Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret (Brothers of Sapphire Ranch #7)

Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

T he name struck Miles like a physical blow. Marcus Winston? The man who had hired the surveyors to steal their land. And ordered that Clara and her uncle be murdered.

He’d also tried to kill Jude and Angela a couple years ago.

Now, he was dead?

Clara gripped his elbow, her face even paler than before. He slipped his arm around her waist. Maybe this wasn’t proper in public, but she probably needed this contact as much as he did.

“Was anyone here with him? Did he have visitors?”

Miles couldn’t see the face of the man asking questions to check if he wore a badge. Missoula Mills didn’t have law—or at least they hadn’t before now—but maybe this was a new sheriff come to town. The place had certainly grown large enough to need someone to keep the peace.

“Not that I know of.” The clerk frowned. “I don’t keep tabs on comings and goings unless someone stops to ask a question. There were a few fellows who came through yesterday who weren’t registered as guests. But they seemed to know right where they were going.”

They had to be the surveyors.

Jericho stepped closer to the desk, drawing the attention of the strangers. “Sorry to barge in, but I couldn’t help hearing. You said Marcus Winston was killed here?”

The man who’d been asking questions swiveled to face Jericho fully. “Do you know him?”

“Not personally, but we’ve come looking for him. Him and four other men who work for him.”

The man's eyes narrowed on Jericho. "I'm Deputy John Hanson. New to the position here in Missoula Mills. What's your business with Winston?"

Jericho lowered his voice. "It's a long story, but the short of it is that Winston hired four surveyors to steal the deed to our family's ranch. They forged a bill of sale and tried to file it at the land office yesterday."

Hansen’s eyebrows shot up. "That's quite an accusation. And you are?"

"Jericho Coulter. These are my brothers Jonah, Jude, and Miles. And Miss Clara Pendleton, a friend of ours."

Deputy Hanson's eyes widened slightly. "Coulter, you said? Of the Coulter Ranch?"

"That's right.” Jericho's voice stayed grim, but Miles wouldn’t have expected a new deputy to have heard about their ranch. They tried to keep a low profile.

The deputy flipped back a page in his notebook. "And you said there were four other men with him? Can you tell me about them?"

Jericho looked to Clara, and she spoke up to give descriptions of the surveyors. Miles briefly explained what they’d done to her and her uncle. And relief, for talking about it was still hard. As he finished, he seemed to sense her struggle. He tightened his arm around her.

She and her uncle had almost died. And now another man, Winston, really was dead. What evil his greed had caused. Was Winston the one behind the entire scheme, or had he been organizing it for someone else?

And was Holloway the one who killed him? A shiver slipped through her. Had the men she and her uncle traveled with for weeks murdered a man in cold blood?

Deputy Hanson finished writing and looked back up at them. "If Winston hired those men to steal from you, and now he's dead..." He let the implication hang in the air.

The clerk spoke through the heavy silence. “Those sound like some of the men who came through here last evening.”

Miles’s eyes snapped to the clerk. "You saw them? The surveyors?"

The clerk nodded, his face pale. "They came in, maybe an hour or so before I found Mr. Winston. Headed straight up the stairs like they knew where they were going."

Deputy Hanson stepped closer, his voice low and urgent. "Did you see them leave?"

"I…I can't be sure.” The clerk looked apologetic. “It was busy in here. Lots of folks coming and going. I wasn't watching."

The deputy turned back to Miles. "I'm inclined to believe your story, Mr. Coulter. And if these men did murder Winston, they need to be brought to justice."

Miles nodded. "Agreed. We can't let them get away with this, or with trying to steal our land."

"Do you have any idea where they might have gone? If they left town?" the deputy asked.

Jericho straightened. "They came from our ranch, which is northeast of town. I suspect they’ll be going west, as far from here as they can get."

Deputy Hanson nodded. "All right. Let me get a couple men together, and we'll ride out with you. We need to find these fellows before they get too far."

"I'll come too," Jonah spoke up.

Jericho glanced at his brother and nodded. He turned to Jude and Miles. "You two stay here with Clara. Keep her safe. We'll be back as soon as we can."

Miles met his brother's gaze and nodded. "We will." No question about it.

As Jericho and Jonah followed the deputy out of the hotel, Miles turned to Clara.

Her face was still pale, but her jaw held a determined set. "I'll be all right," she said softly, answering his unasked question. "I just want this to be over."

He reached for her gloved hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of hers. "It will be, soon." Hopefully the words sounded more confident than he felt. With Winston dead and the surveyors on the run, there was no telling what might happen next.

Jude turned to the clerk. “Do you have two rooms open?”

The man nodded, his manner still a bit shaken. “We do.” He lifted two keys from the wall behind him and handed them to Jude. "Rooms three and four. Turn right at the top of the stairs."

"Thank you." Jude signed the ledger and took the keys, and handed them to Miles. "Why don't you two go up? I'll bring the saddlebags."

Miles guided Clara toward the stairs. She seemed steadier now, but he kept his arm around her waist.

When they reached the second floor, he unlocked the door to room four and stepped aside for her to enter. The space was small but tidy, with a narrow bed, a washstand, and a small window overlooking the street below.

Clara turned in the threshold to face him. She looked so small, so fragile.

He kept his voice low. "Are you all right?"

She nodded, then shook her head.

Yeah. He got that.

He opened his arms, and she stepped into them.

As he wrapped her tight, she released a long exhale. "I don't know. So much has happened. I feel…I feel responsible for all of it."

He rubbed her back. "None of this is your fault. You were trying to protect your uncle and the rest of us, to save the ranch. Winston and those surveyors, they're the ones to blame."

"But if I hadn't forged those documents…" Her voice sounded so small.

He’d thought about this, a lot, on the trail these last two days.

If she hadn’t forged the original, then he didn’t want to think about what Holloway might’ve done. Miles couldn’t let her carry the weight of all this. He released one hand from around her and tucked his thumb under her chin, encouraging her to look up at him.

She obliged, and he leaned back enough to meet her gaze.

"Then they would have found another way. They might’ve kidnapped someone else, or killed one of us. They weren’t going to give up. You tricked them. You got them to leave. And you were smart enough to change the forgery. Because of that, we can stop them."

Her green eyes searched his. Slowly, she nodded. "I know you're right. I just…I hate that it's come to this."

"I do too." Despite everything, a smile tugged at his mouth. How could he be sad when he held this woman in his arms? "You know, I never would have met you if you and your uncle hadn’t traveled with those men."

Her lips tipped up at the corners, drawing his focus. They’d not had time for another kiss, not with his brothers always around. This was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

But before he could move, bootsteps sounded on the stairs.

Clara pulled back, wiping at her eyes. Miles pushed down his frustration as he turned to meet Jude, who stepped onto the landing with their saddlebags slung over his shoulders.

"I figured Clara could use her things." His brother’s gaze held a twinkle that showed he knew what he’d walked into.

Miles fought the urge to elbow him as Jude handed Clara her bag and bedroll.

"Thank you." She took her belongings with the grace she always displayed.

Ah well.

There would be other chances to kiss this woman, he would make sure of it. A lifetime of chances, if she agreed to what he planned to ask. Soon.