Page 8 of The Gilded Lady (The Gilded West #3)

Chapter Five

G lory didn’t know how it had happened, but she’d somehow reverted to the role of thirteen-year-old schoolgirl.

Zane stood across the room, leaning against the window molding as he watched her.

Hunter and Able had just left, so they were very much alone.

Butterflies fluttered in her belly, and her hand went to her stomach to calm the wild beatings of their wings.

He wasn’t moving, wasn’t talking, wasn’t doing anything but looking at her and she couldn’t seem to keep hold of the thoughts wandering around her head.

Gripping the solid edges of her desk, she tried to keep her hold on reality.

This was still her home and she was still in charge.

“Thank you for staying,” she said, doing her best not to look directly at him.

Her hands as flighty as her thoughts, she shuffled some papers around on her desk until they were all precisely lined up.

Zane took his time walking back over to the chair across from her.

The man moved like he wasn’t well over two hundred pounds.

He was all sinew and strength, but without the lumbering that sometimes came with that muscle.

“Can I see the letter for myself?” he asked when he’d taken a seat in the wingback chair across from her.

She nodded and handed it over without touching him.

If he thought her behavior odd, he didn’t mention it as his gaze skimmed over the letter.

She couldn’t help but watch him as he did so.

He wasn’t classically handsome like Hunter, but his ruggedness and quiet intensity, combined with his even features, somehow made him even more attractive.

At least to her. She’d never cared for the look of a polished gentleman.

She’d had that before and knew the treachery often hidden in the perfect package.

Zane was real. Her gaze touched the high arch of his cheekbones, the tiny creases around his eyes, and the strong line of his jaw.

For the first time she wondered how old he was.

He didn’t have the deeper lines that came with age, but his eyes seemed intelligent in a way that made her think he’d seen a lot in his life.

She respected that. Most of the men who came into Victoria House had struck it rich because they’d gotten lucky with a claim to a mine.

They thought luck and money somehow translated to being clever and knowledgeable.

Zane was different. Something told her that he’d lived more than almost all of them.

He glanced up from the letter, and she wasn’t able to look away before he caught her watching him.

She offered him a slight smile in the hopes that he thought her interest was only casual.

But when he spoke, she couldn’t stop herself from watching his full lips shape each word.

“You’re sure that no one here knows who you are? ”

She shook her head. “I’ve never told anyone. Only Able knows.”

“What about Clara? Would he have told her?”

She realized now why he’d waited for Able to leave to begin this line of questioning. “No, Able knows how important it is to keep our secret. He wouldn’t tell her.”

Zane raised a brow, looking doubtful. “She’s his wife. Don’t you think she’d want to know about his past?”

It wasn’t an illogical question, but Zane didn’t know why they’d run or what was at stake.

If he did, he’d understand that no one could know.

Able stood to lose just as much as she did.

“I trust Able. Besides, he doesn’t want our secrets to get out any more than I do. The consequences are…too much.”

His jaw clenched and she wasn’t certain if it was because he was angry at her or the situation.

She didn’t know him well enough to say, a detail that was as fortunate as it was regrettable.

Some long-buried part of her wanted to know him.

To really know who he was as a person, as someone she could trust…

as a man. That last thought made her belly flutter again, forcing her to look away.

He was so astute, she had no doubt he would know what she was feeling.

“You don’t think Able would—”

“No!” Despite herself, she met his gaze fully, determined to extinguish any suspicion against Able. “He wouldn’t betray me.”

“I wouldn’t think so, but we have to consider all options.”

She shook her head more firmly. “He wouldn’t do this. He’d have no motive anyway.”

“Five thousand dollars is a lot of motive.”

She scoffed. “Trust me, Able doesn’t need the money.”

“No? He’s married now and has a baby on the way. He might not have needed the money but things change.” He paused, adding in a softer voice, “Love has a way of changing people.”

He looked so resolute when he said that, that she wondered from what sort of experience he was speaking.

He had a quiet, almost dangerous appeal that would attract many women, but she couldn’t imagine the hard man across from her being tender enough to have ever experienced an emotion as sentimental as love.

She’d seen his loyalty to Hunter and Castillo and conceded that it was a type of love.

A brotherhood. But it wasn’t romantic love and she couldn’t see him ever allowing himself to experience that.

“I suppose it can, but in this instance it hasn’t.”

“How do you know?” he asked.

“Because Able has all the money he could want,” she explained.

Zane sat back as he mulled over her words. “He does have fine clothes. Satin waistcoats. Wool suits. I always thought it was part of the uniform required to work here. I didn’t realize that he was so well compensated.”

“It is a requirement of the position, but you’ve got it all wrong. He doesn’t simply work here. He’s part owner of Victoria House.” Correctly reading the shocked expression on his face, she said, “You’re surprised.”

“A little.”

“It’s understandable. Everyone assumes I’m the sole owner and we let them think that because it’s easier.

When we first arrived here…Well, let’s just say that I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Able.

” That was an understatement. She’d be dead by now if not for Able.

It was because of him that she’d left South Carolina and ended up in Helena, though the Helena part had been serendipity.

“Able and I worked hard together to make Victoria House what it is today. When the madam retired she left it to us both.”

While Glory kept up the running of the business side of things, Able took care of the house itself.

He knew everyone in it and where they were at any given time.

He made sure there was never any trouble with the patrons.

The letter must be a particular sore spot for him since it had appeared on his watch.

Zane studied her for a minute. There was no doubt that he was merely trying to read her expression, but she couldn’t help but wonder what he thought when he looked at her.

She stilled for his visual perusal but felt her cheeks go warm.

Finally he took pity on her and glanced back down at the letter.

She had to stop herself from letting out an audible breath of relief.

“The sender mentioned knowing your real name.” Zane paused, but she didn’t say a word.

If he wanted to ask her about her real name, she wouldn’t make it easy for him.

Not that she’d tell him. The corner of his mouth ticked up as if he realized what she was doing.

“Does Able also have a real name?” he asked, apparently deciding not to rise to her challenge.

She nearly laughed to herself, starting to enjoy this play between the two of them.

“He does. We never really intended to stay in Helena. The stagecoach we were traveling on had a broken axle. We managed to make it as far as the station, but there’d been another silver strike, so the driver ran off to make his fortune.

Apparently so had every other man in town, because the madam came down to the station asking for any able-bodied men to help repair her leaky roof. ”

She did smile then, remembering how afraid she’d been that they had nowhere to go and their funds had been dwindling. They’d come a long way since then. “Able stood up and declared himself, well, able. So Able he became. She took us in after that. Thank God she did. We had nowhere else to go.”

“And you became Glory?” He gestured toward her hair.

She inclined her head. The madam had taken one look at her dark red hair and called it her crowning glory. Many of the patrons had started referring to it that way as well, so the name Glory had stuck.

“And no one else knows your real name except Able?” He concluded.

“Able didn’t leave this letter.”

Zane gave a hesitant nod, as if not quite willing to give up that line of questioning, but realizing it wouldn’t get him anywhere at the moment.

She nearly smiled again. Let him stew. The one thing she knew with certainty in this whole mess was that Able wasn’t responsible for the letter. Extortion wasn’t in his character.

“Do you think it could be someone else from Victoria House?” he asked.

“I hate to think so. We’re like a family here. My ladies are loyal.”

“And you’re certain none of them know who you are?”

“None of them know,” she said quietly. “Only Able.”

“Well I suppose that’s it then. We’ll see what we can find out from the staff tomorrow.” He clapped his hands to his knees and made to stand.

“What happens now?” she asked. If they were done with questions, she needed to go back downstairs to finish work for the night. The singer she’d hired for the evening should be almost ready to go on. “I have work to do, but you’re welcome to go collect your things and move them to my suite.”

He gave a shake of his head and a slow smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “I go where you go.”

“What?” Her eyes widened. She knew what she thought he meant, but surely he didn’t actually mean that.