Rugged and Relentless (31 page)

“Yes, dear”
—Evie fantasized about the conversation she’d have with her sister later—
“it’s a terrible thing to lose your fiancé again. But we both know he more than had it coming
.” Then her sister would sigh and completely agree that smothering Braden Lyman had been a necessity. Not even Lacey would argue.

“Lyman, I know you’ve been through a lot, but if you ever say something like that about Ev—Miss Thompson again, I’ll make sure you regret it.” Creed’s low growl interrupted Evie’s reverie. “Even if I have to be tied down to make a fair fight.”

“You said it first.” She poked him in the chest with one finger. “Don’t threaten Braden.”
If anyone gets him, I will
.

“I did not!” Creed’s blue eyes went icy. “But if you’re going to hitch on exact words, I said you’re losing heft, not that you’re hefty. And I said I don’t like it.” He surveyed the plate, selected the biggest cookie, and held it out to her. “Here, eat this one next so you don’t get scrawny.”

“Scrawny?” This time the echo came out in a sort of squeak.
Did a man just say I’m in danger of being
scrawny?

“That’s what he said,” Cora yelled three feet away.

“I heard it, too!” Lacey and Naomi verified the event.

“Don’t you start getting your feathers ruffled over being called scrawny,” Creed warned. “You’re not that far gone, and I aim to make sure I don’t have to see it happen, but even a woman can’t get her dander up over being called two opposites.” He brandished the cookie at her in both threat and invitation.

“My feathers are fine and don’t need you evaluating them.” Perversely, now that she knew she looked thin enough to eat a cookie, she didn’t want one. In fact, wouldn’t touch it.

Contrary as she felt, Creed had her beat. He raised a brow then looked her down and up in a slow, assessing glance that left her feeling the blush from her ears down her neck. An appreciative smile tilted higher to the left of his face. “I’ve reevaluated, Miss Thompson.” His words sent her mood plummeting. Of course
it’d been a mistake for him to think she needed feeding up. “I was selfish, claiming three.” Creed moved so he handed the plate to her. “Let me keep this one instead.”

“Oh no, you don’t.” Evie couldn’t believe the way the rascal dared to tease her in front of everyone. “Mr. Creed, you take that back right now.” She waggled the plate.

“Yes, ma’am.” A hangdog look crossed his face. Quick as a flash, he dropped his one cookie atop the mound on the plate. “You’re right. The way you’re wasting away, you need every one.” With that, he sat back on his stool, which somehow turned to leave her staring at nothing more than his back while he resumed conversation with everyone else as though nothing had happened.

Leaving her standing there with a plate of gingersnaps. And the memory of a man who’d said she looked almost scrawny. If she wasn’t very, very careful, Evie realized, she might just end up liking Creed.

And then where will I be?

     TWENTY-TWO     

F
acing the same conversation she’d started three weeks previous, Lacey fought the urge to bury her face in her hands. Giving in to frustration over everyone’s doubt in her grand vision wouldn’t win any confidence from them, she reminded herself.

Why is it that men are the ones credited with common sense and good instincts, when they’re completely incapable of the most basic daily tasks?
She watched as Braden ignored Cora and Creed smothered Evie with orders, both of them too obtuse to carry on so much as a decent conversation. When Braden and Creed both insulted Evie, Lacey almost left the room in disgust.

How Evie withstood it, I’ll never know—unless she secretly returns Creed’s interest. That kept Lacey in her seat. For all his domineering ways, at least Creed’s protective and kind underneath. He shouldn’t have said “heft,” but how many men would notice that Evie’s dropped weight? He’s only known her a sennight! Better yet, he liked her the way she was.
For that alone, Lacey would approve Creed if Evie chose him as her husband … despite his inexplicable loyalty to Lacey’s own brother.

As for Braden’s own behavior toward Cora … well, that would be Cora’s dilemma. Not that such a technicality stopped Lacey
from wondering and watching. Nor would it stop her from involving herself if Braden didn’t shape up. In a very real way, Cora’s presence in Hope Falls was Lacey’s fault.

In fact, all of their presences in Hope Falls could be laid squarely at her door—a circumstance Lacey hoped she’d one day be proud to proclaim. For now, she had her hands full trying to keep it from devolving into a catastrophe. At least she had it figured out what to do if this endeavor became a spectacular failure. After all, she’d been doing it since she was old enough to talk.
Blame Braden
.

And this time it wouldn’t even be a lie. Braden chose to invest a healthy portion of his own inheritance and all of Cora’s dowry into the mines, then encouraged Lacey, Naomi, and Evie to do the same. Braden insisted on moving out here alone to oversee things, insisted on personal involvement with the business. Braden’s own decisions led to his being trapped underground in that terrible mine collapse, breaking his legs. That’s what pulled them west to the ghost of a town they’d planned before.

If the sawmill succeeded, that meant Lacey’s glorious ambition saved the town and provided for them all.
My dream
. She held that close to her heart.
Not Braden’s, mine. Not Evie’s café. My mill will be the way to redeem Hope Falls and renew Braden’s spirit
. She could already see it working. He had more color and vitality than even the first time he’d yelled at her.

Well, the first time he’d yelled at her since she’d come to Colorado. Lacey couldn’t really remember the first time he’d yelled at her back when they were both children. It’s part of what made her so good at ignoring him whenever he disagreed with her. Years of practice afforded a woman a great degree of skill in defusing unpleasant situations. An increasingly useful skill, Lacey found, when one was surrounded with uncouth men.

Especially men who didn’t appreciate how incredibly fortunate they were to enjoy her presence. Braden pestered her and Cora about coming here. Creed took it upon himself to irritate Evie
over the same matter. And neither one bothered to consider the fact he wouldn’t be enjoying the opportunity to harangue anyone if the women didn’t brave the wilds of Colorado.

With appreciation in short supply and men in overwhelming numbers, Lacey was almost tempted not to defend her entire idea to advertise for husbands. Almost. If it weren’t for the basic, unchanging principle that Lacey was always right, and Braden always wrong—unless, of course, he wisely agreed with his sister—she would let the matter rest.

But Lacey Lyman had undergone more than enough change in the past week. So this two-way conversation between Braden and Mr. Creed about simply paying her suitors instead of allowing them to work for meals and the chance to court them would end now.

Lacey waited only for Evie to reclaim her seat before breaking in. “We advertised for husbands instead of workers because we need husbands instead of workers.” She kept her tone even. “It isn’t a matter of money but because women are, as you two have taken every opportunity to point out, vulnerable in Colorado.”

“Yes, you’re vulnerable.” Creed’s habitual scowl returned as he warmed to the subject. “And even more so with your brother unable to get his feet under him for the next few months. But with me, Riordan, Lawson, and McCreedy, you’ll be looked after well enough you needn’t rush into wedlock anytime soon.”

“Lawson and McCreedy?” Naomi’s brow grooved into deep lines Lacey hoped never showed up on her own forehead. “Why don’t I recall those names? Are they any of our workers?”

“You haven’t met them yet.” Braden brushed away her concern. “They should arrive today. One’s an engineer to help design and construct the building and flume and operate machinery, and the other will make the fourth team boss.”

“What?” Lacey yanked the coffee mug from her brother’s hand. “You two went behind our backs and hired additional men?”

“Give that back.” Braden made a swipe for his drink and
missed. “We sent for extra eyes Creed can trust, and who fill specific positions we need. Did it the first day we met.”

“You didn’t tell them?” Creed showed the decency to look displeased. “So they don’t know about Martha or Arla either?”

“They’re bringing wives?” Cora perked up. “More women can be nothing but a blessing in this town, to tell the truth.”

“McCreedy’s bringing his wife, Martha. Lawson’s bringing his newly widowed sister, Arla Nash.” Creed’s hesitation warned Lacey she wouldn’t like what came next. “She’s in the family way, with the child due within the next month or so.”

“This is no place for a woman with child!” Naomi’s wrath made Lacey jump. She’d never seen her cousin so angry. “She shouldn’t be subjected to the journey, much less the harsh realities of Hope Falls as it stands. What of the child?”

“It’s too late to object,” Evie pointed out. “If they arrive sometime this day or the next, we make the best of it.”

“Lawson wouldn’t leave her behind, with no other family to speak of.” Creed’s explanation accounted for the decision. “Same reason the four of you came out here to be with Lyman here.”

“No, it’s opposite. We came to him. He’s making her come along.” Lacey refused to be lumped along with such selfishness.

“Whatever the case”—Cora pushed aside her objection—“we’ll need to make arrangements for their housing. Ms. Nash will need the third room in our house, and the McCreedys should take one of the homes abandoned by a mining family. You would tell us if they planned to bring any children, wouldn’t you?”

“They’ve no children,” he assured her. “Just themselves.”

“Mr. Creed, after this discussion, we’ll need men to empty out the final upstairs room and move the second bed from the first room to the third, so there’s one bed in each.” Evie’s direction made it so she’d share a bed with Cora—a selfless act, in Lacey’s estimation. She knew Cora kicked in her sleep.

“The four of us will find and fix up a house as best we can this afternoon, given the short timetable.” Naomi didn’t waste a glare,
and Lacey wondered if it was because they did no good. “We will welcome these four, but you two men may not invite anyone else into our town without our agreement. Understood?”

Creed and Braden exchanged looks as though reluctant to make any such vow. As though they had a choice, really.

“Either that, or we send the McCreedys back.” Lacey mimicked the steel-and-starch tones of her former headmistress. “We’ll do to them what Braden threatened with the four of us. Give us your word that you’ll pull no more of these quick changes, and we’ll take you on your honor as gentlemen.”

“Agreed.” Creed made the decision for Braden, but Lacey took it. He gave the right answer, which was the important part.

“You also need to stop sending men away from town without our consent.” Evie’s addendum shocked Lacey and the other women.

“What?” Naomi’s and Cora’s disbelief assuaged her pique. At least they’d all been left in the dark about this little trick.

“Haven’t you noticed that no new men have arrived since the seventeenth?” Suddenly, Evie’s observation was painfully obvious. “Men step off the train but never stay in town.”

“The ad itself listed the seventeenth,” Braden defended. “The men who arrived on time have the right to send latecomers packing. Otherwise, you’ll have trouble among your workers.”

“Besides which, we don’t need more men right now, and you four are stretched to feed us all and keep things going.” Creed’s logic couldn’t be refuted. “We’ve two dozen workers, and that’s men aplenty for clearing the site and starting construction. Any more and they’ll get in each other’s way so much that you won’t be able to control the fights and such.”

“The issue isn’t whether or not the decision makes sense. The issue is you made that decision without us.” Cora frowned.

“Every one of your workers made that decision,” Creed revealed. “I couldn’t have naysayed them even if I wanted to.” The look on his face clearly said he hadn’t wanted to.