Kincaid turned the shot glass over and pushed it away. “Maybe if you can’t see something it’s because you’re not looking hard enough.”
“What’s that mean? What more do you know?” He was getting damned sick of riddles and innuendos.
Kincaid stood up and threw a few bills on the table. “I’m not leavin’ town because Yucton asked me not to. Said he’d make it worth my while. That’s all I got to say on the matter. Now you think you can stop doggin’ my every step and leave me in peace?”
Hunter didn’t answer and Kincaid didn’t wait around. He stared at the back of the bounty hunter as he walked from the saloon, far steadier than a man who’d downed a quarter of a bottle of whiskey in a short period of time ought to be. But it wasn’t his steadiness that held Hunter’s attention, it was his words.
Why would Yucton pay Kincaid to stay in town? What was the outlaw up to?
Chapter Nine
“I want to purchase the shop that used to belong to Hattie’s Hats,” Meredith said, sitting across the large oak desk from Bertram. Papers were scattered over its surface in disarray and piled a foot high in other areas. How the man ever found anything was beyond her. “It’s the perfect spot from what I can see peeking through the window. With a little work to the interior to spiff it up, it will suit a dress shop perfectly.”
“Hmm.” Bertram leaned back in his padded chair, the leather creaking beneath his ample weight. One hand lifted to stroke his snow-white beard. He was a bear of a man, more wide than tall, yet he gave off an air of joviality that endeared him to others. Until he stepped into the courtroom that was. Sharp and witty, with more knowledge of the law than anyone she had ever met, he became a force to be reckoned with. Yet it still had not been enough to save her father. She didn’t hold Bertram responsible, though. He had done all he could, but every attempt he’d made had been shut down by Judge Laidlow. The lopsided trial and the judge’s rulings had infuriated both Meredith and Bertram, but there had been no getting around them.
“If it’s a matter of money, I can afford it. I have a small nest egg.” One that grew smaller by the day the longer she stayed at The Klein. She should move out to the homestead but she wasn’t ready yet. Especially after yesterday.
She blamed her memories and sense of loss for softening toward Hunter and allowing him to console her. Being back there in her old home and him behaving so much like the man she had fallen in love with made it hard to remember the man who had tossed her aside because she wasn’t good enough to bear his family name. That man had been nowhere in evidence. In fact, she hadn’t seen hide or hair of that man since she’d arrived back in Salvation Falls. If the memory of that fateful day weren’t so god-awfully vivid in her mind, she’d wonder if she hadn’t dreamed up the entire incident. But a dream hadn’t exiled her to Boston for seven years. And no nightmare, no matter how awful, could place such scars upon her heart.
Bertram waved a hand at her mention of money. “It isn’t a matter of finances, my dear.”
“Then, what?”
Bertram leaned forward in his chair and rested his forearms on his desk. Pensiveness dulled the sparkle in his eyes but not the warmth and affection radiating from him. “As you may recall, the town council must approve all businesses first.”
Meredith sat up straight. “I remember.”
“Vernon Donovan is still a prominent member of the town council.”
Her heart sank. “Still?”
Bertram nodded. “And most of the members are reluctant to vote against him.”
The breath went out of her, and along with it her hopes of building a new future. “He will never allow my proposal to pass, will he?”
Bertram pointed a finger at her. “Now, don’t you go getting yourself defeated before we even start the fight. I said he holds sway, and it will be an uphill battle, but there are a few of us on the council who can argue in your favor.”
“Like who?”
“I will,” Bertram told her. “And Caleb Beckett, Rachel’s new husband, has a good head on his shoulders and doesn’t cotton to bullies.”
Two. Two men out of seven. The odds were not in her favor, no matter how much respect Caleb Beckett commanded or how convincing Bertram was. If going against Vernon would have a detrimental effect on the other members who had businesses of their own in town, no amount of convincing testimony in the world would bring them around.
Vernon Donovan was more than a bully. Bullies were full of hot air. They blustered and bluffed but in the end they were cowards who backed down if confronted. Not Vernon. He’d meet you blow for blow and not feel a bit sorry if he left you in a bloodied heap. And she should know. She’d spent her whole life witnessing his vindictive nature as he tried to ruin her father.