Deborah Camp Read Free Page A

eyes fixed on her, worry lines etched on his forehead.
    Jennie took another sip of water before she trusted her voice. “I’m fine. I – it’s all rather overwhelming.”
    “Of course. It’s a lot to take in.” He stood and sat in the chair beside her again. “Where are you staying, Mrs. Hastings? Have you checked into a hotel?”
    “Yes, the Harrison Hotel.” She leaned forward and set the glass on the edge of his desk.
    “I think you should take your little boy and go to the hotel, have a good meal, and let this news settle in. Sleep on it. Then come see me tomorrow and we will decide what to do about it.”
    “So there is a remedy? I can claim the land?”
    “I need to consult with Mr. Polk. Two heads are better than one. We will have some answers for you tomorrow. I promise.”
    The wringing of her hands captured his attention and he reached out and gathered them into his. In any other circumstance and with any other man, she would have drawn away from him and punished him for his forwardness with a sharp reprimand, but she found his touch soothing and respectful.
    “You have every right to be upset. You probably feel as if you don’t have a friend on this earth right now, but that’s not true. Mr. Polk and I are your lawyers. We are here for you, Mrs. Hastings. You’re not alone.” He released her hands slowly, his warm fingertips gliding across her cool skin.
    Oliver’s laughter floated to her, bringing her back to her senses. Jennie stood and willed her knees to stop shaking. “Thank you. Shall I come around in the morning or afternoon?”
    “I will be back from court by two o’clock.”
    “Then I shall see you at two, Mr. Warner.” She turned and went to collect her son.
    Standing by the window, Zach watched Jennie Hastings cross the street with her son. She held the boy’s hand and matched his shorter steps, glancing down at him from time to time. She was a slim pillar of womanhood dressed in royal blue. A simple band of blue held her hair back from her face; raven hair, washed by sunlight.
    She was a beauty, and he had seen his share of beautiful women come through Guthrie. Her flawless, porcelain skin, silvery gray eyes, and ebony hair were striking. Toss in those dimples that buried into her cheeks whenever she smiled, and to Zach’s thinking, she was a woman who could melt the coldest heart.
    “She was fit to be tied, wasn’t she?” Bertha asked from behind him.
    “That, she was,” he said, tearing his gaze from Jennie’s alluring figure.
    “Adam told me about her husband divorcing her and all. She didn’t know anything about him and Luna?”
    “No. Nothing”
    “Bless her heart. I could eat that little boy of hers up with a spoon, I could.”
    “You need some grandchildren, Bertha.” He sat in the office chair, mulling over what kind of man would turn his back on Jennie Hastings to take up with Luna.
    “I’m too young for grandchildren! Why, my eldest is only eighteen! I’m a good mind to hit you in the noggin with one of these big, old law books!” She lifted a volume off his desk to demonstrate.
    He ducked playfully. “She wants to meet Luna, but I talked her out of that for now.”
    “You don’t think it’s right for her to meet up with Luna?”
    “No, I don’t. Luna can be as sweet as molasses or as mean as a rattler, depending on her mood. I don’t want Mrs. Hastings to meet Luna on a day when Luna is showing her fangs. I need to talk to Adam about this case. It bothers me that Charles Hastings returned to his former wife without a word to her about what he’d done.”
    “He probably came to his senses and realized he had better hightail back to his sweet, loving wife and innocent, little son.”
    “One would hope …” He rubbed his clean-shaven chin as the vision of Jennie Hastings distracted him again. “She certainly is easy on the eyes. She has a refined beauty, whereas Luna has …”
    “… experience,” Bertha piped up with a wrinkled