the prospect of a return engagement with Jennie Sheridan had him interested. Hell, it had him downright bothered. He’d planned on postponing the encounter until tomorrow, but with the pleasantly warm hum of beer singing inside him, he stood on the steps of the hotel wondering if he should change his mind and go immediately.
“Evening, Carter.” The gruff voice of Dr. Millard was unmistakable. It could be intimidating to someone who didn’t know the disposition of the town’s only doctor.
“Dr. Millard,” Carter acknowledged. “You out seeing a patient this time of night?”
“I came looking for you. I’m concerned about this campaign against Jennie and Kate Sheridan.”
Yet another champion for the beleaguered sisters. Carter smiled. It was beginning to look as if the two lovely orphans might cause a regular civil war in town.
“I was just about to head over there,” he told the doctor.
“To the Sheridan house?”
Carter nodded.
Dr. Millard looked up and down the street. Only a few evening stragglers were still out. “Now?”
Carter gave one of his self-assured nods. “I imagine those poor girls are quaking in their shoes wondering when the sheriff is going to show up to move them out of there.”
Dr. Millard looked doubtful. “Have you met Jennie?”
“Yup. This morning. She was…”
“She’s not exactly the quaking type,” the doctor interrupted.
“No. Perhaps not. But I imagine she’ll be pleased to learn that I’ve decided to help her and her sister out of this muddle.”
Dr. Millard looked amused. “I’m relieved to here it, Carter. Ah…just how do you plan to do that?”
Carter peered into darkening street and blinked to find it empty. “I don’t know. I’ll…file an appeal or something. Get the court order blocked. I can talk to Mrs. Billingsley and get her to forget the whole thing.”
“That’s about as likely as a blizzard in July.”
Carter gestured grandly. “Would you like to come with me?”
The doctor grinned. “My boy, I’d love to see Jennie’s face when you give her the good news that you’ve gallantly decided to ride to her rescue.”
“Well, come along then.”
Millard’s smile died. “I can’t. Kate’s been avoiding me since the beginning of her…problem. She refuses to see me, and I can’t go over there without her welcome. She’ll let me know when she’s ready for my help.”
“Hey, Doc. Haven’t you learned by your age that women don’t always know what they want Sometimes a man just has to step in and take over to keep them from making a mess of things.”
“Is that what you learned at that fancy Eastern school?”
“I learned it long before then. Give a woman a chance to argue and you’re sunk. If you want to help out Kate Sheridan, you should just march on over there and tell her so. Don’t let her get a word in edgewise.”
“And that’s the approach you intend to take with Jennie tonight?” he asked.
“Actually, it’s what they like,” Carter answered with a firm nod.
Dr. Millard made a click with his mouth. “Yup, I surely would like to see that.”
“Do you want to change your mind and come along?”
The doctor shook his head with a slow grin. “Nope. But you give Jennie my regards, you hear?” He turned to leave, and Carter could hear him chuckling all the way down the street.
* * *
“I thought I told you that you would need reinforcements when you came back here, Mr. Jones.”
Jennie Sheridan’s voice was even frostier than it had been that morning, but Carter was concentrating more on the way the neck of her maroon silk evening dress scooped out a circle of creamy white skin. The sight made the air stick in his throat. He’d tried to hold on to the idea that his interest in the Sheridan case was all in the name of justice and fair play. But standing here in the doorway looking at her, he had to admit that his motives were at a baser level.
Simply put, the diminutive, curvaceous Miss Sheridan made the blood race through his veins.
“I didn’t come to put you out of your home,” he said when he could trust himself to speak. “I came to offer my help.”
Jennie looked skeptical. “Your help?”
Carter looked up and down the darkened street. The new street lanterns had not yet been placed in this part of town. “Is it too late to invite me in?”
She bit her lower lip, drawing Carter’s eyes to her full mouth. “I guess not”
She looked down at his hands as if expecting to see the papers he’d brought earlier. He held them out, palms up. “No concealed weapons,” he said lightly.
The smile she returned was slight, but it was enough to restore the confidence that had slipped a notch when he’d felt the visceral effect of seeing her in that dress. She was, after all, a woman. And if there was one thing Carter had always been able to handle, at least since the time he’d graduated to long pants, it was women.
“I suppose you can come into the parlor for a few minutes,” she said, holding the door open for him to enter. “Our board…our guests are there playing cards.”
He followed her inside and placed his hat on the hall table. “And your sister…?” he asked as she started toward the curtained archway that evidently led to the parlor.
She whirled to face him. “What about my sister?”
He held up a peacemaking hand again. “I just wondered if I would meet her, too. I was talking earlier tonight with a friend of hers who seemed concerned about her welfare.”
“What friend?”
“Lyle Wentworth.”
Jennie made a face. “He used to be sweet on Kate.”
“Still is, if you ask me.”
Jennie ignored his comment as she led the way under the drapes into the cozy room where three men sat around a small round table covered with playing cards. A fire burned cheerily behind the grate of the painted brick fireplace. “Mr. Jones, I’d like you to meet Dennis Kelly, Brad Connors and Humphrey Smith.”
The men looked up from their game in acknowledgment of the introduction, but did not stand and offered no words of greeting. The one she’d called Mr. Kelly was a heavyset blonde with muttonchop whiskers. He said to Jennie, “Is he bothering you with those papers again, Miss Jennie?”
“Mr. Jones says he’s come here to help, Dennis,” she told him with a smile.
“Why can’t the town just leave these girls alone?” Kelly asked, turning his gaze on Carter. “Ain’t they got enough problems?” The other two men at the table nodded their agreement.
Still more defenders for the Sheridans, Carter noted. “That’s what I came to talk over with Miss Sheridan. I’d like to help her and her sister out of this dilemma.”
The three men didn’t reply, but sat staring at Jennie and Carter, making no move to resume their game. After a couple minutes of awkward silence, Jennie said, “Why don’t we go in the kitchen, Mr. Jones? I’ll pour you a glass of cider.”
Carter nodded and after a distracted “Nice to meet you” to the boarders, he followed her to the back of the house, relieved that he didn’t have to talk with her in front of such a partisan