Wildstar

Much worse, though, was the way wealthy men like him used their money, manipulating people and events to insure whatever outcome they wanted. Devlin had yet to prove that he was any different from all the other greedy, power-hungry magnates she'd known all her life. He'd bought into the Wildstar with a huge infusion of capital, in a way that seemed downright suspicious. What did he re­ally want? was the question Jess yearned to have an­swered. Was his magnanimity really a bid to eventually take over the mine? That would have been a scheme worthy of Ashton Burke, and Jess couldn't dismiss the possi­bility as blithely as everyone else seemed to be doing.

She tried to warn her father of the danger, but Riley merely brushed off her concerns.

"I can't believe you actually let Devlin waltz in and take control of our mine," Jess finally exclaimed in frus­tration.

"He didn't take control. He didn't want it."

"It's close enough to make no difference. How could you let him talk you into it?"

"He's not a man to take no for an answer, Jess."

"That's exactly my point. He's no different than Burke when it comes to wanting his way. How do we know Dev­lin's not only out for himself? How do we know we're not being taken in? That we can trust him?"

"Because my instincts say so."

Jess couldn't buy that; Riley's instincts had been wrong before. "Then why did he spend so much money on the Wildstar when there's so little profit in it for him?"

Her father gave her a long look. "He did it for you, Jess."

She blinked, startled. "What do you mean, for me?" she asked.

"Do you really think any man in his right mind would sink a fortune into a low-grade mine that's not likely to pay out his investment just on a lark? No, he wanted to help you, and giving me the money to start over seemed the best way. He probably figured you would appreciate what he did instead of doubting his intentions."

Jess stared. "I don't believe it," she said finally. "Why would Devlin want to do anything for me?"

Riley was silent for a minute, his mouth pursed as if de­bating how much more to say. "Well, maybe that wasn't his only reason. After getting caught in that cave, he was riled enough at Burke to want to get even. And being part owner gave him the legal clout to take on Burke."

That sounded much more like the truth, Jess decided. Like Burke, Devlin would doubtless hate having his will crossed by anybody.

But even if he wasn't like Burke, even if she was wrong about Devlin, even if he didn't have any ulterior motives and wasn't trying to take over their mine, it still stuck in her craw having to suffer his patronage. Until now, she and Riley had always made it on their own, without any help from anyone—in fact, with active opposition and sometimes with pretty poor luck. Having to admit they needed Devlin didn't go down easy. And his apparent suc­cess in making Burke back off when they'd failed was only one more bitter pill to swallow.

That afternoon, the pill got so large Jess nearly choked on it. The Wildstar miners discovered a vein of silver ore in the lower level of Riley's mine, a vein so rich that it nearly went off the assayer's scale.

Clem came racing into the boardinghouse kitchen to tell Jessica the fabulous news, waving his felt hat in the air and whooping like a painted Indian.

"We're rich, Jessie! We're goddamned rich!"

Before she could do more than look up, the wir

y mule skinner had picked her up by the waist and was whirling her around and around.

"Lord have mercy, what's goin' on?" Flo exclaimed, seeing all the excitement. "You been hittin' the bottle again, Clem Haverty?"

"Not hardly, woman! Riley made his big strike! We done found a lode!"

It was a long moment before he calmed down enough to make sense, and even then he was almost breathing too hard to tell them what had happened and his words all ran together.

"Riley found this crack in the low tunnel, see, and we set a charge, and you could see it was a vein, and Riley said 'Holy shit,' beg pardon, Jessie, but it was the damnedest sight you ever seen, all that ore what looked like pure silver! We done our own testin', but the numbers came out plumb crazy, I mean who would believe nine hundred a ton? I thought Riley was funnin' me, but we took some ore down to the assay office an' they said it was for real, more'n nine hundred ounces to the ton, and it goes on like forever! Hallelujah, we're richhhhhhhh!"

Just about then Riley came limping through the back door, a big grin on his weary face. When Jess asked, "Is it really true?" in an awed tone, her father laughed and held out his arms. His bear hug was full of love and tri­umph and completely ignored the still-painful wound in his back, although Jess tried to tell him to be careful.

Riley wasn't having any of it. This day was the culmi­nation of a lifetime of searching for that elusive lode, and he declared he wasn't going to spoil it by playing the in­valid.

At Riley's request, Jess broke out the decanter of cur­rant wine that she kept for special occasions and the bottle of good rye whiskey she kept hidden from Clem, and poured glasses all around.

Riley raised his glass for a toast, meeting his daughter's eyes. "I only wish your ma could have been here. That's my only regret."

A bittersweet ache caught at Jess's throat. Riley missed Jenny Ann even more than she did, and all the silver in the world couldn't make up for her loss.