Yesterday's Magic (25 page)

“I’m not ashamed.” He stood up and strode
over to where his own coat and hat hung on a hook. He shoved his
arms through and didn’t bother with the buttons. “It’s just nobody
else’s business, that’s all.” He reached for the door.

“So you’re just going to pretend that nothing
is different?” Bart asked.

Nothing really was different. It had been one
night. She’d be back in Ohio soon and probably wouldn’t even
remember her time in Mantosa.

And someday, if he was lucky, he’d be able to
forget about Bella and how she’d looked stretched across his rug,
the fire lighting up the curves of her lovely skin, her generous
breasts.

Jed jammed his hat on his head. He didn’t
bother turning around. “What I’m going to do, is do the job I get
paid for. I suggest you think about doing the same.”

He slammed the door behind him and headed off
to meet the noon stage. He was barely halfway there when it pulled
into town. He checked his watch. Since the new driver had come on
the route, the stage had been consistently late. Today it was
almost ten minutes early.

The stage was barely stopped before the
driver vaulted off his seat. His boots slipped when he hit the snow
covered street but it didn’t serve to slow him down. He ran around
to the back for the cases. He grabbed two and tossed them onto the
street before he whipped open the door to let the passengers out.
However, instead of extending a helpful hand or offering a parting
greeting, he hurried back to the front and climbed onto his
seat.

He appeared to be a man who couldn’t wait to
be on his way. Something was wrong. Jed could feel it. Jed tried to
catch his eye but it seemed the driver was looking everywhere but
in Jed’s direction.

From the open stage door, a man emerged. The
door was barely shut behind him when the stage took off. The man
turned and watched it go. He had what appeared to be an amused look
on his face and Jed, as crazy as it seemed, felt a chill run down
his spine.

He was tall, somewhere near Jed’s own height,
but he carried more weight than Jed. He wore a dark wool coat that
fell past his knees and a hat to match. It had a fancy ribbon
wrapped around it. Jed could see the man’s legs from the knees
down. During his time with the railroads, he’d spent more than one
evening with gentlemen who’d had personal resources greater than
that of all of Mantosa. Their trousers had been made of silk,
too.

This was a man of some means. Jed made note
of all the outward trappings of wealth but it was the man’s face
that captured and held his attention. He had a broad forehead, a
wide chin, and heavy jowls, giving his face an almost square look.
His black brows were thick, his eyes small with dark shadows
underneath. His nose was flat, like it had been smashed more than
once. His lips were pale and narrow.

There was no doubt about it. He’d studied the
drawing often enough. This was the man that Bat Masterson had felt
compelled to warn Jed about. Rantaan Toomay.

Jed watched as Toomay leisurely surveyed the
town before bending to retrieve his bags. He turned, giving his
back to Jed, and started walking. He stepped up onto the sidewalk
on the opposite side of the street and turned to his right.

Jed stayed on his side of the street and he
trailed Toomay. He kept his eyes moving, looking for anything else
that might look out of place. He sure as hell didn’t want to be
caught unaware by an accomplice of Toomay’s. It wouldn’t be the
first time somebody had made a pretense out of arriving alone only
to have a partner either already in town or arrive shortly after by
an altogether different means.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a
flash of blue. He recognized it immediately. It was Bella’s scarf.
She had it wrapped around her head and the tails were flying in the
wind. She was on the same side of the street as Toomay.

At first Jed figured that Bella had simply
been out for a walk and she was returning to the Mercantile. But
then when he saw Toomay hesitate as he passed the saloon and Bella
abruptly stop walking, like she wanted to keep a predetermined
distance between herself and the man, his heart, which had already
skipped a beat just seeing Bella, started to pound in his
chest.

At the entrance of the hotel, Toomay stopped.
He shifted both bags to one hand so that he could pull open the
door. Jed watched Bella watch Toomay and once the man was inside,
Bella hurried her steps. She walked past the Mercantile, directly
into the hotel.

What the hell? Jed crossed the street. But
instead of going in the front door of the hotel, he slipped around
the edge of the building and went in through a side door. Toomay
was talking to the clerk at the desk. Jed saw him pull out a thick
roll of cash and peel off some bills. The clerk slid a key across
the counter.

Bella had her back to Toomay, pretending to
read the newspaper that had been left on a table. When the big man
started across the room toward the stairs, Bella abruptly turned
and almost bumped into him.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t paying
attention.”

Toomay reached out to steady her. He held
onto her arms, taking a long appreciative look.

Jed felt sick. He wanted to rip Toomay’s
hands away. But Bella didn’t seem to mind. She smiled at the big
man.

“I don’t think we’ve met,” she said.

“I’d remember if we had,” he replied.

She laughed. “Bella Wainwright. My aunt owns
the Mercantile next door.”

“Rantaan Toomay.”

Bella stepped back, far enough that Toomay
let his hands drop. “Just passing through, Mr. Toomay?” she
asked.

The man shrugged. “I’m not sure how long I’m
planning to stay. But for now, I like what I see, Miss
Wainwright.”

“
Mrs.
Wainwright,” Bella corrected.
“I’m a widow.”

“My sympathies,” Toomay said. “Is it possible
that you would consider having dinner with me tonight?”

Jed thought about just shooting the
bastard.

Bella shook her head. “I’m sorry. My aunt
fell yesterday and broke her leg. I really need to be with her
tonight.”

“Your aunt’s misfortune is my great loss,” he
said. “Perhaps another time?”

Jed flexed his fingers.
Not anytime
soon.
He intended to convince Toomay that he’d be a whole lot
better off if he left Mantosa quickly and quietly.

“Lunch tomorrow?” Bella offered. “The saloon
next door has a good cook.”

What the hell
?

Toomay reached for her gloved hand and kissed
it. “I’ll look forward to it.”

Bella left without another word and Toomay
walked up the steps to his room. It was another five minutes before
Jed worked up the strength to move.

When Bella got inside the Mercantile, she sat
in the back room, unable to face the prospect of customers. Her
chest hurt. She pressed the palm of her hand in between her
breasts. When she got back to her time, she was going to have to
see a doctor—there was no way her heart hadn’t suffered irreparable
damage.

When she’d seen Toomay get out of the stage,
her heart had dropped to her stomach. Now that it was back in
place, it was still probably covered with all kinds of gross
gastric acids. All she knew was that his feet had hit the ground
and she’d immediately felt sick and lightheaded. When her knees had
started to buckle, she’d had to lean against a wall. She’d stared
at him, cataloguing each feature. Her father had, of course,
described him. She’d been amazed at the detail he’d recalled, given
that it had been 130 years in the past. However, now that she’d
seen Toomay, she understood. His features were so bold and
deliberate, his face almost had a cartoon-like feel. It would not
be easy to forget.

When he’d started walking, his long strides
filled with purpose, her heart had raced—not only from exertion,
but from pure fear. She’d been waiting for days and now that he was
here, she was really going to have to do something. Time was
running out.

While he’d been busy renting a room at the
hotel, her heart had skipped beats, as her mind rapidly developed
and more rapidly discarded ideas for getting him to notice her.

In the end, there’d been nothing left to do
but bump into him. He’d held onto her arms too long and she’d
desperately wanted to jerk away. Perhaps it was him being Bad
Magic—that always made Good Magic want to squirm. Perhaps it was
simpler than that. Maybe just the pure arrogance he displayed had
set her teeth on edge.

But she’d managed to smile and flirt and she
had finagled a lunch invitation. Her goal was to get him to trust
her without putting herself at risk. Then, when the time came,
she’d kill him.

Kill him.
The words echoed in her
head, causing it to ache.

She abhorred violence. She hated violent
movies and regularly stopped reading once books got too gory.
Averil had always teased her, had said she was the type of person
who would take the ditch to avoid hitting a cat.

Bella had known she was actually the type of
witch who would keep driving but zap the cat, along with a can of
tuna, to a safe place. But same difference. She didn’t go around
killing.

But Rantaan Toomay couldn’t be allowed to
live past December fifth, 1877. If he did, and he had the chance to
use his Bad Magic, there was no telling how different the world
might be. Bad Magic, when channeled appropriately, could be so
strong that there was no telling if there would even be a
world.

Bella heard someone knocking on the front
door. She stood up, relieved to have something else to focus on.
She was going to keep Aunt Freida’s store afloat. She intended to
leave this time no worse for her having been here for a few
days.

Her heart took another jolt when she looked
through the window and saw Jed outside her door. What now? The man
had made it clear. He didn’t want anybody knowing that they’d spent
the night together. He shouldn’t be pounding on her door in the
middle of the day.

She again pressed her hand to her chest. How
could her poor heart survive when it was pulled in multiple
directions?

There was the contentment, the absolute
safeness she’d felt in his arms. Then the heady rush of
exhilaration when she’d been able to feel every inch of him
pounding inside of her and had known he was as far gone as she.
Then there was the complete and utter dismay when he’d more or less
begged her to keep silent—saying it without saying it that the
night was something he was ashamed of.

After just getting done with Toomay, she
didn’t think she had the strength to deal with Jed. Maybe tomorrow.
She turned her back on the door, hoping he’d get the hint.

He started pounding again. And it dawned on
her that perhaps he’d come with news about Aunt Freida. Bella
turned and whipped open the door. “What?” she asked, her voice
trembling.

He stared at her and she was reminded of how
she’s felt when she’d woken up, after sleeping in front of his
fire, and he’d been in the chair, watching her. Of course, they
both knew where that had led.

“Is it Aunt Freida?”

He shook his head. “No. I…need some salt. I’m
out at home.”

Salt. He’d pounded on her door and scared her
half to death for salt.

“Perhaps if you’d have used less when you
were grinding it into my wounds,” she said.

He jerked back.

She felt proud. She sounded confident,
poised, even a little bold. Not at all like someone who felt like
she’d been punched in the stomach. She turned, walked over to the
shelf, grabbed a box of salt, walked to the front counter, and set
it down with a thud.

“Fifteen cents,” she said.

He walked to the front counter. “Maybe I want
some candy,” he said. He looked into the glass case, studying the
sweets as if it was the first time he’d ever seen them.

If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was
dawdling. She moved and then stood behind the glass counter, her
impatience with Jed mounting with each breath she took. “I’ve got
other work to do,” she said, finally.

“Busy day?” he asked, his manner more
deliberately sociable than she’d ever seen him.

Was he trying to make up for their harsh
words earlier? “I guess,” she said. Her stomach growled, loudly.
She pressed her hand against her midsection. She hadn’t eaten
breakfast—she’d been too upset about her conversation with Jed. She
hadn’t eaten lunch after her confrontation with Toomay.

“Busy enough that there was no time to get
out for lunch?” he asked.

“Not yet,” she said. Freida had an open tin
of crackers in the back—they’d have to do.

He considered her. “You should eat. I’ll
bring lunch by for you tomorrow.”

She was having lunch with Rantaan Toomay. Did
he somehow know that? She dismissed the idea. She and Toomay had
been the only ones in the lobby of the hotel.

“That not necessary. I’ll bring something
from Aunt Freida’s house.”

He tapped his index finger against the glass.
“It’s no trouble.”

“That’s not the point,” she said. The point
was, she already had a lunch date and furthermore, him bringing her
lunch wasn’t exactly the way to keep people from speculating. He
couldn’t have it both ways. “Look, Jed.” She sighed, deliberately,
loudly. “Do you want any candy or not?”

“I guess not.” He turned and walked toward
the door.

“Hey, what about your salt?”

He turned, walked back to the counter, fished
some coins out of his vest pocket, and threw them on the counter.
He grabbed the box of salt and left without another word.

The door slammed shut behind him. “Have a
nice day,” she said.

She was still fuming several hours later when
Thomas Bean walked into the Mercantile. He was so tall that he had
to duck when he came through the doorway. He looked
self-consciously at the two women who were sorting through canned
goods and he shuffled awkwardly toward the front of the store.
“Afternoon, Bella,” he said.