Free This Fierce Splendor by Iris Johansen

while he was at Killara, should offset the effect of any scandal Elspeth’s visit to Rina’s might bring down on her head. It probably would take him until noon to get the word around. That meant it would be late when he got to Killara tonight. Jesus, Gran-da was going to be wild. He took Elspeth’s elbow and quickened his steps toward the hotel. “On second thought, I’d better leave town pretty
damn
soon.”

4

    S he was there again.
    Dominic muttered a low and sincere curse. Rina glanced at him in surprise. Her gaze followed his and she chuckled at Elspeth’s black-clad feature across the street. “Do you think I should invite her in for a glass of lemonade? She looks hot standing out in that blazing sun.”
    “Very funny.” There was no amusement in Dominic’s voice. His hand clenched on the starched lace curtain of the parlor window. She did look hot. She was covered from the tips of her shiny black shoes to her chin in a black gown similar to the one she had worn when he’d first met her. There was a small-brimmed bonnet perched on her head, its ribbons tied in a neat bow beneath her chin. One gloved hand clutched the handle of a black parasol which may have afforded some relief from the direct rays of the sun but not from the afternoon heat, “How long has she been there this time?”
    “Since about ten o’clock this morning. Li Tong said she was standing across the street when he went down to the general store.” Rina was observing the small black-garbed woman with critical eyes. “God, that’s a terrible gown. She looks like a scarecrow. I’m glad she gives up when the sun goes down or she’d scare off some of my customers.” She cast a speculative glance at Dominic. “Lord, though, you do have to admire her persistence, don’t you?”
    “The hell I do.” Her persistence had been driving him insane for the last three days. His threat on the day Elspeth had invaded Rina’s place had not even dented her determination. The tone of her pursuit had merely changed from active aggression to passive inevitability. Everywhere he looked he saw Elspeth MacGregor. He had kept to his word not to speak to her, but it was becoming increasingly impossible to ignore her. Every day she had been standing in that very same spot across the street waiting patiently for him to appear. When he left Rina’s she trailed along behind him at a discreet distance. If he stopped at the barber shop, he could see her waiting outside. If he went to the livery stable to get his horse to go and check on one of his claims, she would smile politely as he rode out and settle herself on a bundle of hay to wait his return. When he went to the hotel for a meal, he could count on her being at the next table. She even trotted at his heels when he went to the Nugget every evening and stationed herself across the street.
    As Rina had remarked, her vigil ended when the sun went down but it might as well have lasted through the nights for all it cut down on the talk. Hell, he thought angrily, he was the object of amusement for the entire population of this damned little town. She was now slyly called Delaney’s “shadow.” The snickers behind his back were no less stinging than they would have been to his face. And the most maddening aspect of Elspeth MacGregor’s dogged pursuit was its passivity. He could take no action because she took no action. She was merely
there
.
    “She’ll give up soon and go away.” Rina slipped her arm through Dominic’s and leaned her head on his shoulder. “No woman can stand being ignored for very long.”
    Dominic wasn’t so sure. Elspeth MacGregor had displayed a strength of determination that surprised him. It had been a bold and unconventional move to place him in this position and, if he read her correctly, boldness and a disregard of the conventions were foreign to her. He knew very well he had frightenedher that morning in the hall. Yet she persevered and, in spite of his annoyance and