Miller took in the sight of them standing close together, and even though he wouldn’t have seen anything inappropriate, his eyes narrowed a little. Castillo barely suppressed the instinct to step between Carolina and the man he’d instantly disliked. She took in a quick breath, and he wanted to reassure her that everything would be fine, but he couldn’t. He didn’t know that any more than he knew that he’d be able to let her go when the time came.
“Would you mind giving us a moment alone, Caroline?” Miller’s voice was crisp and formal. Castillo hated how he said her name, clipped and aloof, as if she was nothing to him.
“I’d rather stay.” Her voice was strong and he could almost feel her drawing her shoulders back to her full height behind him.
If Miller knew more about him and was connected to Derringer, then he wouldn’t want Carolina to become some sort of target for Derringer because she knew too much. Looking over his shoulder at her, he said gently, “It would be better if you’re not here. Please go, Carolina.”
She looked as if she wanted to argue and bit her lip as she glanced at Miller again, before nodding and walking around the corner.
“She’s my fiancée, Jameson. You have no right to her. Best to forget whatever designs you had on her.” Miller wasted no time in staking his claim. The worst part was that Castillo couldn’t even tell him he was wrong. She didn’t belong to Castillo, and he couldn’t offer for her.
“You don’t even know her, Miller. Why do you want her?”
Miller grinned and leaned his hip against the railing. “Why would anyone want to marry a Hartford? It’s a prestigious family with money and connections. That’s how we do it back in Boston. We join our families for the benefit of all. It’s not quite the same as you do it out here. Ask your father. Looks like he got it right the second time.”
“Keep your damned mouth shut about my family.” Castillo kept his voice level.
Miller raised his hands in surrender. “It’s none of my business.”
“Isn’t there someone else you can marry for money? Boston society has to be full of women willing to marry a spineless fop for money and connections.”
Miller kept the smile on his face as he shook his head. “Not one with Caroline’s inheritance and eager parents. I’d like to be married sooner rather than later.”
“Why is that?” Castillo crossed his arms over his chest, despising this man even more with every word that came out of his mouth.
The son of a bitch smirked and said, “My reasons are my own.”
“Are those reasons why you’ve agreed to allow her to go to medical school?”
“I don’t care if she goes. Once we’re married she can do as she likes. It won’t matter, though. She’ll be with child within a year and need to stop.”
Castillo gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists to keep himself from lunging at the bastard. “You really are a selfish son of a…”
Miller continued to smile, unfazed by Castillo’s anger. “Self-serving is a fairer description I think.”
Several sets of footsteps could be heard coming closer, accompanied by male voices. Probably Tanner and the rest of the men who’d left to view the musket collection. Miller must’ve left the group early to come find Carolina.
There was no damn way Castillo was allowing him anywhere close to Carolina. The man was a lowlife. Castillo just had to figure out a way to convince her parents of that fact, and if he couldn’t convince them, he’d appeal to Miller’s sense of self-preservation. His fists ached to make contact with that man’s smirk.
Tanner and Hunter came around the corner followed by the other men in the group—Mr. Bonham as well as Mr. Cunningham and his sons. Hunter stared at them both, correctly assessed the situation and came to stand next to Castillo in a silent display of solidarity.
“What kept you away for the day, Castillo?” Miller asked, as if they’d been having a normal conversation.
The tiny hairs on the back of Castillo’s neck stood up. Miller was playing a dangerous game, leading him to believe that Miller was the man Bennett had spoken of. Castillo wanted to tell him it was none of his business, but with the guests present, he had to at least pretend to be cordial. “Out riding the perimeter of the property. We’ve had some coyote sightings.”
The men murmured. Miller smiled and nodded, while Tanner narrowed his eyes picking up on the underlying tension. Hunter attempted to change the subject. “Why don’t we all go inside, gentlemen? There’s brandy waiting.”
“And yesterday? Someone mentioned that you were in Helena on business, but that’s not what I heard. Word is there was a shoot-out south of town and you were involved. Someone said you were shot. Is that why you’ve been favoring your arm?”
“Careful what you hear visiting brothels, Miller. Those places are full of gossip.”
Miller shrugged, the corner of his mouth coming up again. “You’re a curious man, Jameson. I’ve been asking around about you.”
“Shut the hell up, Miller.” This came from Hunter.
“That’s enough.” Tanner’s authoritarian voice broke into the silence that followed, effectively shutting the conversation down for a moment.
“I thought you’d like to know that your son could be a killer. No one knows for sure, but it was reported that one body was found. There are bound to be more.”
“That’s enough,” Tanner repeated this time in a louder voice.
“You’re mistaken, Mr. Miller.” All eyes turned to Carolina who’d walked around the corner with her aunt at her side. Castillo’s heart stopped for a moment before slamming against his chest. His blood ran cold.
“I assure you that I am not. I have it on very good authority that that man—” he pointed to Castillo “—was involved in a shoot-out just outside of town. He was seen—”
“Oh, well, that’s where you’re mistaken.” Carolina smiled as if everything was all a big misunderstanding. “You see he couldn’t have been seen anywhere that day. While it’s true Hunter was in town on business—”
“Carolina, no. Don’t do this.” Castillo warned her but she kept going as if he hadn’t spoken.
“Castillo was here. We spent much of the day together…in my room.”
He stared at her in disbelief—everyone did. Even though he’d anticipated her saying exactly that, he couldn’t quite believe she had. Her eyes were wide and afraid, and she took deep breaths as if she’d just run a mile, but she was beautiful. And he knew that no matter what happened, their lives would be interwoven from now until forever.
* * *
Everything went silent. No one spoke and even the night sounds of the insects seemed to still in the aftermath of what she’d said. Caroline met Castillo’s gaze across the distance of the porch and saw a strange mixture of gratitude and regret, and it made her second-guess her decision to intervene. It hadn’t even been a conscious decision. She’d come around the corner to hear Miller threaten him, and she’d just said the words without thinking of their consequence or even if they were believable. She’d said them to save Castillo from suspicion.
Grant Miller’s face went pale, but then a blush of rage crept up his neck, mottling his skin. Everything that happened next was a bit of a blur. Miller cursed her as if she’d just ruined everything for him. Castillo rushed him, pushing him back against the railing and throwing a fist that landed on his jaw. The force knocked the man backward over the porch railing and down to the ground below. Castillo leaped the railing to follow him down, but Hunter had already rushed to the ground and grabbed Castillo before he could do any more damage to the man who was wobbly and trying to get back on his feet.
Mr. Jameson rushed forward to help him up, but it wasn’t from some spirit of altruism, because when Miller looked in her direction and called her a whore, Castillo broke free of Hunter’s hold and punched him again. Tanner held the man upright for the attack. Thankfully, Hunter grabbed his brother’s arms and pulled them behind his back, right about the time a ranch hand came running over out of the darkness, drawn by the commotion.
In fact, everyone from the salon had been drawn by the noise. As Miller was being pulled away toward the barn with the ranch hand on one side and Tanner limping along on the other, he called her every word for whore she’d ever heard and then some that she hadn’t. From the murmurs around her, she knew that word was spreading that she’d admitted to spending time alone with Castillo in her room.
Oh, dear Lord, what would her parents think of her? She’d said it on impulse to save Castillo from suspicion, but hadn’t thought about the hurt she might cause her family. She whirled and found her mother standing next to Aunt Prudie. Aunt Prudie didn’t look alarmed at all; in fact, she had a slight smile on her face as she grabbed Caroline’s arm and rubbed her back. Her mother, however, was pale and seemed horrified.
“Mother, please understand—” But that’s as far as she got before her mother shook her head and walked back into the house. Her father stood away from the group, his eyes sad and tinged with disappointment. “Father.” Caroline moved toward him and he reached out and took her hand. “Please believe that I never meant to hurt you.”
He nodded and gave her hand a squeeze before letting it go. “This is quite the blow, Caroline.” Then he shook his head as if he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around what had happened. “It’s quite the blow. Come, let’s go inside and discuss this in privacy.”
Tears pricked her eyes as she watched him follow her mother inside, but Aunt Prudie was there to put her arm around her. “Now is not the time for tears,” she whispered, so low that only Caroline could hear her. “You must finish what you started.”
Caroline only noticed then that the crowd still lingered, watching and waiting to see how this thing she’d started would play out. Only she had no idea what to do next. Aunt Prudie’s voice prompted her. “You made your choice and you have to see it through. Appear strong when faced with adversity.”
One look at Castillo assured her that he was no better option than going to face her parents at the moment. He was livid. The intensity of his gaze ate up the distance between them and scorched her where she stood. Aunt Prudie was right, though. Caroline had set the wheels in motion when she’d defended him and she had to see it through, despite his anger and her parents’ disappointment.
Aunt Prudie gave a gentle tug on her arm and she turned to follow her parents inside. Aunt Prudie took her hand and led her to Mr. Jameson’s study. A few lamps flickered in the dark, but no one else was in the room other than the four of them. Her mother sat stone still on the settee, still in shock. Her father sat behind her, his hand resting on her back. He wasn’t talking to her and trying to comfort her. He was probably doing his best to come to terms in his own mind with what had happened.
Caroline took in a deep breath as Aunt Prudie closed the door behind them. Her fingers shook so badly that she had to clasp them before her to keep them still. With slow, deliberate steps she made her way to her parents, taking the chair nearest them. “Please believe me when I say that I never meant to cause you any grief.”
Her mother shook her head. “How could you do this to us, Caroline? How could you? I found a nice man to marry you, take care of you, and this is what you do?” Her mother didn’t even meet her gaze as she spoke, but kept looking off to the distance as if the answer to her questions could be found in the cold dredges of the fireplace.
Caroline wanted to take comfort in the fact that she’d lied to save Castillo, but there was no comfort to be had there. She’d spent last night in his arms, doing things that she’d never even imagined doing with a man. Her parents didn’t know about that, but she was still guilty of it. She didn’t feel very guilty, though. What had happened between her and Castillo had been beautiful and tender and so full of unspoken love that it filled her heart to nearly bursting. “I didn’t do anything to you. I understand that you must feel betrayed and perhaps even embarrassed by my behavior. I am sorry for that. Please believe me.”
Her father nodded. “We do believe that. What we can’t believe is that you’d throw away your future on a man you don’t even know.”
Caroline tried not to allow the brief flicker of anger she felt to catch fire. “I still have my future,” she reminded them gently.
“No. No, you most certainly do not Caroline Marie Hartford.” Her mother straightened her spine, finally coming back to herself as the shock began to wear off. “You just made sure of that. Grant won’t marry you now. Once gossip of this spreads, I can’t imagine anyone will marry you. It’s not as if there was that much interest before this, but now…now there will be no one.”
Her father shifted to hold her mother’s hand with both of his, attempting to soothe her. To Caroline, he said, “This was uncharacteristically selfish of you. If there’s one thing I could count on from you, it’s that you would think things through and always do the right thing. This is not the right thing. You don’t even know this man.”
Caroline couldn’t deny that she’d acted without thought, but only in reference to defending Castillo so publicly. She wouldn’t do anything to change what had happened between them last night or the night before. It shouldn’t have any bearing on her future, but she couldn’t deny that it would. “I know that he’s good and honorable, unlike Grant Miller.”
Her mother scoffed at this. “Has he offered you marriage?”
He hadn’t. They’d talked to some length about why they were wrong for each other. “No.”
Her mother tossed her head and looked away.
“Prudence?” Her father’s voice held the authoritarian ring it sometimes carried during surgeries.
“Yes, Samuel?”
“Would you go and ask Mr. Jameson and his son to join us, please?”
Aunt Prudie nodded and left the room. Caroline’s stomach turned at the thought of the horrible confrontation she knew was coming.