Chapter Two

"Miss Campanelli? Luna?" Hunter Douglas caught the young woman as she fainted, uncertain what had happened to her.

He frantically glanced around, hoping someone more equipped to handle the situation, like local deputies Kade Rawlings or Lars Thorsen, might magically appear.

When the two men failed to materialize, Hunter shifted Luna in his arms, making sure he had her satchel and the basket she'd clung to like it held some prized possession. Without delay, he marched across the platform, down the steps, and up the street, intent on taking her directly to Ilsa Campanelli's dress shop.

Luna moaned as though she was in pain. Hunter glanced down at her, noticing a scar on her neck that had been hidden by the high lace collar of her shirtwaist. The scar looked angry and red, and he wondered what had happened to her.

He had no idea what had caused Luna to faint. One moment, they'd been joking as they stepped off the train. In the next, a look of panic had settled over her delicate, beautiful features. She'd looked terrified when an automobile had backfired. Out of what had seemed to be pure instinct, she'd ducked.

Why she had, though, was a mystery.

Did she think someone had fired a gun? Had something happened to her that made her so skittish around crowds? He pondered if whatever had upset her had something to do with the wicked scar on her neck.

Regrettably, the only one who could answer his multitude of questions was currently unconscious in his arms.

Hunter hastened his steps, anxious to deliver Luna to her family. Part of him wanted to stop for a moment and study her pert nose, flawless skin, and the way her long eyelashes rested on her cheeks. Her heart-shaped face gave her an undeniable look of sweetness, although, if she was anything like Caterina, she possessed more than her share of spunk.

When he'd boarded the train, he'd felt a spurt of gratitude for running late because it meant he had no place else to sit other than beside the pretty girl with the rosy cheeks and shy smile. Sunlight streaming in the window had turned the tendrils of her rich brown hair into shimmering strands of silk and caressed her face with a warm glow, making him long to touch her.

At first, he thought Luna might crawl into the luggage compartment overhead just to get away from him. Then, to his delight, she'd offered him part of her sack of pastries. He'd realized she was perhaps just trying to behave as any female might who was young, traveling alone, and found a large, sweaty, smelly man seated next to her.

Hunter couldn't help being sweaty or smelling like horses. He'd had to rent a horse at the livery in town, ride out to the Jordan Ranch and deliver the horse Dally had trained to Jack Jordan, and then ride the rented horse back to Baker City, all before his train departed. Of course, he'd stayed far longer than he should have at the ranch, visiting with the Jordan family and looking over their horses as well as their cattle operation. When he'd realized the time, he'd ridden back to Baker City like his life depended on it. He'd had to run all the way from the livery but managed to jump onto the train in the nick of time.

Aware he wasn't at his best, Hunter didn't mind overly much that he looked like a trail-weary cowboy. Rarely did he have the opportunity to enjoy the luxury of being just a man who'd been working hard all day and not one of the heirs to his family's riches. Perhaps he took more pleasure than he should have in letting Luna think he was Dally's hired help with the horses. Eventually, she'd figure out he was Dally's brother.

Truthfully, he was working for Dally this summer. Beyond breaking horses for his sister, he had also set in motion his plans for his future.

Every summer, he traveled to Pendleton to spend time at the B Bar D Ranch, where his mother had been raised and Nik and Dally now called home. But Hunter was ready to buy property of his own.

In the past month, he'd graduated from college with a degree in business, inherited half a million dollars his grandfather had left for him in an account not to be touched until he turned twenty-one, and informed his parents he intended to move to Pendleton permanently.

His mother had appeared secretly pleased about his plans to make Pendleton his home, while his father had looked disappointed. Bramble Hall had been in the Douglas family for generations. Located near Asheville, North Carolina, it was a beautiful place with acres of apple orchards, white-painted fences surrounding pastures full of the thoroughbred horses they raised, and a grand home that had miraculously survived the War Between the States without any lasting damage.

Hunter knew his father wanted him to take over managing the estate and all its enterprises, but his heart had always been in Pendleton. As children, Hunter and Dally had lived for the summer months they spent in Pendleton riding horses, chasing cattle, and absorbing a lifestyle so different from what they knew the rest of the year in Asheville.

It was Jeff, Hunter's younger brother, who lived and breathed for Bramble Hall. Jeff, who had just turned eighteen, had been born to manage the place. When the time was right, he'd do a spectacular job of it. Eventually, his father and Jeff would accept the fact that Hunter had no interest in taking charge of the huge house or the businesses tied to the estate.

Hunter wanted to forge his own path, and he was convinced the place to do it was Pendleton.

Another moan drew his thoughts back to the moment and the woman in his arms. "Almost there, Miss Campanelli," Hunter said, trying to sound reassuring. He glanced in both directions before he jogged across Court Street, then made his way to Ilsa's shop.

Thankfully, only a screen door blocked his entry when he reached the front of the store.

"Ilsa! I need help!" he hollered through the screen. A noise that sounded like a stampede grew in volume as Ilsa, Marnie, and two of their daughters raced from the workroom at the back of the store toward the door.

"Gracious! What happened?" Ilsa asked, pushing open the screen door and motioning for Sophie, Marnie's daughter, and Laila, Ilsa's only child, to step out of the way.

"She fainted on the train platform." Hunter turned sideways to make it through the door without hitting Luna's head or feet on the frame. "Do you recognize her?"

Ilsa craned her neck, trying to see Luna's face, which was half pressed against Hunter's chest.

"She looks like Caterina." Ilsa's eyes widened, and her mouth formed a perfect O. "Luna? Luna Campanelli? Oh, good heavens!"

Hunter nodded and followed as Ilsa led the way through a doorway to the back of her store.

"Place her there, please." She pointed to an overstuffed chair.

"I'll pour a glass of cold water," Marnie said, hurrying over to a pitcher on a tall table.

"Maybe a cool compress would help," Ilsa said, leaning over Luna and unfastening the jacket she wore, then removing her hat and gloves. "She's likely overheated."

Sophie dampened a cloth, and Laila handed it to her mother. Ilsa dabbed at Luna's forehead and cheeks.

"Perhaps we need smelling salts to revive her," Marnie said, bustling over to a shelf and rifling through a box of what appeared to be medical supplies. She glanced over her shoulder at her daughter. "Sophie, please go get Caterina."

"Yes, Mama." Sophie dashed out the back door, leaving it ajar.

"Should I go find Daddy?" Laila asked as she hovered beside the chair, watching as Ilsa continued wiping the cool cloth over Luna's face.

"Yes, please," Ilsa said, tipping her head toward the door. "He didn't have any appointments at the photography studio today, so he's likely either making ice or delivering it."

"I'll find him!" Laila ran out the door, her dark ringlets flying out behind her in her youthful exuberance to seek out her father.

Hunter wondered what Laila would look like when she was all grown up. At ten, she was a beautiful child with a mass of curly dark hair, big blue eyes, and a petite stature like her mother, although she more closely resembled her Campanelli relatives. He could see a resemblance between her and Luna.

His gaze turned back to the young woman as Ilsa wiped Luna's hands with the cool rag. Without a hat to hide it, he could see just how shiny and thick Luna's brown hair appeared and how fragile she looked with her skin so pale against the dark fabric of the chair.

"Found them!" Marnie carried a small jar over to the chair, removed the lid, and waved it beneath Luna's nose.

He leaned forward as Luna stirred, coughed, and batted a hand in front of her face, as though trying to ward off something that smelled terrible. Her nose wrinkled, and he felt the most preposterous desire to bend down and kiss the tip of it.

"It might be best if she sees you first, Hunter," Marnie said, giving him a nudge forward after she set the smelling salts on the worktable.

He hunkered down by the chair and took Luna's limp hand between his, brushing his thumb across her palm.

"Miss Campanelli? It's Hunter, your friend from the train. Do you think you could open your eyes now?"

He watched as Luna swallowed, and then slowly she opened her eyes. Her gaze, at first wild and panicked, latched onto his. Both fear and recognition registered in her incredible brown peepers. She pushed herself up in the chair and glanced around. Her face went from pale to bright red in the length of a heartbeat.

"Oh," she said, placing a hand to her throat, her gaze dropping to her lap. "What happened, Hunter?"

"Well, we were standing on the platform, and an automobile backfired. The sound seemed to …" Hunter searched for a polite way to say it sent her into a fit of terror. "The noise upset you a bit, and then you fainted."

"I'm so sorry. I'm … It was …" Luna sighed and lifted her gaze to his again, her eyes bright with tears. "Thank you for helping me."

"No need to apologize, Miss Campanelli. You are most welcome for my assistance. I'm just glad I was there to catch you." Hunter grinned at her and straightened. "I brought you—"

A bang cut off his words as the door sailed wide open, and Caterina Campanelli Rawlings burst inside with Sophie on her heels. "Oh, our sweet bambina!"

Before anyone could say a word, Caterina pulled Luna from the chair and embraced her in a motherly hug.

It seemed to be what Luna needed as she went from being stiff and embarrassed, to smiling as Caterina kissed both of her cheeks, then hugged her again.

"Thank you for rescuing her," Ilsa said, grabbing Hunter's hand as he backed up a few steps, ready to take his leave.

Hunter grinned. "I always wanted to rescue a damsel in distress. Guess I can mark that off my list of objectives and move on to a new one."

Ilsa laughed and shook her head. "What's next? Saving a girl with flowing locks from a high tower?"

"No, nothing so grand. I've got an appointment to look at some property."

"Property?" Ilsa appeared caught off guard. "Are you thinking of buying land here in Pendleton?"

Hunter nodded. "I am. I've got a heap of plans for my future, and I'm ready to get started on them."

"Good for you, Hunter. Good for you." Ilsa walked him to the door and waved as he strode off in the direction of his brother-in-law's medical office.

If luck was with him, he could ride home with Nik and not have to walk.