Behind a Lady's Smile (9 page)

Mitch was going to “settle down.” That seemed almost worse than saying good-bye. Settling down meant finding a wife and having children, and the thought of Mitch kissing another woman sent hot shards of jealousy through Genny. It was such an unexpected feeling, such a terrible and painful thing. Yet, she was planning to do the same, was she not? She knew from talking to those women on the train that women were expected to marry, particularly women of rank. One woman on the train seemed to be an expert on the subject and had gone on and on about how the daughter of a lord could never marry someone as ordinary as a banker or shopkeeper. Genny had remained silent on the subject, because, after all, she was supposed to be married to Mitch. But now she wished she’d asked more questions, like why couldn’t a woman marry whomever she pleased.

The two had gathered up their rather meager luggage and were waiting patiently as the passengers departed. The Walshes, in a hurry to see their relatives, were the first out the door. Mitch leaned over to peer out the window and gave a satisfied grunt.

“Fine day, but hotter than h . . .” He stopped and grinned. “Hotter than hot. Never did get used to the heat of this place in summer.” He straightened, and Genny got the feeling he was nervous about something. “We don’t have to catch the train to New York until tomorrow morning, which gives us plenty of time for me to get to the bank so I can close my account. And maybe we can buy you another dress or two.”

Genny looked down at the dark blue dress she was wearing, noting a few travel stains she hadn’t seen before. “That would be wonderful.”

“I know a lady’s store near William’s photography studio that should have a nice selection.”

He was talking more quickly than usual and kept peering out the window, and Genny suddenly wondered if Mitch had a girl here and was worried she would see him with Genny. He scrubbed his chin, which hadn’t seen a razor in a few days now, making him look a bit like an outlaw.

“I need to go to the studio to pick up my gear. Will’s wife will be there. She’s a good woman. You’ll like her.”

He seemed so distracted, Genny found herself looking through the window to see if she could determine what was making him so antsy.

“Who am I? Genny Hayes or Mrs. Mitch Campbell?”

She knew immediately that she’d hit the right target, because beneath that scruffy beard, Mitch blushed.

“You’re Genevieve Hayes.”

“That’s good. I’m not very good at being Mrs. Mitch Campbell.”

He grinned down at her and looked slightly more relaxed. “Mollie’s a good woman, but she can be a bit of a stickler, if you catch my meaning. I’m just trying to figure out how I can make her understand that traveling this way was our only option. I’m pretty sure she’s going to tan my hide for putting you in this situation.”

Genny let out a bubble of laughter. “You’re frightened of her.”

“Heck yes, I am.” He put on an expression of mock fear. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

 

Mitch loved Mollie like a sister, and if she hadn’t already been married to Will when Mitch had met her, he might have fallen in love with her. How many women would allow their husbands to go gallivanting off into the wilderness year after year to take photographs? She didn’t like it and she let Will know it, but she understood that it was important, that Will was an important man. She was five foot nothing with a huge pile of dark hair, an Irish temper, and other than Genny, had the prettiest eyes he’d ever seen. And she was about to give him a large dose of anger, he was certain of it.

After stopping at the bank to close out his account, a process that made Mitch slightly sick to his stomach, he and Genny headed to the Jacksons’ place. The couple lived with their two children across from the photography studio that had been Mitch’s refuge. Sick of wandering since the war, he’d been looking for an odd job, and when he walked into that studio, he knew he’d found something that could make him stay. William Jackson recognized a kindred soul, a man with eyes still haunted by the things he’d seen, and immediately offered him not only a position, but a cot in the back room to sleep in. And that’s where he’d stayed for nearly five years, scrimping and saving and dreaming.

The Jacksons’ home was a two-story whitewashed clapboard house with a welcoming front porch. As Mitch walked down the street, his arm aching from his heavy pack, he instantly saw that Mollie was out on that porch with her youngest boy, playing jacks. She sat on the second step, while the boy was sprawled out on the porch floor, intent on the game.

And when she looked up and saw Mitch walking toward her, she stood, her face white, one hand going to her mouth as if to stifle a scream.
Oh, shit.

“He’s fine,” he said, hastening toward her, leaving Genny behind. “Will is fine, Mollie.”

Tears filled her eyes and she dropped her hand, which had now turned into a little fist. “You about scared the life out of me, Mitch Campbell, coming up to me like that, looking all worried.” And then she noticed Genny, standing a bit back.

“I’m sorry, Mollie. I can explain. This is Miss Genevieve Hayes and she’s the reason I’m here now. Let’s go on inside.”

Mollie looked at Genny and frowned, then smiled. “Of course. Come on, Seth, why don’t you go teach your sister how to play jacks.”

“She’s too little. She won’t be able to.”

“Then you can show her how good you are at it. The adults need to be alone.”

The boy scooped up the jacks and small ball and moved into the house.

“I think he’s grown two inches since we left,” Mitch said.

Mollie led the pair to a small sitting room that was hotter than Hades. He wondered, briefly, if Mollie had led them to the sun-filled room on purpose rather than the library, which he knew was far cooler.

“How is Will?” she asked, seemingly composed.

“Just fine, fine. Listen, I’m sorry for giving you a scare. I guess I should have sent you a telegram letting you know I was coming. With Miss Hayes.”

Mollie’s gaze shifted to Genny and she gave the younger woman a curiously cold look. Genny sat on a small settee, much like the one they’d shared on the train, and Mitch made sure to sit across the room from her. Genny didn’t understand that even a casual touch between a man and a woman could seem like something entirely different under the watchful eyes of a woman like Mollie.

Mitch gave Mollie the abbreviated story of how they’d come to be sitting in her stiflingly hot parlor. Genny was uncustomarily quiet, letting Mitch do all the talking. “So after we stop in New York for a short visit with my mother, we’re off to England to meet Miss Hayes’s grandparents.” He smiled, knowing even as he did that Mollie realized he wasn’t telling the entire truth. He never had been very good at lying.

Mollie gave him a level look and said, “That’s wonderful, seeing your grandparents for the first time. And you, Mitch, taking the time to escort her.”

“I figure I owed her after breaking her leg.” He smiled, and even he knew how desperate that smile must seem.

“You didn’t break my leg, Mr. Campbell,” Genny said. “I did that quite on my own. Though I must say I wouldn’t have broken it if you hadn’t startled me so.”

“And I wouldn’t have startled you if you hadn’t been sneaking around following me.”

Genny turned to Mollie to explain. “I was trying to determine whether Mr. Campbell was someone I could trust to escort me to Sacramento. I hadn’t any idea how to get there on my own, you see.”

“How could you determine his trustworthiness based on observation?” Mollie asked, sounding as if she didn’t entirely believe Genny. And to be honest, Mitch had been wondering the same thing.

“The way he treated his mule.”

Mollie smiled. “Of course.”

“The way I treated my
mule
? You were going to make a decision based on that?” Mitch’s blood ran cold to think of how many terrible men treated their animals far more kindly than they treated humans.

“It seemed like a valid way,” Genny said, looking to Mollie for agreement. To his shock, Mollie nodded.

Mitch took a deep breath to calm his temper, but he just couldn’t keep the image of Genny going up to some ne’er do well and being molested or killed because the man wiped down his horse after a hard ride. Her heroics on the train were still fresh in his mind and though he tried to school his expression, he had a feeling his thoughts were too apparent.

“Miss Hayes, why don’t you go freshen up. I’ll keep Mitch company. There’s a washroom just off the kitchen. I’ll show you the way and get you settled.”

Mitch knew what was coming. Mollie was getting rid of Genny so that she could give him a piece of her mind. He couldn’t say that he didn’t deserve it. If he stepped back and looked at his actions—and the reasons for them—he knew he was not going to come out in a very good light in Mollie’s eyes. Five minutes after leaving him sweating in the parlor, Mollie returned, shut the door behind her, and stood, glaring at him, arms folded, foot tapping.

“I know what you’re going to say, Mollie, and I really am in no mood to hear it.”

She stalked toward him and pointed an accusing finger at him. “You have no idea what I’m going to say to you, Mr. Campbell. What are you thinking bringing your lady friend into my house? I have small children to care for. And neighbors.” Mitch opened his mouth to explain, but she just kept on talking. “And it’s clear that girl trusts you. She looks at you as if the sun rises and sets on your shoulders. And I don’t really care much for the way you look at her. You tell me, right now, sir, what is really going on here. Grandparents in England. Honestly, Mitch, how gullible do you think I am?”

“It’s the truth, Mollie, I swear. She got hurt, needed an escort, and since I wanted to get home, I agreed to take her to New York.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Miss Hayes said you’re taking her all the way to England. Are you?”

Mitch couldn’t quite meet her sparking blue gaze. “Yes. I am.”

“You’re a good man, Mitch. But you’re no saint. There’s only one reason I can think of why you would volunteer to escort a stranger all the way across an ocean.”

He tried to appear shocked by her accusation, he truly did, but he ended up chuckling instead. “Her grandfather’s a
duke
, Mollie. A duke. I’ve been saving for my studio for five years and I’ve got a few more dollars to go before I have enough money to open it. I want to do things right. It’s got to be fancy and I have to have the latest equipment. New York is a mite more expensive than Omaha. So, yes, I thought I’d stumbled upon a little treasure.”

“Oh, Mitch.” The way she said it made him feel like he could crawl beneath an ant—and it was clear she still didn’t believe him. “I know you’re a skinflint, but a duke in England? You couldn’t come up with a better tale than that?”

“I’m telling you the truth, Mollie. On the souls of your children.”

Mollie’s mouth gaped open and she was silent for so long, Mitch said, “Trying to catch flies, Mollie?”

“You’re not fooling me? Are you telling me that she actually is the granddaughter of a duke? And you really did meet her in Yosemite? And that this is all about
money
?”

Mitch shook his head in confusion. “What were
you
talking about?”

She put her hands on her hips and stalked around the room a bit before finally settling down in a chair opposite him. “You’re telling the truth? This whole thing is not just some tall tale to make me be nice to your . . . your . . .”

“God, no. Mollie. Hell, what kind of man do you think I am? Besides, Miss Hayes is just about the most innocent woman I’ve ever met in my life.”

She threw her arms out to her sides. Mollie had a way of talking that involved her entire body. “I wasn’t sure for a while there. Wait. How was it that you have been traveling? A man traveling with a woman is sure to draw some attention.”

Mitch felt his cheeks flush. Again. “We’ve been traveling as husband and wife.” He threw his hand up to stop her tirade. “And before you go getting on your high horse, it’s just a ruse so that people are nice to her. Nothing has happened, Mollie. I’m just thinking about the money, that’s all.”

“Does Miss Hayes know that?”

Mitch shifted in his chair. “No. She doesn’t. I’d probably take her anyway, even if I didn’t think I’d be getting a reward for my troubles. She has a way of getting under a man’s skin.”

Mollie looked amused. “Falling for her, are you, Mitch?”

“Her grandfather’s a duke, Mollie. I don’t even know who my father is. And my mother . . .” He let out a short, humorless laugh. “She’s no one’s idea of a respectable woman.”

Mitch didn’t like the expression on Mollie’s face right then. If he wasn’t mistaken, he’d say it was pity. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Mitch swiped a hand threw his hair, making the dark strands stand on end. “What do you want me to say, Mollie, that I adore her? That just the thought of leaving her behind makes me crazy? I’m not that man.”

“I’m sorry, Mitch.”

“Don’t be. I made this mess all by myself. And to answer your question, no, I’m not falling for her.” Even as he said the words, he could feel a heat come to his cheeks. When the hell had he started blushing?

“Does she know how you feel?”

“Sure she does. We’re just friends.” Lies and more lies. He rested his forearms against his thighs and hung his head. “And that’s the way it’s going to stay, Moll.”

“If you say so. Just please don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

A tap on the door made them both start. “Come in.”

Genny peeked her head into the room. “I’m all freshened up,” she said. “I was hoping to get some shopping done while we’re here and Mitch mentioned there’s a dress shop nearby?”

Mollie practically leaped out of her chair. “Mitch, you stay here and watch the children. I’m going shopping with Miss Hayes.”