Miner's Daughter (37 page)

She stopped petting Tiny and made a small
gesture with her hand. “Well, I mean . . .” Again, her words faded
out.

“You mean what?” He felt his temper begin to
rise and tamped it down with difficulty.

Her temper was evidently having the same
trouble as his, because she snapped, “Well, for goodness’ sake,
Tony Ewing! What will everyone think if they know you spent the
night here? I’d be run out of town!”

Tony could hardly credit the sensation of
relief that washed over him. So that was her problem! It was
foolish of him not to have thought of it first. After all, he had
grown up abiding by a stuffy society’s many rules and regulations.
He was so comforted to know she hadn’t merely used him for her own
ends that he laughed. Tiny’s tail started thumping again.

She scowled. “I don’t think it’s funny. You
might not be ruined by something like this, but I’m not rich and
famous like some people.”

Shaking his head, he again reached across
Tiny to touch her. She jerked away from him, incensed. “Mari, it’s
not that. I’m not laughing at you. And I don’t think your worries
are unfounded or nonsensical. I’m only relieved that you don’t want
to kick me out because you hate me.”

She opened her mouth, shut it, then opened it
again, as if at a complete loss for words.

Tony said humbly, “May I please stay here
with you tonight? When the crew shows up tomorrow, we can tell them
about Tiny being shot. I can say I stayed here to help you with
Tiny and because I didn’t want you to be alone out here in the
middle of nowhere without anyone to guard you, knowing there’s a
gun-happy lunatic somewhere in the area.”

She looked skeptical. “Do you think they’ll
buy that one?”

“Why not? It’s the truth. Martin knows me
well enough to understand that I’d never desert a lady in
distress.”

“I wasn’t in distress,” she said stiffly.
“Tiny was.”

Tony only nodded. “Of course. That’s what I
meant to say.

She thought about it for another several
tense seconds Tony realized he meant the part about not leaving her
alone. If she kicked him out of her cabin, he’d sleep in the Pierce
Arrow He’d be damned if he’d leave her at the mercy of whoever was
trying to ruin the making of the picture.

At last, she said, “Okay.” She stared at him
with those gorgeous, solemn brown eyes and added with a hint of
reserve in her manner, “I’d like you to stay.”

Thank God. He smiled back. “Good. Then it’s
settled. We can be up and about before the crew arrives, and nobody
will ever know a thing.”

“Okay. Let me get some more laudanum down
poor old Tiny.”

Together they doctored the dog, who was an
admirable patient. Then they retired to Mari’s extremely small bed.
Because he didn’t want any more temptations to attack him than were
absolutely necessary, Tony kept his trousers on. Mari donned a big
flannel nightgown, a hand-me-down from her deceased mother unless
Tony was much mistaken, thereby putting another barrier between the
two new lovers.

That was all right. Tony fell asleep almost
instantly once they’d wrapped themselves comfortably in each
other’s arms. He had the rest of his life to make love to Mari. The
rest of his life. He was so happy, he was surprised his body even
touched the bed because he was floating on air.

Right before his brain shut off and sleep
claimed him, he realized he hadn’t got his proposal of marriage
made.

Tomorrow morning, he assured himself. There’d
be plenty of time to propose tomorrow morning before filming
started.

It was the rattle of wagons and the purr of
motorcar engines that awoke Mari in the morning. Blinking into the
sunshine streaming through her window, it took her only a heartbeat
to realize they’d overslept. She rolled out of bed with a gasp,
flew to the window, and peeked outside, holding the curtain so that
no one could see inside the cabin.

Yup. There they were. A caravan of
motion-picture people. Darn it all. She raced back to the bed and
shook Tony as hard as she could. “Tony! Wake up this instant!
They’re here!”

“Grrmph. Wh-huh?”

Lord, the man was gorgeous. But at present he
was a blasted lump. She shook him again and growled, “Get up!
Martin’s here!”

“Mm-Martin?” His eyes flew open. “Good God,
what time is it?”

“I don’t know.” She saw Tony’s pocket watch
on the table next to her bed and snatched it up. “It’s
seven-thirty.”

“Seven-thirty?” He flung his long legs over
the side of the bed and yawned hugely. “Good God, picture people
get up early. It’s a damned uncivilized profession, if you ask
me.”

“Yes,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Don’t they though. Will you get moving? I have to see to Tiny and
get dressed.”

“Right.” Tony stood up and stretched.

Dear Lord in heaven. Mari wished he hadn’t
done that. He was as much like a Greek god as made no matter, and
she really just wanted to stay here and look at him all day. She’d
give anything not to have to work.

As if she had anything to give. Which was the
whole point, she reminded herself sternly. She was working on this
picture in order to earn money, and she’d better get ready to do
it. This was supposed to be a big day for her character, and
there’d be a lot of climbing in and out of the mine to do.

In other words, it would be almost like a
normal day for her. But she wasn’t normal. She was a whole new Mari
after last night. She wanted to sing and dance and whistle and tell
the world how happy she was.

She did none of those things; she retied her
bathrobe and went to her dog. She had to wash up, but Tiny came
first. Praying like mad that no one from the picture crew would
knock at her door, she inspected Tiny’s wound, gave him some water,
and hand-fed him a few bites of food.

“Don’t give him too much,” warned Tony from
the far corner of the room.

When Mari turned to see what he was doing,
she was gratified to note that he’d already dressed and was
brushing his hair with her hairbrush. Her heart gave a brief leap,
and it crossed her mind never to wash that brush again. Which was
patently stupid.

“I won’t,” she said. “But I’m sure he needs
to eat a little something.”

Tony walked over and grinned down at the girl
and her dog. “I suppose so. He probably eats more than you do.”

“He does,” she said dryly.

Tiny wagged his tail and whined. Mari was
pleased when Tony correctly interpreted this message as an
invitation to say good morning in Dog and leaned over to pet
him.

“You’re going to be all right,” Tony assured
Tiny. “Just rest up today and don’t do any rabbit chasing or
anything.”

“I’m going to leave him inside the cabin,”
Mari said. “Although I suppose I ought to take him outside to do
his duty first.”

“Why don’t you let me do that,” Tony
suggested. “I’ll walk him outside, explain everything to Martin,
and you can be getting ready in here. Then he can stay outside with
me if he wants to. Tiny,” he clarified, “not Martin.”

If he wasn’t the kindest, most thoughtful man
in the universe, Mari didn’t know who was. “Thanks, Tony. I—” Good
God, she almost said
I love you
. Fortunately, her brain was
quicker than her tongue, and she said, “I appreciate it.”

He tipped her a wink and went to where Tiny’s
leash hung on a hook beside the door. Seeing this, Tiny struggled
to his feet, whimpering only once. Mari helped him to stand,
wincing for his pain. “That’s a good boy,” she whispered in his big
pointy ear, exaggerating somewhat for the sake of Tiny’s
self-esteem. “You’re such a very good boy.”

“Come on, you big lug,” said Tony, who
evidently wasn’t worried about the dog’s ego. “Let’s go outside and
show off your battle scars.”

Mari’s heart seemed to swell in her chest.
She’d believed she had only one male to love in the world: Tiny. As
she watched Tony carefully guide Tiny out the door, she realized
her capacity for love had grown by one. She sighed and wondered
dreamily where it would end. No matter how many fantasies she spun
in her head, she had no doubt whatever that it would end, and that
the end would hurt her deeply.

In spite of her doubts and fears, Mari washed
and dressed in record time, rushing outdoors to see Martin and the
rest of the Peerless crew huddled around Tiny, who was obviously
enjoying the attention. Although his tail sagged slightly—when he
felt really well, he held it in the air like a flagstaff—it was
wagging, and his huge doggy grin was visible from where she
stood.

Martin waved to her. “Mari! Tony’s just been
telling us what happened. Good Lord, I can’t believe it!”

She walked over to the clump of people. “I
couldn’t believe it, either, but I saved the bullet I tweezed out
of him. It’s in a jar in the cabin.” She hooked a thumb over her
shoulder.

A troubled frown marred Martin’s handsome
face, and creases appeared in his brow. He’d already begun tugging
on his worry lock. “This has got to stop. We can’t have someone
shooting dogs.”

“I’m sure Mari won’t agree with me,” said
Tony, “but I suppose it’s better than shooting people.”

Mari shot him a scowl “Whoever it was might
have thought he was shooting people,” she pointed out. “It was
getting dark.” She was almost sorry for losing her temper when Tony
paled in front of her eyes.

“Good God.”

Martin clapped him on the back. “Buck up,
Tony. The detectives are here, and I’ll post them at Mari’s cabin
tonight.” A thought struck him, and he turned to Mari. “Unless
you’d rather take a room at the Mojave Inn until this thing is in
the can. Peerless will be happy to pick up the tab.” He saw Mari
glance quickly down at her dog and hurried to add, “I’m sure
they’ll let Tiny stay there, too.”

“That might be a good idea, Mari,” Tony
said.

She eyed him narrowly, wondering if he had
her interests at heart, or merely thought it would be easier to get
into her drawers if she stayed at the hotel. Then she told herself
not to be silly; he’d have had no trouble in that regard, no matter
where he attempted a seduction. If seduction it had been. Mari
didn’t even know at this point. All she knew for sure was that
she’d been willing. More than willing. Eager.

“Let me think about it, please,” she said
after lecturing herself severely about the futility of
afterthoughts.

Martin readily agreed with this plan

Tony sat on a chair in the shade of an
umbrella with Tiny lying on a blanket at his side. They both
watched as the Peerless crew filmed scene after scene featuring
Mari and her mine. Reginald Harrowgate staggered into the picture
here and there, playing his part of Mari’s drunken father to the
hilt.

Another actor, a handsome devil named—or
renamed, if Tony knew anything about actors—Xavier Joaquin, acted
the part of the gent who’d won Mari in a poker game. He swaggered
and strutted, and it was all Tony could do to contain himself when
Joaquin pretended to manhandle her in one scene.

“It’s only a picture,” he grumbled to Tiny in
an effort to subdue his raging temper. “It’s only a picture.”

Tiny lifted his head and gazed at him mutely,
but Tony felt sure he understood.

Around one o’clock, a wagon arrived with
sandwiches and lemonade, and everyone was happy to rest for a half
hour or so. They all tried to stay out of the scorching sun, using
the umbrellas Peerless had provided, but the heat was still
enervating. Tony made sure Mari ate her lunch with him. Although he
wasn’t overjoyed when Martin joined them, he didn’t protest,
understanding Mari’s reluctance to advertise the change in her and
Tony’s relationship.

He was going to propose to her as soon as
they were alone together. He could kick himself for not doing it
last night.

Filming continued after lunch. Mari looked
exhausted as she rested on the sidelines, and Tony was proud of how
well she hid her tiredness as soon as the cameras commenced their
ungodly racket.

At one point, she had to enter the mine,
climb down the rope ladder suspended from the mine
scaffolding—scaffolding that had been reinforced by Peerless
carpenters before filming had ever begun—and pretend to hide from
Joaquin. Scenes depicting her escape from Joaquin would be filmed
later on a set George Peters had designed specifically to resemble
the intricate tunnels inside the mine.

Tony watched, frowning, as, with every
evidence of terror, Mari disappeared into the mine shaft. He didn’t
like thinking of her in that damned hole in the ground. No matter
how much effort Peerless had put into making it safe, Tony didn’t
trust it.

He knew he was being foolish. Mari had worked
that blasted mine all her life. She knew it like the back of her
hand. If anyone was safe in that damned pit, it was she.

When a frightened cry rose from the hole in
the ground, he was on his feet in an instant and racing toward the
mine entrance.

Martin called out, “Hey, Tony! What are
you—”

His question was drowned out by a series of
loud crackling noises that sounded like fire from a Gatling gun,
followed at once by a huge boom, and another louder, and more
frightened scream from Mari.

Tony’s heart lurched sickeningly when a noise
like an avalanche issued from underground, and a gigantic cloud of
dust rose from the mouth of the mine. “Mari!” he shouted. “Mari!
Mari!”

He heard someone running up behind him, and
then Martin’s voice joined his. “Mari! For God’s sake, what’s
happening in there?”

Tony feared he knew exactly what was
happening. Or, rather, what had happened. The saboteur had been at
the mine; that was why he’d been here last evening, and why Tiny
had scared him so much that the vandalizing bastard had shot
him.

Both men halted at the mine opening. All Tony
saw from where he stood was rubble. The entrance to the mine was
completely blocked by shattered scaffolding and rocks. Everything
inside of him throbbed with fear and pain. “Mari,” he breathed.