Page 15 of The Bastard Heir (The Gilded West #2)

Castillo was standing at attention when she and her father stepped into the hallway. “Good morning, Mr. Hartford. I’m Castillo Jameson, Hunter’s brother. I’ve come to escort you and your lovely daughter to breakfast.” He offered his hand and her father shook it.

“Ah, Castillo Jameson. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Your father and brother speak highly of you. You must have arrived last night. My apologies I wasn’t downstairs to greet you. I was a bit under the weather.”

“I did arrive last night, but I must confess, with your sister and daughter for company at supper, I hardly noticed anyone else.”

Her father laughed at this and Castillo winked at her.

She smiled back, impressed with his commitment to their ruse.

If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was an overeager suitor looking to make a good first impression on her father.

Of course, she did know better, but her father didn’t.

Another twinge of guilt twisted in her chest when he looked back at her and raised a knowing eyebrow, as if to say she’d found her first prospective admirer.

“They are quite a duo when you get them together,” her father agreed. “I’d love to hear all about your trip to Boston. I’m sorry our paths didn’t cross while you were in town.”

As a group they turned toward the stairs. When Castillo stood back to allow her and her father to precede him down, her father gently shrugged off her hand from his arm. “You two go ahead.” Castillo offered his arm, and just like that, he was escorting her down with her father behind them.

Castillo’s arm was strong beneath her hand. Even through the layers of his clothing she could feel the dense muscles flexing in his forearm. She wanted the time to touch him at her leisure, to explore the sinew and tendons wrapped across his body.

A part of her curiosity was intellectual.

She’d studied the illustrations in books on human anatomy her father had given her and taken notes as she read them from cover to cover.

But since her father limited her to female patients and children, she’d never actually had the chance to study the male form for herself.

Castillo was such a spectacular specimen that the physician in her wanted to see and feel those muscles up close, to learn how they moved and worked together. The woman in her wanted to see and feel those muscles for an entirely different reason.

“You’re very clever,” she said, mainly to distract herself from how solid his presence was beside her.

He smiled. “Committed to your cooperation, I believe, is the appropriate description.”

She laughed. “That, too.”

***

Castillo walked into the dining room with Caroline on his arm and received a roomful of surprised looks…

again. Tanner was at the head of the table in deep discussion with her aunt about something—probably politics—but he paused with a hand in midgesture.

Emmy and Hunter had equally baffled expressions.

A grin spread across Prudence’s face from one ear to the other when she saw Caroline on Castillo’s arm.

This plan was going to be easier to execute than he’d thought.

It seemed as if they already had one person willing to believe the ruse.

Castillo had debated avoiding walking her downstairs that morning because, well, because he’d wanted to see her.

Obviously, after their discussion the previous night, he needed to keep her in his sight at all times.

But he couldn’t deny that he wanted to keep her in his sight for more than logical reasons.

He wanted her, and that wasn’t a feeling he could indulge.

This arrangement between them needed to be kept cold, a simple exchange of words and gestures to fool her family.

He couldn’t slip up and let himself think that it was anything more, because it could never be more.

Not with the price on his head. Not with her plans to return to Boston.

A spread of delicious-smelling food had been set out on the buffet for them to prepare their own plates, so Castillo led her in that direction.

“Good morning, dear,” Prudence said.

“Good morning,” Caroline said to the room, and received a chorus of greetings in response.

Hunter had lowered his paper just enough to glance over the top and pinned Castillo with a look that clearly demanded to know what the hell was going on.

It was tinged with disapproval. Castillo hadn’t had a chance to go over the finer details of their arrangement last night. He’d have to see to that soon.

As her father greeted the group, Caroline let go of Castillo’s arm and grabbed a plate.

She filled it with a poached egg, sausage and some of the strawberries left over from last night.

He waited for her father to go ahead before filling his own plate and following them to the table.

Everyone seemed to be watching him, waiting to see where he chose to sit.

He inwardly grimaced and followed Prudence’s not so subtle glance indicated that he sit at the empty space next to Caroline.

Caroline smiled at him as he sat. It was genuine and free of artifice.

He couldn’t help but wonder how it might feel to be the recipient of those smiles every day.

“Did you sleep well?” Prudence asked no one in particular. After getting a handful of remarks, she said, “You’re looking well, Samuel. Have you recovered your health?”

Caroline’s father murmured a reply in the affirmative, and Prudence nodded before turning her attention to Caroline. “You look radiant. I love what you’ve done with your hair. I don’t think I’ve seen you wear it that way since the night of the Higginbotham’s musical.”

Caroline blushed at the compliment, pink staining the apples of her cheeks.

Had she fixed her hair for him? “Thank you. I wear it like this from time to time. Mary offered to do it, so I accepted.” She glanced at him before taking another bite of her breakfast and he thought that maybe she had.

An unexpected warmth swelled in his chest. What if he’d never met her on the train and this ruse hadn’t been necessary?

How would this morning be different? Would they have flirted?

Would they have realized they liked each other? Would she have wanted him to court her?

Prudence didn’t miss much, and her narrowed gaze took in her niece and then Castillo. “Good morning, Castillo.”

“Good morning, Mrs. Williams.” Castillo gave her one of his most charming smiles. “You’re looking lovely this morning.”

She smiled at his compliment, but her calculating gaze landed on Caroline. “Not nearly so lovely as Caroline.”

He paused and turned the full force of his attention on the woman sitting next to him.

She blushed even more. He allowed his gaze to make a slow sweep across her face and her hair, and down to her bosom, which was tastefully covered for the morning hour.

But he remembered how she’d looked last night.

She’d been covered but her wrapper had been thin and shown far more to him than she probably realized.

Her lips parted as she drew in a ragged breath, drawing his gaze back to them, and he nearly smiled at how he affected her.

Maybe it could be fun pretending with her.

“She is very lovely,” he agreed. For a moment there was heat in Caroline’s gaze.

Then he turned his attention back to her aunt. “And I told her as much upstairs.”

“Oh?” Prudence perked up and looked to Caroline for an explanation.

Caroline shifted as if she was uncomfortable, and then her foot kicked him under the table. It wasn’t hard, but it was enough to get his attention. He smiled and brought his coffee cup up for a sip. Apparently when she’d proposed that he court her, she’d meant for him to do it at her direction.

“We met in the hallway on our way downstairs,” she explained.

“Oh.” The look of disappointment on her aunt’s face was so comical, Castillo couldn’t help but snicker.

It seemed as if the woman was in favor of her niece’s plan, whether she knew it was a plan or not.

He wondered what Prudence knew of her brother’s intentions to have Caroline married off and if she supported it.

The thought sobered him. It had started to bother him that Caroline didn’t have anyone in her corner advocating for her.

She was clearly intelligent, and her family had the funds to pay her tuition and had apparently helped to foster her ambition by allowing her to train with her father.

It seemed unfair that they’d try to curb her ambition now.

After a moment the conversation continued around them. Castillo offered a random comment here and there, and nodded politely where appropriate, but when he glanced at Caroline he could tell her eyes were troubled. He wondered if she was second-guessing this plan of theirs.

“Tell us more about this hacienda of yours. Jameson here says it’s the best cattle ranch in Texas,” her father said, drawing his attention to the older man.

The last thing he wanted to do was talk about his family with these people.

He wanted to keep that part of himself separate from Tanner and from this ruse.

Except he had no choice but to open up a little.

“My grandfather came from Spain as a young man to build it. It was his dream to own the greatest cattle ranch in middle Texas. For a while, it was one of the best,” he acknowledged.

“Cattle’s a hard business, I’m told.” Samuel wiped his mouth on his napkin and folded the square of linen back over his lap. He did it meticulously and with concentration, just as he seemed to do everything.

Castillo nodded. “Indeed. Fortunes have been lost to disease and rustlers.” That’s what had happened to his grandfather’s fortune.

Bitterness and anger welled within him, but he forced it down.

Derringer was close, and Castillo would find him and settle the wrong.

He gripped his cup to take another sip, but Willy swept in with fresh coffee in a silver pot.

She gave him an affectionate smile as she stopped to refill his cup, and he nodded his thanks.

“It’s true. I’ve heard stories of men losing everything. Didn’t Hamish follow the cattle markets, Prudie?” Then he turned to Castillo and added, “Prudie and her husband lived in Chicago for some time early in their marriage.”

“Oh, Samuel, you know I dislike discussing business at the breakfast table. It’s quite rude,” Prudie chastised him, but her tone was playful.

Samuel shrugged as if he was clueless when it came to social graces, and he went back to talking to Hunter about his stallions. “Tell me, Hunter, how often do you breed a female with a stallion for a season?”

Caroline nearly choked on her coffee. Animal husbandry definitely wasn’t appropriate breakfast conversation.

“For heaven’s sake,” Prudence said. “I’m going to need whiskey with my coffee for this conversation.” Everyone laughed while Caroline’s father shook his head in resignation.

“Maybe we should save the specifics until we’re in the stable. We have three foals already this year,” Hunter said, leading the conversation into safer territory.

“Forgive my father.” Caroline surprised Castillo by leaning over slightly to talk to him in a low voice, treating him to the scent of her lavender perfume.

Her arm brushed his, making his nerve endings come alive.

She smiled as she gave her father a fond glance.

“As a physician he’s fairly liberal in his discussion of reproduction.

He never seems to understand why others aren’t.

Once, when I was a child, he sent my mother fleeing from the room because he’d taken the time to answer my question about how babies are made. ”

Despite his best effort, an image of her splayed out naked in his bed as he took her flashed through his mind. His entire body immediately tightened in response. Clearing his throat, he couldn’t stop himself from teasing her. “I could clarify if he left anything out of his explanation.”

She drew back, the smile dropping from her face as she seemed to realize what she’d just said to him.

From some distance away, a bell rang. “Ah,” Hunter folded his newspaper and stood. “I believe our first guests have arrived.”