Wildstar

"Yep . . . your head's okay," Doc pronounced, "but you oughta keep it dry for a few days. Miss Jess?" Doc waved a hand in front of her face.

Dazed, Jess turned to look at him. "I have to talk to Devlin."

Doc's forehead wrinkled in a frown. "I passed him on the road a while back. I think he was headed to your house."

Rising to her feet, she fumbled with her apron strings. "I have to see him," she murmured again.

Leaving Doc Wheeler to stare after her, she made her way blindly out the door, anger, dread, and anguish war­ring within her. She almost ran the block and a half to the house, hardly seeing her surroundings. Surely Devlin hadn't betrayed them. Surely she couldn't be that mistaken about someone. No one could be that good an actor, could he? No one could be that cruel, that low, that deceiving.

Devlin's horse was tied up out front when Jess arrived. She let herself into the house quietly, surprised to realize her hands were actually shaking. Devlin was in her bed­room, stowing his clothes and gear in a carpetbag.

He looked up to find her standing in the doorway. When he saw her, he pushed his hat back and smiled. "Riley wasn't here, so I let myself in."

"

He's up at the mine," Jess replied absently, distracted as usual by the sheer masculine beauty of Devlin's face.

He looked different today. He was wearing a superbly tailored suit and waistcoat that fit his lean contours to per­fection and gave him an added aura of sleek elegance and power—as if he needed any other advantage to enhance his striking physique. Her gaze slowly swept downward, drawn by a force more potent than she could resist. She could remember all too well how that hard body felt pressed against her own, how it felt moving over her, be­tween her thighs, God help her.

Realizing she was staring, Jess forced herself to drag her gaze upward to meet Devlin's smoke-hued eyes. She wanted to demand that he tell her what he had been doing at Burke's house, but the words wouldn't come. She couldn't just come right out and accuse him of something so sinister. She didn't know what she would do if it were true. Desperately trying to maintain her composure, she clasped her fingers together.

"Were you just going to sneak out?" Her voice was raw, unsteady, and it seemed to take Devlin by surprise.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me."

He frowned as he surveyed her pale face. "Jess, are you all right?"

"No . . . I'm not all right."

"I suppose you're angry about the laborers I sent over."

That had totally slipped her mind, but now that he'd brought it up, it gave her something else to focus on be­sides the terrible possibility that she'd been so wrong about him. "Yes, I'm angry about that. I've been running our boardinghouse on my own for five years. I can man­age without your help—"

"Whoa, hold up there, angel. I never said you couldn't manage by yourself."

"Why didn't you ask me before you went and hired five people to work for me?"

"Because you would have refused to accept them if I'd offered first."

"Of course I would have refused! I don't need them!"

"You do. You just won't admit it." Devlin paused. "What are you so upset about? I'm paying their salary. If you don't want to use them, that's your affair, but you'll just be wasting a good money."

"I don't want you paying for my hired help—" Jess fal­tered, a burning ache in her throat. They were arguing over something that was totally trivial compared to the real is­sue. She swallowed hard. "You didn't bother to consult me or even let me know about any of the decisions you've made on my behalf recently. I'm wondering what else you haven't seen fit to mention."

His look suddenly became wary as he realized Jess must have learned about his vast wealth. Riley had warned him she wouldn't be happy about it. "Your father told you?"

"Yes, he told me. But I'm sure he didn't know we were harboring a traitor in our house."

"Harboring a what?"

"You were on Burke's side all along, weren't you?"

Devlin's eyes narrowed in a sudden scowl. "What are you talking about? I've never been on Burke's side."

"Then what were you doing visiting him last night?"