osts and freezing nights. But to her surprise and puzzlement—and relief, if she could bring herself to admit it—when Devlin left town he merely moved to Georgetown, two miles away.
He was staying at the Hotel de Paris, she learned from Flo. A week later she also learned that Devlin had bought a plot of land in Georgetown and was planning on building a fancy house.
"A house?" Jess repeated in shock. "Whatever would he need a house for?"
Flo raised her eyes to the ceiling, as if praying for patience. "For a smart gal, you sure can be thickheaded sometimes, Jess."
"What do you mean?"
"You figure it out. I've already said my piece, and I'm not gonna say one thing more."
Flo didn't keep to her promise to say nothing more in the following weeks, but neither did she explain what she meant. It was left to Jess to puzzle out.
Devlin's actions, however, continued to surprise Jessica. Clem broke the latest news to her one evening after dinner when he was still smarting from the loss of a poker game to Riley. The revelation that Devlin had provided Clem the capital to start his own stock ranch made Jess stare.
"Yep, I'm gonna settle down and raise me some mules, Jessie," Clem explained.
"You're going to quit mining?" Jess asked incredulously. She couldn't believe the rugged old-timer whom she'd known since she was a baby would contemplate such a drastic change. Clem was part of the Rockies.
"Not quit, perxactly. Just do something on a different end. I'm gettin' too old to be trampin' up and down that mountain, Jessie. And there's big profit to be made in mules. That big-city fella's got it all worked out. Him and me, were gonna be partners."
"You're actually going into business with Devlin? I thought you didn't trust him."
"Aw, he ain't such a bad fella, after all. A bit too purty for my taste, but he knows a good deal when he sees one." Shooting a stream of tobacco juice with bull's-eye precision at the spittoon near his feet, Clem patted his stomach and grinned. "Yep, I'm gonna retire and not work so hard."
Jess smiled wryly. "You wouldn't know how to quit working hard."
"Well, you're jest as bad as me. Mebbe you ought to think about easin' off yerself, now that Riley's made his strike. You don't need to keep worry in' about money now. You could shuck the boardinghouse, if'n you wanted to."
"Good heavens, what would I do if I didn't have the boardinghouse to keep me busy?"
Clem eyed her thoughtfully as he tugged on his grizzled beard. "Get yourself hitched, o' course. You ain't getting any younger, you know."
Jess suddenly found a good deal to interest her in her fingers.
"I tell you, Jessie. You don't want to end up like me, with nobody to care for you. With no family or nothirs'."
She looked up in distress. "You have somebody to care for you. Riley and I love you. We're your family."
"That ain't what I meant and you know it." Clem held her gaze. "You let that purty fella get away, and you're gonna be sorry. You oughta think about that, Jessie."
With that, Clem climbed to his feet and shuffled out the back door, leaving Jess to brood over what he'd said.
In fact, she did a lot of brooding during the following days, as autumn set in for good and the first snowfall of the season came and went. She found it impossible to do anything else. Devlin stayed on her mind, no matter how desperately she tried to forget him.
And more and more she came to realize she had no support among her family and friends in her campaign to shun him. It even began to seem as if there was a conspiracy against her. Even Ashton Burke managed to mention Devlin.
It was done casually one Sunday afternoon in late October, when Burke was at the Sommers's house. Jess had relented enough to invite him to Sunday dinner with her and Riley.
Having the elegant silver baron dining at her kitchen table seemed incongruous, but he didn't appear to mind that the flatware wasn't made of silver and the yellow-checked tablecloth wasn't lace. In fact, Burke seemed totally content merely to be sharing the time with her. He sat there, relaxed and at ease, sipping his glass of homemade elderberry wine and making pleasant conversation that included Riley as much as Jess, and was obviously designed to disarm.
Jess, too, was growing more at ease with Burke, so much so that she allowed her attention to wander for a minute while her two fathers discussed the state of Colorado politics. It came as a shock to realize the subject had somehow turned to Devlin.
". . . already hired a team of lawyers. He asked for my advice, much to my surprise." Burke made a wry face. "I suggested the best in the state, although I imagine I will come to regret it. Mr. Devlin is all too likely to use them against me someday."
"What does Devlin need a team of lawyers for?" Jess found herself asking in spite of herself.
"A simple precaution, my dear. With all the litigation these days, every business venture is a veritable mine field. And since he has relocated his headquarters here, he will need attorneys who know our state law."