“Maybe you should mind your own business, missy.”
What an ornery old cuss, Violet thought. If she’d known him better she might have made a sharp reply, but she said nothing more and left him to stew over what he should or shouldn’t have said to his son.
She went upstairs to see if her father was awake. He probably was, considering all the noise she could hear emerging from an open door a few doors down the hall from her room. She set Tiny inside her room, then went to investigate. She stopped in the doorway to see Morgan slamming a bureau drawer shut and throwing a pile of clothes on the bed, where his saddlebags and a valise lay open.
“You probably don’t need to do that,” she remarked.
He glanced at her but didn’t stop what he was doing, and there was anger in his tone—just not for her. “Nothing is changing my mind, certainly not that old coot. I love him, but he’s still treating me like a boy. Hell, I crossed that bridge five years ago. I think Pa failed to notice.”
She smiled. “I’m sure he noticed. But parents will always treat their children like children and try to do what’s best for them. They aren’t always right. However, I think he’s come around. You probably don’t need to take a sword and shield to dinner, either.”
He stared at her a moment, then laughed and walked over and pulled her into his arms, hugging her. “So you’re my good-luck charm now? What the heck did you tell him?”
Words caught in her throat, being this close to him again. All she wanted to do was kiss him. She came so close to putting her arms around him and doing it.
But she managed to step back into the hall and say, “Just what you should have told him first: that you got the idea for the emporium from your mother. That’s all he needed to hear. He does have a soft spot for her, you know.”
She hurried on to her father’s room before she changed her mind about kissing Morgan. Good grief, how could she marry Lord What’s-his-name when this man tempted her beyond reason? Because it was what she’d always dreamed of—and yet, Morgan was the one filling her dreams now. He seemed to be with her every bloody night!
Chapter Forty-Seven
MORGAN STOPPED THE BUCKBOARD in front of the house to wait for Violet. His mother was leaning against the porch post drinking her coffee. She was dressed for the range, just hadn’t left yet, and since they hadn’t spoken privately after he’d made his announcement about the emporium last night at dinner, he wasn’t really surprised.
She’d been pleased last night. After she got over her amazement, she’d laughed a lot. His brothers had teased and were already calling him “shopkeeper.” Hunter had even ribbed, “You’ll have to put your gun away, or your customers will think you’re there to rob the place!” His father had been mostly silent, but he’d smiled a few times as he’d watched Mary express her delight.
But this morning his mother said, “You’re really doing this?”
“Dig out your old catalogs, circle everything that caught your eye, that you ordered, that you thought about buying but didn’t, and leave them in my room. Yes, I’m really doing this. ‘Buy it, have it in your home the same day,’ that’s going to be my motto—at least for Nashart. I might even name the emporium East Comes West.”
“I love the idea, Morg,” she assured him. “Don’t think for a minute that I don’t. But I loved having you on the range with us, too.”
“I’m not leaving the territory, Ma. I may even get back on the range someday. But for now, this is the only thing I want to do. My store may never sell a damn thing out here, but it’s going to be fun creating it, and very satisfying to see you shopping in it.”
“What about Miss Mitchell?”
“I’ll give her a tour of town today and show her my property, if she’ll stop primping and get herself down here.”
“That’s not what I meant. You fancy her?”
He grinned. “Who wouldn’t?”
“Have you told her?”
“She’s already picked out an English lord to be her husband. She’s going back to London. And I’m making sure she has a dowry for it.”
Mary laughed. “Now, that’s not how you get the girl. You give her a choice—but first you make sure she knows she has a choice. Do I need to tell you how to spill the beans properly?”
Morgan snorted. “You think I can’t say it?”
“Have you ever?”
“No, but how hard can it be?”
“Pretty hard when you’re not sure of the answer,” she replied.
“Well, that’s not holding me back. It’s because I do care about her that I have to let her go. She doesn’t belong here, Ma.”
“Neither did Tiffany, but you can’t get that gal to leave now. You don’t see it because you grew up here, but Montana has its own charm. Maybe you should ask Miss Mitchell to help you design your store. That might delay her leaving and give her time to start liking the place. Actually, who better than a young lady of London society to advise you on what’s fashionable, what women like, and what fancy stores look like in the big cities?”
Morgan laughed. He was sold on his mother’s idea as soon as she said the word delay, but he also liked the part about asking Violet for advice on décor and what merchandise to stock. But he teased his mother, saying, “I’m not opening a dress shop.”
“At least stock some bonnets!”
He rolled his eyes, because now he had to. Anything his mother wanted. That was the point, after all.
THEY HAD ALREADY DRIVEN down every street in Nashart so that Violet could see everything the town offered before Morgan took her to the land he’d bought, just a long stretch of dusty ground with some grass and a few trees that intersected with Nashart’s main road. But then she saw the stacks of lumber. “You’re ready to start building?”
“I bought up all the lumber in town and ordered a lot more,” he explained. “And I’m thinking about offering the owner of the stable on the main road and the owners of the three other buildings next to it an opportunity to relocate to my new street so I can put the entrance to my store right on the main road. What do you think?”
“Visibility from Nashart’s main road would be ideal if you can manage it, even if you do have an entire street of your own to work with back here.”
He grinned. “Oh, I can manage it, since I’m their landlord now.”
“But the size of the building for your store will depend on what you plan to sell. Which is?”
“Furniture and silverware to start with. The Melling brothers who buy my silver make everything you can think of: jewelry, candelabra, knickknacks, dinnerware, picture frames, even fancy mirrors, so I’ll be going to New York to visit them soon. Oh, I’ll also sell bonnets.”
She was delighted. “Really?”
“Ma mentioned it this morning.”
“Well, that will certainly draw the women in town. So a silver section combined with jewelry, that you might want up front. The furniture will take up the most room because you will probably want to display full sets of it, and at least two sets each for bedrooms, dining rooms, and parlors. What about a second floor?”
“I was thinking I’d live up there myself.”
“But you may end up needing a second floor for the store—and do you really want to climb two flights of stairs to the third floor to go home at the end of the day?”
“I’d still like my own place here in town.”
“Why? Your family’s ranch isn’t far from here.”
“And if I get hitched?”
“Hitched to what?”
He laughed; she grinned. She did know what the phrase meant in Montana. But when they left his new property to have lunch, it ended up being all she could think about. He was already planning ahead for when he got married—just not to her. He’d had many opportunities to broach that particular subject with her. The times they’d made love were prime examples of when he should have gotten down on his bloody knee just so she could say no. Damnit.
“Why the sour face?” he asked when she set
the restaurant menu down. “Nothing on the menu appeals to you?”
She cast off her jealous thoughts and dredged up a smile for him. “No, I was just thinking that you’ve been talking about a store bigger than any I’ve ever seen.”
“I have the room for it, so why not?”
“Indeed. In big cities, there isn’t much land available, so shops are squeezed in wherever there is space. But with your big store, you will need more than a few employees.”
“I’ve already asked around. There’re only two men in town willing to work for me who don’t already have jobs, and neither of them wants to do any selling.”
“There are employment agencies in the big cities that can hire employees for you, but if you do bring people in, you will need to provide them with someplace to live. Perhaps build rooms in the back? Or you could build your own boardinghouse for your employees next to the store.”
“Another good idea I hadn’t thought of.”
“And what about a warehouse to store your merchandise, or are you going to make your customers wait, as your mother did, when you need to restock?”
“You’re amazing,” he said with a wide smile. “I never really thought that far ahead.”
“So think about it. When you buy in bulk, you will get discounts, which will raise your profits. You did plan on making money at this, correct?”
He chuckled. “That wasn’t the goal, but I suppose it would be a nice bonus.”
“And the rest of your street? You’ll have room for a boardinghouse, a warehouse, even a house for yourself. You’ve got both sides of the street to fill.”
“Only because the mayor wouldn’t agree to prevent any saloons going in, so I took the whole parcel. But it’s probably a good investment. I can lease the land to other merchants, or just wait and see what the town needs and put the stores up myself.”
She started to laugh. “So not just an entrepreneur, but on your way to being a business tycoon?”
“No, just thinking ahead, mainly making sure this particular street doesn’t attract any rowdiness.”
She raised a brow. “You promoted your town as peaceful, as I recall.”
“Cowboys will still raise hell on a Saturday night.”
“Oh, that.” But her thoughts had raced ahead, and she suggested, “An ice cream shop! I haven’t seen one here. And a bookstore or a library.”
Now he laughed. “Let me finish designing my store before I start thinking about others. But by all means, start a list. And maybe think about sticking around to help me bring it all together.”
That suggestion sort of fell out there. He wasn’t even looking at her when he said it. And she actually wished she could be there to see his finished dream. If she didn’t have to get back to that lord—what the devil was his name? Staring at Morgan, it simply wouldn’t come to her.
And then she realized what he meant. “Are you offering me a job?”
“No, I was thinking more about a partnership.”
Her eyes flared. In his store? Or in his life, as his wife? His store, of course. That was not how a man proposed marriage. And a business partnership would require her staying here and being tempted by him indefinitely. . . .
She assumed he would give her time to think about it, which was good, because she didn’t want to dampen his enthusiasm with her answer. His store was an exciting venture—but Morgan was the real excitement, the man she wanted to be partnered with in every way. Oh, good grief, having only half of the partnership she wanted would never be enough for her.
She almost said no immediately. She didn’t, but she would have to say it eventually.
Chapter Forty-Eight
“WHAT ARE THE ODDS?” Morgan said as they left the restaurant.
Violet glanced at him, about to ask what he meant, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was gazing down the boardwalk. She squealed in delight when she saw her brothers hurrying toward them. Indeed, what were the odds of seeing identical twins in town who weren’t the Mitchell brothers? She laughed and ran ahead to hug them.
“Why didn’t you let us know you were arriving today?” she asked.
“We did,” one of them—Daniel?—said. “I sent the telegram to Butte as soon as I bought the train tickets and got the date of our arrival here. You must already have left by then.”
“No matter, you’re here! And you must be anxious to see Father. We’re staying at the Triple C ranch with his partner’s family, and”—she turned to make sure Morgan was still behind her—“this is his partner, Morgan Callahan. Introduce yourselves, I’m not even going to try.”
He laughed and did—it was Daniel—but told her, “I’m making it easy for you. My hair got long while I was detained, and I decided not to cut it. I’ll wear this queue for now, until you get used to us again.”
Evan was shaking Morgan’s hand. “We can’t thank you enough, Mr. Callahan, for sending us that money, first to ease the urgency of making the loan payments, then to actually pay off the loan. Vi, you should have seen Mr. Perry’s face. He looked so disappointed.”
“I wanted to throw the money in his face, but Evan wouldn’t let me,” Daniel added. “You can’t imagine what a relief it was to pay off that loan. Thank you, Mr. Callahan.”
“Charley was, is, my friend,” Morgan replied, then grinned. “And your sister just had to remind me of that with a bit of nagging.”
Violet gasped. “I don’t nag!”
“Charley?” Evan asked.
She tsked. “That’s what Morgan calls Papa.” But she wasn’t letting her brothers off the hook. “Daniel, why and where exactly were you detained?”
“My tailor had me thrown in jail for not paying my bills.”
Evan quickly added, “With the first money that arrived, there was enough to hold off Perry and pay off Dan’s debts to get him out of jail. But that was a hellish month, Vi, grieving for Father, worried sick about you when we didn’t hear from you again, all while the clock was ticking down on the house.”
“Well, you’ll be glad to know that the man responsible for faking Father’s death and causing us that grief is on his way to prison, but I’ll let Father explain that later. I’m sure you’re eager to see him, so shall we?” She pointed them toward the buckboard in front of the restaurant.
Morgan helped her onto the driver’s seat to ride next to him again, so she had to turn in the seat to converse with her brothers.
“Papa did exactly what he set out to do: he’s found a new fortune, thanks to Morgan’s benevolence. You two won’t have to work in the mine, but one or both of you will need to oversee the miners who will do the work, at least until a manager is hired and until we’ve earned enough to pay back the loan Morgan gave us. But Papa and Morgan can explain that in more detail later. So you can both stop worrying—and that means you won’t need to marry that heiress now, Evan, unless you want to.”
“No!” He laughed. “It was merely an option, and a very unpleasant one. She’s rich as sin but doesn’t even feign being nice.”
“He’s politely not saying she’s insufferable and arrogant, and he was being overly kind when he told you she was pretty, because she’s not,” Daniel put in. “But we thought it best not to mention that when we had all that other bad news to tell you the day you got home.”
“Good of you to spare me, but next time, don’t. Well, there won’t be a next time.”
“I’m excited to be here,” Evan said. “I never dreamed we’d get to see this part of the country.”
“I feel the same,” Daniel said enthusiastically. “So I volunteer to manage the mine.”
But Evan objected. “We may have to fight over it, Brother.”
“Mines,” Violet corrected. “There are two of them side by side, and we have an equal partnership with Morgan. We can figure out who goes or if you both go later.”
They were halfway to the ranch when Evan said, “Vi, I just remembered! You’ll need to send someone with a wagon for your trunks.”
“
Trunks? I just asked for one.”
“Yes, but you didn’t say which one, so we had to bring all of them to make sure you got the right one.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Morgan told her, then added in a whisper, “You’re happy around them, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am, they’re my brothers.”
He smiled. “Another good reason for you not to run back to England.”
Was that a subtle way of asking for her answer to his partnership offer? But he wanted her to help run his store here in Nashart, and her brothers would be near Butte—but they wouldn’t be an ocean away, either. Was Morgan playing underhanded, or just sweetening the pot?
She might be able to put off answering him until she was ready to leave, so she could continue helping him in the meantime. She wanted to fantasize a little longer about how wonderful it would be working beside this man permanently. She just had to ignore for now the one stumbling block: how inappropriate it would be to partner with a man while she was an unmarried woman. It just wasn’t done. She was sure her father would forbid it.
Her brothers’ argument about whether they should rent a carriage while they were in Nashart caught her attention. “Stop it,” she ordered. “There are no carriages to be had—” She broke off, and gave Morgan an excited glance. “A carriage-maker! For one of the shops on your new street. Or you might even bring in a few carriages yourself and add them to your emporium’s inventory.”
He grinned. “I like seeing you like this, open, bubbly—bossy.”
She laughed. “I’m not bossy.”
“She is!” both brothers said in unison.
Chapter Forty-Nine
THE STAY IN NASHART was turning out to be most pleasant. Violet loved advising Morgan about his fancy emporium; in fact, it was nearly all they talked about that week. And soon the mines would be earning an incredible amount of money for both partners. Daniel and Evan had left a few days ago to manage them temporarily since they both found the prospect interesting. Morgan spent hours instructing both of them on everything they needed to know to start mining.