reform a parent and the beguiling voice that had been the first to ask her home joined forces, convincing her to accept the devil’s own temptation.
Chapter 3
Briar had never seen a woman eat so slowly in his entire life. It was as if she had never tasted roast beef and potatoes before. Not that he really minded. She was a sight worth studying. Just as he suspected in that short glimpse he’d had of her when she first exited the train, she was not a traditional beauty but rather a strange mixture of imperfections that made her striking in her own way. The sun-bronzed tone of her skin hinted that she seldom used a parasol. Still, she looked healthier than some of the women in the restaurant who appeared lily- white in the gaslights’s amber glow. Her nose was not the pert little stub and her mouth not the Cupid’s bow that he usually found appealing, but rather a length he could only describe as royal and a spanse of plentiful lips. Wisps of blond curls lacing her turban hinted that she probably could boast some Nordic heritage, despite her Irish brogue.
But it was her eyes that intrigued him most. Eyes that slanted slightly at the corners and looked the color of dew-moistened wheat. Eyes that stared at him directly now.
“Is something wrong?”
“Excuse me.” He grabbed his napkin and wiped his mouth. “I’m afraid I was staring. I’m sorry.”
She dabbed at her own lips. “Did I drop something on me?”
“He thinks you’re pretty,” Violet interrupted. “Me, too.”
The little imp. Just wait until he got her home. “I was wondering how an Irish woman happened to be blond and…What exactly do you call that color of eyes?” Briar refused to deny his attraction to her. She was beautiful.
“Me da said they be the color of honey, the first of the season fresh from the comb. Full of sting and sticker, they are.” She laughed until she snorted, then laughed even louder at the unladylike sound. When several heads turned to see what had caused the merriment, she did not seem to mind their attention. Instead she looked at them all squarely and added, “Ye’ll find that out soon enough about me, ’tis true.”
She didn’t have a shy bone in her entire body, it seemed. Certainly not the ideal woman to hire as governess, as he’d been mulling since he’d turned her down as possible telegrapher. Certainly not the kind of woman who would be a good example for Violet. “I’ve been thinking about your predicament, Miss McCoy.” He cleared his throat. “And I’ve decided that we should refund the money you spent coming to Amarillo. I’ll drop by the bank in the morning, then I can meet you at your hotel.” When she paled at the suggestion, Briar reminded himself that she might think them too newly acquainted to allow him to call upon her in a less public atmosphere. “Or if you prefer, I’ll have the money or a ticket waiting for you at the station.”
She shook her head. “That willna be necessary, Mr. Duncan. I plan on staying in Amarillo, just as I said, until Nathaniel returns.”
“If that’s your choice.” He nodded toward a table filled with rough-looking men. “It might be hard to find employment, though. There are adventurers of every kind in town lately, trying to earn their keep until war either breaks out with Pancho Villa or President Wilson goes ahead and gets us into the Great War. It’s lucky that you found a hotel room.”
“The luck I have today, sir, is enjoying this fine meal and the even finer companions to share it with.” She smiled down at Violet, then hastily took another bite.
Without thinking, he reached out to halt her hand. “You mean, you don’t have a room yet?”
Her gaze met his and locked, her mouth stopping in mid-chew. He thought he felt her tremble just before she slowly set the fork down and grabbed her goblet. She took a long drink, as if she had been banished for days in the drought-driven plains and could only now quench her thirst.
Those glorious lips of hers shifted into a grin. “’Tis confused I am how to answer ye, Mr. Duncan. Do I say, ‘Aye, ’tis what I mean, or nay, I have no room.’”
“
“Well, then,
She was avoiding an answer. “Long story I’ll tell you when we have more time.” He set down his own goblet. “Right now, I need to hunt you up a place to stay. That won’t be easy this time of evening. I don’t suppose you noticed that sign when we passed the billiard hall, did you?”
She forked the last piece of beef and sopped it in the gravy. “Ye mean the one that said they were renting beds in eight-hour shifts? I appreciate the thought, but ’twould be mighty hard on a body’s back I’m thinking.” She winked at Violet. “I’ll not be needing a
Briar reviewed what she said then began to chuckle. She was waiting to see if his wit was as sharp as her own.
Puzzlement etched Violet’s brow. “I don’t get it. What’s so funny?”
Their guest nearly spit her food out as she struggled not to laugh, but the effort elicited a bigger snort. Now all three joined in the merriment. Everyone around them looked on as if she’d lost her mind as well as her taste in clothing.
“I don’t know when I’ve had such a good meal,” Briar admitted, finally yielding to some semblance of control. “Or laughed so hard.”
“Since Mama went to heaven,” Violet announced, abruptly causing them all to sober. “It’s true.” She attempted to soften the blow of her words. “You ain’t laughed since I can ’member.”
Briar thought back over the past few years and realized the truth of his daughter’s words. Though Violet was exaggerating the length of time, he didn’t laugh much anymore. He missed it and, more important, how it made him feel when Violet laughed with him. “I’m sorry, pumpkin. I’ll try to do that more often.”
“Maybe I can help.” Their guest scooted her plate away, its empty surface a testament to the restaurant’s fine reputation. “I’ve been thinking about what ye said earlier, Mr. Duncan. If ’tis a governess ye need, then ’tis a governess I’ll be till Nathaniel returns. If ’tis transcribing messages ye want, then I’ll be for doing that as well. Ye’ll find me a good hand on the wire, and I would love to spend some time with Violet.”
She yawned, a sound too indelicate to be anything but a combination of a full belly and sheer exhaustion. “I’ve no mind where I sleep, long as it offers a place to lay me head and a warm cover should the weather turn cold. Which I understand is doubtful, considering Nathaniel said the plains have seen their worst drought in years.” She yawned again. “That cot is surely calling to me now.”
He’d prayed for an answer to his problem. Now one had presented itself. Damn Nathaniel for not coming home. But what could he do? If the billiard hall was using its tables to sleep people, then there obviously were no rooms to be found anywhere. He couldn’t leave the woman out on the streets, and he couldn’t leave her alone unattended at the office. Rail crews were rough men. An unchaperoned woman in their midst would only stir up trouble. Still, he needed help. Maybe if she could relieve him for part of the day.
“I’ll tell you what…I’ll leave you and Violet here to have dessert and get to know one another a little better while I run over to the filling station and use the phone. I’ll call around and see if I can find you more comfortable accommodations than the cot.”
“I have the job then?”
“Most likely. But I’d like to reserve final agreement until you answer a few questions about your qualifications. Those questions can wait until I secure you a room somewhere.”
A half hour and a handful of phone calls later, Briar returned to find Mina sitting alone. “Where’s Violet?” He searched the room for sign of her and glanced at the batwing doors that divided the dining room from the restaurant’s kitchen. “She’s not in the back bothering the cook again, is she?”
If the woman couldn’t control the imp long enough to keep her seated at the table, perhaps taking her on for hire was not such a good idea.
Mina pressed a finger to her lips, then pointed downward.
