Doulin

Chapter 1

He had been working hard all morning, and his eyes were burning up, so Jarrod took a break, shut them for a few moments and leaned back in his chair. His first thought was that maybe it was time to get a new chair. He had leaned back in this one so often that it almost toppled over backward when he shifted his weight.

A knock on the door made him open his eyes. His sister was coming in, smiling that beaming smile of hers. Jarrod sat up straight again. "Well, look who's come to see me! Do you have a legal problem I can help you with, Miss?"

Audra came over beside him and gave him a kiss. "Just that legal problem of an older brother I have," she said. "You're working too hard again. It's time for you to take a very long lunch with your sister."

Jarrod checked his watch. "By golly, it is about lunch time, isn't it? Well, if we're going to take a long one, I suggest the Cattleman's, unless you have a better idea."

"I think the Cattleman's is a good idea. Give you a chance to get away from these books for a good long time."

Jarrod got up, fetched his hat but left his gunbelt on the coat tree. "Is this long lunch your idea, or did Mother send you?"

"A little of both. We both think you've been working too hard since you got back from finding Cecilia Paine."

They started out together. "There's a lot of work to catch up on," Jarrod said. "I was out of action for a couple months."

"You'll be out of action again if you don't take care of yourself," Audra said. By that time they were heading out the front door into the street. "You're not as young as you used to be."

"I beg your pardon!" Jarrod feigned insult.

"Well, you're not!" Audra replied. "I just turned 23. That means you're downright middle-aged now."

"Middle aged!" Now he really was insulted. As they crossed the street, he took a good hold on Audra's arm. "I'll have you know I'm as fit and handsome as I was when I was your age."

"Well, I won't argue about that," Audra conceded. "Did you know that several of my girlfriends had crushes on you when I was growing up?"

"Of course they did," Jarrod said. "I was your handsome and sophisticated older brother. I expect some of your girlfriends still have crushes on me."

"Could be," Audra said.

They went into the Cattleman's restaurant and were taken to a table by the window. Audra took to gazing out the window before she looked at the menu.

"Isn't it amazing how Stockton has grown in the last few years?" Audra said. "When I was a girl, I think I knew everyone in town. Now I can sit here and see stranger after stranger go by."

"Mm-hmm," Jarrod agreed as he did read his menu. "And it seems I'm meeting every single one of the newcomers, if you look at the state of my files."

"You're not going to be able to keep up with both Stockton and San Francisco before long," Audra said.

Jarrod put his menu aside. "I'm hiring an associate in each place to keep things going, which means I'm going to have to go to San Francisco in a week or so."

Audra looked unhappy. "Are you sure you're ready for it?"

Jarrod smiled a little. He knew she was still concerned about his search to find Cecilia Paine and his abduction before that, but he said, "There's no reason to worry about me anymore, Audra. I'm doing fine now. That's all water under the bridge. And I have to go take care of San Francisco someday or my secretary there will have my head."

Audra still noted that nasty edge to Jarrod's smile that came along after he'd been abducted by Cecilia Paine's husband. She wondered to herself if it was even related to him losing his wife, and that unhappy visit from Julia Saxon. Life hadn't been very good to her oldest brother over the past couple years – which made it all the more important that she give him her most earnest smile. That always seemed to help him ease up.

The waitress came and they ordered, and then they both took to looking out of the window at the people walking by. Audra sighed. "You'd think with all the new people in town I could find a new beau."

Jarrod chuckled. "You're going to end up marrying Carl Wheeler and you know it. I don't know why you keep that poor man twisting in the wind the way you do."

"Well, if I were certain I was going to marry Carl, I'd go ahead and marry him," Audra said.

"You just want to see if the grass is greener elsewhere," Jarrod said. "Trust me – you don't want to wait too long."

"Do you approve of Carl?" she asked.

"He's a fine man," Jarrod said. "And since when did you ever wait for my approval before you did something?"

"Marriage is different," Audra said. "I'll be bringing a new man into the family, and you'd be giving me away. At least, I hope you would."

"I wouldn't miss it," Jarrod said. "But as father of the bride, I would expect him to ask me for your hand before he asked you."

Audra laughed. "Of course I'd send him to you first, if you promise not to scare him too much just for the fun of it."

"Well, if you send Carl, all bets are off."

Audra spotted a couple saloon girls on their way to work, probably at the newest saloon in town that was further up the street. "Do you think many saloon girls end up getting married?"

"Some of them do," Jarrod said, catching sight of them when he followed Audra's gaze. "Many of them don't."

Audra looked at her brother. "Do men just look at them differently?"

Jarrod inhaled and held it for a moment. Just how was he going to answer that honestly? "Yes," he just said flatly.

"Why?"

Oh, she went one step too far, Jarrod thought. He laughed uncomfortably and said, "Actually, I think this is a conversation better had somewhere other than in public."

Audra eyed him. "I thought Big Annie's was the only place in town – "

"No, Audra, just let that topic go please!"

Audra smiled wickedly, and Jarrod realized she knew exactly what she was talking about and was purposely baiting him. "I just think it's too bad that some girls have to resort to making a living – that way," she said seriously.

Jarrod thought of Cecilia Paine, how she had gotten away from that way of life that Al Doulin dragged her into, and how he hoped she had found her permanent way out by moving to Kansas City. "Yes," he said. "It is."

They had a nice long lunch together, longer than they'd had in quite a while, and afterward they parted company in front of the restaurant. Audra went off toward the livery where she'd left her buggy and Jarrod headed back to his office.

Just before she got to the livery, Audra accidentally bumped into a man. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she blurted. She looked closely to see who the man was, but she didn't know him.

He just tipped his hat and went on his way.

Audra thought that was a little strange, for a man to bump into a woman and just go on his way without a word, but she didn't give it any more thought. She didn't see the man glance her way as he went around a corner.