Kissing in the Dark (34 page)

And for Duke to face reality.

He gripped Archer’s fishing rod and walked home with it. He found Adam helping Faith and Cora rake leaves. A smile covered Cora’s face as she ran to greet him with a hug. He tweaked her side, and set her back on her feet. “I need to talk to your mother and Adam alone,” he said. “Go play on the swing for a few minutes.”

“Will you push me?” she asked.

“I can’t, princess. I’m working.” He gave her a pat on the head, and she scampered off.

“What’s the matter?” Faith asked, tugging a pair of worn gloves off her hands. She approached him warily, like a snarling dog she was unsure of.

He couldn’t blame her. He’d snapped at her a dozen times since learning about the brothel. Her attempts to stroke his hackles back into place only antagonized him. He needed to work out his anger alone, and figure out how to get them out of this mess without losing everything he and his family had worked for.

A worried look creased Adam’s forehead as he dropped the rake, but when he saw the fishing rod, his eyes lit up. “Did you get a new rod?” he asked, stopping in front of Duke.

The genuine excitement in his face unbalanced Duke. He’d expected to see fear or feigned innocence, not boyish enthusiasm.

“Where were you last Sunday afternoon, Adam?”

The boy’s gaze shifted slightly and became guarded. “In the gorge.”

“Did you at any time go into Wayne Archer’s barn and remove this fishing rod?” he asked, finding that a direct question could sometimes shake loose an honest answer.

“No, sir,” Adam said, his scowl deepening. “I don’t even know where Mr. Archer lives.”

“Melissa Archer said she saw you leaving her father’s barn with this fishing rod Sunday afternoon at two-thirty.”

Anger flashed in his eyes. “She’s lying.”

“Then you’re saying you were in the gorge?”

Adam’s jaw clenched. “Yes.”

“What were you doing in the gorge?”

“Skipping stones.”

“You told me you were going fishing.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Did you put my rod back in my boat?”

“I didn’t take it out. I just stayed in the gorge and skipped stones.”

“Then you never went to my boat?”

“No, sir. I haven’t been there since the day you took me fishing.”

“If you’re telling me you didn’t take this rod from his barn, then I want to know how it got on my boat.”

Adam clenched his jaw and said nothing, his stubborn silence increasing Duke’s ire.

“Adam . . .” Faith rubbed his shoulder, coddling him, which made Duke madder. “Do you know anything about this?”

The boy shook his head.

“All right then.” She glanced at Duke. “I believe him.”

She would. It irritated Duke that she accepted Adam’s word without considering the facts. “How did this rod end up on my boat if Adam didn’t put it there?”

“I don’t know,” she said, “but I know when Adam isn’t telling the truth.”

“Do you? Then why couldn’t you tell he was lying when he was skipping out of school?”

“Because I didn’t ask him where he was going.”

Furious, Duke planted the pole on the ground. “How do you suppose this rod got on my boat, Adam?”

The boy glared at him. “You’re the sheriff, you figure it out.”

Duke’s chest felt close to exploding. Tangling with Archer at the meeting had gotten his blood warm, but finding the fishing rod on his own damned boat then getting wise-mouthed from Adam pushed his temperature to boiling.

“All right, Adam, I will. I’ll do my job without your help. But you stay in the yard. No wandering in the gorge. No going anywhere but to school. I want Faith to know where you are every minute of the day.”

“Why? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m your guardian, and your actions reflect on me. Don’t challenge me on this, Adam, or I’ll put you in jail and keep an eye on you myself.”

Faith gasped, her eyes wide with disbelief and disappointment.

“How come nobody ever believes me?” Adam demanded.

“Because you’ve lied to both of us,” Duke said. “This is what happens when you break a person’s trust.”

“I didn’t take that stupid fishing rod!”

Before Adam could bolt, Duke clamped a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I told you to stay in the yard.”

“You aren’t my father.”

The boy’s words hit Duke like a bucket of ice water, hurting and startling, then infuriating him.

“Maybe not, Adam, but I’m the sheriff in this town and I can damn well confine you to the yard if I see fit. Since you don’t like that idea, I’ll see if a jail cell suits you better.”

He marched Adam across the yard.

“Duke!” Faith hurried after them. “You can’t take him to jail.”

“The hell I can’t.”

“He’s only a boy!”

“Age has nothing to do with it, Faith. Adam has been caught stealing and lying, and he’s being charged with another theft. I can’t turn a blind eye to the boy’s shenanigans and expect to keep my job. It’s time Adam faced the consequences of his actions. You lie, nobody trusts you. You steal, you go to jail. You mislead people, you risk losing everything.”

“You’re trying to punish
me
, Duke. I’m the one you’re angry with. I’m the one who lied. I’m the one who misled you. And you’ll never forgive me for burdening your lily white conscience, will you?”

She was crying now, tearing him apart with her tears and words. He turned away, unable to look at her, not wanting to believe she was right, or that he was allowing his anger make him cruel.

Adam tried and failed to jerk his elbow free. “Faith hasn’t hurt anybody!”

Duke kept his grip firm and propelled Adam down the street. “You’d better get all the facts before you pass judgment, Adam.”

“Maybe you should take your own advice. I didn’t steal anything but that brush. And Faith wouldn’t hurt anybody for any reason.”

Duke blocked out Adam’s angry denial, and Faith’s tears, and marched the boy straight to his empty jail cell. He left his deputy to watch the boy, then took a walk to cool off.

He strode up West Hill and turned left on Chestnut Street, trying to burn off his anger. All he’d wanted was a truthful and loving wife. Supporting Faith and her large family was a job he’d accepted without complaint or resentment. Being a father to Cora and Adam was as rewarding as it was challenging. And he could understand why Faith hid the truth from him.

But damn it, he’d earned her trust. All those nights in the bathhouse, when he’d ached to make love to her, he’d protected her from his lust and waited until they were married to consummate their attraction. He’d bought her the house she loved. On their wedding night, he nearly crippled himself trying to take things slow, to give her as much pleasure as possible in their marriage bed. Like an open book, he shared his life and his memories with her, but never pressed her to talk about her own life because he sensed it brought her pain. He gave her his heart and his passion.

She gave him lies.

Damn right, he was angry. With himself. In his efforts to protect Faith and her aunts, he was becoming a man he couldn’t respect.

His brothers had accused him of being rigid to a fault, but laws were black and white, and meant to be rigidly adhered to, and enforced with diligence. He should have pursued the parasol theft until he found the thief. He should have charged Dahlia with killing Levens and let a jury decide her guilt. And he should have listened to Radford when his brother warned him to slow down. Because if he’d suspected Faith’s past, he’d have done things differently. He’d have done them right. He’d have shut down the bathhouse, married off those crazy aunts of hers, and sold the brothel.

Then he would have married Faith—because he loved her.

And that’s why her lack of trust wounded him so deeply. From the minute he met her, he’d wanted her. He’d opened his heart and his life and left himself open to her betrayal. To realize she knowingly misled him was like expecting a kiss only to get slammed in the gut with a hand maul.

It was his own fault for being too sure of himself. He’d known Faith was hiding something behind her smile, but he ignored the feeling because he wanted her, and because he knew she was the one, the woman he would love for the rest of his life.

His anger burned away, and his pace slowed, but he continued to walk. He headed out of town on Water Street, then cut over to Liberty Street where the whining sound of the saw at the mill echoed along the gorge and beckoned him closer.

There was commotion in the yard when he got there. His brothers were talking with Patrick and Cyrus, but they looked pissed off, especially Radford, who swore and slammed his hand ax into a pile of maple logs.

“What’s going on?” Duke asked, closing in on their gathering.

They all looked at him, but Radford got right in his face. “I was just going to come find you,” he said, all tensed up like he was ready to throttle somebody.

“Why?” Everyone was looking at him, but he spoke to Radford. “What’s going on here?”

“You have a damned brothel operating under your nose, that’s what’s wrong! My daughter walked into that greenhouse you own and saw Patrick fondling Iris’s bare breast.”

“What?” Duke’s gaze shot to Patrick. “Is that true?”

Patrick gave a shamefaced nod.

“Jesus.” His gut twisted and he felt nauseated. To think an innocent like Rebecca had witnessed something so base and intimate made him want to slug Patrick—and kick himself for being so goddamned blind.

“The greenhouse was closed for the day. We thought we’d be alone,” Patrick said. “We didn’t know Adam and Rebecca would be tromping upstairs.” Pat’s shoulders sagged. “I feel awful, Radford. I thought you should know so you could talk to her. She’s got to be shocked and confused by what she saw.”

“At the least. She should have never witnessed something like that.” Radford’s nostrils flared. “Whatever is going on at that damned greenhouse had better stop right now, Duke. If anyone hears about this, it could shred our reputation. You may not mind, but I sure as hell do.”

“So do I,” Boyd said. “We’ve each got a wife and children to think about.”

“And Mother,” Kyle added. “If she gets dragged into this, Duke, I’ll tear that greenhouse apart board by board and get rid of the problem.”

They had every right to be angry, but he was unable to believe what he was hearing. Archer wasn’t just trying to undermine Duke’s bid for election; the man had genuine cause for concern.

“Were you there too, Cyrus?” he asked, figuring he may as well hear the whole disgusting truth.

“Not that day.”

“Not
that
day. What the hell does that mean?” he asked. “Archer’s wife said she saw you and Tansy kissing at the top of the stairs in the greenhouse. Was Tansy servicing you upstairs, too?”

Shock flashed across the man’s face, then his expression hardened with anger. “Tansy was accepting my marriage proposal.”

The announcement surprised Duke and left him momentarily speechless. He’d figured Cyrus would remain a bachelor for life. And knowing Tansy’s past profession, Duke assumed none of those bawdy women would ever marry. Did Cyrus know about Tansy’s past? Or was he an unsuspecting fool like Duke had been?

“We’re going to marry tomorrow afternoon.”

So soon? Was there a reason for haste? It wasn’t Duke’s place to share the information with Cyrus. All he could do was try to keep everything from collapsing and burying his family in a mess they had nothing to do with. His mind spun, groping for a way to undo the damage Faith’s aunts and Cyrus and Patrick had caused with their fooling around. Then it struck him. “I want you to marry Tansy in the Common,” he said, an idea forming in his mind.

Cyrus scowled. “We were going to do it quick and quiet.”

“You could have if you hadn’t been so careless in kissing Tansy in the greenhouse. You two are the cause of this rumor, Cyrus. If you and Tansy marry in the park, people will think you were just an eager fiancé who was stealing a kiss from your intended. That should silence any rumors the Archers may have started, and it will keep suspicion from being cast on my family.”

“All right.” Cyrus gave him a nod. “I accept the responsibility for that, and I’m sorry for it. I’ll let Tansy know.”

Duke faced his brothers and had never felt so cut off from them in his life. In all their spats, there was never a time when they all stood against him as they were doing now. Duke was the peacekeeper in the family. He was the one who calmed them down and made them see reason. But not today. Because they all had everything to lose. And it was Duke’s poor judgment that had put them in this position. “I’ll shut down the bathhouse and stop the massages,” he said. “But it’ll break Faith’s heart if I make her close the greenhouse.”

“The greenhouse isn’t my only concern here.” Radford’s scowl darkened, his temper escalating. “It’s that damned boy Rebecca’s been sneaking around with. She wouldn’t have been there if not for Adam. You keep him away from her, or
I’m
going to have a talk with him.”

Under the circumstances, Duke didn’t blame his brother for being angry and protective, but it galled him that Radford was dumping the blame on Adam’s shoulders. Rebecca had a mind of her own and was with Adam because she wanted to be.

This wasn’t the time or the place to argue about it, though.

He gave Radford a nod, then turned and jabbed his finger against Patrick’s chest. “I suspect the only reason Radford hasn’t throttled you for being such an idiot is because you’re a damn good friend. But if you and Iris want to get naked, do it on your own property or I’ll beat you myself.”

He walked away before he slugged Patrick for being so careless and stupid, and before he started an argument with Radford over the children.

No one ever told him that being a husband and father would be a continuous exercise in control. Only an hour ago he’d wanted to shake Adam until the boy confessed the truth about the fishing rod. But now he knew Adam was with Rebecca last Sunday afternoon when the rod was supposedly taken, and he didn’t know what to think about the theft. Adam couldn’t have been in two places at the same time.

But if Adam didn’t take the rod, how did it get on Duke’s boat? The dinghy was too well hidden for someone to stumble upon it. So Adam, or someone who knew where Duke kept his boat, put the rod there. Rebecca knew where he kept it, but she wouldn’t steal a piece of bread if she were starving.