CHAPTER TEN

C AIN SEARCHED FOR J ENNY IN THE BAR AND THE HOTEL, BUT THERE was no sign of her. He finally managed to track her down through her friend, Summer Hayes, who was working behind the counter at the Butterfly Boutique.

Summer had been a little too trusting in giving out Jenny's address, but in this case he was grateful.

Cain made the eight-mile journey to Cottonwood in his pickup. Bags of grain he'd picked up in Prescott to take back to the ranch were still stacked in the truck bed. Cain pulled up in front of Jenny's small house. An older white Subaru Outback sat in the driveway, the cargo-bay door open, several boxes stacked inside.

Jenny's front door stood open, which wasn't good with Ryder Vance on the loose; it looked as if she were loading stuff from the house into the back of her vehicle. Cain was halfway up the sidewalk when Jenny walked out the front door, a big cardboard box in her arms.

"Let me have that." Cain took it before she could argue and headed for the Subaru.

"What are you doing here?" Jenny asked, propping her hands on her hips as he loaded the box in with the others.

"I had an appointment this morning in Prescott. Would you believe, on the way back to the ranch, I took a wrong turn and wound up here?"

"No, I wouldn't believe it." But her mouth tipped up, and it made Cain smile.

"It's partly true. I did have an appointment in Prescott. When I finished, I started back to the ranch, but halfway there, I began thinking about Ryder and turned on the road up to Jerome instead."

"I told you I'd call if any of the Cobras showed up."

"I know. No idea why I made the turn, but then when I got to the Copper Star, you weren't there, and Troy said you only worked half a day on Sundays and had taken Monday off. I knew you lived in Cottonwood, and that's only about ten miles from the county jail, so here I am."

"How did you get my address?"

"I have my sources." He smiled to distract her. If Summer wanted to tell her, that was Summer's business. "Looks like you're packing up? What's going on?"

"I'm renting the house and moving into the hotel. I can save money, and things always go smoother when I'm there. Plus I'll be working for you at the Grandview, so I'll be in town even more."

Desire slipped through him. Jenny would be working at the Grandview. They could get to know each other. If the attraction was mutual, sooner rather than later, he planned to have her in his bed.

Then he considered the extra hours she would be putting in. "You sure you want to work that hard?"

Jenny just shrugged. "It won't be forever, only until I get the construction loan paid off and generate a little more business. Besides, I like the idea of contributing to the success of a new hotel. What's good for Jerome is good for me."

True enough. An idea slipped into his head. "I plan to book some business conferences at the Grandview as soon as it's open and we get any operating glitches resolved. I'll be happy to promote the Copper Star. People want a glimpse of the past when they come to Jerome. What better place than a saloon that's been there for over a hundred years?"

A wide smile broke over her face. "That would be great."

Cain smiled back. Looked like the way to Jenny's heart was to help make her business successful. You aren't after Jenny's heart , he reminded himself, just her sweet little body.

He frowned. Or maybe it was more than that. He still wasn't sure of his intentions.

"I'll help you with the rest of the stuff you're moving," he said.

Half an hour later, the boxes were loaded into the Subaru, the rest in the back of his truck. One load instead of two, and they were on their way back up the hill to Jerome.

A teenager named Tim, a busboy at the Star, helped with unloading and carrying stuff upstairs to a small suite in the new wing. No kitchen, but a cozy living room, bedroom, and remodeled bath.

"You're probably starving," Jenny said when they headed back downstairs. "Lunch is on me."

He'd worked off the sandwich hours ago. A beer and a burger sounded good. "You're on," he said.

Jenny led the way into the saloon, which, during the day, was mostly filled with people eating. Cain paused just inside the doorway when he spotted a tall, svelte blonde with voluptuous breasts walking toward him.

Anna Hobbs Somerset. He had gone out with Anna years ago, after he'd returned to high school. She had been a senior, same as he, but after dropping out, then going back, he was older. She'd been a real beauty, popular with the football players, mainly because she liked sex.

She especially liked sex with him—or so she had said—as long as he didn't tell anyone. Anna couldn't afford to be seen with a poor, bad-boy, low-class guy like him.

Cain had left town after graduation, and that was the last he had seen of her—until a few months ago.

He'd run into Anna at the Hassayampa Inn when she'd been in Prescott to visit a friend. Anna had invited him to join her for supper. During the conversation, she'd told him she had married Arthur Somerset, an extremely wealthy older man, but Arnold had died, leaving Anna a widow.

"It was so very sad." Anna dabbed a napkin beneath her eyes. "We'd only been married a few months when Arnold had a heart attack."

Unfortunate for Arnold, fortunate, indeed, for Anna, who was now a rich woman.

They had spent the night together in Anna's hotel room; then a week later, he had taken her out to dinner. He'd slept with her a couple of times in Scottsdale, where she lived.

But for Cain, the attraction just wasn't there. He hadn't called her since, and he didn't intend to.

Now Anna was in Jerome. He flicked a glance at Jenny, who watched them from where she stood next to the bar.

Damn.

Anna walked up and air-kissed his cheek, leaning in for a hug that pressed her full breasts into his chest. "Cain, darling. It's so good to see you."

"Nice to see you, Anna." That was a lie. Anna had been a vicious little strumpet in high school. From the few times he'd been with her in Scottsdale, that hadn't changed.

"I came up to visit Susan Tisdale," she said. "You might remember Suzy from high school?"

"I'm not sure. It's been a while." He hadn't the slightest memory of the girl, who probably wouldn't have given a ruffian like him a second glance.

"I was hoping you'd be here," Anna said. "While I was in town, I thought I'd drop by the hotel, see the progress you've made." She flashed him a smile from beneath her thick lashes. "I'm hoping you'll give me a tour."

Of the bedrooms , he thought. Sex was all she'd ever wanted from him. The only difference was, now that he was as wealthy as her late husband, she wasn't ashamed to be seen with him.

"I'm afraid I'm busy this afternoon," he said. "Maybe another time." He smiled. "The hotel should be open in another few weeks. I'll show you around the next time you're in town."

Anna's lips flattened out, and her blue eyes narrowed. She was pissed and letting him know it. When he looked at Jenny, he read a similar expression on her face.

He didn't give a flying F about Anna, but Jenny was another matter entirely. Clearly, this wasn't going to be one of his better days.

* * *

Jenny watched Cain talking to the beautiful blonde. She remembered Anna Hobbs from high school, one of the most popular girls in school. Even then, she was beautiful, tall and elegantly curved, with high, full breasts and slender hips. She'd always made Jenny feel short and frumpy. Her hair was the color of the sun, her lips as red as cherries.

Jenny remembered seeing her in the saloon a couple of times a few months back, not long after Cain had shown up in town. He had started dropping into the Star for a beer as construction on the Grandview grew closer to completion, but she couldn't recall seeing them together.

Anna and Jenny hadn't spoken. Anna had no reason to remember a lowly freshman while she was the queen of the senior class. Watching the two of them now, it was obvious Anna knew Cain, and not in a high school alumni sort of way. The looks the woman was giving him would melt a branding iron.

Jenny turned away and went into the kitchen to see how Myrna, the cook, was doing—anything to block the sight of Anna and Cain together. She couldn't believe she was jealous, but she wouldn't lie to herself, either.

Unfortunately, Mondays were often slow, and that was the case today. Jenny braced herself. She couldn't hide out much longer, but the thought of standing next to Anna, dressed in a sweatshirt and dirty work jeans, was simply too much.

Maybe if she waited a few more minutes . . .

Cain appeared in the doorway, tall and impressive, taking up far too much space to be ignored. "Where's that lunch you promised me?"

She'd been hoping he would just leave. Clearly, he was involved with Anna. Even if Jenny had been wearing a cocktail dress and high heels, she couldn't compete with a sophisticated woman like Anna Hobbs.

"Something's come up," Jenny said. "Go ahead and find a table, and I'll have it brought out. Burger and fries okay, or would you rather have something else?"

Cain gave her a long, searching glance. "If you aren't going to join me, I'll take a rain check. I can get something back at the hotel."

Jenny managed to smile. "A rain check, then. Sorry."

He looked at her as if he had something he wanted to say, but in the end, he just nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow. What time will you be there?"

"Around ten, if that works for you. I'd like to check on things here before I leave."

"That's fine. See you tomorrow at ten." Cain walked out the door, and Jenny breathed a sigh of relief. She tried not to wonder if Anna Hobbs would be spending the night in Cain's bed, but her vivid imagination was already picturing it.

She'd been stupid to pretend he might have an interest in her. She was hardly on the level of a woman like Anna Hobbs.

Which didn't change the fact she had already accepted a job at the Grandview, and it didn't change the fact Jenny intended to do that job as well as she possibly could.

* * *

It was late, the bar empty except for Troy. Jenny said good night as he walked out the side door to his car. She checked to be sure everything was locked up, then went out through the lobby and up the stairs to her suite.

She was mostly unpacked, the stuff she didn't need stored in the old stone basement, along with her mother's pretty flowered china.

She undressed and climbed into the queen-size bed, her muscles aching after a day of packing and moving, determined to catch up on her sleep. At least her head wasn't pounding. Mostly she was just bone-tired.

With a deep sigh, Jenny plumped her pillow and settled back in bed, pleased the mattresses she'd purchased for the new section were so comfortable. Her eyelids were just beginning to close when she caught a flash of light from the corner. Startled, her eyes shot open, and she peered around the room, trying to see what it was.

She spotted the object near the window, perfectly round, a bright, gleaming white spot of light, and it wasn't stationary. It was drifting around the room.

Her heart began to pound. She slowly sat up in bed, her eyes never leaving the brilliant white object. People who visited Jerome often came to see ghosts. Customers had mentioned things called orbs, supposedly connected to spirits, but she had never seen one. More than one person had claimed to have seen an orb in the saloon. One person even showed her a photo he had taken showing a bright white circle up by the old balcony above the bar.

At the time, she'd figured it was probably a problem with the camera, but now, as the brilliant circle of white hovered near the ceiling, she watched it, more intrigued than frightened. What was it? Where had it come from? Why was it in her bedroom?

The light darted boldly one way and then another, then streaked across the room and blinked out of sight. Jenny's pulse was still racing, her thoughts spinning.

So orbs were real. Tomorrow she would go on Google and find out more about them. Or at least what other people said about them.

Jenny took several deep breaths and tried to relax. An orb was just a light. Even it if it were some sort of spirit, it wasn't going to hurt her. She closed her eyes, determined to get a good night's sleep. She needed to be at her best when she went to work at the Grandview.

Went to work for Cain.

Jenny sighed into the silent darkness. She hoped Anna wouldn't be there tomorrow. No matter what she told herself, seeing the woman with Cain would make her uncomfortable.

Jenny tried to relax. If she didn't fall asleep soon, she'd take a couple of Tylenol PM.

Unfortunately, half an hour later, her restlessness continued, and her eyes kept cracking open, looking for another orb. Almost an hour passed before she got up and dug into the medicine cabinet, popped two pills, and finally went to sleep.

It was three in the morning when the plinkity-plink of an old upright piano reached her through a deep haze of slumber. Her eyes slowly opened. It took a moment to rouse herself enough to recognize what she was hearing—piano music, laughter, and the sound of glasses clinking in the bar downstairs.

She jolted wide awake, and her heart started knocking. What was going on? The bar was closed, and there was no old piano anywhere in the building.

Jenny sat up in bed. A few feet away, the closet door swung open, then very slowly closed. Her pulse kicked up. Jumping out of bed, she ran to the closet and jerked open the door. Nothing but her clothes and shoes, and the rolling suitcase she had brought from home.

Her mouth felt dry. Her heart was hammering. The music and laughter downstairs continued. Grabbing a pair of jeans, she jerked them on, pulled on a sweatshirt, and jammed her feet into a pair of sneakers. Snatching her flashlight off the floor beside the bed, she headed for the door.

Dim light from the sconces in the hall provided just enough illumination to see there was no one there. No sounds, just the creak and groan of the old building, sounds she had heard a hundred times since she was a kid.

When she reached the bottom of the staircase in the lobby, she turned and went into the saloon. Panning the flashlight around the room, she saw that the bar was empty. No piano music was playing, no people talking, no laughter or the clink of glasses.

Her pulse eased a little, but her mind still raced.

It was a dream , she told herself. It had to be. Right? Either that or she was going slightly crazy. Ghosts in Cain's bedroom. Now ghost sounds in her room upstairs.

With a heavy sigh, Jenny returned to her suite. She'd been working in the Copper Star since she was a teen. She had never seen a ghost. True, she'd heard a few eerie noises, a few gruesome tales from customers and employees, but nothing like this.

Then again, until now, she hadn't spent any time in the newly opened, recently renovated rooms in the hotel.

Did that make a difference?

As she climbed into bed, Jenny remembered Uncle Charlie's words. Odd things happen in the rooms in that section. Dangerous things.

Uncle Charlie had left that part of the hotel closed up. She wished she could talk to him, ask him why he had never remodeled the rooms and instead left them outdated and unrented.

Jenny closed her eyes, but she didn't fall asleep.