn’t keep the grin off her face. One day was long enough for her to find out how she would respond when she first clapped eyes on Franklin Warren.

Chapter Seven

“T
HAT
’
S GOT TO BE
her,” Cole told his older brother, John.

“Like hell,” John blustered. “She’s dressed far too fancy.”

“She’s an Easterner. Did you think she’d show up in calico?”

“Too pretty, too,” John mumbled. “You want to take the chance of bringing home the wrong gal?”

Cole chuckled, pointing out, “We’re not going to just grab her and run, so maybe you should just let me do the talking. Better yet, why don’t you go borrow us a wagon while I sweet-talk the lady. Damned inconvenient time for our good one to break down when we got more’n one thing to pick up that came in on the train today.”

“No.”

Cole sighed at that adamant response. “Can you be reasonable for
once
? You’re too intimidating when you get in a surly mood, and you’re
never
diplomatic. First sign of opposition and you start throwing punches! What are you so all-fired grumpy about today anyway?”

“Pa might think this is hilarious, I sure as hell don’t,” John said.

Neither did Cole, and he was the one who’d been shot at recently. Roy Warren swore he didn’t do it, but Cole wasn’t going to just take a Warren at his word. John was hot-tempered even on the best of days, so he should never have come along to carry out this task. They both took after their pa with brown eyes, but John had Pa’s height, too, being well over six feet, while Cole was considered the runt in the family at only six feet. Cole got his smaller stature from their ma, as well as her brown hair, while the rest of the men in the family had black hair.

“We should hurry this up,” John added as he glanced down both sides of the street. “I don’t see any Warrens yet, but that could change at any moment. And I can’t promise you I won’t push back hard if they show up and start pushing.”

Cole nodded, but he was starting to get worried, and not about the Warrens. “They might not’ve been told about the train’s early arrival like we were,” he said, then voiced his sudden unease: “What happens if she don’t agree?”

“Why wouldn’t she?”

“Yeah, but what if she don’t?” Cole repeated.

“Pa said one way or the other, she comes home with us. We’ll do what we have to do.”

“Pa didn’t figure on every eye in town being on her when he said that. You want to end up in jail?”

“How ’bout we just talk to her first ’fore you try to jump over all these obstacles we ain’t run into yet?”

—

In the middle of the street, Tiffany finally managed to stop sneezing long enough to glare at the two cowboys who’d stirred up the cloud of dust she was choking on. But it wasn’t really
their fault, they’d merely ridden past her rather quickly, then come to a tearing halt nearby, which could well have been
her
fault.

Anna had already pointed out that they were causing something of a sensation in the town, which was why they’d been hurrying across the street to get out of sight inside the hotel. People had been coming out of stores to look at them, leaning over balconies, pointing fingers. Tiffany was a little surprised to see so many women dressed plainly in homespun clothes and so many men in work clothes wearing guns. High fashion had obviously not traveled this far west, but did Nashart get so few visitors that the sight of two strangers would cause such a stir?

Tiffany put a handkerchief to her nose and kept it there. One more thing to hate about the West. Dust. It settled on her clothes, discoloring them, and it made her sneeze. It was controllable in the city, but how did they control it here with their dirt streets?

“I only wanted to change out of these clothes we’ve been wearing for days, but now I need a bath, too,” she complained to Anna.

“You actually think you’ll find one here?”

Tiffany turned to stare at the maid aghast, only to find Anna pointing at a sign farther down the street:
TIDWELL
’
S BATHHOUSE, HOT WATER AND SOAP.

“Wonderful,” Tiffany groaned. “Boasting that they have soap, as if no one else in town does. I think we should get back on the train before it leaves.”

“The bathhouse is next to a tavern, which, by the way, this town appears to have too many of, so it’s probably for men who don’t plan to reside in the hotel.”

After that dust cloud they had both just endured, Tiffany
wasn’t in a mood to hear tepid encouragement. Nothing short of a hot, steaming bath in a private room was going to appease her right now. “They call them saloons here, and if you were trying to relieve me, it didn’t work.”

“You’ll get a bath at the hotel. I would wager a week’s salary on it.”

Tiffany finally noticed the slight grin on Anna’s face. The maid was teasing her and trying not to laugh. “You’re just full of surprises today, Anna Weston. You’re lucky I didn’t fire you for arguing with me over my decision. I still might. Now let’s get out of the sun, and the dust.”

Anna put her head down because she really couldn’t hide that grin anymore. “Yes, Miss Tiffany.”

Tiffany snorted indelicately and finished the trek across the wide street. She was just about to open the door to the hotel when a deep voice behind her said, “Are you the housekeeper, ma’am?”

She wasn’t surprised that someone from the Warren Ranch had been sent to town to meet Jennifer. The housekeeper had probably sent word ahead to her new employer as soon as they’d been told how much sooner they would be arriving because of the farmers. Tiffany turned around, expecting to see one of her brothers standing there. Well, she could hope, since this would be a perfect opportunity to warn them she’d like her secret kept for a day, even if they didn’t recognize her right off. Despite the years that had passed since she’d seen the three boys and the chance she might not recognize them either, she knew that blond and red hair wouldn’t turn black or brown, and none of her brothers had brown eyes.

It was those two cowboys who had just stirred up the dust cloud she’d almost choked on, both of them now tipping wide-brimmed
hats to her. Well, she reminded herself, she was just a servant, or about to pretend to be one. So she shouldn’t be surprised that her father would merely send a couple of hired hands to collect a new employee.

Tiffany answered, “Yes, I’ve been hired by—”

“We know who sent for you, ma’am,” the brown-haired young man cut in. “We’re here to talk you into working for us instead.”

Tiffany frowned, glancing between them. They were both young, tall, and actually rather handsome. They even bore a slight facial resemblance to each other, suggesting they were brothers. But why had they approached her if they weren’t her father’s men?

Just to make sure of that, she asked, “You’re not from the Warren Ranch?”

“No, but can we step inside the hotel to finish this deal? Please, before any Warrens show up?”

“We don’t have a deal—”

“We will.”

“No, we will not,” Tiffany said with finality, turning her back on them, and entered the hotel.

Anna barricaded the door with her body when the men started to follow Tiffany inside, her arms spread out to either side of the doorway. Her message was clear. They were not to bother Tiffany any further. The two men actually pushed right past her as if they didn’t even see her there!

“Ma’am, you
really
need to hear us out.”

Tiffany swung around, amazed the two cowboys had followed her into the hotel. Anna, behind them now, looked angry enough to start swinging her purse at them, which probably wasn’t a good idea with both men wearing gun holsters.

Tiffany was exasperated. This was ridiculous. She was in dire need of a bath, and she didn’t want to have to scream for help to get rid of two obnoxious young men. The hotel lobby was empty, except for an elderly man sweeping the floor at the back of the large room. She held up her hand to stop Anna from becoming aggressive in her defense of Tiffany and turned to the brown-haired cowboy, who had been doing all the talking.

“As briefly as possible, say what you have to say, then leave.”

“You’re awful uppity for a servant, ain’t you?” the other man suddenly said.

Tiffany’s mouth nearly dropped open. Her eyes flared wide for a moment.
He
was getting annoyed with
her
? But before she could lambaste him, his companion took off his hat and hit his friend with it.

“What part of
fancy Easterner
didn’t you understand?” he growled.

“She’s still just a servant—”

“A
fancy
servant, as fancy as they get. And when Pa hears you messed this up by shooting off your mouth, he’ll tan your hide.”

The black-haired cowboy who’d just got upbraided turned red in the face, but Tiffany didn’t think it was from embarrassment. He was furious, possibly because he looked older than the other man and didn’t like being reprimanded by a younger man. She hoped she wasn’t blushing as well, having just had it spelled out rather plainly that she had no business sounding so imperious with them after going along with their assumption that she was the expected housekeeper.

Hat still in hand and looking conciliatory, the brown-haired
man said to her, “Beg pardon, ma’am. Name’s Cole Callahan. This here’s my brother John. That ornery old cuss who hired you ain’t the least bit friendly with us, but we’re his closest neighbors.”

Tiffany was reeling from the knowledge that these two men were her fiancé’s brothers. Anna immediately looked contrite. Tiffany guessed Anna had indeed been about to swing her purse at them and would have regretted it because these were two of Tiffany’s possible future in-laws.

Tiffany was also surprised to hear them refer to her father as an ornery old cuss. Was
that
why her mother had left Frank? He simply turned out to be too unpleasant and high-handed to live with? Rose did have a bit of a temper. She wouldn’t have put up with orneriness for long. But old? Well, these two young men might consider anyone over forty old.

Highly curious now, Tiffany took a closer look at the men, wondering if Hunter looked like either of them. She had dozens of questions, none of which she could ask since she wasn’t supposed to know about the Callahan family!

In a much milder tone she said, “I’m pleased to make the acquaintance of my employer’s neighbors, even if you aren’t the best of friends with each other.”

“That’s an understatement,” John mumbled. “Thieves and liars who can’t be trusted, the lot of them. You’re lucky we aim to rescue you.”