Free Shaun and Jon by Vanessa Devereaux Page A

something to do with sex. Now she was getting somewhere. Who didn’t love
a scandal that involved sex?
    “They
had an illegitimate child?” asked
Jennifer.
    “Lot
more scandalous than that.” She put her hand over her mouth again.
    “If
it’s more than that and that would have been what the late 1800s, it had to be
pretty wild.”
    “I
guess so.”
    Mrs.
Hunt tapped her fingers again. “I can feel you looking at me, willing me to
tell you and I won’t.”
    “I
love gossip.”
    “Oh,
this isn’t gossip. Sarah’s journal shares the whole story.” She put her hand
over her mouth yet again. “Have you slipped something into this tea, the
cookies maybe?”
    “I’m
a journalist so my stare alone makes people want to tell me everything.”
    Mrs.
Hunt stood and Jennifer thought she was going to tell her it was about time she
left.
    “I’m
going to give you the journal that no one
else has ever seen,” said Mrs. Hunt.
    Jennifer
followed Mrs. Hunt into the house, to the living room to be exact. She opened a
safe by the gun cabinet and pulled out a well-worn leather bound notebook.
    “When
Katherine Nolan-Delaney died she left instructions that her collection of books
on Montana history, along with her maps, be given to the Grantsville Historical
Society. I don’t think she had any idea that her mother’s journal was among
those items. Probably be horrified if she knew someone outside the family had
read it.”
    Jennifer
ran her finger over the now scared leather.
    “I
read it and let’s just say my hair wasn’t this curly before.”
    “Bodice
ripper is it?”
    “Erotic
romance of its time…not that I ever read those sorts of novels.” Mrs. Hunt
turned crimson.
    “So
I can borrow this and read it at my leisure?”
    “Absolutely
but what you read in its covers has to stay with you. I don’t want you using what
you’ve found out about the family against Connor or his sister or any of the
other Nolan- Delaneys for that matter. He’s a nice
young man and he’s going to make one hell of a sheriff.”
    “What’s
between these covers won’t pass my lips.”

 
    Chapter Two
     
    Somewhere between Kansas City and
Montana, 1886
     
    Sarah looked back one more time before the
train left the plains of Kansas. Maybe she’d see it again, maybe not. She had a
new life and a husband to be awaiting her in Montana. She closed her eyes
trying to imagine what the mountains and streams would really look like. So
far, they’d only been described to her by her future husband. He’d called the
scenery surrounding the homestead as breathtaking.
    She
looked up to see Nina returning to her seat. She still looked pale. Maybe Sarah
should have insisted that they delay the journey until her cousin had
completely recovered from the nasty cold
she’d had for what seemed like forever.
    “Did
your walk up and down the carriages do you some good?” Sarah asked her.
    “I
think it did. Although the smoke billowing in through the windows has made my
chest hurt with all the coughing I had to
do.”
    Sarah
reached across and put her hand on her cousin’s knee. “You look hot. Are you
sure you’re not running a fever?”
    “I
believe I am, but I think it’s because so many people are on this train. Who
would have thought this many would be traveling west.”
    She
reached into her tapestry bag and pulled out the
dark brown bottle in which Dr. Hattesby had
mixed a tonic to get her through the long journey. Nina twisted off the top and
took two big gulps before pulling a face. The train chose that moment to shake
from side to side, sending some of the liquid down the front of Nina’s dress.
    “Oh
no, what will my groom think of me arriving with a stained dress?”
    “We’ll
get it cleaned up,” said Sarah.
    Nina
yawned. “This stuff does make me very sleepy. I think I’ll shut my eyes for
just a little bit.”
    “Here,
take my shawl and use it as a pillow.” Sarah rolled her blue shawl into a tight
wad and handed it to