The Sheriff

After a pause that seemed interminable, he said, “They are not exactly ladies. I imagine you are.” There was another pause. “So you’re not going inside.”

“You know nothing about me, so how…?”

“I know a great deal about you,” he said, taking hold of her upper arm and firmly turning her away from the saloon’s swinging doors. “You are Miss Kate VanNam from Boston and you’ve come to take up residence in the house your late great-aunt Arielle VanNam Colfax left you.”

“The house is the least of it, Sheriff.” Kate attempted to pull her arm free of his encircling fingers.

He refused to let her go. “Ah, yes. So you’ve seen the elephant.”

“Seen the elephant?”

“Never mind. You’re here for gold,” he said, shaking his head.

His air of egotism was offensive. Kate gave him a sharp look. “Why, yes, if you must know, I intend to bring gold out of the Cavalry Blue. Which is why I was going into the Golden Nugget. I need to find laborers to work my claim.”

Travis quickly set her straight. “That’s not going to happen, Miss VanNam. You won’t find anybody willing to work at the Cavalry Blue.”

“Why not?”

“The people in Fortune are dreamers, just as you are. They work at their own small claims and diggings, hoping to strike it rich. That’s why they came to California, the ‘land of second chances’.”

“Does that include you, Marshal?” She smiled when she saw the slight narrowing of his eyes, then told him, “It really shouldn’t matter to you why I’m here. My presence in Fortune is none of your concern and I—”

“You’re wrong there, Miss VanNam. It is very much my concern,” Travis said. “I’ve been hired by the Committee of Vigilance to keep the peace in Fortune. That’s exactly what I aim to do.”

“Well, I should hope so,” she retorted. Glancing up at his handsome face, she immediately felt the same frightening tingle she’d experienced when she’d looked out from the riverboat’s porthole upon arriving in Fortune. She mentally shook herself, and then flippantly teased, “I promise not to cheat at cards or get into fistfights or shoot up the saloons.”

She laughed.

He didn’t.

Stopping in midstride, he yanked her to such an abrupt halt her head rocked on her shoulders. Drawing her close, he fixed her with his dark eyes. “Listen to me, Miss VanNam, and listen well. In case you’ve failed to notice, there are at least fifty men to every woman in this community. Any idea what that could mean to you?”

“No, I—”

“Word has already spread that you are to be living alone up there in the Colfax mansion. How safe do you suppose you are?”

“I don’t see—”

“No, you don’t see. If you did you’d climb right back on the steamer and head downriver to—”

“Listen to me, Marshal, and listen well,” Kate interrupted. “I’m going nowhere. I am staying in Fortune until I find the gold in the Cavalry Blue. You don’t want me here? Too bad. This is now my home. I have no other and nothing to go back to Boston for.”

Travis frowned. “Your family?”

“I have no family left,” she declared, no longer counting her brother, Gregory, as family. “But I’m made of rather stern stuff, Sheriff. One of my ancestors, Ebenezer Stevens, participated in the Boston Tea Party. Like him, I don’t back down or frighten easily. Now if you’ll kindly unhand me, I am going home.”

“I’ll see to it you do.” He finally released his hold on her arm. “I’ll walk you there.”

“Not necessary.” Kate was swift to turn down his offer. “You surely have troublemakers to apprehend.”

“I’d say you’re presently the biggest troublemaker in Fortune,” Travis gently teased.

Kate was not amused. “There is no need for you to escort me home. Good night to you, Marshal Mc-Cloud,” she repeated, and walked away.

Travis stayed where he was, crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head in annoyance. Then he easily caught up with her.

“It will be a good night once I’ve seen you safe inside behind locked doors.”

Kate sighed irritably. She didn’t want him to go with her. She knew what would happen. He would see what bad shape the house was in and insist she couldn’t live there. She didn’t like this big, bullying marshal. She didn’t trust him. He was too decisive, too commanding, too cocksure.

The thought struck her that this tall, hard-faced sheriff was nothing like her gentle companion and friend, the boyish, soft-spoken Sam Bradford, half a world away back in Boston. Instinctively, she knew no one would dare boss this handsome Virginian around, as she had so often done with the good-natured Sam.

The pair reached the end of the wooden sidewalk. As she stepped down onto the ground, Kate glanced up at Travis and made a misstep. He reached out to steady her, and she found herself leaning against him.

The moonlight struck his face fully. He was even more handsome than she had thought. For a moment they stayed as they were—she pressed against his side, her hand lying on his hard abdomen, he holding her until she could regain her balance, his eyes focused on her upturned face.

Travis wanted to lift a hand and run his fingers through her long golden locks, which gleamed silver in the moonlight. He was tempted to bend his head and kiss her cherry red lips as they parted over her perfect, small white teeth.

“Sorry, Sheriff,” Kate said finally, and pushed away, shaken by the contact with his lean, hard body. “I lost my footing. How clumsy of me.”

“Quite all right, Miss VanNam,” Travis said, his eyes glinting as he spoke.

Kate realized she would only waste her breath if she again told him she could walk home alone.

The moonlight disappeared as they left town and climbed through the dense pine forest. After walking only a few yards they were forced to continue single file, Travis falling in behind Kate.

Over her shoulder, she explained that the house was in need of a bit of repair, but that she had already fixed it up some. She would have to keep him far from the mansion so he wouldn’t notice the missing front door, among other defects.

When they stepped out into the broad clearing by the sparkling lake, Kate turned to face Travis. She put out her hand for him to shake and said sweetly, “I do appreciate you walking me home, Sheriff. It was most kind of you. Good night.”

Travis didn’t take her offered hand.

His eyes were on the darkened mansion. Without a word he left Kate standing there, and moved along the curving bank of the lake, headed directly toward the house. Kate gritted her teeth and followed.

“As I mentioned, the place needs a little work and—”

“Jesus Christ.” Travis swore as they reached the overgrown yard. “There’s no front door.”

“Well, no, but…that’s…wait…wait! Where are you going?”

Travis had crossed the yard, climbed the front steps and walked right into the house. He took a sulphur match from the breast pocket of his white shirt, struck it on his thumbnail and looked around the wide central corridor.

He glanced into the large front parlor and spotted the coal oil lamp on the floor beside a long sofa. He went inside, sank down into a crouching position and lifted the glass globe. He touched the match to the wick and the lamp blazed to life.

Kate entered the room as he was replacing the globe. She gave him an apologetic little smile and said, “I told you the house…”

“I had no idea this place had fallen into such bad repair,” he said, shaking out the match. He rose to his feet. “Are you out of your mind? You can’t stay in this house. I can’t leave you here alone and unprotected. Get some things together and I’ll take you back to town. You can sleep in a vacant cell at the city jail.”