Something Borrowed (Borrowed Brides 3)

"Don't worry about us," Mary said. "Just bring your birthday suit home without any holes this time."

"I'll do my best."

"That's all I ask."

Lee stared at his wife. She was beautiful, warm, wise, loving, passionate, and courageous. All the things that he had wanted in a wife but had never thought he would find again. And he loved her more than life. "Mary, I…" He stopped abruptly. It wasn't the time or the place. She deserved to hear him say the words over a romantic breakfast, or late at night when she lay in his arms. She deserved a better setting than a crowded railroad platform.

"What is it?" She looked up at him, recognized the warmth in his gray eyes and thought for a moment that he might be on the verge of telling her how he felt.

"Take care of yourself," he replied hurriedly. "I'll see you in Cheyenne in a few days."

* * *

Chapter Twenty- Four

Lee had only been in New York half a day and already he was tired of it and eager to get home. And in a few minutes, when his interview with Robert Pinkerton—Allan's younger son and head of the New York office—was over, he could take Lily Catherine Alexander and go back home to Mary and Maddy and Judah. But for now he sat in the Pinkerton office, with Lily on his lap, her head pillowed against his chest, and waited.

Lily had come as a surprise. Even though Lee knew David wasn't her father, he had been expecting her to look a bit like Mary or even Maddy, but Lily was aptly named. She was tiny and fragile-looking, with skin so fair the network of blue veins showed through. She had curly white-blond hair and big blue eyes. Though only a few months younger than Madeline, Lily weighed far less. But like Madeline, Lily Catherine favored her grandmother. And Lily Catherine was as quiet, well-mannered, and polite as Maddy was outgoing. When she spoke, it was in a whisper, almost as if she were afraid to make any noise. But she was affectionate. She clung to Lee, and he realized that she needed his nearness. She was going to a new home and to parents and a family that loved her already, but at the moment, she felt lost. A little girl surrounded by strangers who had been taken away from the only home she'd ever known.

"Good to see you again, Lee." Robert Pinkerton stepped out of his office and walked over to shake his hand. Lee didn't stand up.

"I see you've mad

e Lily's acquaintance."

"Yes."

"She's a precious little girl," Robert said. "And we're lucky to have found her in all this mass of humanity." He waved an arm toward the window and the crowded streets below.

"How did you find her?"

"We waited until Sarrazin wired money from Washington to a bank here in New York, then watched to see who picked it up. Luckily for us, Mrs. Sarrazin did. Easy as pie once we knew where to look and for whom to look," Pinkerton pronounced. "Now, how about you, Lee? How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"No ill effects from the gunshot wound?"

"No," Lee said.

"Daniel Willis filed a report. I'm sorry about Mrs. Millen. It was tragic, but it wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was tragic," Lee said. "And if I had had any idea that my visit would provoke such an action, I wouldn't have gone alone. But I didn't anticipate her reaction. Having met her, I realized I should have recognized that Cassandra Millen couldn't face another family scandal—that she wouldn't allow the senator's name, her name, to be tarnished."

"The senator's name was bound to be tarnished, Lee, whether she liked it or not. She couldn't prevent it and neither could anyone else." Robert paused. "Sarrazin has come clean. Senator Millen was more corrupt than any of us imagined. Not only did he try to force David Alexander to marry his daughter, Caroline, he paid to have a marriage license forged and bribed a clerk to record it. And still, he set out to ruin David. Senator Warner Millen even financed that counterfeiting ring in Denver—the one you and Tabitha investigated two or three years ago."

"What?!" Lee was clearly surprised.

Robert nodded. "I guess that's why he was able to get an expert forger to create a marriage license for David and Caroline."

"Then Sarrazin wasn't blackmailing the senator with the scandal involving Caroline or even L-I-L-Y." He spelled Lily's name because, over the past few weeks, Lee had learned that little girls had very big ears. "But something even bigger and uglier."

"The scandal involving Caroline would have definitely damaged the senator's reputation and might even have hurt his re-election, but let's face it, people talk and gossip travels fast, and almost everybody in Washington knew about it in some way or another. What Senator Millen couldn't allow to come to light was that he was responsible for financing the ring of counterfeiters and had used his influence to have the counterfeit bills circulated. But the unfinished business with David bothered him enough that he had a man keep track on the Jordan-Alexander clan."

"Who?" Lee demanded.

"We don't know," Pinkerton admitted.- "But we know he was very close to the family. Sarrazin confessed that up until a few weeks ago this man, whoever he was, was close enough to know David's every move—and had been for several months."

"Then why didn't he just tell David where"—Lee nodded toward Lily—"she was."