“And what if Munroe refuses to pay anything?”
“Miss Munroe will see that you get your money,” Morgan said. Between one heartbeat and the next, he was human again. “You decide whether or not you let a towny tell you where you can go and how you can live.”
Harry coughed behind his hand. “I believe it is time for a vote. Will those who wish to leave say ‘aye’?”
The few ayes were restrained and almost inaudible. When Harry asked for the nays, they rang out with conviction. Caitlin grinned at Morgan and Ulysses.
“This course does entail some risk,” Ulysses said as the troupers began to disperse. “Munroe is a powerful man.”
“I think you are underestimating Athena’s strength of character,” Caitlin said. “She wants us to stay, and I know she can stand up to her brother if she has to.”
Harry blotted his face again. “I hope you are right, Caitlin. I do so wish to please the poor child. I confess that I have developed a certain… fondness for her.”
“Calculated risks are occasionally necessary,” Ulysses said, scrutinizing Morgan with interest, “if for no other reason than to preserve one’s honor and keep one’s word.”
“Honor,” Caitlin snorted. “When did honor ever get you anything, Uly? This is simply the right thing to do.”
“Your reaction seems somewhat personal, Firefly.”
“What’s done is done,” Harry said. “We’ve only to go ahead as best we can.”
“And someone must explain to Athena what has happened,” Caitlin added. “We will have to find an excuse to get her back to the lot. I’m certain her brother did not plan to tell her until we had left Denver.”
“Maybe she won’t defy him,” Morgan said. “Her life depends on her brother’s money. If he chooses, he could take away what freedom she has.”
Caitlin stared at him in surprise. “It is true that he tries to protect her too much. I don’t know what Niall Munroe is so afraid of, but he is not a—” She flushed and hurried on. “You spoke up for staying, Morgan. You want to help Athena—you even called her brave, yet you have no faith in her ability to fight for what she wants?”
She could see him withdrawing into himself again, denying the feelings that had prompted him to speak up for Athena with such uncharacteristic passion.
“What did you and Athena speak about in the backyard, Morgan?” Caitlin asked. “Are you testing her? Do you want her to fail, so that you’ll have no reason to care?”
His head gave an almost imperceptible jerk. “Munroe thinks he can buy anything or anyone,” he said through his teeth. “We are not his lapdogs.”
“Neither is his sister. But if you’re right, and Athena is willing to let us go—what then?”
“We must abide by her wishes, of course,” Harry answered. “It is days like these when I wish I had retired years ago.”
“Oh, Harry—” Caitlin paused when she realized that Morgan was halfway to the front door. “Where are you going?”
“To tell Miss Munroe,” he said without breaking stride. “To find out what she wants.”
Caitlin thought quickly. Who was better suited to deliver a clandestine message? And who is more unpredictable when his heart is involved? “You can’t just walk into her house. You do not even know where she lives.”
“I’ll find out.”
“If Niall sees you—”
“He will not see me.” As if to prove his point, he seemed to vanish even before he reached the door.
There’s no turning back now, Caitlin thought, haunted by that sense of destiny that had first come with Morgan Holt and returned with Niall Munroe.
“This is a hazardous game, Firefly,” Ulysses said, stepping up beside her. “Morgan is not one to be made a pawn of fate.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in fate.”
“Only when it trifles with those I consider my friends.”
She rested her hand on his shoulder. “Then, my friend, let me keep the faith for all of us.”
Chapter 9
Athena had never longed quite so much for the ability to pace. Her body was racked with shivers born of conflicting emotions that sought to pull her one way and then the other. The walls of her peaceful, silent room seemed about to crush her like some medieval implement of torture.