Amanda ventured closer. “Sir? Excuse me?”
He half turned, squinting hard at her. “You talking to me, lady?”
Up close his face was like cracked leather, dried and hardened by the elements—at least, the portion of his face Amanda could see above his tangled beard.
“Are you Mr. Harper?” she asked. “Mr. Samuel Harper?”
His eyes narrowed. “Who wants to know?”
She gripped her handbag tighter. “I’m Miss Amanda Pierce, from San Francisco.”
“Yeah, that’s me, all right,” he said, and hitched up his trousers. “’Cept ain’t nobody called me Samuel since last time I was at Sunday services, and I don’t rightly recall just how long ago that was. I go by Shady.”
Amanda hoped he’d been given that nickname because of an affection for leafy trees and not as a testament to his character.
“Mr. Harper, I’m seeking—”
“Call me Shady.”
Amanda managed a small smile. “Yes, certainly…Shady. As I was saying, I need transportation to the Kruger Brothers’ Lumber and Milling Company, and was told you could provide that.”
Shady reared back and eyed her up and down. “You want to go up to the camp?”
“Yes,” Amanda said.
“Up on the mountain?”
“Well, yes,” she said.
“And you want me to take you up there?”
“I was informed there was no other reliable transportation.” Amanda pulled a dog-eared envelope from her handbag. “Mr. Kruger assured me of your honesty, and instructed me to wait at the hotel until you arrived in town, then ride up to the lumber camp with you.”
“Yeah, I make a run up and down the mountain every couple of days.” Shady stroked his long, ragged beard. “It was Jason Kruger that sent for you?”
“Yes,” Amanda said. “He’s expecting me.”
“You?”
She drew in a little breath. “Yes, Mr. Harper, I—”
“Shady.”
“Shady.” Amanda cleared her throat and pressed the envelope closer toward him. “It’s all right here in his instructions.”
“And you’re sure it was Jason Kruger that sent for you?” he asked. “’Cause, now, there’s two of them, you know. There’s Jason and there’s Ethan. They’re brothers.”
Amanda pressed her lips together and waved toward the Kruger Brothers’ Lumber and Milling Company sign painted on the freight wagon in big red letters.
“Yes, I’m aware they’re brothers.”
“Now, Jason, he’s the oldest one, but not by much, as I hear tell,” Shady said. “He’s the one what runs things up on the mountain, you know.”
“I do know that Mr.—Shady,” Amanda said. “I have business with Mr. Kruger. He wrote and asked me to come here.”
“Business, huh?” Shady shrugged and turned back to the wagon. “Well, okay by me, I reckon. I’ll be pulling out of here pretty quick so as to get back to the camp before dark.”
“I’ll get my bag from the hotel,” Amanda said.
Shady turned to her once more. “If’n you’re real sure you want to meet up with Jason Kruger, that is.”
Amanda’s stomach twisted into a knot as the old man squinted at her, and again she was tempted—very tempted—to head for home.
“I’m sure,” Amanda said.
She’d come too far to turn back now.
“What’s wrong now?”
Jason Kruger pulled his boots from the corner of his desk and rocked forward in his chair. He’d just finished his supper and didn’t like the intrusion of one of his men into his office at the end of the day.
The Spartan room wasn’t much to look at with its rough-hewn walls, a couple of desks and cupboards, and a potbellied stove in the corner, but Jason liked the solitude after a hard day’s work. He wanted to look over his new journals, not deal with this man again.
“What is it, Duncan?” Jason asked. “Spit it out.”
The thin, wiry man lingering at the door pulled off his hat and twisted it in his hands.
“Well, boss, I’m sorry to be a bother to you, but….” Duncan shifted from one foot to the other. “Well, my Gladys is having problems with that Polly Minton, and well, this time I—”
Jason cursed and came to his feet. “I told you not to bring your wife here in the first place.”
“Well, yeah, I know, but—”
“No women in camp. That’s my rule. I told you.”
“Yes, sir, and I appreciate you making an exception ’cause she’s my wife, and all, but—”
“Trouble.” Jason cursed again. “Women are nothing but trouble. They don’t belong here. I’ve got no use for women in a logging camp.”
Duncan twisted his hat tighter in his hands. “Yes, boss, I know that, and I’m beholden to you, but—”
“I told you when you brought her here that you were responsible for her,” Jason said. “I want no part of it. You got problems, you handle them.”
“Yes, sir, I know you said that, but, well…” Duncan ventured closer to the desk. “My Gladys and Polly Minton are fighting something fierce. I tried to settle it, I swear I did, but Polly’s took it into her head that Gladys stole from her and they’ve been going at it all day now. You got to help me, Mr. Kruger, you got to.”
Jason fumed silently, staring at the little man. Duncan was a good worker, nimble and surefooted in his job herding the great logs down the river to the millpond. He’d been loyal too. Turnover in the logging camps was high, but Duncan had stuck around. The only trouble he’d ever caused was bringing his wife here with him.
And now she’d been accused of stealing. Jason wouldn’t tolerate theft in the camp. He needed order and discipline among his crew to bring down the giant redwoods and Douglas firs, get them out of the rugged mountains, run them through the sawmill and send them off to market.
He couldn’t let a theft go unpunished. Female or not, he needed to put a stop to this.
Jason blew out his breath, tapping off some of his anger.
“All right, Duncan, I’ll take care of it,” he said.
“I’m beholden to you, boss, I am.” Duncan eased out the door. “I’ll go get my Gladys. That Miz Minton is here, too. I’ll fetch them both. They’re right outside.”
“Women.” Jason pulled on the back of his neck and dropped into his chair again. Bad enough dealing with the problems his crew created. Fights, mostly. A shooting every once in a while. Disagreements between his men could be settled quickly. But women…
Jason mumbled another curse.
The office door opened and Polly Minton and Gladys Duncan walked inside. Jason knew them both. He knew everybody in his logging camp and in the tiny town that had sprung up on its outskirts.
They were both big women. Jason was over six feet tall and Gladys could just about look him square in the eye. Polly ran the laundry and had scrubbed up some mighty impressive arm muscles.
Duncan eased between the women, still twisting his hat.
“Now, Mr. Kruger here, he’s agreed to hear