Page 24 of The Gilded Lady (The Gilded West #3)
He told her the description of the man, but he’d come directly from his talk with Charlotte so hadn’t been able to search. “I’ll make a sketch tonight with Charlotte’s help and go to the hotels. Maybe someone will remember him.”
“Let’s start with The Baroness. Martin Hines, he’s the manager there. He runs that place with an iron fist. Show him the drawing and he can tell you if the man stayed there. I’ll ring him when we get home and he’ll come right over. How long do you think you’ll need for the drawing?”
Zane tried not to show it, but a flare of jealousy sprang to life inside him at how casually she spoke of Hines and how confident she was that he’d do her bidding.
Zane saw her every night downstairs at Victoria House charming the customers.
She knew Sainsbury, Harvey, and probably every man they drove past. It was her job, and the jealousy wasn’t fair but it was there nonetheless.
“That’s a good plan. Shouldn’t take me longer than an hour, depending on how much Charlotte remembers.
” Which didn’t seem like much from what she’d told him earlier.
His words must have come out stiffly because Glory frowned, cocking her head to the side as if she was trying to figure him out. Then she gave him a knowing smile. “My employees are very conscientious.”
He frowned, wondering what the hell that had to do with their conversation.
“Martin Hines. He’s an employee. That’s why he’ll come right over when I ring him.”
He heard what she was saying but he didn’t know how her words fit in their conversation. How was Martin Hines of The Baroness Hotel her employee?
“I own The Baroness, Zane,” she said, putting him out of his misery.
He couldn’t react, he could only stare at the woman across from him. She’d amazed him yet again.
She shrugged in response to his unspoken question. “I bought it early last year when the talk of statehood picked up. I created a company with which to purchase it, that’s why it’s not common knowledge that I’m the owner. Seemed to be a good investment at the time.”
“You own The Baroness?” He couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around it. It was one of the best hotels in town. In a town filled with mining riches, that was saying something.
“And a few buildings over on State and over on Sixth. I lease them out.” She sighed.
“So you see, losing Victoria House will hurt if it comes to it, but I’ll hardly be destitute.
My main concern is for all those who depend on the House.
I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep up the boardinghouse without it.
With my funds tied up in real estate, they’re not very liquid. ”
By all accounts she’d arrived here with nothing. In scarcely more than a decade she’d been able to do what so many others wouldn’t have been able to accomplish. “You really are something.”
She blushed again and shrugged. “You say that, but you also saw what happened back there with Harvey.”
“I did. I saw how brave you were.”
“Not brave. I couldn’t move. God knows what would’ve happened had you not been there. I couldn’t have stopped him.” She gave a bitter shake of her head and looked out the window.
He moved quickly before he could think better of it and sat on the seat beside her.
“Glory, I can’t pretend to know what you’ve been through.
Since you won’t tell me I can only guess and I pray that my guesses are a hundred times worse than reality.
But on the off chance that they’re not…” He tipped her chin up so that she’d look at him.
He waited for her eyes to meet his, a thrill of pleasure tingling down his spine at the heady contact.
“You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met, and what you’ve been able to do with your life…
I can hardly fathom it. Even queens need knights to protect them sometimes. ”
Her full bottom lip trembled before curving into a soft smile. “Is that you…you’re my knight?”
He stared at her mouth, wanting to take it beneath his.
Needing to dip his tongue into her heat and taste her again.
The two sides of him were at war again with one side urging him to indulge while he could and the other warning him away from the horrible pain he’d experienced with Christine.
She wasn’t Christine. She knew her own mind and wouldn’t let her family stand in the way.
But the truth was that nothing good ever lasted, he’d learned that lesson long ago.
She was Glory, and for the moment that lesson didn’t matter.
She was good and kind and fiery. She was everything.
Her fingers clutched the fabric of his shirt, drawing him closer.
He leaned down, her breath was hot and sweet on his lips.
The tiny gasp she made curled down into his belly, tightening and pulling him even closer to her.
The second his lips touched hers the carriage came to a jarring halt.
The heavy tread of boots on the cobblestones outside the carriage had them jerking apart just as the door opened. Victoria House loomed above them.
Her eyes were wide in shock but he couldn’t tell if it was discomfort that he’d tried to kiss her or surprise that they’d nearly been caught. Whichever it was, he allowed her to flee and sat in the carriage for a moment trying to catch his breath.