“We need to talk,” Joshua demanded.

Abby tried to push the door closed but he was too quick. “Go away!”

She didn’t quite know how it happened, but he was soon striding through the house, shrinking it just by his presence. Abby followed him toward the sitting area near the fireplace, her thoughts whirling. What can he want?

Josh walked to the hearth, then turned, propping his elbow indolently on the beautiful mantel her brother had carved. “So this is where you chose to raise my son.”

“I haven’t made a free choice since the night you took my virginity,” Abby spat back.

Josh raised his left eyebrow. “If my memory serves, you did more than your fair share of unbuttoning.”

Abby flew at him. Her fists balled, she struck wildly. Then in a heartbeat she found herself imprisoned against the hard wall of his chest.

“Stop it!” he cried.

Abby stared up at him. His eyes were like blue flames, his lips sealed in a straight line. He still smells the same, some stupid sentimental part of her brain remembered. His eyes changed as they held hers prisoner. His gaze was still hot and blazing, but desire replaced anger. His lips came closer to hers and Abby panicked. She wouldn’t survive his kiss whole.

About the Author

As a child, KATE WELSH often lost herself in creating make-believe worlds and happily-ever-after tales. Many years later she turned back to creating happy endings when her husband challenged her to write down the stories in her head. A lover of all things romantic, Kate has been writing romance for over twenty years now. Her first published novels hit the stands in 1998.

Kate was Valley Forge Romance Writers’ first president, and is currently their vice-president. She lives her own happily-ever-after in the Philadelphia suburbs, with her husband of over thirty years, her daughter, their one-hundred-pound Chesapeake Bay Retriever Ecko, and Kali, the family cat.

Kate loves hearing from readers, who can reach her on the internet at kate_welsh@verizon.net

QUESTIONS

OF HONOUR

Kate Welsh

www.millsandboons.co.uk

Chapter One

Wheatonburg, Pennsylvania November—1875

Snow fell, drifting silently over Wheatonburg. Through the thickening curtain of white, Abaigeal Sullivan peered out the front window of the company store, then turned away from the lovely, flawless illusion. The soot and coal dust still tarnished everything beneath the white powder. With a heart heavy from too many burdens, she turned back to her cleaning.

Minutes later the clock chimed four. “I imagine that’s it for you today, Mrs. Sullivan,” Mr. Prescott said.

Abby gritted her teeth at his disdainful tone. He was the manager of the company store and as overbearing a taskmaster with her as the fire bosses were with the miners. He resented her leaving on the last stroke of four, but felt no qualm docking her an entire hour’s pay if the same clock had stopped chiming twelve when she arrived.

“I don’t see Daniel, so I’d better hurry along,” she replied as cheerfully as she could manage.

Mr. Prescott looked up at her and their eyes met over his spectacles. “Have you decided about that dimity? You have very little on credit. You certainly need a new dress.”

Abby looked down at her skirt. She could afford the lovely material, but every penny she spent kept her and Daniel in Wheatonburg longer. A new dress wasn’t worth it. “I’ve decided not. I have three dresses. A body hardly needs more than that. Good day to you,” she said, tossing her cape about her shoulders as she closed the door behind herself.

She stomped down the steps. Oh, wasn’t he being sweet today after making her work on the Lord’s day! And him, trying to tempt her from her goal after accusing her son of stealing. Without a drop of proof!

Abby took a deep breath and looked around, hoping the scene before her would bring her calm. Wheatonburg did look beautiful during a snowfall. Today no one would guess there was anything insidious here. Not the abject poverty of the possession houses. Not the underlying fear of armed guards at the mines or Harlan Wheaton’s reason for putting them there.

At the town cemetery, Abby glanced toward the fresh graves. The deepening mantle of white hid the mud covering the resting place of the two miners who’d been killed for refusing to do the bidding of the AMU.

American Miners United had been born with the hope of forcing mining safety changes. It had sounded so promising but had quickly been co-opted by a group of thugs call Workmen who now held the whole coal region hostage—owners and miners alike.

She walked on and soon climbed the steps to the train station’s boardwalk. In the distance, she heard a train whistle. She looked inside the station house and saw the stationmaster, Mr. Dodd, at his seat behind his postal counter. “I haven’t heard from Amber in weeks. Is there any mail?”

Charles Dodd shook his head. “No, but I expect you’ll hear from my niece soon.”

“Good. I worry about her. She hasn’t been the same since losing her Joseph. Have you seen your pint-sized shadow?” Abby asked, surprised not to see her son with Mr. Dodd.

“End of the platform. Likes to be the first to see it.”

As the stationmaster, Mr. Dodd saw a lot of Daniel. Her son had railroading dreams and that was fine with her, but recently the railroad had become another favorite target of the AMU. “I worry about him, too, with all the trouble,” Abby confided. She shook her head sadly.

Mr. Dodd looked up, caution in his eyes. “The train isn’t carrying anything the AMU would care about. Try not to worry, I keep an eye out for the boy.” He hesitated then asked, “You aren’t worried they might try using him to get at Wheaton, are you?”

“Harlan? Everyone knows he doesn’t give a hoot in Hades about Daniel. All Harlan Wheaton cares about is his coal. It wouldn’t gain anyone a thing to hurt Daniel. My worry is he’ll be too close if they blow a train to kingdom come now that the owners refused to pay protection money. I do thank you for all the time you take for Daniel.”

“Daniel’s no trouble at all.” He chuckled. “The little scamp keeps me company.”

Daniel was a little scamp indeed. “He isn’t a nuisance, then?”

“You’ve done a good job with him, Abby. He’s a good boy with admirable hopes and dreams.”

Abby smiled. “All he talks of is going west and getting involved in railroading out there.”

Mr. Dodd wiped his spectacles. “I could help him if you stay in the east.”

“By summer I’ll have a nice nest egg saved from my cleaning and my brothers will have paid off our account to Wheaton Mining. We’ll be headin’ west. Daniel’ll be much better off.”

Mr. Dodd grimaced. “Neither of you will have to put up with snide remarks anymore.”

“I don’t let them bother me,” Abby lied. She hated pity almost as much as nasty comments. “But my son will never live down the circumstances of his birth here. Now I’ll just take myself along and find my railroading son. Perhaps I’ll be one of the first to see the train today, too. Good day to you,” she said, sketching a sassy curtsy.

Abby stepped onto the platform as the train whistle sounded again, closer, louder. She could even hear the chugging of the steam engine. “Daniel!” Abby called when she didn’t see him on the platform.

Daniel popped up from behind a crate and ran to her. “Come watch the train come in, Ma!” He grabbed her hand, tugged her along the platform, and around the corner of the station house. “Here she comes!” Daniel shouted, pointing down the tracks as the clicking wheels and the puffing engine drew closer.

“I guess you’ll want to stay till it pulls out, as well?” Abby shouted over the din.

“Oh, Ma, could I?” Daniel’s eyes were bright. She loved seeing him like this. Happy and carefree. Not shadowed by the taunts of unkind children or the whispered condemnations of disdainful adults.

“If you promise to sweep after dinner.”

Daniel shouted joyfully and ran off back down the platform. As Abby rounded the corner again, she saw he’d met up with Mr. Dodd. They consulted with each other then Daniel turned, pointing toward her. Abby waved and nodded her agreement to remaining behind, then she remembered her canvas shopping bag. Daniel and Mr. Dodd were gone when she came back around the corner again.

Abby heard a high-pitched feminine giggle as a sandy-haired man jumped off a passenger car, then swung a young woman off the stairs to the platform. They laughed as another man followed sedately. Judging from their expensive clothes, the three were guests of Harlan Wheaton. Four rough-looking men disembarked next. Though they stood a distance away, they still seemed to be a part of the wealthy group.

The younger man turned toward her and Abby’s head swam. Her heart thundered as she reached out to steady herself. He’d grown taller and broader but there stood Joshua Wheaton.

Joshua.

He looked around, then turned back to the blond woman, who took a step toward him and put her hand on his forearm. Abby felt as if a knife had thrust through her chest. Then the young woman whispered in his ear and twisted the knife.

Abby wrapped her arms around her middle and gasped for breath. She didn’t know what she should do. Run? Cry? Fly at him with her fists and demand to know why he’d abandoned her and how he could have ignored her last and final plea written on the day she delivered their son?

How could you condemn our son to a life of scorn?

She stepped back behind the cover of the stacked crates. She’d make him explain. But first, she had to get herself under control. First, she had to come to grips with a truth of her own. Why, after all Joshua Wheaton had done to her, after all the pain he’d caused her and their son, did it still hurt so much to see him come home with another woman on his arm?

“Surely your father sent a carriage, Joshua,” Franklin Gowery said, his displeasure at being stranded evident on his face.

Joshua shrugged. “I doubt it. I was unsure when I’d arrive.” I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t get right back on the train. I still might.

“He knew. Why do you think we took the morning train?” Helena replied.

Joshua bristled. Had meeting Helena Conwell and her guardian been some sort of planned ruse? “I was under the impression our meeting was happenstance. It was, wasn’t it?” Joshua demanded.

Gowery shot Helena a black look. “Of course it was. Isn’t that right, Helena?”

Helena laid her hand on Joshua’s sleeve but didn’t look him in the eye. “Yes, Uncle Franklin.”

Joshua let his mind wander. The town looked the same. Only he had changed. Emotions he couldn’t analyze raced through him, making his heart lurch painfully. Memories of Abby rushed at him. Why, Abby? his heart cried. How could you forget us? How could you marry Sullivan?

Taking a deep breath, Joshua tried to relax, remembering how he’d hoped his anxiety would be lessened by arriving with a pretty young woman on his arm. He forced a smile just before Helena stepped away.

“He could have at least sent a carriage for us. He knew we’d be on this train,” Helena groused.

“It must have slipped his mind. Apparently he hasn’t been well since his injury. I’ll find someone to send up to the house.”

Joshua saw a boy dancing after Mr. Dodd. “Son, how would you like to earn a penny?” he shouted.

The boy turned, his blue eyes bright and intelligent. “Sure, mister, as long as it’s not something against the law. My ma’d skin me alive if I got into trouble.”

“Maybe you ought to head on home,” Mr. Dodd interrupted.

Joshua chuckled. “I just want him to go up to Wheaton Manor and tell someone to send the carriage, Mr. Dodd.”

The boy grew visibly tense, his eyes shifting to the stationmaster then back. “Make it a nickel,” the boy demanded.

Josh arched an eyebrow. “A nickel? That’s rather steep.”

“Won’t go there for no penny.”

“It can’t be that bad going up to the manor.”

The boy’s face was set. “For most folks, maybe. A nickel or walk, mister.”

“Two cents,” Josh offered

“Four.”

“Three and that’s my final offer.”

“Who do I say is waitin'?” the boy wanted to know.

“Say Mr. Gowery and his ward are here and Mr. Joshua Wheaton and all his worldly goods are here, as well, so they’ll need to send a wagon along, too.”

The boy’s face hardened. “Is that you?” he asked, his cupid’s bow lip curling at the corner.

Joshua had grown unused to the hatred the name Wheaton evoked here. “Yes, but I’m not my father, son, and things will change now that I’m back.”

“I’m not your son. I’ll never be your son,” the boy snarled, then pivoted and ran away.

Joshua stood staring after the retreating figure, wondering what he’d said and what it was about the boy that seemed so familiar. Probably the son of a boyhood friend and that stung all the more.

“Little beast!” Helena gasped.

“The boy has his reasons,” Dodd grumbled and after shooting Joshua a sharp look, he turned and shuffled toward the station-house door.

Franklin Gowery spoke into the silence left by Dodd’s remark. “These children grow up fast and hard, my dear. In a way, they’re more dangerous than wild animals. They appear human till they turn on you.”

Joshua turned away from the sight of the fleeing boy. His gaze fell on Helena. Her eyes seemed to blaze with fire as she stared at her guardian. Perhaps he’d found a kindred spirit. “It’s hardly necessary to teach social niceties to children doomed to poverty if they manage to live into adulthood.”

Gowery shook his head. “Still a dreamer, are you? I’d have thought working in Wales would have cured your idealism.”

“I worked for a company more progressive than even the strict mining regulations Great Britain has adopted. We made a handsome profit while managing to treat the miners like human beings with hopes and dreams.”

Helena stepped toward Joshua and smiled up at him. “That sounds promising. You must tell me more of your reform ideas.”

The clatter and jingle of harnessed horses and wagons distracted him. “Ah. We don’t need a messenger after all,” he told his companions. “If you’ll both excuse me, that looks like Henry.”

Joshua moved toward the wagon hoping it was his father’s retainer. As he walked down the steps, he saw a flash of color near the side of the station and froze. There, scurrying along, her auburn hair radiant against the backdrop of white, was Abby. His Abby. Who belonged to another. Who’d married a few short months after he’d left for Germany. He wondered what she’d done with the travel money he’d sent so she could join him. Probably used it to set up a home with a man Josh despised. Sorrow for all he’d lost burned in his chest.

How would he face her?

How would he live in the same town with her and Liam Sullivan?

Abby observed her family that night as she stitched a patch on the knee of Daniel’s pants. Her oldest brother, Brendan, his expression grim, sat across the room playing dominoes with Daniel. Thomas, her younger brother, sat carving a delicate bird. Her father, Michael, watched them all like the benevolent patriarch he was.

Her eyes drifted back to Daniel. When he’d come in late for dinner, she’d known he’d been crying. He knew his father was in town. She was sure he did. He’d been so solicitous of her since coming home, despite his own pain, it made her heart ache even more.

“Daniel, it’s past your bedtime,” she said. “Come give us a kiss and run on up. I’ll be up soon to tuck you in.”

Daniel’s face went rigid. “You work too hard. You should rest. Uncle Thomas can come up, can’t you, Uncle Tom?”

“Daniel Sullivan! As if Thomas has a life of leisure!”

Thomas stood without hesitation. “No bother at all. Can’t think of anyone I’d rather spend my time with.” Thomas swung Daniel onto his shoulders, his jade-colored eyes soft with an innate kindness that was so much part of his gentle nature. Abby smiled, then let her head fall back against the rocker. She closed her eyes against a rush of tears. She couldn’t ask for better fathers for her son than her brothers.

Except for Joshua, taunted a traitorous voice inside her. Then a vision of his face drifted before her mind’s eye. At fifteen her mother had called him a golden boy. But then manhood had beckoned and his jaw squared and his shoulders broadened. His hair went from the color of corn silk to a rich tawny gold. That same golden color had spread across his chest and his playful teasing gave way to seductive glances. Friendly shoves turned into stolen kisses. Yet two things had never changed—his sky-blue eyes or her love for him.

Her father’s voice rescued Abby from her foolish trip into the past. “What did you tell Danny, Abaigeal?”

“Tell him?” Abby opened her eyes and glanced toward her father, knowing he wouldn’t let the night go by without settling his household properly.

He sat in his chair by the fire, the flames reflecting in the white that liberally threaded his once ink-black hair, a blanket draped across his left leg and what was left of his right. He had arthritis in his shoulders and his hands. It made getting around on crutches painful now, so he rarely went out anymore. But make no mistake, one look into his intelligent, deep-green eyes and it was plain nothing, but nothing, got past Michael Kane. “About Joshua’s return,” he said at last.

“Nothing. I’m glad now I never lied to him. You were right, Da. If I’d told him anything but that Joshua just hadn’t come back for us, he’d know I lied.”

Brendan spoke up, then, worry stamped on his handsome face. “I think you should leave and fast. He’s returned with a woman. Suppose they marry? Suppose they decide to take Danny? You’d not have a leg to stand on.”

She couldn’t deny the pain just the thought of Joshua married caused, but her stomach flipped sickly at the idea of losing her son.

“Is there a weddin’ in the offing?” Michael asked, rescuing Abby from the need to comment.

“I don’t want to talk about weddings,” Brendan snapped. “It’s the boy I’m thinkin’ of.”

She forced herself to think logically. “Joshua has never even acknowledged Daniel’s existence. Why would he want him now?”

“Because Danny is one hell of a boy. What man wouldn’t want to claim him?” Brendan asked, his green eyes intent and sparkling like emeralds and his black hair gleaming in the fire’s light.

“Shake your head—rocks or marbles?” Michael scoffed. “You’re not thinkin’ straight, boyo. Wheaton didn’t want his son ten years ago and he’s not going to be wantin’ the boy now. If he marries this woman he’s brought home with him, he’ll be wantin’ her and her babes.”

“Da’s right, but perhaps I shouldn’t be taking chances,” Abby said. “If we can make do till the end of the month, we’re free and clear of Harlan Wheaton and his son. I say we take our wagon, all we can pack, and head west. We could make it to Independence even in winter and work odd jobs till spring. Da could stay with Daniel during the day while we’re at work. What say? Let’s be shut of this place once and for all. We won’t be gettin’ the start we wanted, but at least we’ll be free.”

Brendan shook his head. “Lord knows I’d love to, but we need more supplies and money to get even that far. You’ve done a good job saving and putting up staples, but we aren’t ready. We can’t do it yet, Abby. But you two could. Thomas has socked away enough money for you and Daniel to go by train. It just isn’t enough for all of us.”

Abby felt tears burn at the back of her eyes and throat. She pressed her lips and nodded. “You’re right. Foolish talk from a desperate woman. But I can’t go alone. It would be going from frying pan to fire. Without the respectability of traveling with my family, I’d be but a poor widow at the mercy of men who would think I’m no better than I have to be. I’ll have to wait even though the talk here will be worse now.” She sighed, then tried to smile. “Isn’t this just like my luck. I’d nearly earned the right to hold my head up ‘round here again.”

“You’ve always had that right, Abby girl.” Her father’s eyes narrowed. “It’s that son of Satan who hasn’t. He’s the one who abandoned you. You did nothing many a young girl hasn’t done since Eve. You loved the wrong man too soon. ‘Twas a sin to be sure, but it wasn’t the crime small-minded folks make of it. Now, that said, I’ll be takin’ meself off to bed.”

Nearly overcome, Abby jumped up and hugged her father. “Thank you, Da.”

“Don’t be thankin’ me. It should have been said long ago, and I should have protected you from it ever needing to be said. I failed you.” He sighed tiredly, and patted her cheek. “Now not another word.”

Once their father was out of hearing range Brendan looked up from his reading. “I wish you’d go alone, or I at least wish we could protect you, but we can’t.”

“We should all go. We don’t owe much to Harlan now,” Abby pleaded. “We could do it! We could all just leave.”

“Da needs a chair. We all know he does. Thomas could build one but even the parts would be costly and set us back further from leavin'.”

Abby stuffed her mending in the bag hanging from the arm of her rocker. “Da was hurt in Wheaton’s mine and it’s him that’ll provide a chair if I have to camp on his doorstep to get it.”

“What about Joshua?”

Swamped suddenly by roiling doubt, Abby stiffened her spine. She would not be cowled by the likes of Joshua Wheaton. “He can step over me same as anyone else, including his guests. Let him explain who I am.”

“Oh, sister, that won’t be botherin’ the likes of Helena Conwell. She’s sniffin’ after a man her guardian will approve. No matter what she’d be sayin', that’s all that could matter to the likes of her. Comfort is all she’s ever known. How could it be any different?”

“So you think they’re to wed?” Abby asked, hating herself for caring what Joshua did with his life, and wondering why Brendan was suddenly more melancholy than angry.

“Luther Dancy says so but it’s not official.”

Abby cursed the surge of joy her brother’s words set to blooming in her heart. It isn’t too late.

“’Tis ten years too late!” Abby hissed, then felt her face and neck flame when she realized she’d spoken the words aloud.

Fortunately, Brendan put his own thoughts to her words. “True. Had another girl been in the picture back then, none of us would have let him within a mile of you. We should have protected you then. He fooled all of us. Ma, as well. To think I called him friend. I hope he’s bright enough to stay out of my way, or we may be run out of town rather than be leavin’ on our own.” Brendan sighed. “I best turn in. Don’t you be stayin’ up too late at your mendin'.”

Abby stared after Brendan. He’d championed Joshua the longest, keeping her hope alive until after Daniel’s birth. He’d been the one to encourage that last shameless letter she’d written. Brendan had just grown quiet about the subject when no answer came from Germany. In fact, he’d never spoken a word against his former friend until tonight, and now he was filled with anger and threats. She wondered why the change but shrugged off the thought. Perhaps as with her, Joshua’s return had opened the wounds of betrayal.

Chapter Two

Joshua stopped outside his father’s study. When they’d arrived Harlan had been sleeping, so Josh had decided to unpack. When he’d seen his room redone in an adult—if not an ostentatious—decorating style, he’d let himself hope his father saw him as a man now. But when Henry brought word that Harlan wanted to see him, old feelings brought doubt. He wondered if he’d ever truly be his own man in Wheatonburg. Here he felt like a rich man’s puppet. His father’s puppet.

He forced himself to remember who he was—who he’d become. He was one of the world’s most sought-after mining engineers. He’d answered to no one for years, and had a reputation for being an independent thinker. Straightening to his full six foot one inches of height, Josh opened the study door.

“Son. Come in. Come in,” Harlan called.

Joshua braced himself for the sight of his once robust father confined to a wheelchair. But he wasn’t prepared for how old the man looked after ten years. His blunt Germanic features were now rounded with excess weight. His once muscular chest seemed to have caved in, the rubble falling in an enormous bulge on his lap.

Forcing himself forward, Josh wanted to allow his father as much of his dignity as possible regardless of the bad blood between them. He advanced steadily and shook Harlan’s hand.

“It’s good to have you home, son,” Harlan said. His voice wobbled a bit. It gave Josh hope that the old man really was glad to have him back and willing to accept him as he was.

“It’s good to be home,” Josh answered, though he qualified it in his mind as feeling only a bit better than he’d expected.

“Sit down, Joshua. I asked Franklin to sit in on this meeting for several reasons. First, I thought there should be a witness.” Harlan reached beside him, and picked up a set of keys and a piece of paper. He handed each to Joshua in turn. “Here is the combination to the safe, and these are the keys to this office and all the buildings owned by Wheaton Coal. As I agreed, you’re free to run the mines as you see fit. It’s what I’ve always wanted. A family business. There are only two of us, but I’m sure there’ll be more soon.”

“There is no woman in my life. I thought I’d made that clear,” Joshua countered. “I’m not averse to marriage, as I told you. But I haven’t met anyone in recent years I’d want to spend the rest of my life with.”

“You have to forget what’s past,” Harlan groused, shifting restlessly in his chair. “You can’t go back. There’s too much water gone over that dam. Which brings me to the second reason I asked Franklin to be here. We’d … Franklin and I … uh …”

Gowery chuckled. “What your father is trying so carefully to say is he and I would like you and Helena to make a match of it. As soon as possible.”

Joshua blinked. “Pardon me?”

“I want you to marry my ward.”

“Franklin, don’t take this as an insult, but, no. I scarcely know her.”

“You must admit she’s a lovely young woman.”

From the implacable expression on his father’s face, Joshua knew there would be no diplomatic way to extricate himself from this situation. “Be that as it may, I don’t want to marry her.”

Gowery nodded. His patronizing expression irritated Joshua even before he spoke. “I am given to understand that there was once a girl in your life. Are you still in love with her?”

Joshua sucked a breath through gritted teeth. This came too closely on the heels of that heart-wrenching glimpse of Abby in town. “She’s out of my reach, Franklin, not that it’s any of your affair. My father had no right to speak of my private business.”

“Helena also loved unwisely. Her husband will need to overlook her error, however, if you take my meaning. She isn’t in the family way, fortunately. You needn’t worry about that. The man is completely unsuitable and as Helena is all alone in the world, I am obligated to see to her future. We’ve never been close but her father was a friend. You should know Helena is heiress to a considerable fortune, which will be turned over to you when you two marry.”

“My father should have warned you, Franklin. I can’t be bought.” Joshua’s comment snapped like a whip through the room. He glanced sharply at Harlan then added, “Or threatened. He tried both ten years ago and hasn’t seen me since.”

Gowery laughed. “I would hardly call being made a millionaire for marrying a lovely young woman a threat. Nor is it a bribe. I like you, Joshua. You’re from a good, solid family and I know my friend’s daughter would be well taken care of as your wife. She has to marry. Why not take advantage of a windfall?”

“I should think you’d want more for the daughter of a friend than to be considered a windfall. Love for instance?”

“Love is a much lauded but stupid emotion. It leads people to foolishness, desperation and heartache. You’ve learned that. Helena will accept it, as well. What Harry Conwell wanted for his daughter is the kind of alliance I have with my wife and your father had with your mother. Under the terms of Harry’s will, I must approve of the man or she doesn’t inherit.”

Joshua suppressed a shudder, remembering his parents’ cold union, and the poor German widow forced into an illicit alliance to fill the private needs his father’s wife refused to deal with. Josh would die alone before he’d live the way they had. “I suggest you look elsewhere.”

“At least consider it?” Gowery asked. “Squire Helena about for a day or two. Get to know her. There is another man I’m considering who is from just as good a family. I’ll settle on him if you refuse even though Helena seems to despise him.”

Poor Helena. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to agree to spend time with her. He could give her a reprieve for a little while. She was a pleasant person and certainly not hard on the eyes. Harlan’s chair creaked, drawing Joshua’s attention. He sat back in his own chair and looked toward his father again. “You’ve been surprisingly quiet, Father.”

“I think you would be wise to think about Franklin’s offer. He’s only trying to do his duty by the girl and it isn’t as if arranged marriages among people of our class are unusual. Don’t turn it down out of hand just because I’ve endorsed the girl.”

Joshua smiled. “That would be rather childish. If I remember from our recent communications, we’ve decided I’m a man now. I’ll run the company and escort who I wish and, as it so happens, it suits my purposes to be Helena’s escort while she’s here. If we decide to pursue a relationship, it will be because we choose to for personal reasons—not financial gain or because you two have meddled in our lives. Is that clear?”

Both men nodded, but considering their personalities, Josh was sure it was only a temporary capitulation. “Pressure either of us and even this much of a concession is at an end,” he added.

By the time dinner was over, however, Josh knew he couldn’t marry Helena. She clearly hated him for some unknown reason. After thinking it through, he went downstairs to tell Harlan of his decision but got a nasty earful instead. What he overheard chilled him and placed him in the most difficult position he’d ever been in.

It seemed his father had left out something rather important when he turned the company over to Josh—like having hired Pinkerton agents to act as spies within the mining community. Josh understood both Gowery’s and his father’s desire to eliminate the threat from the thugs who’d taken over the failed American Miners United union. His father had been shot by one of them, after all. Josh’s anger initially came from being left in the dark but then he heard something that made his blood boil.

“I want evidence gathered on one man specifically, Brendan Kane,” Josh heard Gowery say.

“Is this because he seduced Helena then discarded her?” a voice unknown to Josh asked.

“He’s miles below her in station. He had no right to even talk to her let alone have his way with her. I want him to swing—if not for that then for Harry Conwell’s murder,” Gowery demanded.

“We have no proof that Helena’s father was even killed by a miner let alone her lover,” the undercover Pinkerton agent said. The man’s British accent seemed to be tinged with a touch of Irish. “I was there,” he went on. “I held Conwell as he died.”

Newspaper accounts of Harry Conwell’s murder had placed both Gowery and Jamie Reynolds, the Earl of Adair, at the scene. Did that mean that for some reason an earl was working undercover for the Pinkertons? Joshua had to agree with the man’s assessment of Helena’s father’s death. Josh was sure Brendan Kane was innocent of everything except seducing Helena.

Josh wished he could simply warn Brendan but that might not be wise. He was trapped, Josh thought as he made his way to his room upstairs. If he didn’t agree to the marriage, Gowery would just take Helena and leave town.

He had to talk to her.

Since Josh rarely put off unpleasant tasks, he went immediately to her room and tapped on the door.

“Joshua?” she whispered after cracking the door open.

“I need to talk to you. I know it’s late, and that this is irregular, but may I come in?”

Helena’s shadowed figure grew rigid. “I don’t know what Uncle Franklin told you, but I assure you, I will not allow you to sample the merchandise!”

She started to close the door, but Josh pressed his shoulder against it. “I said talk. That’s what I meant. Look, I don’t want to sound melodramatic but this is a matter of life or death.”

Helena considered him, then stepped back and silently motioned him inside. She had a lamp burning low on a table between two chairs at the far end of the room. She walked to one of the chairs and sat, gesturing to the other.

He sat. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but—”

“I was awake.” Her tone was flat and preoccupied. “I don’t sleep well anymore.”

“You’re very resentful of me. Why?”

“You’re a man,” she snapped. “I doubt you have the capacity to understand. What exactly is the plan for tonight? Compromise the little heiress and gain control of her fortune?”

Josh raked a hand through his hair. What if she resented Brendan? “I came here to ask your help,” he explained. “You don’t want to marry me and I don’t want to marry you. My father married my mother for her money. I was merely the second clause in the negotiations. She had little choice, and it seems you don’t, either. Am I right?” She nodded. “If I don’t marry you, Franklin will go looking for another man for you.”

“He has another man all picked out to step in line.” Helena laughed quietly but it was a sad sound. “I can’t marry the man I love, because he’s poor and Uncle Franklin is sure he’s after my money. It’s perfectly acceptable, though, to hand me over to you or some earl who is probably bankrupt and obsessed with me. There’d be no pretense of love in the marriage on my end, but one of you will have my money as a reward. With him I’d be the Countess Adair. What do you have to offer?”

She’d answered the question of why a man of consequence like an earl would be foolhardy enough to become involved with spying on the AMU. He was trying to find the man who killed the father of the woman he loved. So where did all that leave Helena and Brendan? Poor Helena was closer to a slave than the miners. “Do you still love him and does Brendan Kane return your feelings?”

She looked up in surprise at the mention of Brendan’s name and a tear glistened at the corner of her eye. “He loves me so much he won’t see me or talk to me. He thinks he’s not good enough for me but that isn’t true. He’s wonderful. And noble. All he worries about is that he can’t give me what I’ve always had. He’s bitter about losing me but he’s as stubborn as Uncle Franklin. I wanted to run away with him, but he says he won’t rob me of my inheritance. How did you find out his name?”

Joshua leaned forward and took her fisted hands in his. “I just got an earful outside my father’s room. Franklin wants retribution, Helena, and he’s using your earl to get it. Have you ever heard of the American Miners United or the term Workmen?”

“Of course, Uncle Franklin says it was members of the AMU who shot your father and killed mine. And they’ve threatened Uncle Franklin. Workmen are what their members are called.”

“Do you think Brendan Kane could be a Workman?”

Fire shot to her eyes. “He’d no more shoot a man in cold blood than he would his own father! And he wouldn’t belong to an organization that would!”

He’d needed to know what she thought. She thought Workmen had killed her father. She wouldn’t harbor one. “I hadn’t thought so but I haven’t seen or heard from Brendan since I left here.”

Helena’s eyes widened. “You know Brendan.”

“He was my best friend. Your guardian is trying to frame Brendan as a Workman. They have Pinkerton spies all over Schuylkill County. A man named McParlan is close to getting a membership list in his sector. If they bring the men involved with the AMU to trial, many will hang. Your guardian means to see Brendan’s name added to the list.”

“I’ll warn him,” Helena burst out.

Josh shook his head. “No, you can’t. Neither can I. He may know men who’re in the AMU. They could be his good friends. There’s no sense in tempting him to warn a friend. If he did and something happens to one of the Pinkerton agents, and especially the earl, Brendan could be implicated.”

Joshua thought of Brendan as he watched emotions and thoughts race across Helena’s face. He didn’t like the idea of his friend being in the kind of pain he himself had been in for years. He didn’t want him to feel the emptiness that goes with losing love. For long minutes, the only sound in the room came from a clock ticking in the corner.

“According to the terms of your father’s will, will you ever be able to marry as you wish?”

“When I’m twenty-one. In three months time, I inherit, married or not. I’d hoped to put him off but Uncle Franklin is determined to choose for me before then. I can’t let another man touch—” She stopped and shook her head, a blush staining her pale cheeks. “I won’t marry anyone but Brendan.”

Joshua stared at the young woman across from him. Helena seemed strong enough to bear up under the strain of a plan forming in his mind. In a way, it would be less pressure than she was currently under.

“What you need is a diversion. What I need is to keep Franklin here in Wheatonburg where I can watch how his trap for the AMU unfolds and so I can make sure Brendan isn’t caught in it when it’s sprung.”

“How do we accomplish that?” she asked, her eyes wide with excitement and dread at the same time.

“By letting everyone think we’re considering marriage.”

Helena simply stared. “So,” she said slowly, “we pretend you’re courting me and Uncle Franklin takes me off the auction block.”

“Yes, but we have to find a way to keep Franklin here so I can watch him.”

Helena shook her head. “He won’t leave me here. The last time I was here I met and fell in love with Brendan. He’ll want to make sure we stay away from each other. I’m just afraid Brendan will think I’ve given up. He keeps telling me to, but I swore not to.” Her lips turned up in a sudden mischievous grin. “I suppose it would serve him right for his lack of faith.”

Josh found himself grinning, too. “Are we agreed then?”

Helena nodded. “How will I ever be able to thank you?”

“By making plenty of pretty babies with Brendan and naming one after me.”

Helena tilted her head and stared at him for several seconds. “You sound as if you’ll never have a son of your own. Someday you’ll meet the right person.”

Josh shook his head. “I don’t think so. I met her years ago. She was the daughter of a miner.”

“And you lost her?”

“I had better go,” Joshua told her, standing abruptly and hastening from the room. He knew it wasn’t fair but he couldn’t talk about Abby so soon after his first painful glimpse of her.

Chapter Three

Helena grew visibly nervous when the town came into sight the next morning. “How did you meet Brendan?” Josh finally asked, hoping to get her to relax.

Helena smiled. “Uncle Franklin brought me here when he had to go away on business. He thought I’d be well chaperoned, but I was only here a couple days when your father was shot. While the house was in turmoil, I had a groom saddle a mount, and I rode into the mountains. I was quite lost, and enjoying every minute of it, when I came upon Brendan fishing.”

“And that would have been it for Brendan. You’re everything he used to say he wanted in a wife.”

Helena looked confused. “But he sneers at my money. He wants a ranch and I could buy one for him but he won’t hear of it.”

Brendan was clearly the more practical of the two. Which meant he’d changed. Had he changed enough to warn a friend if he learned of the Irish-sounding earl who was undercover for the Pinkertons and hunting his hide?

As they rode through the outskirts of town, Helena said, “It’s so dreary. I’ve wondered why they stay here.”

“They were lured here with a promise of a better life. They stay,” Josh answered, “because men like Gowery and my father promised to be their saviors but keep them enslaved to debt.”

“That angers you, doesn’t it? Imagine how terrible it is to be told where to go, who to see, who to love.” Helena blinked away a mist of tears.

Joshua felt her hopelessness. The life she described was clearly her own. “Helena, this will work. You’ll be safe and we’ll keep Brendan safe. We just need to resist the temptation to warn him about your earl. The man sounded honest if angry over your relationship with Brendan so I doubt he’ll manufacture evidence against him.”

She nodded and glanced away toward the company store. “Look. There goes that boy from the station yesterday.”

Joshua pulled the carriage to a stop. “Ever been in a company store?” Helena shook her head. “Then you need to see how the miners get enslaved to debt. You’ll notice the prices are ten to fifteen percent higher than what you’re used to seeing in the stores near Philadelphia. Mining companies pay in script. That forces employees to buy their equipment, explosives and all their staples from their company store. They run up a bill, and then can’t leave till it’s paid,” he explained as he helped her down from the carriage.

Helena looked around town. “You should have just whisked your girl away from all this. Was she very pretty?” she asked as Joshua opened the door to the store.

He followed Helena inside and found himself looking at that long-remembered face. “Beautiful, in fact,” Joshua whispered, staring at Abby as she spoke with Mr. Prescott.

She looked just as he remembered … a little thinner perhaps but the years had been more than kind. Her long auburn hair was pulled into a tight bun, but just as in her youth it refused to be tamed. Tiny ringlets had pulled loose to softly frame the delicate high cheekbones of her lovely face. Josh felt his heart seize in his chest. How can it still hurt so damned much?

“Are you all right?” Helena whispered.

Josh couldn’t tear his gaze away from Abby.

“Oh, that’s her, isn’t it?” Helena asked. “Your father says she broke your heart by marrying another man.”

“My father talks too much,” Josh growled. He didn’t need reminding that the tormentor of his youth had stolen Abby.

“She is beautiful,” Helena went on, throwing salt in the still open wound. “Her hair is like fire in the sunlight.”

He wasn’t ready for this. He took a step backward, but Helena turned into a proverbial pillar of salt holding him in place. Then in a flash she turned into an iron horse, all but dragging him across the room.

“Come along and introduce me,” she ordered. “Get this out of the way. You’ve come back here to live. You can’t hide in the manor house.”

Joshua cleared his throat when they reached the counter. “It’s been a long time, Abby,” he managed to say in what he hoped was the neutral tone of a man greeting an old acquaintance.

Abby sucked in a deep, shocked breath. Seeing Joshua the day before hadn’t prepared her for the sound of his voice. If she had prior warning, she’d have fled but now she had no choice. She turned to face the man she’d once loved and the woman she’d heard he intended to marry. The meeting was inevitable, but she wasn’t ready, and that wasn’t fair.

Because he obviously was.

He sounded as if they’d been no more than childhood playmates. But they’d been more—much more. They’d created a child together. A child he’d abandoned to grow up in poverty while he traveled the world and found another woman. Righteous anger rescued her pride. “Joshua. I’d heard you’d returned. Planning to suck the miners and laborers even dryer? A little warning—they can’t squeeze their budgets tighter without starving. And if they died, who’d go down into those death traps your father calls tunnels?”

“Things are going to get better now, Abby. I’m back and with enough power to make some real changes. All the changes we’d planned.”

“Well, I beg your pardon but I’ll not be believin’ a Wheaton’ll honor his word. I learned that long ago.”

“Why so hostile, Abby? You should know what I’ve always dreamed of for this town and its people. I do intend to carry on with all those plans and promises I made.”

“You’re ten years too late to keep a good many of them! Nobody trusts the word of a Wheaton, least of all me.”

“My, you two are intense,” Helena drawled before Joshua could respond to Abby’s indictment. “Darling, introduce me to this lovely, dusty creature.”

A perplexed look come across Joshua’s features before they hardened. “Abaigeal Sullivan. Helena Conwell. Helena is my intended.”

Helena Conwell seemed flustered but then the neighbor girl Abby cared for in the mornings skipped up. “Mrs. Sullivan, Daniel said to ask if we could have a candy stick?”

“I’ll try my hand at a bit of candy-making when we get home.”

Two candy sticks suddenly appeared in a large masculine hand. “Hope you like cherry, sweetheart. It’s the only flavor Ethan Prescott ever stocks from what I can remember.” Joshua held the candy out to the children and smiled at little Susan. “If Abby hasn’t improved on her candy-making skills, she’ll likely burn the house down. She nearly did to Mrs. Henry’s kitchen when she was younger.”

“I’d rather take brimstone from the devil,” Daniel snarled, having come upon them. With that said, he kicked over a bucket of dirty water, soaking the skirt of Miss Conwell’s lovely gown, then ran out the door.

Helena gasped in shock and stepped back, holding the sodden material off her limbs. “That boy is a little animal!”

Joshua stared down at Abby, fury burning in his eyes. “He and I had words yesterday at the train station. I forgave his behavior because it was directed at me, but this is too much.”

“I apologize for my son, but you should understand his resentment.”

Josh felt dizzy. The air left his lungs, and he sucked in a strangled breath. Her son. He’d assumed the boy was her brother. The one her mother had been expecting when he left for Germany. Her mother’s condition had been the chief reason Abby had refused to go with him. So the boy was Abby’s son. He should have been theirs but instead he was proof she’d betrayed him within months in the bed of a man Josh despised.

“He needs a good trip to the woodshed with your husband,” he said, then wished instantly he could take it back. The boy had been wrong, but Liam Sullivan was a brute.

“I’ve no husband, as you well know!” Abby spat at him.

Josh blinked. “Of course you do. Liam Sullivan.”

“I’m widowed, you fool. How long do you think he lived the way he was?” She turned her gaze on Helena, who stood gaping. “'Tis sorry I am for what Daniel did. He really does have his reasons. I truly feel sorry for you to be marrying a blackguard like Joshua Wheaton. You’d better be askin’ what has the boy so upset! Come along, Susan.”

Josh would have followed Abby but Helena said, “Take me home. Please, Joshua.” She pulled a face and held her sodden hem away from herself. He guided Helena to the carriage and helped her in, but his mind stayed on Abby. Something didn’t add up. Why was she so angry at him?

“You need to find out who that boy is,” Helena demanded as he climbed into the carriage.

“He’s Abby’s. And Sullivan’s. He looks a lot like Abby’s father. I thought he was her brother. Except for his eyes now that I think about it. All the Kanes have one shade of green eyes or another,” Joshua added absently. Something about his statement bothered him, but another thought replaced it. “Abby isn’t married. My father never told me Sullivan had died.”

“You should find out why. Especially since your father is so anxious to see us marry immediately. Speaking of which, why did you call me your intended when we agreed to hold that in reserve?”

Josh’s heart sank. Abby’s hostility had pushed him over the edge and he’d made a mess of things. He’d wanted her to think he’d moved on they way she had. But he hadn’t and had learned too late she was free. It was too late for them anyway since she clearly hated him now, though why was a puzzle. He’d been the one wronged.

“It’ll be okay. This is about saving Brendan’s life and you from the earl. But I need to find out why my father never told me Sullivan was dead,” he muttered, his mind trying to put the puzzle together.

Josh flicked the reins and started the carriage toward home. Even after ten years, the thought of Abby with Sullivan made his stomach turn. “I’ll never understand how her father allowed her to marry such a miserable excuse of a man.”

“Perhaps there was a good reason.”

“What reason could he have to let his daughter marry a drunken lout?” Josh demanded as he pulled the carriage to a stop at the front entrance of his father’s house.

Helena stared at him, her expression hard. “I’m not going to tell you,” she told him as he helped her down. “but you’d better find out. And while you’re at it, find out why men are so blind and stupid!”

Mystified, Joshua watched as Helena ran up the stairs and through the front door. He winced when she slammed it behind her. What the hell had he done? This was no way to play happy couple.

He stared after her for a moment then returned to town. There he found that Abby and Helena weren’t the only ones who held him in disdain. Every time he approached anyone from the mining families, and Father Rafferty as well, they snubbed him. Three different times women who had once been his and Abby’s friends refused to acknowledge his greeting. Frustrated and angry, he decided to go inspect the mines.

Joshua’s first impression was that little had changed there. Then he looked past the mud and coal dust. More tunnels had been added and consequently there were more ore cars and tracks converging on the spur that linked the mine to the railroad. There were more men milling around, as well. The supervisors all carried rifles and wore sidearms now, a legacy of the problems with the AMU. AMU’s Workmen had given mine owners the excuse they’d been after for years to arm their management.

A man who’d once been chief engineer came out of a shed and headed toward him. “Joshua, I’d heard you decided to come back.”

“I hadn’t heard you had. You left town before I did.”

Helmut Faltsburg had aged but he was still a formidable sight. “Ya, we’ve both come home.”

“I’m back because Father made concessions. Actually he capitulated completely. I’m in charge now. I hope you won’t mind working with a younger man.”

“I have grown used to being ordered about. My boss may have problems adjusting, though.”

“My father?”

Helmut shook his head. “I speak of Geoffrey Williams.”

“Who in hell is Geoffrey Williams?”

“A man a friend of your father’s recommended to run things.” Faltsburg shrugged. “I tried to tell your father Williams is not as good as Harlan was told, but your father, he is not a good judge of men. I stay and try to keep things as safe as I can but he is not—”

The door to the shed crashed open. “I didn’t say you could leave. If you don’t start showing me some respect, old man, you’re going to find yourself fired.” The man stared at Joshua with a narrowed, mean gaze. “What are you doing hanging around the mines? It’s against company rules.”

Joshua moved toward the tall man, who stood in the doorway. “What rules are those?” he asked.

“We don’t allow any unauthorized people near the mines. Leave or I’ll have a guard escort you back to town.”

“Maybe you should talk to Harlan first.”

Williams frowned. “Wheaton didn’t tell me a thing about hiring a new man.”

“How odd. Helmut was just telling me he’d been looking forward to my taking over.”

The man’s jaw dropped then Helmut stepped forward, his shoulders a bit straighter, his tired eyes lively. “This is Joshua Wheaton.”

“Mr. Wheaton,” Williams stammered. “I had no idea you’d arrived.”

“That’s quite obvious. I’ve asked Helmut to take me on a tour of the yards. I’ll see you later to discuss my findings.”

Joshua followed the old supervisor toward River Fall tunnel. The first thing he noticed was the breaker shed, instead of being separate, was over the shaft that held the ventilation furnace. It was a clear safety violation. He stood at the edge and paced off the distance to the second shaft. Then back again.

“Is there another entrance I don’t see?” Josh asked. His one-time mentor shook his head. “But the second shaft is twenty feet too close to comply with current mining law.”

“Williams said one hundred and thirty feet was as good as one hundred and fifty feet.”

Josh arched his brows. “He decided to just ignore a congressional dictate?”

“Most owners ignore the 1870 Mine Act.”

“It isn’t nearly as strict as the one enacted by Parliament in England. We complied over there and still made a handsome profit.”

Helmut’s only answer was a shrug.

Joshua growled and picked up a Davy safety lamp. Safety would be an uphill battle, waged inside the mine and in the engineering shed. The miners were supposed to use safety lamps on days when the barometric pressure was as low as it was that day. The Davy lamp was a safety breakthrough but it was far from efficient. It was too heavy to wear on a cap, so it had to be set down away from the actual work and didn’t give off as much light as an open flame. He knew he’d find the men inside with naked flames blazing on their caps, the flame teasing the flammable gas the miners called firedamp to explode.

They reached the breaker shed housing the cage and pulley system used to transport men and coal to the surface. Helmut introduced Josh to the shed supervisor.

“I think you ought to wait before you go in there,” he said. “The men are clearing a crush. Can’t tell how much firedamp it’ll cause.”

Joshua turned back to the man. “It’s no more dangerous for me than it is for them.”

“But what if something happens to you, sir?”

Joshua smiled and clapped the man on the shoulder. “I take full responsibility for my actions. Shouldn’t take long.”

But it did. And he was appalled. The open flames on the miners’ caps continually elongated as pockets of methane flowed through the tunnel, proving the old-fashioned furnace didn’t ventilate nearly well enough. In England, the shaft would not only have been closed, but it also never would have been opened in the first place. Anger felt as if it had burned a hole in Joshua’s gut by the time he reached the surface.

“Pull the men out,” he ordered, fury rife in his tone. “I counted five violations. Each one could cause a disaster. There are too many men in each breast. They’ve robbed the pillars to the point of insanity and the wood’s either rotted from the water or too light to start with. And the ventilation system’s a joke.”

“If we pull the men out they’ll be furious, as will your father,” Faltsburg protested.

Josh pinned him with a steely look. “Close it down, Helmut.”

“Joshua, I know you’re thinking of the safety of the men but what about their families? We shut it down and they go further in debt to the store. You know how it works. The men would rather take chances. That’s what this business is about.”

Through gritted teeth Joshua repeated his order. “Close … it … down! I won’t risk their lives for money. Gather them around the engineer’s hut. When I get through firing Williams, I’ll talk to them. As for my father, he wouldn’t relish spending the rest of his natural life behind bars. If even one of those engineering violations results in loss of life, he could. And at this point, I wouldn’t lift a finger to stop it.”

Forty-five minutes later Joshua emerged from the engineers’ hut. Williams had been fired exactly forty-two minutes earlier. Josh had checked the specs. Engineering plans hadn’t been followed. Corners had been cut. Dangerous corners.

Chapter Four

Joshua stopped on the boardwalk outside the shed to talk to the miners and laborers milling about on the snowy ground. Their faces were blackened with coal dust. Their hands buried deep in their pockets. “Some of you may recognize me,” he began. “But for those who don’t, I’m Joshua Wheaton. I’ve returned to Wheatonburg to take over my father’s mining operations. The first thing I did was close down the River Fall shaft until it’s brought up to government standard.”

“And what are we supposed to be eating on until then?” a voice shouted.

“You’ll be paid an hourly wage to equal your best week during the last quarter. I’ll expect each man to work to his full ability. I see no reason why we can’t have River Fall in operation by the New Year. The furnace will be replaced by a top of the shaft ventilation fan. We’ll replace a good portion of the timbers, clean out the gob from the crushed-down breasts, add more brattles and construct safety doors to get the air currents moving. I’d also like to implement a better system for pumping the water out of the mine.” Joshua glanced down ruefully at his soaked trouser cuffs and boots. “Easy to see why it’s called River Fall.”

Several of the men laughed, giving Josh hope that he might be able to come to a pleasant accord with them.

“Ve all get paid the same?” a man with a German accent called out.

“This is not specialty work. If you object, you needn’t work. I’m sure Prescott would issue you credit but that would increase your debt.”

“It sounds like a fair shake,” another man shouted. “I say we go along. We lose nothing and even gain since no one can dig as much in winter as summer.”

“It’s fools you are to believe the word of a Wheaton. The same old Biddle fans sit where they’ve put in topside ventilation. How’s he going to be getting Harlan Wheaton to go along with buying new fans?”

Joshua scanned the crowd looking for the familiar face that went with the voice. It had matured but Brendan Kane’s Americanized Irish brogue was still easily recognizable. Josh fought to hide his hurt. Brendan was the best friend he’d ever had. First Abby, then the people he’d met in town and now Brendan. He didn’t understand.

“I don’t know what’s been happening around here, Brendan. But I’m now solely in charge of the mines. I’ll get the fans. In fact, Helmut, wire Bannans in Pottsville. Tell them to send the two Gribal fans I had them hold for me.”

The men murmured amongst themselves for several minutes before Joshua drew their attention. “So what do you say? Will you give me a chance to turn things around?”

“What about the men in the other shafts?” one man shouted. “My son and brother are working Destiny and my cousin’s at Lilybet.”

“I’ll personally inspect them, too. If we have to halt production there it will be done in the same way. Digging on the new tunnel will be stopped until the rest are brought up to European standards. Those who want to work on the cleanup show up here at your regular time tomorrow. You have the rest of the day off with pay.”

Joshua watched the men break up and head for town. He wondered what they were saying. Once he would have been privy to their opinions but everything had changed. Deep in thought, he didn’t hear the footsteps.

“So you’ve come back, have you?” Brendan Kane sneered. Joshua turned to his old friend and was met with a solid punch in the jaw that sent him sprawling. Joshua looked up into the blazing green eyes of his onetime friend. “Stay away from Abby and Daniel or I swear I’ll kill you.” Brendan didn’t wait for a response. He just pivoted on his heel and stalked off.

“What the hell was that about?” Joshua asked aloud, not expecting an answer. He pushed himself to his feet, while rubbing his sore jaw. Then he heard a sound often heard around mines—a hacking cough. Dolly McAllister sat on the edge of the raised boardwalk of the engineering shed. Josh had once made two promises to the old man. He was on the road to keeping one, but he knew he might never keep the other.

The first real contact Joshua had had with mine workers occurred during the rescue attempted for Dolly’s son, Daniel. He’d met Abby that day, as well. Harlan had been out of town and Josh had tried to fill shoes too big and soiled for a boy of thirteen. He’d dug with the rest of the men after Abby had shamed them into allowing him to help. Joshua had vowed to make mining safer, and to name his first son after the Daniel they had been unable to save.

“Well now, it seems no one else will be tellin’ you what the community thinks of what you did. Nor about how your return might cause more hurt to those hurt enough by you already.”

“I came back to make a difference. To help, not hurt.”

Dolly pinned Joshua with a measuring look. “I don’t doubt you believe you can, or that you’ll fail where mining is concerned. But I’m talkin’ about Brendan’s feelin’s on the matter. ‘Twas Brendan who had to pick up the pieces of Abby’s life after Sullivan was gone. ‘Twas Brendan who’s had to support her and the boy all these years. He’s had to be a father to a boy who’s sneered at by most of Wheatonburg.”

“I went away to school. I didn’t tell her to marry Sullivan,” Joshua growled.

McAllister shook his gray head. “Just goes to prove book learnin’ don’t mean a hoot in hell without common sense,” the old man continued with exaggerated patience. “Who else was to give your bastard son a name, boyo?”

Joshua stood stock-still. His body went hot then icy cold. He felt as if his breath had been sucked from his lungs. Surely his ears were playing tricks on him.

“What did you say?” he asked in a voice so choked it sounded more like a gasp.

“I said, boyo, that Sullivan gave yer boy a name, since you didn’t care to. Nice that he did something decent before he passed on. Abby kept your promise by namin’ the boy for my Daniel.”

“Abby’s son is … my son?”

“I think you’d better be sittin’ down, boyo. You look a bit pasty.”

Joshua sat on the edge of the boardwalk, his thoughts whirling. No one but Abby knew how he’d begged her to join him. No one knew about the money he’d scraped together and sent her for travel, clothes and food. Abby had taken his offering, but she hadn’t joined him. She hadn’t even written. By the time he’d sent the money, she must have known she was with child, yet she hadn’t joined him. She’d married another man. Given his son Sullivan’s name!

Forgetting Dolly’s presence in the face of his pain he muttered, “How could she do that to me? To our son?”

“To you?” Dolly asked in a high, excited screech.

“Did staying here with her family mean so much that she’d deprive me of my son and the boy of his birthright?”

“You’ve got a perverse way of viewin’ the past. ‘Twas your father and you who did that!”

“My father knows Daniel is my son?”

“'Tisn’t Philadelphia, you know. He knew. Mike Kane even went to Wheaton, but he wouldn’t send for you, so Mike struck a deal with Sullivan.”

Joshua stood. His knees shook as much as his voice. “Thank you for your honesty, Dolly. At least Abby named him Daniel. He has one of the names he should have. I need to think. Find someone to take the buggy on home for me, will you?”

Brendan shouldered his way into the saloon, flexing his hand and hoping he hadn’t broken it. After buying a beer, he heard Sean Murphy call his name from the center of a group of miners. This is all I need.

“What is it brought you into our midst? Wheaton’s return drivin’ you to drink already?”

One of the men with Murphy said Brendan would need to lock Abby in the house to keep her away from her former lover.

“I’ll not hear talk like that said about my sister,” Brendan growled and hoped the men would back down. His punching hand was damaged enough as it was.

“And I’ll not be hearin’ it, either,” Murphy chimed in.

Dooley snickered at Sean, but muttered an apology to Brendan, then slipped away, leaving Brendan and Sean at the bar.

“I was thinkin’ I’d ask Abby to the social on Saturday. With Wheaton back it’d be a good thing if she went with me.”

Brendan felt sorry for Sean. He’d been the butt of jokes for years and he could be particularly annoying when he bragged on imagined alliances with the AMU to make himself important.

“Sean,” Brendan said and clapped the other man on the shoulder. “She’s never seen you in that light. Besides, Joshua Wheaton is engaged to be married, so there shouldn’t be anything for people to talk about. Thanks for defendin’ her just now, though. I promised to pick up something for Abby at the store so I best be on my way.”

Sean smiled. “I’ll walk with you. Maybe I’ll get a glimpse of Abby as we pass your house.”

Brendan sighed and silently cursed his rotten luck. He was uncomfortable with Sean’s undying affection for Abby. She’d bluntly refused his courtship and yet he remained devoted.

“You get what you came for and I’ll just look about,” Murphy said at the store.

Brendan waited at the counter for Ethan Prescott. Several minutes later Prescott pushed aside the curtain to his back room and stepped out. “What can I do for you, Murphy?” he said, staring right at Brendan.

It had not been a good day. “How long is it going to take for you to tell us apart? I’m Brendan Kane, Prescott. My sister works for you. I know one sooted-up miner looks like another to you but …” Brendan stopped, noticing Prescott’s bored expression. “Oh, forget it. Ten pounds of flour.”

“You want this on your account, don’t you?”

Brendan nodded and signed for the flour in the account book. When Prescott returned with the sack of flour, Brendan slung it over his shoulder. He turned to leave and found Murphy staring at him with an odd look in his eyes.

“Problem, Sean?”

Murphy shrugged. “I forgot I’ve something to do.

Tell Abby I said halloo.”

Brendan watched him rush away, grateful for the reprieve, but disturbed … as well. The only thing he could think Sean would find more important than another attempt at courting Abby was going off to try ingratiating himself further to AMU members. Murphy was not only odd, he had dangerous leanings.

Joshua walked in the hills for hours. He felt like a ship set adrift on becalmed seas. Lost. Hopeless. He thought of the years he and Abby had shared. First as friends then finally as lovers. He remembered the innocence of her sparkling eyes. He remembered her laughter when life should have held nothing to smile about. He remembered her guilty tears the night their son must have been conceived and the argument they’d had when she’d refused to leave town with him. Remembering. Hurting. He walked for hours scarcely noticing when the sun slipped behind the hills.

He arrived home long after dark. Dinner was thankfully a memory. With guests in the house, he would have been obligated to be civil to Harlan during the meal. Josh couldn’t have done it.

“Is Harlan in his room, Henry?” Josh snapped when Henry met him at the door. The butler stepped back, his eyes wide. “I apologize, Henry. I’m not at my best. I just found out I’ve been a father for nine years but no one has ever seen fit to tell me. I’ll show myself in. No need to risk him snarling at you, as well.”

“Thank you, sir,” Henry said, then seemed to scurry for cover.

Wise man, Joshua thought as he stalked toward Harlan’s lair. Since learning about Daniel, Josh hadn’t thought of Harlan as “Father” even once. And if he didn’t get a damned good explanation Josh probably never would. The old bear wouldn’t hide from him tonight! Without knocking, Josh slammed through the door.

“Joshua! What in heaven’s name is wrong?” Harlan shouted.

“Wrong? What could be wrong?” Josh asked, his tone biting. “This morning I realized half the people were treating me like a leper and the rest snickered when I passed. Then I went to take a look at the conditions in the mines. How does appalling sound?”

“Well—” the old man noisily cleared his throat “—I haven’t had my hand in there for some time now. Crippled the way I—”

“Don’t!” Josh roared.

Harlan blinked. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t try weaseling out using your condition. We’ll talk about the mines, and what I’ve decided to do with them at another time. Right now, I want to discuss why people acted the way they did toward me. Abaigeal Sullivan.”

“What about her?”

“Abby’s a widow. She has no husband. She does have a son, though. Mine!“ The word reverberated through the room.

Harlan sat a bit straighter. “You believe that claptrap?”

“Believe it? Why wouldn’t I believe it?”

“Because she married another man as soon as I tossed the two of them, their demands and lies out of my house. Michael Kane went so far as to threaten me. He’s lucky I thought he was amusing.”

“Threats? What would he have to threaten you with?”

“Hmmph! Kane said my grandchild would grow up in the coal patch, hating its rightful name. I assume he’s turning him into a Workman just like the rest of the rabble.”

“What did you say to that?” Josh asked, already having dismissed the very idea that any Kane would be mixed up with the AMU. Daniel clearly did hate his rightful name, though. What made it hurt worse was they’d chosen to give him the surname of a man everyone knew Josh hated.

“I said my son wouldn’t be held responsible for Kane’s daughter being a tramp.”

Fury surged anew through Josh. “Abby was not a tramp!”

“How do you know what she did when you weren’t around?”

No matter how much she’d hurt him, she’d been innocent. He wouldn’t retract his defense of her. “Because, you dirty-minded old bastard, she was a virgin! The night Daniel was conceived was the only time I took us that far. Abby was … Dear God … she was so guilt-ridden afterward it tore my heart out. I made her a promise that it wouldn’t happen again until we were married. A little over a month later you and I fought over you trying to make me give her up.”

Joshua had the pleasure of watching Harlan pale. He was clearly worried now. “But he doesn’t look like you. I’ve asked. Don’t you think I haven’t!”

“If you’d bothered to see him yourself you’d have noticed he has my eyes.”

Harlan scowled. “So he has blue eyes. That proves nothing. I kept the two of you apart for your own good. She was a miner’s daughter. There’s nothing you can do about it all these years later,” Harlan added uncertainly.

“Oh, there’s something I can do, all right!” Joshua snarled, his fist clenched. “I can find out why she took my money and didn’t join me. I can find out why she didn’t let me know about Daniel. I already know why you didn’t tell me. God help you if I find out you did more.”

“I did what I thought was best for you,” Harlan said.

“What you thought? You think you’re better than the men who die making money for you. Michael Kane is a better man than you could ever hope to be and he was more a father to me than you ever were! I had a right to be that kind of father to my son. I also had a right to be here, not wandering around Europe, unable to face living so close to Abby and her husband. I could have come home years ago. Just how long has Sullivan been dead?”

“I hoped you’d forget her if you thought she was married. I hoped you’d meet someone else.”

“I loved Abby.” Joshua stared at him, trying not to hate him. It was too late.

“Where are you going?” Harlan asked when Josh turned away.

“I’m not going to pack and leave if that’s worrying you.”

Seeing the relief on Harlan’s face, Joshua added ruthlessly, “But not because of you. I’m staying because my son is here in Wheatonburg and I intend to get to know him. If I can, considering he loathes the sight of me. I’m also staying because there are two hundred miners and laborers here along with their families. They need me to clean up those death traps you call mines.”

Harlan watched his son’s stiff back as he stalked toward the stairs, leaving the door open. Joshua’s words had cut deeply. He was old and alone but for his son. He’d had such hope when Joshua had agreed to return to run the mines. And now, once his boy learned what he’d done, he might well pack his bags. He wouldn’t leave Wheatonburg but might move out of the manor.

He told himself he’d done the right thing and all that mattered was that Joshua stayed to run the mines. It was what he’d always wanted. Now it looked as if that was all he’d get.

Chapter Five

Joshua met Henry in the hall. “I’ve turned down your bed, and took the liberty of drawing you a hot bath.” Henry glanced askance at the condition of Joshua’s clothing. “I would say you could use a good hot soak about now, sir.”

“I’m going to change but I’m going out again,” Joshua told the butler.

Henry cleared his throat and stood even stiffer. “Begging your pardon, but it might do to wait for morning after the brothers go off to work and Daniel has left for school. And yes, sir, there is a school. Mrs. Sullivan’s doing. Badgered your father until he hired a schoolmaster. There’s need of a better building but now many children attend.”

Abby had gotten her school. That was two promises he’d made that Abby had fulfilled in his absence. Suddenly tired to his depths, Josh sighed. “Perhaps you have a point. Abby and I should talk without any interference.”

Old Henry started on his way but halted almost in midstep. “Perhaps you shouldn’t judge any of them too harshly, sir. The past is over. The future lies ahead.” That said he pivoted smartly and left Joshua standing in the hall staring after him, realizing what had just happened. Henry had interfered and given him advice for the first time ever. Unfortunately, Josh doubted he could take it.

“Daniel Sullivan!” Abby called out the door. “Where in the name of all that’s holy do you think you’re going dressed like that? Those pants are torn and that shirt’s nothing but a rag. March yourself back in here.” Abby shook her head. “These are from my rag bag.”

“They’re fine. I can still wear them. You work too hard,” Daniel answered.

He was sincere, but Abby could see he wasn’t being completely truthful. She tried her most penetrating glare, hoping to force the full truth from him, but it failed. His implacable expression reminded her heartbreakingly of Joshua. Idealistic. Stubborn. He was indeed his father’s son, though Daniel would deny it.

It made her sad, but there was little she could do to change things. She had never spoken ill of Joshua in Daniel’s presence. She’d simply said he’d left before she’d known she was with child and had not returned for her.

She’d explained her marriage to Liam Sullivan, so he could understand the talk about Josh being his real father. It was common knowledge, thanks to Liam, that she had married him to give Daniel a name in exchange for nursing care until Sullivan died of his injuries. But Daniel took too much abuse from his schoolmates not to be resentful of the man he saw as the cause of his problems.

Her heart aching for her tender-hearted son, Abby kissed his nose and cheek where the bright red yarn of his hat and scarf enhanced his freckles and set off his black hair beautifully.

After letting Daniel out the door, Abby sat in her rocker by the hearth, eyes closed and hands in her lap. The little house was silent with Daniel off to school, her brothers at work and her father still sleeping in his small room behind the kitchen. She’d learned to cherish the solitude the early mornings brought. She wasn’t due at Mr. Prescott’s store till noon. Some days she even caught a few more winks. But that would not be today.

A sharp rap on the front door reverberated in the small house, surprising Abby. Wondering who would be calling at so early an hour she hurried to the door before a second knock woke her father. She gasped when she pulled the door open.

Joshua!

“We need to talk,” he demanded.

Abby tried to push the door closed but he was too quick. His hand came up to stop her just as he managed to get a foot in the door. “Go away!”

“You seem to forget, Mrs. Sullivan, I own this house. If I want to gain entrance, I’ll do it.”

Abby didn’t quite know how it happened but he was soon striding through the house, shrinking it just by his presence. Abby followed him toward the sitting area near the fireplace. Her thoughts were whirling. What can he want?

Josh walked to the hearth then turned, propping his elbow indolently on the beautiful mantel her brother had carved. “So this is where you chose to raise my son.”

“I haven’t made a free choice since the night you took my virginity,” Abby spat back.

Josh raised his left eyebrow. “If my memory serves, you did more than your fair share of unbuttoning.”

Abby flew at him. Her fists balled, she struck wildly, raining blows on his chest, his cheekbone and mouth. Then in a heartbeat she found herself imprisoned against the hard wall of his chest.

“Stop it!” he barked.

Abby stared up at him. His eyes were like blue flames, his lips sealed in a straight line. He still smells the same, some stupid sentimental part of her brain remembered. His eyes changed as they held hers prisoner. His gaze was still hot and blazing but desire replaced anger. His lips came closer to hers and Abby panicked. She wouldn’t survive his kiss whole.

“Bastard!” she roared at him. Catching him off guard, Abby broke away. She took several steps backward, but refused to give more ground.

“Not me, my dear. However, our son is apparently considered a bastard by the townspeople, thanks to you.”

Abby hadn’t thought she could get any angrier. There was no way she’d strike out physically at him again and risk getting too close, but she’d not stand docilely by, either. “Well, now that’s where you’re wrong. I tried to protect him from gettin’ that name flung at him. I found a husband, but it was too late.”

“You gave my son another man’s name,” Josh charged.

“That is no one’s fault but yours, Joshua Wheaton. It was you who deserted us.”

The fire in Joshua’s eyes became an inferno. “Deserted you? I begged you to come with me. You’re the one who refused to leave here.”

“I was frightened. For God’s sake, I was only seventeen. You wanted me to sneak away. My parents would have been frantic. And my mother was doing poorly. She needed me.”

“I heard she died in childbirth not long after I left.” Abby heard true regret in his voice, and saw a flash of regret in his expression, but she looked away. Those were the most painful months of her life what with her mother’s death and Joshua’s desertion.

“So you took her place,” Josh continued ruthlessly. “You’ve cooked for her husband and sons and cleaned her house all these years. I’m sure the townspeople have nearly sainted you for your sacrifice, but tell me how they treat my son.”

“Like the bastard you made of him! I tried to hide behind Sullivan but it didn’t work. And I’ve not been sainted but condemned as the whore you made of me.”

“Why didn’t you come to me?”

Abby ignored the ridiculousness of his question and countered with one of her own. “Why didn’t you come back for me? You could, by God, at least have acknowledged my letters. But you chose to ignore us until now Daniel’s right here under your nose. Tell me, why the sudden interest? Is the great and world-famous engineer embarrassed to be living in the same town as the little boy he fathered then ignored?”

Joshua stared at Abby; her mouth moved but he’d heard nothing since she’d mentioned having written him. “What letters?” he asked, deathly afraid to hope she’d actually tried to contact him.

“What do you mean ‘what letters'? The letters I wrote telling you about the baby I was carrying. The ones Brendan sent from Pottsville to try keeping my business private. He mailed the last one for me the day after Daniel was born.”

Joshua gritted his teeth. How stupid did she think he was? “Don’t lie. You’d already married Sullivan by then.”

Abby’s eyes flashed ice. “Why in the name of all that’s holy would I lie? Sullivan was dead before Daniel was born.”

Joshua stared at Abby’s flushed, angry face for several tension-filled minutes before responding. “Am I to believe all your supposed letters mysteriously disappeared?”

Abby glared at him then turned her back. “Leave. Leave now and don’t ever darken this door again.”

“We’ve already established that it’s my door.”

Abby whirled on him, her small fists curled up tight. “That’s right! Lord it over us. The Wheatons and their slaves. You want to know what proof I have that I tried and even begged for your help? Look around you. Look at me. Do you think I picked this life for me or my son? Do you think I like decent women holdin’ their skirts aside so mine won’t brush theirs? Do you think I like seeing my son bleeding after yet another tiff over his mother ‘the whore’ and his father who used her but wouldn’t marry her?”

It wasn’t a pretty picture she’d painted nor did it make sense. Why would she have chosen that life? She had loved him. He’d been young and stupid but he didn’t doubt her feelings back then. But why hadn’t she used the money he’d sent to follow him. “Why did you stay here?”

“After Sullivan died, I thought about leaving. Fool that I was, I believed you hadn’t been able to send help, but would soon. And Brendan thought I should wait for you. Then days after Daniel was born, there was an accident. Da lost his leg and Brendan had to start as a laborer. We couldn’t even afford the rent on this place let alone strike out for another patch with a newborn babe and a badly injured man. But you never did come back or send help and then it was too late to leave. We had the debt we owed that just kept mounting. We’ve yet to pay it off. Little Tom started working as a breaker boy, trying to help, but Brendan couldn’t let him continue. That’s how my talented artistic brother wound up as a carpenter’s helper and how Brendan, who hates closed-in places, wound up in the mines. By helpin’ support your son and his mother.”

So he owed Brendan loyalty for more than just past friendship. It looked as if he owed the man a new life—and he’d see he got it, too. For the time being though all he could do was protect him the only way he knew how. By spying on Gowery and his father during their meetings with the Pinkerton man and keeping silent about him lest Brendan, feeling a loyalty to a friend of his own, bring on the earl’s death by sounding a warning of the man’s presence.

Abby walked away then, over to the kitchen area, and stood fussing with dishes. Nervous. Flitting from place to place without any purpose. Josh looked around at the neat, tidy little shack of a home. She clearly did her best and the furniture was of unexpectedly good quality. But the structure was shabby and must barely keep them warm in the winter. “Abby, I’d like to help. I’d like to be a father to Daniel,” he said in a low voice he wasn’t sure would even reach her.

“No!”

Abby stared at Joshua. The morning sun slanted through the parlor window and glinted in his golden hair. He wants Daniel. He’s rich and powerful and he’ll take him away, a voice inside her warned. In his rock-hard gaze there wasn’t a hint of the boy who’d been all artless charm and sincere intent. But the fulminating anger of minutes earlier was gone from his eyes. That didn’t calm Abby’s anger or her fear of him and what he could do. She no longer trusted any man or her judgment where they were concerned.

“What do you mean ‘no'?” he demanded.

“No. You can’t be a father to him.”

“I am his father.”

“You can’t have him. I won’t let you take him away from me!” Abby shouted, speaking from her fear and her brother’s warning.

The angry fire blazed in Joshua’s eyes again. “Because you won’t allow it?” Though spoken in a low, quiet tone, Abby heard the threat in his question. A threat she quickly realized hadn’t been there before.

“Daniel won’t allow it,” she spat back. “He loathes you.”

Joshua grinned, but it was a grin bereft of humor. He looked like an irritated cougar. “I’ve noticed you saw to your father’s threat. Apparently Michael promised to alienate the boy in retribution.”

“Well, we didn’t. None of us want him hating part of himself. I told him his father had gone before he was born and never returned.”

“Then how did he know I was his father?”

Abby thought she would fly apart if he didn’t stop questioning her and the way she’d raised Daniel. Who did he think he was to come in here and interrogate her? She pulled out the ingredients for sugar cookies, slamming them on the kitchen table. Letting the clinking of glass bowls, the sugar and flour tins and metal measuring cups, fill the air, she let her mind drift.

Abby remembered that glorious summer when young love had caught flame and burned out of control. Then she remembered she’d been the one to get burned.

Her voice low, she told him, “That you’re his father is common knowledge, Joshua. We were inseparable, you and I, that summer and it was easy for people to count back once my condition became apparent. My marriage fooled no one.”

Joshua moved closer, probably to hear her barely audible words. “If you never spoke against me then why does he hate me?” Joshua asked. Abby almost thought she heard pain in his voice.

Blessed anger flared in her heart. She wouldn’t have it! He’d not charm her into believing he was the one wronged. If he’d lost his son’s goodwill, he deserved it. “Because having a Wheaton for a father is probably a greater embarrassment to Daniel than Daniel is to you. He also has a good head on his shoulders. He’s formed opinions all on his own about the kind of man you must be to have abandoned me.”

“And you never tried to contradict those opinions.”

“I didn’t want to lie to him, either.”

“But as you said, I’m his father and he’s a part of me.”

“More’s the pity, but don’t worry, Daniel’s a good, honest boy who’s not a’tall like you.”

Joshua smirked. “Honest? That isn’t what I hear.”

Abby forgot their earlier physical encounter and threw a measuring cup at him but he managed to deflect it. He took two quick steps and grabbed her hands before she could hurl a second cup. They struggled. Seconds later Joshua won the contest of strength and the cup skidded harmlessly across the floor as Joshua’s arms tightened around her, pinning her arms to her sides.

The encounter might have ended as before but Abby felt a bit of satisfaction this time as he held her imprisoned against his unyielding chest. She’d hurt him when he’d batted the heavy cup aside. She could see the pain in his eyes as they stared at each other, nose-to-nose, gazes locked and silently warring. Their breathing was the only sound in the room and a different kind of heat flashed between them.

Then the click of a rifle being cocked broke the deadlock and the connection between them. “I’ll be thanking you to remove your hands from my daughter, Joshua Wheaton,” Michael Kane growled.

Joshua released Abby at once and stepped back. Truth told, he had to let her go anyway. Angry as he was, he found he couldn’t be close to Abby and not kiss her. He turned to fully face Michael Kane and flinched when he saw the crutches and the empty pants leg. This was the result of the accident Abby mentioned. Damn!

Then their eyes met and Joshua felt suddenly drained. Michael looked at him as if he were the snake come to spoil the Garden of Eden. Joshua said nothing. He had no idea how to bridge the gap that lay between them. This man, who had been a father to him, hated him now. It hurt more than the enmity between him and Harlan.

“Now I’m thinking by Abaigeal’s red face that you’ve worn out your welcome here. Not, I might add, that you’ve had one ‘round here in a good many years. I’d be moving on were I you. Because, boyo, this may be your house but the gun says ‘tis still my home. Now off with you.”

Without a word Joshua turned and walked to the door. His hands shook when he unlatched it. He stopped on the threshold, unable to leave things as they were. He looked back at Michael, standing tall and proud with the aid of a crutch and a door frame, hating that he’d lost the man’s respect.

“I swear to you, Mr. Kane, I had no idea Abby had conceived my child. I’m sorry I let things go that far between us. It was my fault, not Abby’s. You trusted me and I broke that trust. I’ll find some way to make it up to you—to all of you. And by damn I’ll find out why Abby’s letters never reached me.”

Michael glared. “I know who pushed who and I don’t need you to defend Abby to me at this late date. I certainly don’t need you to tell me who was at fault. Now get out!” he shouted.

Abby stared out the kitchen window at the mountain beyond, as the door slammed behind Joshua. Could he be telling the truth? Had he really not known of Daniel?

“Don’t you be believin’ that slick-tongued devil, Abby girl. The path to pain is what it ‘tis.” She knew she should listen, but it wasn’t that easy anymore.

Joshua truly had sounded angry and as if he’d never known of Daniel. She let the joy of that thought wash over her. Perhaps Joshua really had loved her. Perhaps he would have returned for her if he had known of Daniel. But the joy was short-lived. What had happened to his supposed love for her? He had not returned for her and her alone. Tears once again filled her eyes over Joshua and his faithless love.

“I know, Da. Don’t you be worrying yourself over it. He never thought of me after this town saw the back of him. Never one letter asking if all was well. I needed him. I believed in his love, but it was a lie. I’ll never let myself forget that. And what, at this late date, could he think to do to make up for all the pain? He’s a man promised to another woman. A woman, who by the look of her, would never accept his son from the coal patch.”

“'Tis sorry I am for your heartache, Abaigeal. I wish your mother was here to comfort you, but would a hug from your old da help?” Michael leaned his back against the doorjamb and held out his long arms, calling to her. Abby ran to him and held on for dear life. Why couldn’t Joshua have been half as faithful as her own sweet da?

Daniel quickly changed his pants and shirt to the ripped ones he’d had to smuggle out of the house. He sure wished his ma hadn’t caught him leaving in them. Peeking around the end of the breaker shed, he checking to see if his Uncle Brendan had gone into the mine shaft. He saw no one ahead but Luther Dancy, who was almost to the breaker shed.

An arm caught him from behind around the middle and lifted him off the ground. “Now what would the boss’s boy be doin’ round here at this time of the day?”

“Let me go. My uncle’ll beat you black and blue if you hurt me,” Daniel shouted, squirming to get loose.

The big man squeezed him so tight Daniel couldn’t breathe. Lights exploded in his head then everything dimmed.

“Let the lad go, Dooley,” he heard in the distance. “He’s not lookin’ real comfortable.”

Daniel looked into the kindly eyes of Sean Murphy, the man who was sweet on his ma. “Help,” Daniel pleaded with what felt like his last breath.

Murphy looked suddenly alarmed. “Let the boy go now! Damn you, you drunken sot!”

Daniel felt himself falling then found himself in Murphy’s arms. “Now, there’s a lad,” he said, patting Daniel’s back. “All righty? What were you were doin’ with the likes of Dooley?”

“He came up from behind me. I’m not supposed to have nothing to do with men like him, my ma says.”

“And your ma would be right. That doesn’t explain why you’re here,” the tall, dark-haired man said as he made himself comfortable on the ground next to Daniel.

Daniel knew he had to tell the truth. Murphy might be sympathetic to his cause.

Murphy scratched his head after Daniel shared his plans. “I can see your dilemma. I faced the same choice myself a while back. Tell you what. I’ll introduce you to Luther Dancy myself and get you started. You can clean up at my place after work and maybe put off your folks finding out for a few days.”

“Geez, thanks, Mr. Murphy,” Daniel told him, wondering why so many men made fun of him.

“That’s what friends are for. We miners have to stick together. And we have your mother’s welfare in common, too, don’t we?”

The hair on Daniel’s arms stood up. He didn’t know what he’d heard in the man’s friendly words but something hadn’t sounded quite right. Murphy loved Daniel’s mother. Love was a good thing. Confused, Daniel looked up into Murphy’s eyes and relaxed. His blue eyes sparkled and his smile was kind and friendly. “Thanks again for saving me,” Daniel said.

“No problem a’tall,” Murphy replied and smiled.

It was a friendly smile, Daniel reassured himself. He’d been imagining that Murphy wasn’t what he seemed. Dooley had spooked him. That was all. He took a deep breath. That had to be all. Murphy planned to help him. Wasn’t that proof of his goodwill?

Chapter Six

Six hours after being ordered out of Michael Kane’s home, Joshua ordered yet another crew out of a mine shaft. It was not, he told himself, the same thing. He was trying to save lives.

Because this mine was a young one, he’d held out hope it would be in better shape. His hope had fled hours earlier. Lilybet’s workers had heard what Joshua had done the day before, and they’d cooperated by pointing out problems. But those same men broke as many rules themselves as the poor engineering had.

He understood why. If they didn’t cut coal, they didn’t get paid. It was piecework by the ton and safety took too much time. He understood but he had to find a way to show them how foolish it was to risk their lives for pennies.

Joshua looked over the notice to be posted and he picked up the pencil to add to the list of rules he planned to have posted. Any miner caught breaking a safety rule will be suspended. He ran his fingers through his hair. It wouldn’t make him popular, but he didn’t want to be liked as much as he wanted to save lives.

Tired and worried about the deplorable conditions he’d found, Joshua glanced at the sky on his way to the main breaker shed. The sun was low, casting long shadows on newly fallen snow. A group of men trudged toward home. One of them was Brendan.

Josh wished with all his heart he could walk over and talk to him. He wanted to tell Bren the engagement was a farce. But something bigger stood between them. And that was the next thing on his agenda before the day was out.

Harlan had a lot to answer for. But still, he dreaded the coming confrontation, especially with Helena Conwell and Franklin Gowery still staying with them. Tonight there’d be no civilized meal.

Joshua strode into the shed and stopped short at the sight of the breaker boys. This was worse than the condition of the mines. They were far younger than they’d been when Josh was a boy. It was common practice to have boys do the job of separating shale from the coal. But back then, only boys older than thirteen and men too old or ill to work the mines worked the breaker sheds.

The problem was the parents of the boys often sent them at too young an age to help support their families. He vowed before the day was out he’d have a plan to get them back in the school room, where they belonged.

He looked around. Who the hell approved this?

Joshua went looking for an answer from the breaker boss, Luther Dancy. As he passed in front of the breaker bins, he glanced down at the boys’ callused hands. But then he saw a pair of bleeding hands—a new boy unaccustomed rough work. The pain the child must have felt twisted Joshua’s stomach. How dare anyone do this to a child? Josh’s eyes automatically flew to search the young face.

Daniel’s face!

Joshua had never known such rage. This was his son. Until that moment he hadn’t felt it. Not really. This was his flesh and blood, bleeding for pennies. “What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded.

Daniel looked up at him, shocked at first, but then his little, coal-smeared chin jutted out. “I’m here helping do what you never did, supporting my mother.”

Josh was struck anew by all he had lost, and by the hatred in his own son’s eyes. It was nearly more than he could stand. A bad day just got so much worse. He knelt in the coal dust in front of his son and took him by the wrist.

“Open it,” Josh ordered. His brows rose at the curt, profane answer Daniel spat back at him. “That may well be true but I am bigger than you, too. We can do this the easy way. Do as I say—right now. Or the hard way. I pry them open, which may just hurt them more. But either way, I will see the damage done to those hands.”

Daniel, eyes hot, rotated his wrist slowly and opened his hand, palm up. “Ain’t so bad. Few days and Mr. Dancy says they’ll callus up real good.”

“Your sorting days are over.”

His chin, so much like Abby’s, notched up. “You saying I’m not good enough to separate your coal?”

“I’m saying my son isn’t going to hurt like that for a few measly cents a week. If your mother needs the money so badly, I’ll give it to her.”

Daniel’s cheeks paled beneath the coating of coal dust. “She … she won’t take money from you. Too little too late, she’ll say.”

Joshua could almost hear Abby saying exactly that but there was something about the way Daniel had grown nervous that gave him pause. “Does your mother know you’re here?”

Silence.

“Daniel?”

His son’s face reddened. “I hate you! You’re wreckin’ everything. I was going to buy her a fancy dress. Fancy as the one your lady wore. My ma is a hundred times better. She should have nice things, too. I’m gonna’ give them to her. I’m gonna’ give her everything you never did!”

Joshua had no reply. At least not one Daniel would believe. “Come on, son, I’ll take you home so your ma can take care of those hands.”

“You’re not my—”

“Father,” Joshua finished on a tired sigh and stood. “Tell me, Daniel, if I’m not, then why am I so damn proud to have you for a son?”

He didn’t wait for a reply, but steered the boy out of the shed. His business with Luther Dancy would have to wait. It was probably just as well, Josh decided as they rode toward the Kane house. Had he seen Dancy just then he might have beaten him till his face was as bloody as Daniel’s hands.

Worried over the late hour, Abby pushed aside the worn calico curtains, hoping to see Daniel. But instead, a man on horseback came into view at the end of the road. He carried a boy in front of him. It was Joshua and Daniel.

Abby saw red. She grabbed her shawl and rushed out of the house. “He was supposed to be home an hour ago. He knows better than not to come straight home from school on days I’m not in town. How dare you make him disobey me? Do you know I’ve been worried out of my mind?”

“He wasn’t in school.” Joshua dismounted, his tone betraying a tightly leashed anger. “He was in the breaker shed. He’d been there all day.”

Abby turned to glare at her son. “You are in a world of trouble, young man! Wait till your Uncle Brendan gets hold of you. You won’t sit for a week!”

Daniel refused to look at Abby. Joshua laid his hand on her shoulder and Abby felt his warmth through her shawl. It sent heat curling through her. She stepped back, shrugging off his disturbing touch.

“Ab, he was trying to earn money to buy you a dress.”

Having their poverty pointed out by the man whose father caused it only fueled Abby’s anger. “Don’t you be defendin’ him to me! If you wouldn’t hire them, they wouldn’t be tempted to give up school.”

“I’m glad you didn’t send him there and believe me, I didn’t know our breaker boys were this young.” He turned to Daniel. “I’ll pay you ten cents a day for every day you go to school.”

“We’ll not be accepting your charity, Joshua Wheaton,” Abby shouted. “Now get out of my way, so I can take him inside where his uncle can deal with him.”

Joshua stood like a rock preventing her from reaching up to pull Daniel out of the saddle. “Not until you listen. It wouldn’t be charity. All the boys, nine and up, will get ten cents for every day they spend in school. I value education every bit as much as you do.” He turned and lifted Daniel to the ground. He took the boy’s resisting hands and held them out. “Open them,” he ordered.

Abby hated him touching Daniel and it infuriated her that he had command of the situation. If only her brothers were aware of his presence. She looked down at Daniel’s hands then, expecting them to be black from the coal. Her anger dissolved in a heartbeat. “Oh, my good sweet Lord! Daniel, what have you done to yourself?”

Daniel shrugged his shoulders, but still refused to look her in the eye. “It ain’t so bad.”

“Oh, but it ‘tis,” she cried and sank into the dust at his feet, taking his bleeding hands in her own. “We’ll fix you up right and proper in a blink.”

“So did you find the lad?” Brendan called as he walked around the corner of the house. Abby glanced up as Brendan stopped short, shock in his eyes. His jaw turned to granite. “My father told you not to come ‘round here. You aren’t welcome.” He shifted his eyes to Daniel and raised one eyebrow, considering his appearance. “And you, boyo. From the look of you, I’d say you acted on that harebrained idea you had.”

“Yes, sir,” Daniel admitted quickly.

“After I told you to do no such thing?”

“But I—”

“No buts,” Brendan snapped. Daniel nodded silently. “Go get cleaned up. I’ll deal with you later.” There was an implicit parental threat in Brendan’s tone.

Joshua stiffened visibly and turned to face Brendan. Daniel moved forward, but Joshua stopped him with a restraining hand on the shoulder. “I don’t want him punished further. His hands are punishment enough.”

Brendan squinted against the glare of the setting sun. “Since you gave up any right to Daniel long ago, I’d say what you want is of no importance. I don’t want you within fifty feet of the boy from here on out. It’s obvious you aren’t a good influence. He’s never disobeyed me so defiantly before.”

Joshua let go of Daniel and curled his hands into fists. Abby could see him trying to control his anger. “I never abdicated my right to be Daniel’s father. It was stolen from me. Nothing any of you say will keep me away from my son, Brendan. Now that I know about him, I intend to see to his interests.”

Brendan tossed aside the bucket and charged forward. Josh’s horse shied and Josh stepped between him and Abby and Daniel. She scurried out of the way and pulled Daniel with her as Josh gained control of his mount. As he turned away and toward Brendan, her brother threw a punch that glanced off Joshua’s jaw. It rocked Joshua a bit but he ducked away and let go of the horse’s reins.

Josh backed off, holding up his hand to forestall Brendan. “I don’t want to fight you, but I’m getting dammed sick of you throwing punches without giving fair warning. Why is it you’re so opposed to my seeing Abby and Daniel?”

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