“I was thinking how easy this feels.”
“That is concerning.”
She slapped his chest lightly.
Jonas caught her hand.
Kissed her knuckles.
Rebecca stared at him.
“What?”
“You do things like that.”
“What?”
“Gentle things.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“I’m confused.”
“Mountain men are not allowed?”
“Not according to your personality.”
Jonas rolled toward her.
Rebecca immediately stopped teasing.
His eyes dropped to her mouth.
“Do you want me to demonstrate my other qualities?”
Her cheeks warmed.
“Jonas.”
“Yes?”
“We have chores.”
“They survived before you arrived.”
“So did you.”
“Debatable.”
He kissed her again.
They were interrupted by the horses.
Jonas swore.
Rebecca laughed.
Life settled.
Until January.
The storm began at noon.
By two, the sky had vanished.
Jonas was repairing the barn door when he heard a horse.
Not theirs.
He froze.
Nobody climbed to the cabin during a storm unless they had no choice.
Jonas grabbed his coat.
Rebecca stepped from the cabin.
“What is it?”
“Inside.”
“Jonas.”
“Now.”
Something in his voice stopped her.
The horse emerged through blowing snow.
Then another.
Three men.
One wore an expensive dark coat utterly unsuited to the mountain.
Rebecca went white.
Jonas saw.
“Charles?”
She whispered:
“Yes.”
Every soft part of Jonas vanished.
“Inside.”
Rebecca did not move.
“He found me.”
“I noticed.”
“Jonas…”
He looked at her.
“Inside.”
This time she obeyed.
Jonas walked toward the approaching men.
Charles Vale dismounted.
Early forties.
Clean-shaven.
Handsome in a polished city way.
Even exhausted, he looked expensive.
The two men with him looked like hired muscle.
Charles brushed snow from his coat.
“Jonas Hargrave?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve traveled a long way to speak with my fiancée.”
Jonas stared.
“You've traveled a long way to become confused.”
Charles smiled.
“Rebecca Hale.”
“My wife.”
The smile faltered.
“I know about the ceremony.”
“Then your confusion is worse than I thought.”
“Marriage entered under fraudulent circumstances can be challenged.”
Jonas stepped closer.
“What fraud?”
“She concealed outstanding legal obligations.”
“Debts?”
“Yes.”
“Fake ones?”
Charles’s expression changed.
There.
Jonas saw recognition.
“Rebecca has stolen private business records.”
Jonas nodded.
“You mean the ledgers.”
Charles’s face hardened.
“So she showed you.”
“She shows me quite a lot.”
The sentence was deliberate.
Charles understood.
His jaw tightened.
Jonas smiled faintly.
“Careful.”
Charles took a breath.
“I do not want trouble.”
“You brought two men to my house in a blizzard.”
“They are escorts.”
“They look stupid.”
One of the men stepped forward.
Charles raised a hand.
“Rebecca owes me money.”
“No.”
“She signed nothing transferring responsibility.”
“You're not an attorney.”
“No.”
“I’m a husband.”
Charles smiled coldly.
“Exactly.”
“Which is why I am offering you a reasonable solution.”
Jonas stared.
Charles reached inside his coat.
Jonas’s hand moved toward the rifle beside the barn.
Charles noticed.
Slowly removed an envelope.
“Five thousand dollars.”
Jonas looked at it.
“For?”
“You give me the records.”
“And?”
“You allow Rebecca to return east with me.”
Jonas laughed.
Charles looked genuinely confused.
“What's funny?”
“You.”
“I’m offering more money than your land is worth.”
“Probably.”
“Then be sensible.”
Jonas’s smile disappeared.
“My wife isn't livestock.”
“She used you.”
“You don't know our marriage.”
“She chose you because she was running.”
“I know.”
Charles froze.
Jonas continued.
“She told me.”
“All of it.”
“She told you she answered your advertisement because she needed somewhere remote?”
“Yes.”
“And that does not bother you?”
“It did.”
“What changed?”
Jonas looked toward the cabin.
“Everything after.”
Charles followed his eyes.
“She will ruin you.”
“Possible.”
“She lies.”
“Occasionally.”
“She manipulated you.”
“She is surprisingly talented.”
Charles’s patience snapped.
“I am trying to save you from a woman you barely know.”
Jonas stepped close enough that Charles had to look up.
“You put bruises on her wrist.”
Charles’s face went still.
Jonas’s voice became almost gentle.
“That is the only part of you I needed to know.”
Charles’s escorts moved.
Jonas did not look away.
Then the cabin door opened.
Rebecca stepped outside.
Ledger in her hands.
“Stop.”
Jonas turned.
“What are you doing?”
Rebecca walked toward them.
Snow caught in her hair.
“Finishing it.”
Charles smiled.
“Rebecca.”
She looked at him.
Nothing in her face resembled the frightened woman who had boarded a train in St. Louis.
“You came a long way.”
“I told you I would find you.”
“Yes.”
“You should have listened.”
Rebecca held up the ledger.
Charles stared.
“You want this?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Jonas frowned.
Rebecca looked toward the trail.
Behind Charles, through the storm, another shape appeared.
Then several.
Riders.
Charles turned.
“What…”
Rebecca smiled.
“Jonas mailed copies three weeks ago.”
Charles’s face drained.
Jonas looked at her.
“We mailed copies.”
“I added one destination.”
“Which?”
“The Colorado territorial marshal.”
Jonas blinked.
Rebecca continued.
“And another to the investigator in Denver.”
The riders approached.
Four men.
One wore a badge under his coat.
Charles stepped backward.
“You think a local marshal can touch me?”
The marshal dismounted.
“No.”
He removed a folded document.
“But a federal warrant can.”
Charles looked at Rebecca.
Pure hatred.
Jonas moved between them instantly.
Charles’s escorts backed away.
The marshal read charges relating to fraudulent instruments, coercive debt collection, document tampering, and interstate financial fraud.
Not murder.
Not melodrama.
Paper.
Numbers.
Evidence.
Exactly what Charles believed nobody would ever care about.
Rebecca watched him being placed under arrest.
Charles looked at her.
“You think this ends it?”
Rebecca answered calmly.
“No.”
“The trial ends it.”
He was taken down the mountain under guard once the weather eased.
The escorts were questioned.
One cooperated almost immediately.
Apparently loyalty weakened when federal charges appeared.
Inside the cabin afterward, Rebecca sat by the stove shaking.
Jonas knelt in front of her.
“You knew they were coming?”
“I hoped.”
“You didn't tell me?”
“I wanted to.”
“Rebecca.”
“I thought you would try to keep me out of it.”
“I absolutely would have.”