Managing to lug the picnic basket and a blanket, as well as pushing the unwieldy carriage across a nonexistent path, Kate came to the edge of the meadow Trevelyan had described She paused, inhaling air fresh with the season’s cascade of green grass, tiny white flowers, and new leaves. The faint babble of the creek reached her ears and she smiled at Annie.
“Hear that? That means we get to look for minnows and frogs and maybe even crayfish.”
The young girl tipped her head back to gaze at Kate.
“You’ll see,” Kate answered the unspoken question. She continued across the field, stopping twenty feet from the brook Although there wasn’t a tree to shade them, Kate didn’t mind. The sun, which beamed down upon them from a cloudless sky, was a welcome companion. This day promised to be the warmest one since she had arrived in Orion.
“Let’s set up our little banquet here, shall we?” Kate asked the girl
Annie nodded eagerly and helped Kate spread the blanket on the new grass. As the youngster smoothed the material, Kate watched her with pride The length of time Annie withdrew into her shell appeared to be decreasing Whenever Brynn was napping, Kate ensured that she and Annie did something together, whether it be washing dishes or preparing supper or playing a game. Still, when the girl chose to retreat into her own world, there was nothing Kate could do to bring her back except wait until Annie’s eyes became focused once again.
Kate hoped the picnic would further draw Annie out. So far, her plan seemed to be working
Brynn began to fuss and Kate lifted the boy out of the carriage. She’d become so accustomed to holding him that she no longer feared she’d drop him, and even laughed at her earlier fears. She settled on the ground and drew a bottle out of the picnic basket. Brynn didn’t need any encouragement
“Come join us, Annie.”
The girl sat beside Kate and played with her brother’s busy fingers. Contentment spread through Kate. If only these children were hers and Orion was her home But that would make Trevelyan her husband—a possibility that could never be. He’d made his position clear: he would never remarry. His love for his wife made Kate hunger for the same The only time she had felt such love was when she’d been Annie’s age, before her mother’s death. Since then, she’d lived life in a drought of affection and love.
Kate gazed at Annie’s blond head, noticing the girl’s bonnet hung down her back, having either fallen or been pulled off. Kate suspected the latter, but she wouldn’t scold her. A child needed sunshine, especially someone like Annie, who lived in a dark place no one could enter.
Brynn finished the bottle and Kate raised him to her shoulder, patting his back. A few moments later she was rewarded with a loud belch. Kate held the boy in front of her and smiled into the tiny features that resembled his father’s. “There, don’t you feel better now?”
He wrinkled his nose and a moment later, burped again Then he smiled and gurgled as if to say, “Now I do”
Kate laughed and changed his damp diaper Now that he was fed and changed, she set him in the middle of the blanket on his back. Annie played with him while Kate pulled the food out of the basket: fried chicken, biscuits, sweet pickles, hard-boiled eggs, honey, cookies, and a jar of applesauce.
“I guess I brought more than enough,” she told Annie wryly.
The girl’s gaze went past Kate and her eyes lit up as she pointed at something. Kate turned her head to see Trevelyan striding across the meadow toward them. She wasn’t prepared for the jolt of pleasure that coursed through her. She watched him approach, his long legs eating up the distance effortlessly His trousers were snug enough to engage her imagination, but not tight enough to give away all his attributes. Funny, she’d never considered suspenders to be anything other than something old men hung onto as they gossiped. But on Trevelyan they darn near took her breath away, stretching across his chest and over his shoulders to enhance the sleek lines of his torso.
“I see you found it,” he called out as he neared.
“Thanks to your wonderful directions,” Kate managed to respond.
Annie scrambled up and tugged at her father’s hand to make him sit on a corner of the blanket Thank goodness it was the opposite corner.
“You didn’t mention you might join us,” Kate said.
He shrugged as he played with Brynn. “I wasn’t certain I could and I didn’t want to disappoint Annie.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I made extra food.” Kate busied herself with removing plates from the basket.
Trev chuckled. “I’ll say you did. Who were you expecting—the Second Cavalry?”
Kate’s cheeks warmed, but she smiled “I did get a little carried away, didn’t I?”
After Trev and Annie filled their plates, Kate did the same, and they sat in companionable silence as they ate, listening to the birds and the riffle of water over rocks.
Kate couldn’t think of a more perfect way to spend a beautiful afternoon. She sent a sidelong glance at Trevelyan, whose mouth curved in a gentle smile for his daughter. Kate’s heart nearly melted from the tender emotion in his expression. For a few minutes, she could pretend they were her family and they all loved each other.
She could pretend that when she went to bed that night, she wouldn’t be alone.
She could pretend that happily-ever-afters weren’t only in fairy tales.
Brynn’s movements slowed and he fell asleep, his soft little snores barely audible above nature’s medley. Annie ate half her food, then lay down beside her brother, her back pressed against Trevelyan. She, too, closed her eyes.
Kate spread the blanket from the buggy over them, then asked Trevelyan, “Are you busy at the mines?”
He nodded, tucking the blanket around his daughter. “Cromwell wants the men to work an extra hour a day Without a raise in pay.”
“At least there’s not a cut in pay, right?”
Trev laid aside his empty plate, leaned back on his braced arms, and stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles. “Not yet.”
Kate’s gaze slid up his legs, to his slim hips and the evidence of his virility. Her thoughts weren’t exactly fairy-tale material at the moment. She looked away. “Surely Cromwell can’t make them work longer hours with less pay.”
Trev’s face planed into harsh angles, and he said flatly, “He can do whatever he wants.”
Kate fumed inwardly. It looked like Mrs. Reading was right, at least about some things. “What if the men refuse?”
Trev stared out across the meadow. “Then they’ll be replaced by other men.”
“And their families?”
Finally he turned to meet her gaze, and the desolation in his eyes brought a surge of empathy. “I don’t know, Kate. Those men are barely making enough now to make ends meet. If Cromwell cuts their pay, they’re going to be hurting.”
“What about you? How do you fit into all this?”
“I’m management. I have to stand behind Cromwell.”
“Even if you know he’s wrong?”
“Do I?” A hint of impatience textured his voice. “I don’t have to worry about profit and loss. Cromwell does. If the losses are larger than the profit, he has to either close down completely or do what he’s doing now.”
Trevelyan couldn’t be taking Cromwell’s side If he truly cared for the miners and their plight, he would rally behind them. “But how much profit has he gotten already?” she pressed. “I’m sure it’s substantial or he would have sold out by now.”
“You’re beginning to sound like Mrs. Hartwick.”
Although he’d tempered his words with a smile, they still nettled her. “Maybe that isn’t such a bad thing. How would you feel if you were a regular miner like the rest of them?”
A cloud slipped over the sun, relegating Trevelyan’s face to the shadows. “I’d be mad as hell. But I’m not in that position anymore”
Kate’s frustration grew. “So Mrs. Hartwick is right: you care more about your job than the workers.”
“No! If I quit and publicly take the miners’ side, I won’t be able to help them. But where I am now, maybe I can save their jobs. And some lives.”
“What do you mean?”
Trev raked a hand through his thick hair “What I’m going to tell you has to stay between us.” He fixed her with a steady gaze. “If the miners strike, Cromwell will be ready. He’s already gotten other men—Chinese—lined up to take their place. And once they take over, the men I’ve worked with for three years are going to be without jobs and their families will go hungry.”
Kate’s stomach cramped with dread. “What can you do?”
“Maybe I can get Cromwell to listen to the men’s demands, to give a little so we don’t have an open war on our hands.” His eyes darkened with apprehension. “Because that’s what it will be, Kate—violence and bloodshed. I’ve seen it before and nobody wins.”
“That means you’ll be caught in the middle.”
“Does that bother you?”
Hurt swirled through Kate. “Of course it bothers me,” she said angrily. She glanced down at Brynn and Annie sleeping between her and Trevelyan. What would they do without their father’s love and protection?
What would I do without him?
She breathed deeply to calm her turbulent fears. “If something happens to you, how am I going to earn money to leave this place?”
His unrelenting gaze pierced her defenses, and a slight smile twitched his lips. “Be careful, Miss Murphy, or I might think you care about me just a little.”
She snorted “I’m only worried about your children—they need their father”
“That’s what scares me most,” he admitted, then fixed her with a solemn gaze. “If something should happen to me, could you make sure that Claire’s parents are contacted and the children are cared for until they come for them?”
Kate’s mouth grew parched and her lips refused to budge. She didn’t want to consider the consequences of his death, because she knew for the first time in years she would truly grieve at a funeral.
Trevelyan observed the play of emotions across Kate’s face. Did she not want to accept the heavy responsibility he asked of her? It was a daunting request she would be saddled with two children who weren’t her own.
“I’ll understand if you don’t want to do it, Kate,” Trev said “It’s an awful lot to ask of a person who isn’t even kin.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not that”
“Then what?”
The full intensity of Kate’s hazel eyes struck Trev. “To be perfectly honest, I don’t want to think of you being killed. I’ve seen too much death here already.”
She’d arrived amid the chaos of the cave-in and had had a shocking welcome to what she thought would be a new life. It wasn’t surprising she associated death with Orion. However, her concern for his welfare touched him and he had to clear his throat before he could speak. “I don’t exactly want to think about it, either, but with Brynn and Annie, I have to face the possibility”
Kate nodded, her expression solemn “I know. And I’ll make sure the children are cared for. You have my word.”
Relief flowed through him and he smiled. “Thank you, Kate.” He spotted a small pink flower peeping out of the new grass, plucked it, and handed it to her.
She accepted it after a moment’s hesitation and held it up to her nose, though Trev knew there would be little scent. “What kind is it?”
“A primrose. It’s the first spring flower to bloom this high in the mountains Another week and the meadow will be full of them” He studied Kate’s bow-shaped lips and the flush in her cheeks. “The primrose reminds me of you.”
She glanced up, startled. “It’s small and fragile—nothing like me.”
“There’s another primrose that grows nearly two feet high—you’ll probably start seeing those in a couple weeks Will you say that one isn’t as pretty because it’s taller?”
She studied him as if in disbelief. Her stunned reaction made him wonder how badly she’d been teased about her height. When he looked at her now, he saw a graceful, attractive woman with an innocently seductive smile and a gentle, patient nature.
“Thank you, Mr. Trevelyan,” she said softly.
“Since I’m already calling you Kate, why don’t you call me Trev?” He shrugged “That’s what friends do, isn’t it?”
“Since you put it that way, it should be all right.”
Kate shifted and her hem drew up to reveal slender ankles. Trev had an idea the rest of her would be just as slender, with enough curves to make proving that assumption interesting She reached over to start repacking the picnic basket with the leftovers, and Trev was given an unhindered view of her profile, her high, softly rounded breasts and a waist he could span with his hands The curve of her spine led down to a gently shaped backside that wasn’t camouflaged by a bustle He could only imagine her long, coltish legs hidden beneath the skirt.
A pulse in his groin told him he should draw his thoughts away from Kate Murphy However, his gaze continued along its pleasurable course and he imagined undoing each tiny button, beginning with the one at the top of her long neck. He’d bestow a kiss upon each section of creamy skin revealed as he opened the modest collar. When he had all the buttons undone, he would gently reveal one breast, then the other, giving each one equal attention with his mouth and lips
“Would you like this breast?” Kate asked.
Trev’s erection throbbed against his trousers, and his blood roared in his ears. “What?”
“Do you want this last piece of chicken?” she reiterated.
Trev rubbed his brow with a trembling hand and nodded. “Ah, sure.”
With a puzzled look, Kate handed it to him. As he ate the chicken, he tried to keep his thoughts above reproach, but again his mind wouldn’t cooperate. Especially when he recalled how Kate had looked at him this morning. He’d become so comfortable around her that he hadn’t even realized his improper attire, until her eyes had widened so much he could see the gold flecks. He should’ve immediately excused himself and finished dressing, but a perverse part of him had enjoyed her embarrassment—and her looking.
She stood gracefully and walked to the edge of the creek. She knelt down and the splashing told him she was washing her hands. Trev decided to join her to do the same. As he squatted down beside her, Kate’s shoulders tensed, but she didn’t look at him. He dipped his hands in the cold water and a shiver chased down his spine. After shaking his hands free of the droplets, he wiped them on his trousers.
Kate continued to lean forward, staring into the clear shallow water Her bonnet hid most of her chestnut hair, and Trev wished she’d take off the ugly hat to let the sun play across the strands. He could imagine the rays burnishing her hair with golden glitters, like gold in a vein of rose quartz.
He shook aside the whimsical and uncharacteristic notion. “What’re you looking for?”
“I don’t see any tadpoles or crayfish,” she replied in puzzlement.
Trev smiled. “You won’t find any this high up. They can’t survive the long winters. That’s the same reason we don’t have snakes.”
Kate sat back “Annie’ll be so disappointed.”
Her childlike pout brought a warmth to his chest, suspiciously close to his heart. “Sounds to me like you’re the one disappointed.”
“When I was Annie’s age, I used to go down to the creek and catch crayfish.” Her face glowed with remembered joy “I’d start lifting rocks with a stick and pretty soon I’d see one scoot backward to hide under another rock. So I put a bucket behind it, and used my stick to chase it into the pail. When I tried to pick them up out of the bucket, sometimes their pincers would grab one of my fingers. But it didn’t hurt—it felt more like a little pinch.” She laughed, a clear, sweet note that danced on the breeze. “The other girls would scream and run away, so I ended up playing with the boys instead.”
Trev gazed into her bright eyes, filled with happy memories of a time long past. Her childhood had been so different from his own How could she understand what he’d gone through, working twelve to fourteen hours a day in the mines, while she had caught crayfish? “I hope Annie and Brynn will have the kind of childhood memories you do”
Her smile disappeared and she shook her head vehemently. “I hope to God they don’t.” Kate pushed herself to her feet and hurried back to the children.
Stunned by her fierce reply, Trev followed her. “Why?”
She lifted glistening eyes to him “Do you think I would’ve traveled up here to marry a man I didn’t know if I’d had a choice? Don’t turn my past into something wonderful, because it wasn’t.”
Brynn stirred, and Kate picked up the boy She held him against her shoulder, swaying gently. She murmured soft, soothing words to him that Trev couldn’t understand.
She seemed so self-possessed, so confident, that he’d assumed she’d had an easy life. At least until monetary circumstances had forced her to become a mail-order bride. He touched her arm and she stilled immediately. “I’m sorry, Kate.”
“That’s all right. You couldn’t have known.”
Her acceptance only made Trev feel worse, but he didn’t know what else to say
“Don’t you have to get back to work pretty soon?” Kate asked.
Though the question was innocent, Trev suspected she wanted him to leave. It was as if he’d opened the door to a room she didn’t want him to see. He understood all too well. “I better go” He brushed Annie’s downy cheek, then touched his son’s head lightly. “I’ll see you this evening, Kate And thanks for the picnic.”
“I’m glad you could make it.”
A splash of pleasure washed through him. “I am, too.”
He headed back across the field and could feel Kate’s gaze on his back. At the edge of the field, he paused and turned. Lifting his hand, he waved and was rewarded with a wave from Kate.
With jaunty steps, he returned to work. Entering his office, he found Jason Cromwell waiting impatiently for him.
“Where have you been?” Cromwell demanded.
Trev closed the door deliberately, and crossed his arms. “I had a picnic lunch with my children and Miss Murphy.”
His boss narrowed his close-set eyes. “I thought Miss Murphy was only hired to care for your children.”
Irritation made Trev grind his teeth. “That’s right” He turned away from Cromwell and picked up a pile of papers from his desk. He studied them unseeingly. “Did you come down here for a reason? Or just to visit?”
“Starting Monday, the wages will be dropped by a dollar a day,” Cromwell announced flatly.
Trev’s gaze flashed back to his employer. “You just added an hour a day to their work schedule and now you’re taking away a dollar” Trev banked his rising dread to keep his voice steady “You’re asking for trouble, Mr Cromwell.”
“I have to do it if I’m to keep production open. You know as well as me that the veins are narrowing and there’s less silver coming out each day. Pretty soon costs will overtake profit and I won’t survive long, which means all these miners will be out of work. Would you rather have that?”
“You know I wouldn’t. But there’s got to be a better way. The miners are going to grumble, and some will do worse than that. There’s already been talk of a strike.”
Cromwell fixed Trev with a cold stare. “And you’re aware of my plan in the event that happens”
Trev’s fingers curled into fists as helpless rage thundered through him. “And if you bring the Chinese in, there’s bound to be bloodshed.”
“That’ll be your problem, Trevelyan. I expect you to make the announcement tomorrow about the pay cut”
The son-of-a-bitch doesn’t even have the guts to do it himself.
“I hope you realize what you’re doing, Mr. Cromwell.”
The businessman nodded. “Whether those men know it or not, I’m trying to save their jobs for the long run.”
“I’m sure they’ll appreciate that.”
Trev’s sharp sarcasm didn’t go unnoticed by Cromwell, who pursed his lips. “How long have you worked for me, Trevelyan?”
“Three years.”
“Have I been fair to you?”
Trev thought back over the past few years and couldn’t recall a time when Cromwell hadn’t been square with him. Until he’d ordered the blasting of the Surrey Mine behind Trev’s back. “Have you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You figure it out”
Cromwell aimed a forefinger at Trev. “I’ve treated you well, Trevelyan, and let you make most of the decisions regarding mine operations. This is the first time I’ve asked you to do something like this.” He picked up his hat from a chair and placed it on his slicked hair. “You know this has to be done.”
The door closed behind Cromwell and Trev threw the papers still in his hand at the desktop. Half of them landed on the floor, but Trev ignored the mess as he paced the small office.
He had no illusions as to what the miners’ reactions would be when he made the announcement. They’d be mad as hell, and they’d take their angry frustration out on him He paused by his desk and opened a side drawer, revealing a holster and revolver. Picking up the weapon, he held it in his palm, then savagely thrust it back into its place and slammed the drawer shut.
How could he even think of using a gun on those men he’d worked side by side with in the mines?
Self-defense.
Would it come down to him against them? It didn’t look like he could dissuade Cromwell from his course of action.
He crossed the floor to the window and stared out at the activity Ore cars were pushed out of the mines, then dumped down a chute into a mule-drawn wagon below. Once a wagon was full, it traveled down the mountain to the stamp mill two miles away, where it was emptied into the crushers to begin the first step of extracting the silver and gold from the ore. When Cromwell’s mines had first opened, they’d been rich in black-coated silver ore and galena, which contained both gold and silver.
Kate’s comment had more merit than he wanted to believe: Cromwell had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars out of his mines in the first few years. Where had all that profit gone? Obviously not back into the business for times like this, when extra capital was needed to keep the mines running normally
He thought of Cromwell’s huge mansion, which stood on a hill overlooking the town Rumor had it that when he’d married his young wife four years ago, she’d demanded a home to rival the castles in England. Cromwell had succeeded in creating such a place; the only thing missing had been the moat and armed guards. Mrs. Cromwell also managed to do her share of spending the profit with her extravagant purchases. It wasn’t unusual for her to be gone most of the summer shopping for the newest fashions in Denver.
With a sinking sensation in his gut, Trev realized Claire would’ve been the same way if his income could’ve supported such foolish spending.
The door flew open and Laddie, the young Irish boy, rushed into the office and announced breathlessly. “You’d … b-best c-come.. quick, Mr. Trevelyan.. It’s Red.”
Trev grabbed Laddie’s shoulders. “What happened?”
The boy gasped for air. “Fell down a shaft.”
“Red’s not supposed to be working.”
Laddie shook his head vehemently “He wasn’t workin’ “
“Then why—” Trev broke off as the truth struck him “Let’s go!”
Laddie led the way to the King Mine where Red had lost his leg in the cave-in. They went inside the adit and joined the throng of men gathered around one of the abandoned shafts.
Trev shoved them aside. “Let me through” At the opening, he stared down into the inky blackness. “Get a rope.”
Somebody handed him a thick rope which he quickly wrapped around his chest and tied snugly. He threw the remainder of the rope over a steel beam and handed the end to some of the nearby men. “Lower me.
Slowly, the miners did as Trev had said. Using his feet against the shaft wall, Trev kept himself from swinging like a pendulum as he traveled downward The sound of his boot soles scraping rock echoed up and down the otherwise silent chamber. The line dug into his sides below his armpits and he was grateful for the heavy shirt which protected him from serious burns. Finally, his toes touched solid ground and the taut rope loosened as he stood Digging a candle and matches from his pocket, he lit the wick and found Red’s body a few feet away
Swallowing hard, Trev knelt down beside him and laid a hand on his chest. No heartbeat thudded against his palm. He stared at the stump remaining of Red’s left leg, then closed his eyes tight against the sorrow rising within him.
Red had been unhappy since the doctor had taken his leg, but Trev hadn’t realized the extent of his depression. Red must’ve waited until he was strong enough to hobble to the mine, then merely leaned over the edge until the earth had taken him.
Another casualty of the King cave-in; another scar on Trev’s conscience.
“Is he alive?” someone shouted down.
Trev opened his eyes and called back, “No.” With a shaky breath, he removed the rope from himself and wrapped it around Red. “Pull him up!”
As the rope tightened, Trev kept a hold on Red to keep him steady until the ascending body was lifted out of reach. He placed his hands on his hips, then stared down at the blood left behind, and his belly churned. What would drive a man to do something so desperate?
Hopelessness.
Trev wondered if he’d make the same decision if left half a man like Red But he could never cut his life short voluntarily—as long as he had his children, he had a reason to live.
He glanced around the quiet, tomblike chamber and imagined he could hear the cries of the four—now five—casualties of the cave-in. The damp air and his own somber thoughts sent a shiver down his spine.
Raising his gaze, he searched for the rope Surely the men had gotten Red out of the harness by now. Faint voices drifted down to taunt him, and apprehension brought a tingle to the back of his neck.
What if they had no intention of retrieving him?
Time stretched out as Trev’s anxiety swelled. The flickering shadows mocked him. His heart pounded in his chest and his skin crawled. He forced himself to breathe deeply, to stay the panic that danced on the fringes of his control.
“Rope,” came a holler from above.
With trembling legs, Trev stepped aside and the line dropped down. Relief made him clumsy as he picked up the rope’s looped end and put his arms through it. As he was hauled upward, he took one last look at the silent, malevolent ghosts that stared at him as he escaped their clutches.
Fear like he’d never known bolted through him, and despite the coolness of the shaft, sweat covered his brow.