“Do you know to whom you’re speaking?” Danny demanded of his mother.
Mrs. Tremaine’s gaze dropped to the boy on the step. “I know to whom I’m speaking now, and he had better reconsider his attitude.”
Danny wilted. “Yes, ma’am. Sorry.”
“Alberta says two of the pumpkins you planted are ready. Would you like to see if she needs help cleaning them?”
He nodded as he rose. “I sure would.” He ran for the door and into the hotel.
“Maybe I should follow him,” Will said. “I might be more use cleaning pumpkins.”
Her smile warmed him. “I wouldn’t waste my lieutenant on pumpkins.”
Her lieutenant. Why did that make him smile?
She pressed both hands to her lips, and Will spun to see what had so amazed her. None of the geysers was going off. Steam drifted across the basin, giving him glimpses of the trees beyond.
He returned his gaze to her. “What are you looking at?”
She lowered her hands. “You. You should smile more often.”
Maybe I would, if I stay here long enough.
He inclined his head. “Ma’am. I should get back to work. My employer is a demanding sort.”
“But she offers considerations, like huckleberry pie,” she reminded him. “If Danny finishes the pumpkins before you leave, I’ll send him back out. He’ll have to take over the hotel one day. He could use a good example.”
Will couldn’t respond with anything that would allow her to keep her admiration of him. Still smiling, she turned for the hotel.
The sooner he finished his part of the deal, the better. He didn’t want to be around when she discovered he was no sort of man to serve as an example, to anyone.
4
At least he was willing to work.
Kate grimaced as she checked the dining area for issues before dinner. Why was she comparing Lieutenant Prescott to Toby? They had little in common. The lieutenant was controlled, cautious, in command of every situation. Sometimes she thought Toby had been nothing but an overgrown boy. He would set out to prune the apple trees planted by the hotel’s original manager, and she’d find him with Danny watching the paint pots bubble. He’d ride for supplies and return with an armload of wildflowers and stories of how he’d followed the bison herd. He’d brought chaos and wonder, uncertainty and delight into her life. And he’d given her Danny.
Gray dots appeared on the white linen of the dining table. Kate wiped her cheeks with her fingers before more tears could fall. Toby’s curiosity, kindness, and eagerness to explore had been some of his charms. They had also led to his death. She was not about to let Danny follow in his stead. Better that he copy Lieutenant Prescott than his father.
She was helping Pansy set the tables for dinner when Danny came out of the kitchen a few minutes later.
“I’m all done with the pumpkins,” he said as he passed. “I want to see what Lieutenant Prescott is doing.”
So did she. Funny that the pull was so strong. Kate followed her son to the door and onto the veranda, the scent of Alberta’s savory soup drifting out with her.
Lord and Lady Cavell and their party were sitting on the benches, watching the geysers. At least, the older couple was watching the geysers. Sir Winston was watching Miss Cavell, as if entranced by her shiny blonde curls. Miss Cavell was watching Lieutenant Prescott.
He was a sight. He’d removed his cavalry coat and rolled up the sleeves on his cream-colored cotton shirt to reveal muscular arms. They, like the rest of him, glistened with sweat that molded the shirt to his form. He wiped perspiration from his brow with a handkerchief, spiking his short-cropped hair, and glanced up at Kate as Danny ran down the stairs to his side.
“Take a turn and see what you think,” he suggested.
She couldn’t notice any difference by looking at the steps, but she lifted her skirts and descended cautiously. Nothing gave.
“It stopped squeaking,” Danny marveled, peering at the steps.
Kate reached Lieutenant Prescott’s side and glanced back at the steps, surprised. “What did you do?”
He bent at the waist and pointed under the steps. “I couldn’t fix the boards themselves, so I shored them up from below.”
Danny dropped to his hands and knees, and Kate bent as well. In the recess under the steps, she sighted the pale shape of rocks, arranged so that they supported the steps at either side and the middle. Danny scuttled forward as if to touch them.
“Where did you get those?” she asked, straightening.
Lieutenant Prescott straightened as well. “Found them in a pile near your necessaries. I figured it would only help nature to remove some of the debris.”
The pile of rock had been left when the privies had been dug, before she and Toby had come to manage the hotel. She’d never had time to scatter the ugly things. Yet he’d used them to fix the steps without taking from Yellowstone.
“There may be hope for you yet,” Kate teased.
His stern lips hinted of the smile she’d seen earlier. “Enough for a chance at that meal I smell?”
“Enough,” Kate agreed. “But you should probably eat in the kitchen with Danny.”
Danny popped to his feet. “Yes, please!”
That smile blossomed, warmer than the rays of the sun through the pines. “I’d be delighted.”
“You might want to wash up first,” Kate warned Danny before he could pelt up the steps. “You too, Lieutenant Prescott. I’m not sure my guests would appreciate the other aroma.”
He glanced down at his damp shirt. “I’ll put my head under the pump before joining you.”
There was a pump in the kitchen, but she didn’t want to think how Alberta and the maids might react to seeing him like this. She nodded toward the side of the hotel. “Danny, show Lieutenant Prescott the pump near
