Eva went perfectly still, her mind racing back through time to reevaluate Lydia’s rather peculiar behavior this past week. She had been in and out of the mansion without bothering to inform Eva or the servants when she planned to return. If Eva hadn’t been preoccupied—fending off a particularly persistent suitor—she might have paid more attention.
Should have paid attention, she chastised herself. It was her sworn duty to protect and care for Lydia. She had solemnly promised her father that she would, after he fell ill suddenly then died.
Lydia wiped her eyes with the back of her grimy hand, sniffled loudly then glanced toward the imported grandfather clock that graced the corner. “Gordon and I were going to elope because he said you wouldn’t approve and you were jealous because you were interested in him. He said we had to be clever and discreet. He said you would be outraged if you weren’t the first to wed.”
“What!” Eva scrambled to control her temper then gnashed her teeth, wishing she could take several bites out of Gordon’s conniving hide. “I never had any interest in that scoundrel. It was plain to me that he was insincere. He made all the right noises, in his dedicated effort to impress you and others in our social circle, but I didn’t trust his intentions. The fact that he tried to pit you against me is one more reason why I dislike him.”
“It worked to some extent,” Lydia admitted on a ragged breath. “He suggested that I gather plenty of funds so we could elope—” Her voice broke and she half collapsed on the couch. “Oh, Eva, I’m so humiliated I could die! Gordon insisted that we shouldn’t bother with luggage so no one would suspect a thing. With my satchel of money we headed south to Canyon Springs to be married.”
Hot fury boiled through Eva’s veins as she visualized that silver-tongued, self-serving bastard luring her naive sister beneath his spell. At nineteen, Lydia hadn’t learned to be wary and cautious of shysters who sought to separate her from her inheritance. She had fallen for Gordon’s flattery and premeditated charm. His scheme had been to divide and conquer the Hallowell sisters so he could manipulate Lydia. Damn that lying, cheating bastard! He would be punished severely for this, she fumed.
Although Eva was silently condemning Gordon Carter to the farthest reaches of hell, she reined in her anger to listen to the rest of the infuriating tale.
“Then what happened?” she questioned intently.
Lydia rerouted the tears on her flushed cheeks, dabbed at her eyes with her dirty sleeve and finally met Eva’s unblinking gaze. “Gordon stopped the buggy in the middle of nowhere and shoved me out. He claimed that he was bored with my childish prattle, and I should walk back home because marrying me was the very last thing on his list of what to do with the rest of his life…”
Her voice fizzled out and humiliated wails erupted. Lydia flung herself facedown on the sofa, sprawling in emotional defeat. A few moments later, she raised her tousled head and clutched Eva’s hand again, accidentally scratching her with jagged fingernails.
“I’m dreadfully sorry I listened to Gordon’s lies. He kept telling me that you were spiteful, stifling and envious because I was happy and you weren’t. Since you discouraged me from seeing him I thought it might be true.”
Eva shook her head adamantly. “You should have known better, Lydia. I have sworn off men for good reason. I can guarantee that I will never be jealous of my own sister. I want you to be happy, but you need to realize that adventurers will always set their sights on you because you have access to a fortune. That’s why we have to be so wary and selective of men.”
Lydia nodded and sniffled. “I understand that now, but Gordon kept telling me that he loved me and he’d never met anyone like me. Then his sugary tone changed to disdain once he had my money, my carriage and Hodge. You know how much I adore that horse. He was my last gift from Papa.”
Eva promised herself, there and then, that she would hunt down that vermin and see to it that he was poisoned, stabbed, shot and strung up by his heels. Then she would haul his sorry carcass to jail for the duration of his life.
“From now on I’m going to be just like you,” Lydia said determinedly. “I’ll never again trust a man with my heart or my money.”
“I regret that you had to find out the hard way that our family fortune is a burden and a curse. It attracts the wrong kind of men.” A faint smile pursed Eva’s lips as she brushed the tendrils from Lydia’s face and met her watery gaze. “For us, Lydia, all men are the wrong kind of men. They will always want what we have, not who we are on the inside. They want our prestigious connections, not our companionship. The only way I’ve found not to be hurt, disappointed or taken advantage of is to guard my heart carefully. You must look beneath the charming smiles and calculated flattery to determine a man’s sincerity.”
Lydia nodded her head. “I know you speak from experience because you were so sad three years ago and—”
“Past is past and I never look back,” she interrupted. “I prefer to profit from my mistakes, not repeat them.”
Although Lydia insisted on talking her unpleasant experiences to death, Eva preferred to keep them buried. The man who taught her not to trust, not to expose her heart to pain, was a closed chapter of her life. If she never saw him again, that would be perfectly fine with her. Unfortunately, Felix Winslow owned a successful local jewelry shop—thanks to his new wife’s financial backing. He showed up often with his young bride at parties and Eva had taught herself to look through him as if he wasn’t there.
When the grandfather clock chimed ten times, Eva glanced up. She tapped Lydia on the shoulder then urged her to her feet. “Why don’t you go upstairs and I’ll have a warm bath prepared for you. I need to go out for a while, but I’ll return shortly.”
Lydia levered herself upright and managed the faintest hint of a smile. “If you are off to shoot that lying scoundrel I’ll send you out with my blessing, but I know he’s headed toward Canyon Springs, and probably to parts unknown. Finding him will be next to impossible.”
“You’re right. I would like to shoot him a couple of times for hurting you,” Eva insisted. “It’s the only purpose the men in our lives can possibly serve. Target practice.”
Lydia snickered but her expression sobered when she surveyed the irreparable damage to her expensive gown. “This was to have been my wedding dress.”
“Burn it,” Eva recommended. “That’s what I did with the one I wore the last time I was with Felix Winslow. I imagined him in it while it burned to ashes.”
Lydia shrugged, and when Lydia trudged up the staircase, Eva sailed out the front door. She jogged down the street to the Philbert estate. Roger and Sadie Philbert—twin brother and sister—were her lifelong playmates and friends. The blond-haired, blue-eyed twosome was returning from a party and they stepped down from their coach just as Eva hurried up the flagstone driveway.
“Rather late to be gadding out in men’s breeches, isn’t it?” Roger teased as he appraised her unconventional attire.
Eva glanced down, having forgotten that she was still wearing the garments she had donned for horseback riding, while attempting to track down her missing sister.
She shrugged carelessly in response to Roger’s playful grin. “You know I’ve acquired the reputation of an eccentric and free spirit. Why not enjoy it?”
Sadie clasped Eva’s hand to lead her to the front steps. “We attended the Jensons’ stuffy dinner party. I’m sure you had a more interesting evening than we did.”
Eva knew Lydia would be mortified if news of her involvement with Gordon made the gossip grapevine so she waited until she and the Philberts were behind closed doors before she asked, “I want to hire the best bounty hunter in the business, a Mr. J. D. Raven, I believe is his name. How do I go about finding him?”
