“You don’t mean it, Harry. It’s almost winter. We can’t travel now—and you want to see Athena and Morgan together just as much as I do.”
“Yes. But I have witnessed the consequences of our meddling, and I feel—” He blinked, giving the impression of a slightly befuddled owl. “I feel in my bones that we must go.”
“Is this because of what Morgan said?”
“I fear what he will do if he is driven too far,” Harry admitted. “I’ll try to persuade him to come with us. Then, when everything is calm again, he may return.”
Caitlin studied Harry with growing trepidation. She had never seen him look so grave, or so determined. Did he truly believe that she would get herself, or the troupe, into a predicament she couldn’t climb out of?
“You’re wrong, Harry,” she said. “No good will come of running away now.”
“I have made my decision.” He got to his feet and started toward the door. “I shall tell the others to begin preparations, and we will leave at the first sign of clear weather.”
When Harry was gone, Caitlin looked at Ulysses. “You agree with him, don’t you?”
“I would make any personal sacrifice on Morgan’s behalf,” he said. “I would assist Miss Munroe if I were able. But it is my considered judgment that the welfare of the troupe must take precedence over that of Athena and Morgan. They must make their own choices.” He paused. “I am sorry, Caitlin.”
She saw that arguing with him was as futile as it would have been with Harry. Men could be so stubborn once they had an idea in their heads, no matter how wrong it was. She’d thought that Harry followed his heart more than most, but even he fell prey to the idea that money meant power, and women had to be protected from their own foolish notions.
She lay in bed, fuming silently, for a good hour after Ulysses left. The troupe must not leave until the business with Athena and Morgan was resolved. She had taken great pains to throw them together, and she’d be damned if she’d let Niall Munroe ruin her plans.
The storm might pass at any moment, but it would take several days for the troupe to prepare to move. Even in fair weather, the snow would impede progress and make the pass difficult to negotiate. That gave her a little more time.
If Harry and Ulysses feared some rash action on her part… well, she would make very certain not to disappoint them.
“A letter has just arrived, Miss Hockensmith” Parton said, presenting the paper on a silver tray with a little bow. “It was marked urgent.”
Cecily paused to accept the envelope, listening to make sure that the ladies assembled in her parlor were still engaged in conversation. When Parton had gone to retrieve more refreshments for her influential guests, she examined the return address with an eager smile.
It was marked from Yankee Gulch, the only substantial town nearest Niall’s ranch. Her hope that the letter might be from Niall was all too quickly dashed. The spidery writing was definitely not his, nor did it belong to Athena.
Niall had been gone several days, doubtless due to the bad weather blanketing the mountains. She had been glad for the respite. With the Winter Ball only days away, nothing could interfere with the social coup she was about to achieve.
She frowned at the envelope and turned it over in her hands. If it was not from Niall or Athena…
She began to read, wrinkling her nose at the highly spiced scent of the paper, and nearly dropped it.
You promised to help me, it became without salutation, if I aided you in keeping Munroe and our Caitlin apart. I gave you information that you were to use to control the girl and influence your lover. But now you must know that he is here, with Caitlin, as Athena is with my wolf.
Cecily held the letter by her fingertips, wishing she could burn it immediately. She did not have to read the scrawled name at the bottom of the letter to know who had sent it.