Free A Promise in Defiance: Romance in the Rockies Book 3 by Heather Blanton Page A

slapped him on the arm. “This
place stinks. Let’s go back and have a little breakfast.”

     
     
     
    As Billy took a sip of
coffee, he thought back to the morning Eleanor had found him out back, beaten
to a bloody pulp and robbed blind. If it hadn’t been for her . . .
    She slid a plate of
bacon and eggs in front of him and he smiled up at her. “I remember how good our
last breakfast was.”
    She chuckled and went
back to the stove to finish. “So, after you saved Hannah from the Indians, and
she plucked a bullet out of ya, she agreed to marry ya, huh?”
    A thought struck him. “You
know, if all that hadn’t happened, I don’t know if she would have found it in
her heart to forgive me. And I might have lost her to another fella.”
    “Nah.” Sounding very
sure, Eleanor sat down with her own plate and a cup of coffee. “She was just
being stubborn and prideful, and maybe, wanted you to suffer a little. The
Indians and the bullet shortened your sentence.”
    “I guess.” He didn’t
know. Didn’t want to know. He had Hannah and Little Billy, and that was all
that mattered to him now. That and getting some decent help.
    “Now, back to what you
said about the hotel. You come here to hire a manager?”
    He felt the wry smile
twist his lips. “If she’s not too tied down to Dodge City.”
    Eleanor’s fork stopped
at her mouth and she stared at it for a moment. Slowly, she slid her gaze to
Billy. “You mean me?”
    “I do indeed. The
Trinity Inn is a nice place, with a fine restaurant. I need reliable help to
run it. You’ll get room and board and $50 a month.”
    “ Fifty—?” she bit
that off and set her fork down on her plate. “I don’t make half that here,” she
whispered. However, concern for something over took her expression, chasing
away the shock.
    “So, Eleanor, are you
tied to Dodge for family reasons? You mentioned you had a child.”
    “Oh, I lost track of
her so long ago.”
    “Her?”
    Eleanor heaved a great
sigh and shoved her plate away. She drummed her fingers on the edges of it. “I
reckon you’re no one to judge.”
    She said it with resignation.
Billy sensed a confession coming and shook his head. “Not by a long shot.”
    “I had a special man
for a time many years ago. He ran off and left with me a baby girl.”
    Her eyes shone with the
memories and Billy shifted, lost as to how to comfort the woman. Other than
listen.
    “A woman alone in that
situation doesn’t have a lot of prospects. Your Hannah was lucky. She had her
sisters. I was by myself and sometimes I made bad choices. Kept bad company.”
    The regret played out
in her eyes, glistened there. “When my daughter . . . blossomed ,
you could say . . . well, men started noticing. There was a boy
too. Oh, I could see the trouble coming from a mile away. He drank and he had a
terrible temper. His future was an early grave; I didn’t need to be a genius to
see that. I got her a job at a hotel in Stillwater and sent her off. Told him
she ran away and I didn’t know where.”
    Eleanor rose and went
to the stove, but she didn’t grab the coffee pot on top, just stared at it. “I’ve
not seen her or heard from her since she left. I don’t know if she’s alive or
dead. I wrote her, but she never answered. I’ve stayed in Dodge—” her voice
broke. She sniffed and tried again. “I’ve stayed, hoping she might come home
one day.”
    A sad silence fell, and
Billy let it play out. This was not a time for words. Staring at Eleanor’s
broad, pudgy shoulders, he knew the woman was deciding.
    “Maybe . . .”
She wrung her hands in her apron. “Maybe lying to the boy was a terrible thing.
Maybe lying to them both was cruel, but I wanted my daughter to have a clean
start.” She rounded on him slowly, biting her lips as if holding back a sob. “No.”
She shook her head. “I thank you for your offer, but I ain’t ready to leave. I
can’t just yet.”
    Disappointment stabbed
deep in Billy. He had