Theodore Voss arrived wearing a black wool coat that cost more than Silas earned in several months.
That detail irritated Adelaide more than she expected.
He stepped down from the hired wagon in front of the trading station and brushed snow from one polished boot.
Behind him stood two men.
Not gunmen this time.
Lawyers.
Theodore had changed tactics.
Adelaide watched from the upstairs window.
Silas stood beside her.
“Still want to do this?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
That was precisely why she could.
Marshal Colson had arranged the room below.
The ledger sat visibly on a table.
The marshal himself waited behind a partition with two deputies.
Jonah pretended to serve whiskey.
Silas would remain nearby but out of sight.
Adelaide would face Theodore alone.
Not because anyone expected her to be helpless.
Because Theodore did.
The front door opened.
His voice floated upward.
“Where is Miss Mercer?”
Adelaide closed her eyes.
For years that voice had changed rooms.
People straightened when Theodore entered.
Workers lowered their eyes.
Her mother hurried.
Her father became silent.
Adelaide had once believed power sounded like Theodore Voss.
Now she knew better.
Silas touched her hand.
Not holding.
Simply there.
Adelaide squeezed his fingers.
Then descended the stairs.
Theodore turned.
His face changed.
First relief.
Then anger.
Then something almost possessive.
“Adelaide.”
“Theodore.”
He looked her over.
“You’ve been injured.”
“I fell.”
“I heard.”
“Your spies are efficient.”
He smiled.
“Always dramatic.”
Adelaide reached the bottom stair.
Theodore extended his hand.
“Come.”
She looked at it.
“No.”
His smile remained.
“We have a train to catch.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“Your mother is worried.”
“That would be new.”
Theodore’s expression tightened.
“Adelaide.”
“No.”
One of his lawyers stepped forward.
“Miss Mercer, there are legal matters—”
“Sit down.”
The man stared.
Adelaide pointed toward a chair.
“Both of you.”
Something in her voice worked.
They sat.
Theodore remained standing.
His gaze moved toward the ledger.
Adelaide noticed.
There.
Not love.
Not heartbreak.
Fear.
“You came a long way,” she said.
“So did you.”
“Why?”
“To bring you home.”
“That ledger isn’t home.”
His eyes flashed.
Adelaide almost smiled.
Silas had been right.
People revealed themselves when they believed they had control.
Theodore moved closer.
“You embarrassed me.”
Adelaide blinked.
“Is that the problem?”
“You disappeared days before our engagement was to be announced.”
“There was no engagement.”
“Our families had agreed.”
“My family does not own me.”
Theodore’s smile became cold.
“You speak differently.”
“No.”
Adelaide thought of Silas.
“I simply stopped whispering.”
Theodore glanced around.
“Where is Rourke?”
“Why?”
“I’d like to meet the man who thinks he can keep what belongs to me.”
Adelaide felt anger rise.
But beneath it came something stronger.
Clarity.
“I never belonged to you.”
“Your father owed me.”
“My father worked for you.”
“He stole from me.”
Adelaide walked to the table.
She placed one hand on the ledger.
“You mean he documented your theft.”
Theodore froze.
Only for a second.
But enough.
“You have no idea what that book contains.”
“I spent ten years helping Papa with accounts.”
“Then you know numbers can be misunderstood.”
“Six nonexistent freight shipments?”
Silence.
“Payments to inspectors?”
Theodore’s lawyers looked at him.
Adelaide continued.
“Duplicate investor charges?”
“Stop.”
“Payments to Preston Vale?”
Theodore slammed his hand onto the table.
“I said stop.”
The station became silent.
Adelaide did not move.
For the first time in her life, Theodore Voss looked small.
Not physically.
In every way that mattered.
“Give me the ledger,” he said.
“No.”
“I will pay you.”
“No.”
“Ten thousand dollars.”
Jonah nearly dropped a glass.
Adelaide stared.
Theodore mistook her silence.
“More than you’ll ever see living with that animal on the mountain.”
Adelaide’s anger sharpened.
Silas remained hidden.
He had promised not to intervene unless she asked.
She knew it was costing him.
“Twenty thousand.”
“No.”
Theodore stepped closer.
“Your mother keeps her house.”
Adelaide laughed.
He frowned.
“What is funny?”
“You still think everyone has a price.”
“Everyone does.”
“No.”
“Your mother did.”
That hurt.
Theodore knew it.
His smile returned.
Adelaide breathed slowly.
“You are right about one thing.”
“What?”
“My mother made her choice.”
Theodore relaxed.
“But so did I.”
She pushed the ledger toward the far edge of the table.
Not toward him.
Away.
“I choose to testify.”
His face transformed.
“You stupid woman.”
There he was.
The man beneath the expensive coat.
“You think Rourke loves you?”
Adelaide did not answer.
“He wanted a worker.”
Silence.
“A body in his bed.”
Still silence.
“A woman desperate enough to live in the wilderness.”
Adelaide smiled.
“You traveled fifteen hundred miles because I said no to you.”
Theodore stopped.
“That sounds far more desperate.”
Jonah turned away to hide a grin.
Theodore reached for the ledger.
Adelaide placed her hand over it.
“No.”
He grabbed her wrist.
Silas stepped from behind the wall.
“Let go.”
Theodore turned.
The change in his face was immediate.
Silas did not shout.
He did not raise his rifle.
He simply stood there.
Broad.
Scarred.
Calm.
Dangerously calm.
Theodore released Adelaide.
“So,” he said. “The mountain savage.”
Silas looked at Adelaide.
“You all right?”
“Yes.”
Only then did he look at Theodore.
“You burned my house.”
Theodore’s face remained smooth.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
Adelaide lifted his letter.
“Your handwriting says otherwise.”
Theodore finally understood.
He looked toward the partition.
Marshal Colson stepped out.
“Mr. Voss.”
Theodore went pale.
The lawyers rose.
One immediately took three steps away from his client.
Colson held out his hand.
“Theodore Voss, I have questions regarding interstate fraud, attempted destruction of evidence, bribery, kidnapping, and the burning of Silas Rourke’s property.”
Theodore stared at Adelaide.
“You planned this.”
“No.”
She looked at the ledger.
“My father did.”
Theodore lunged.
Not at Adelaide.
At the book.
Silas intercepted him.
Theodore swung.
Silas caught his wrist.
For a moment, Adelaide thought Silas might break it.
Then he remembered her words.
If you hit him, he becomes the victim.
Silas simply held Theodore until the deputies took over.
As they placed irons around Theodore’s wrists, he shouted toward Adelaide.
“You think this is over?”
She looked at him calmly.
“Yes.”
“You’ll regret this.”
“No.”
“You’ll crawl back.”
Adelaide smiled.
“To St. Louis?”
She glanced at Silas.
“I don’t think so.”
Theodore was taken outside.
His lawyers followed, suddenly very eager to explain how little they knew.
The station fell quiet.
Jonah poured himself a whiskey.
“Anyone else feel like we just watched a bear get trapped by its own dinner?”
Marshal Colson gave him a look.
Jonah drank.
Adelaide stood motionless.
Silas approached.
“It’s done.”
She nodded.
Then shook her head.
“No.”
Silas frowned.
Adelaide looked at him.
“Not yet.”
“What remains?”
She smiled.
“You promised you could make a better proposal.”
Silas stared.
Jonah choked on whiskey.
Adelaide continued.
“And I believe we have a wedding delayed by weather, attempted murder, fraud, kidnapping, arson, and terrible stew.”
Silas’s eyes warmed.
“The stew again?”
“It was memorable.”
Marshal Colson removed his hat.
“I happen to possess authority to witness certain civil documents.”
Jonah looked delighted.
“Can you marry people?”
“No.”
Jonah looked disappointed.
“But Reverend Thomas arrives tomorrow.”
Adelaide turned toward Silas.
He looked suddenly nervous.
This man had faced fire, armed kidnappers, freezing wilderness, and Theodore Voss without blinking.
Marriage apparently terrified him.
Adelaide grinned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re enjoying this.”
“Very much.”
Silas moved closer.
“I have one condition.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“What?”
“No giant wedding.”
Adelaide gasped theatrically.
“You did not just call me a giant.”
“I did.”
“In front of a federal marshal?”
Colson cleared his throat.
“I heard nothing.”
Jonah raised his glass.
“I heard everything.”
Adelaide looked back at Silas.
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Small wedding.”
He relaxed.
“However.”
His eyes narrowed.
“I choose the cake.”
Silas groaned.
Jonah laughed.
Adelaide slipped her hand into Silas’s.
Theodore Voss had traveled west thinking he could drag her back into a life chosen by other people.
Instead, he left in irons.
Adelaide had expected victory to feel loud.
It did not.
It felt like Silas’s rough hand around hers.
It felt like snow outside a warm room.
It felt like knowing tomorrow belonged to her.
And that tomorrow, if Reverend Thomas made it through the mountain pass, she intended to choose Silas Rourke in front of anyone who cared to watch.
---