Free Rimfire Bride by Sara Luck Page B

gotten a job today without you.”
    “Mr. Malone, is it? Didn’t you hear? You’re my client.” Drew flashed another devastating smile. “Please, from now on when I see you, call me Drew. Now, may I walk you to your abode?”
    “That’s not necessary. I’m just around the corner at the hotel.”
    “At the Sheridan House?”
    “No, at the Custer.”
    The expression on Drew’s face changed suddenly, as he dropped her arm. “Where are you staying?”
    “At the Custer Hotel. Why? Is there something wrong with that?”
    “I’ve never known a woman to stay there. That’s for railroad workers and transient army officers. It’s not a place for a woman.”
    “For the rest of this week, it’s the place for two women. Mr. McGowan has gone out of his way to accommodate my sister and me. Again, I can’t thank you enough for what you have done for me today. Good day, Mr. Malone.”
    Jana turned to walk away from him, but he caught her hand. “You’ve forgotten already. It’s Drew.”
    He held her hand for a moment, a moment like none other Jana had ever experienced. The day was chilled, and his hand and fingers were cold.
    Or were they?
    Oddly, she felt a strange heat diffusing through her body. She looked at him with a questioning expression on her face, and she thought she could read something in his eyes, a sense of connection that was beyond verbal. Finally, after a time that stretched out for an eternity, but ended much too quickly, he withdrew his hand and touched his fingers to his hat as if in salute. “I’d better be going,” he said as, with a final smile, he turned to leave. “Oh, buy some gloves tomorrow. Dakota nights get pretty cold.”
    “Greta, I’ve got a . . .” Jana stopped in midsentence as she looked around the room and saw no one was there. She checked to see if Greta had left her a note, but there was no note anywhere.
    “I told her to stay here,” Jana mumbled as she hurried down the stairs and across the lobby.
    “Hold on there, little lady, where’re you goin’ so fast?” an older man who was sitting in the lobby called out. A couple of the others laughed.
    With her cheeks flaming in embarrassment, Jana slowed down, but continued to walk purposefully and with long strides to the front desk.
    No one was at the desk, but a small bell could be rung by slapping the palm of your hand against it, which she did.
    “Mr. McGowan!” she called out while hitting the bell again and again.
    McGowan came from a side room and, seeing her, smiled. “Miss Hartmann, have you had a pleasant day in the banner city?”
    “Mr. McGowan, my sister is gone. Have you seen her?”
    “Greta hasn’t gone anywhere. She’s back in the kitchen cookin’ up a stew for supper.”
    It did not escape Jana’s attention that McGowan had called Greta by her first name. But what most got her attention was what he said.
    “In the kitchen? What kitchen? You say she’s cooking?”
    “Maybe you’d better let Greta tell you herself.” McGowan pointed toward the door that led into the saloon. “She’s in there.”
    “My sister is in the saloon?”
    “Yes, ma’am. She’s been there all afternoon.”
    “What?” Jana gasped.
    Spinning away from the desk before McGowan could say another word to her, Jana hurried across the lobby and through the door into the saloon. Unlike this morning when she had looked in, the saloon was now filled with men. Some were playing cards, several were smoking, most were drinking, and all were conversing, as the room rang with their voices, occasionally punctuated by laughter.
    “Hello, miss,” a man called from one of the tables. Standing, he pulled out a chair. “Won’t you join us?”
    “No, thank you,” Jana said, though she didn’t say the words harshly. She looked around the room to see if she could locate Greta, but didn’t see her. Then she walked up to the bar.
    The bartender came down toward her. “You must be Miss Hartmann.”
    “Yes, how do you