Colorado Dawn (49 page)

“Francine manages my career.”

“That’s been fine up until now, but you’re destined for bigger things than Francine can deal with. You have no idea your own potential, Willow. Francine will never let your light shine brighter than her own, and hers is waning with each new season. You’re on the cusp of an amazing career, bigger than hers, bigger than anything you ever imagined. You’ll be famous, and your name will be on everyone’s lips. You’ll have more money and prestige than you can imagine. It’s all there waiting for you. And you’ll need someone to guide you, someone to manage things, especially the money you’ll be earning. And if you will consider it, I’d like to present my services. I know this business, and I would have your best interests at heart. Would you consider it, making me your manager?”

The life he described—the fame, the fortune—while exciting, didn’t seem real, as if he were speaking of another person. While she was flattered and pleased at the offer, her heart didn’t skip the way she thought it should. Any rational mind would leap at this chance, right?

He laughed. “I can see I’ve taken your breath away. But Willow, your mother was a good friend to me, and she asked me to look after you girls.”

“This has been a surprise.” Her cautious nature exerted itself. “Do they need an answer right away? I’d like a little time to think about it, to sit down with you and go over some of the details, perhaps read the contract myself before I make up my mind.”

Tucking her hand into his elbow, he led her into the hotel. “We have some time. A few weeks even, but I’m sure you’ll find everything straightforward. You think about it. It’s all there waiting for you, and I’ll help you any way I can.”

Moments later, stepping into the reception room, Willow searched for Silas. She finally found him beyond the punch table.

And he wasn’t alone. Her spine stiffened. Half a dozen young women surrounded him, eyelashes flicking faster than their painted fans. His white smile flashed as he bent his head to hear what one of them had to say.

Before she was ready, his glance met hers across the room. The same swooping, tingling feeling that had assaulted her when she first saw him in the balcony swept over her again obliterating Clement’s news and the possibilities it offered. She took several breaths, but each seemed to clog in her throat. Someone at her side spoke to her, but she heard nothing but the beating of her heart.

Silas excused himself and threaded his way through the crowd until he stood before her. “I had no idea you were an actress. You were exquisite. Really amazing.” His rich, velvety voice flowed over her.

A warm glow at his praise fizzed up and filled her cheeks. “Thank you. You really liked it?”

As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he took her hand, threading his fingers through hers and squeezing. “I was enthralled from the first scene.”

Francine appeared at Willow’s shoulder, her brow as serene as it had been stormy before. “Willow, darling, you made it at last.” She appeared to notice Silas for the first time, and her lashes fluttered while her lips pursed into a small pout. “Hello.” She held out her be-ringed hand. “I’m Francine Starr, and you are?”

Disquiet tiptoed up Willow’s spine. She’d not told anyone about meeting Silas on the riverbank, not wanting to share for fear of rubbing some of the bloom off.

Francine had a predatory gleam and was putting herself out to be charming. Would Silas, like so many others, be drawn to her great beauty?

Silas bowed and took Francine’s offered hand. “Silas Hamilton. A pleasure, Miss Starr. I enjoyed your performance very much this evening.”

“My, my, Mr. Hamilton, you have a wonderful voice, so deep and full. Have you ever considered the stage?” Francine kept hold of Silas’s hand, and Willow forced herself not to react.

He smiled, and deep creases formed on his cheeks. Not quite dimples, but almost. “I guess you could say I’ve done my share of public speaking, but I’m no actor. I’ll leave that to professionals such as Willow and yourself. Your performances were so compelling, I lost all track of time and place tonight. Of course that happens every time I’m in Willow’s company.” Though he spoke to Francine, his warm gaze locked with Willow’s.

Francine arched one carefully sculpted eyebrow. “That is, of course, the goal of any actress, to captivate her audience to the exclusion of all else.” Her glance went from Willow to Silas and back again, and Willow could almost hear the wheels turning.

A large, white-haired man clapped Silas on the shoulder. “Fine performance tonight.”

Silas introduced him as Mr. Mackenzie and went on to make introductions for the rest of his party.

Willow smiled and talked and played her part, but in the back of her mind the uneasiness lingered, fostered by the appraising gleam in her sister’s eyes.

T
he evening after seeing the play, Silas fought to concentrate on his sermon notes. Every time he relaxed for an instant, his mind wandered to Willow. Because he found this a pleasant pursuit, he found his mind relaxing all too frequently.

She was exquisite. Everything about her appealed to him. And to find she was as talented as she was sweet and beautiful…

His chest swelled, and his mouth stretched into the ridiculous grin he’d spied on his face every time he looked in the mirror lately. Only the knowledge he had a sermon to prepare for the morning kept him from attending the theater again tonight.

His black-and-white tomcat hopped up onto the desk, crinkling papers and scattering notes. He sniffed the sermon notes and flopped down across Silas’s open Bible, yawning and showing a lot of sharp white teeth and pink tongue.

“Come on. The sermon can’t be that boring, Sherman.” Silas cupped the furry head, smiling at the rumbling purr deep in the cat’s chest.

The cat regarded him with green eyes before falling to licking his snowy paws. Silas propped his elbows on the desk and planted his chin on his fists. “I know. I should be working, but it’s hard to concentrate.”

A knock sounded on the side door. Grateful for the interruption, Silas went to open it.

“Kenneth, hello. What brings you out tonight?”

The young man stood on the stoop, his hat brim crushed in his fists. “Evening, Pastor. I saw your light on. Hope you don’t mind me dropping in like this.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot.

Silas stood back. “Of course not. My door is always open. I’m happy to see you. Though Sherman is a good listener, he isn’t much of a conversationalist.” He waved to where the cat lolled on the desk. “Come in.”

Kenneth Hayes shuffled in, shoulders drooping.

Silas ran through what he knew about the young man and couldn’t come up with a ready reason for his distress, but even his short time in the pastorate had taught him to be prepared for anything. What he saw with parishioners wasn’t necessarily what he got.

“Have a seat.” He directed the young man to the chairs before the cold fireplace. Kenneth was so ill at ease, having Silas sit behind his desk might scare him off altogether. Even now as he lowered himself onto the chair he looked about ready to bolt. “Would you like some coffee? I can brew up a pot in a jiffy.”

“No, I’m fine.” He tried to smooth out the creases in his hat, then rubbed his palms down his thighs one at a time. He swallowed hard.

Silas sat across from him. Leaning back, he relaxed hoping Kenneth could do the same.

Sherman dropped off the desk and came over to investigate the visitor. When Kenneth leaned down to scratch the cat’s ears, Sherman ducked and moved away to sit on the cold hearth. He wrapped his tail around his feet and went still as a statue.

“Don’t mind him. He’s a bit antisocial. You’d think a cat living in the parsonage would learn some hospitality, but I haven’t managed to teach him yet.” Silas changed the subject. “I heard you got promoted over at the Mackenzie mine. Congratulations. Shift manager, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. Pay increase and day shift.” Kenneth couldn’t seem to find anywhere to look for long, and he avoided Silas’s gaze completely.

Silas decided to jump right in. “What’s bothering you? You’ll probably feel better if you get it off your chest.”

The young man’s eyes widened, and his look collided with Silas’s for an instant before dropping to the floor between his boots. “I guess you could say I have some girl trouble.”

Silas nodded. “Girls do have a way of tying a fellow up in knots.”

“This girl could give lessons.” He fisted his hands and tapped on the arm of the chair. “I’ve never been so snarled up. She loves me. I know she does.”

“And I take it you feel the same?”

Kenneth nodded, his shoulders slumping. “More than I can say. I can’t stop thinking about her. I want to spend every minute with her, and I want to tell the world she’s mine.”

Silas blinked. Kenneth had summed up rather neatly the way Silas was beginning to feel about Willow. “What’s holding you back?”

“She is. It’s like she’s ashamed of me or something. I want to go to her father and ask permission to court her, but she won’t let me. Says she knows her folks won’t say yes.”

“What objection would they have?” Silas frowned. Kenneth was a fine, upstanding young man with good prospects. He had a good job, came to church regularly, and Silas had never heard of him getting into any kind of trouble.

“I’m not good enough, I guess. I thought getting promoted at the mine might change her mind, but she’s standing firm.” He sighed.

“Maybe I could help persuade her parents if you told me who she was.”

Kenneth shook his head. “Naw, there’s nothing you can do. She wouldn’t like it if she knew I was here talking to you about it, but I’m going crazy. I had to talk to someone.”

“If you aren’t calling on the girl socially, where do you see her?”

A flush mottled his face, and he cleared his throat.

“I take it you’ve been together when her parents don’t know?” Silas kept his voice as neutral as possible, wanting Kenneth to see the wrong without having to be bashed over the head with it.

“I know. It’s gotten to the point where she’s lying to get out of the house.”

Silas pursed his lips, considering. “I can appreciate how you feel, being in love, wanting to be with someone. But you have to realize that a relationship based on lies and sneaking around is on rocky ground. She’s put you in a bad position by not letting you declare your intentions, and you’ve put her in a bad place by encouraging her to be untruthful.”

Kenneth rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. “I know.”

“And you know you have one of two choices to make this right?” Silas leaned forward and put his elbows on his thighs, clasping his hands loosely. “You either have to go to her father and declare your intentions, or you have to stop seeing this girl. Nothing good will come from your continuing to meet in secret. You’ve already compromised this young girl’s reputation by seeing her without her parents’ permission.”

“There’s one other choice.” Kenneth mumbled the words.

“Oh?”

“We could elope, just run off and get married. Her folks couldn’t say no to me if the deal was already done.” A defiant light sparked in Kenneth’s eyes. His chin came up, and he gripped his knees.

Silas took a moment to marshal his thoughts and select his words. “That’s pretty rash. I know you feel desperate right now, but I would caution you to think this through. If this girl still lives at home, then she’s under her father’s protection. It is her obligation to honor him. You don’t even know if your suit would be denied. Before you do something as drastic and permanent as getting married in secret, it would be best if you talked to her father man-to-man. How would you feel if it were your daughter? Would you want her to run off and get married, or would you want to sit down and talk things out?”

The starch drained out of Kenneth, and he sagged into the chair. “You’re right. You’re not telling me anything I haven’t told myself a hundred times. I guess I just needed to hear it from someone else. If someone ran off with my daughter, I’d hunt him down and fill him full of buckshot.”

“Maybe you two are worried about nothing. Maybe her folks will like you just fine.”

“I think they’re aiming higher for their daughter than a simple shift manager.”

“Who’s to say you’ll stop at shift manager? You’ve got great potential. The Mackenzies already see it, promoting you so quickly. I have a feeling, if you put your mind to it, you could own and operate your own mine before too long. Don’t sell yourself short.”

Kenneth shrugged and rose. “I’ve taken up enough of your time. Thanks for listening.”

“Before you go, can we pray about this?” Silas invited Kenneth to sit once more. “I think we’ll both feel better if we take it to the Lord.”

At Kenneth’s nod, Silas bowed his head. “Dear Lord, You know what’s on Kenneth’s heart. You know how much he loves this girl and wants to be with her, but You also know he wants to do what is right, what You want him to do. I pray You would give him courage to talk to this girl’s father, and that if it is Your will, her father would consent to Kenneth courting his daughter. In all of this, we want to glorify You, and we ask for wisdom and for Your will to be made plain. Amen.”

“Amen.”

When Silas closed the door and returned to his sermon notes, he had to move Sherman off his Bible once more. The cat sat on the corner of the desk, staring at him unblinkingly.

Silas picked up his pencil and bent over his papers, but the cat’s unnerving stare made the hair on the back of his neck itch. Finally he threw down his writing utensil. “Fine, you don’t have to say it. I know.”

Sherman gave one, slow blink.

“I know I need to ask permission to court Willow. It’s hypocritical to tell Kenneth what he needs to do to make things right when I’ve been lax myself. I’ll tend to it Monday morning.”