Her Secret Past (Black Hills Brides Book 1) Read online

  He reached over and clasped her hand again. “But you would tell me if you needed anything?”

  She squeezed his hand. “Of course.”

  He eyes flashed with concern, but the moment passed quickly, and he seemed to take her word. He sighed and withdrew his hand. “I’m glad you were able to stop by. I have some business to discuss with you.”

  Samantha inwardly groaned. Nothing good ever came from his talk of “business.” She fiddled with her gloves. “What sort of business?”

  “Well, I wanted to discuss a proposition for you.”

  “Stop. If you are going to discuss James’ fortune, I’ve already had a discussion with his lawyer. The will is going to be read in a few days’ time, but I doubt it will involve me.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “I have no interest in James’ business. I just want enough money to get me by, so I can continue my studies. Besides, I don’t believe I have any knowledge to run a business successfully.”

  He looked perplexed. “Samantha, there is something else we do need to discuss.”

  “What are you referring to?”

  “I’m talking about a prospective marriage.”

  She looked stricken by his news as if he had stuck a knife in her arm. “My husband hasn’t even been in the ground for that long and you are already discussing another marriage?”

  “Darling, it’s not good for you to be alone. We still don’t know who killed James or why they killed him the first place. I think the best option is for you to move away, preferably to marry a man far away.”

  She was appalled. “No.”

  “You aren’t thinking clearly…”

  “I am thinking very clearly! I have let you dictate my life before and what has it gotten me? A dead husband. He hasn’t been gone for that long. What would everyone think? The shame of it all. I wouldn’t be able to live in this town.”

  “But you would be far away. And people would understand.”

  “At least let me grieve! Let me morn his lost!” She may not have loved him deeply, but she had loved him enough. And she couldn’t do that to him; it felt like the ultimate betrayal. She had resigned herself to a lonely life, to pay penance to James. She didn’t want to have anyone else. If this was the pain she felt with losing someone she deeply cared for, how could she take it if it was someone she truly loved?

  “Samantha, as your father, I am telling you this is what’s best for you. I know you think I'm being irrational, but you can’t stay here.”

  “I can’t believe you are asking me to leave. What about you? I can’t imagine leaving you! Not right now, not like this. What would occur if something happened to you and I wasn’t around?”

  “I’m stronger now,” he said, thumping his chest for emphasis. “The doctor says I am making great progress. He even suggested that I would be able to go home soon.”

  Samantha was not deterred. She didn’t believe her father; he wasn’t always to be trusted when it came to matters of his health. “I don’t want to go.”

  He let out an exasperated breath. “Samantha, you are being childish. I did not raise you to be insubordinate. You will do what’s good for you. You will do what’s expected of you.”

  “You can’t tell me how to live my life!” she yelled, standing up from her seat, startling a nurse as she walked in front of the doorway. She remembered where she was and composed herself thusly. She sat back down on the chair. “I appreciate your concern, but this is my life. I will make my decisions for myself, from now on. I have let you meddle long enough. The only thing it has gotten me is a hole in my heart.”

  Before he could speak again, she got up from the chair and walked towards the door. “My life is my own. I am not some piece of property you can just hand over to whomever you please. I will do whatever I feel is right.”

  She was so angry and hurt that she didn’t turn to say goodbye. She just ran out of the room before the tears climbing up her throat could consume her.

  “It was lovely to see you tonight!” Mrs. Annabelle Harris exclaimed as she grasped Samantha in the tightest hug. Samantha gasped for air as Mrs. Harris clutched her tightly before releasing her. “Dear, we need to get together more often.”

  Samantha straightened her jacket and adjusted her hat. Mrs. Harris was an aristocrat who lived downtown, a few streets away from Samantha. Her husband and Samantha’s father had done some business together, so they had seen each other often at social engagements. She was a lovely lady. Since James’ death, she seemed to take extra care in trying to get Samantha to join social outings. She had been calling on Samantha for weeks to join her at the theater. Samantha had initially refused, wanting nothing more than to stay home and morn her loss. She didn’t feel like making the effort to be social with other people. But after the fight with her father, she felt she needed to get her mind off the terrible position she was in. When Mrs. Harris rang for her to join her that night, she nearly jumped at the chance.

  They had ventured to the local theater for a show and enjoyed tea at Mrs. Harris’ house afterward. For the first time in a long time, Samantha had felt like herself. “I agree. Thank you for inviting me. It was just what I needed.” Samantha went to reach for the door. “I think I’ll be heading home now. I’m quite tired.”

  “Dear, it’s so late!” Mrs. Harris exclaimed, placing her small hands over her ample chest. Even though she was a short, round woman, her voice was loud and filled the foyer. “We can make the guest room up for you and you can leave in the morning,” she said as she turned to the maid next to her.

  “I don’t think that’s necessary…” Samantha began to say.

  Mrs. Harris interrupted her. “It’s no trouble! Or if you would prefer, I can send Harold with you. Harold, darling!” she called over, looking up as a young man appeared at the top of the stairs.

  Harold was Mrs. Harris’ young 15-year-old son. He was small, scrawny, and overall adorable looking. He didn’t have the look of a fighter. Samantha chuckled to herself. He wouldn’t be much protection if something were to happen. “Don’t trouble yourself, Mrs. Harris.” She put her hand on the lady’s shoulder. “It’s still a little light out and the street lights are on. It’s only a few streets over. I will be fine. I think I can manage such a small distance on my own.”

  Mrs. Harris didn’t look like she believed her, but Samantha had a look in her eye that gave the woman no choice to acquiesce. “Well, if you are sure…”

  Samantha clapped her hands together and leaned in to kiss the woman on her cheek. “Thank you for your concern. Do drop by the house soon.”

  She waved to Mrs. Harris as she left out the door and stepped into the brisk air. The street lights weren’t on yet, but it was dusk so there was still light out. She tugged her jacket a little tighter against her skin because of the temperature and walked towards the end of the street. She hadn’t gotten more than 20 feet before she felt someone fall into step at her right. She felt her heart leap as she turned to the side to see who was walking next to her.

  She grasped her chest when she saw it was Dirk. “Dirk, you scared me!” she scolded him. “You can’t just come up next to a lady like that.”

  Dirk took his hat off and slowly bowed toward Samantha. “I’m sorry, I thought you had noticed me.” He replaced the hat and looked at her curiously. “What are you doing out this late at night?”

  Samantha adjusted her jacked. “I was visiting with Mrs. Harris. I was just on my way home.”

  “A lady can’t be out this late alone. Allow me to escort you,” he said with a creepy smile while jutting out his arm for her to take.

  She eyed it with suspicion. “No, I’m fine. I’m not far from the house. Besides, it seems you may have been in a rush. I don’t want this small detour to take you from what you are doing.”

  Dirk put his hands up in surrender. “My lady, my brother would have my head if I didn’t do the right thing by making sure you got home safely. No matter what I am doing, I can ta
ke the time to walk my dear sister-in-law home.”

  Samantha shook her head and started walking down the street. “Really, Dirk, it’s no trouble. I’ll be fine.” Samantha didn’t know why she was making such a ruckus about not having this man walk her home; she just had this feeling something wasn’t right and it was better for her to get home as quickly as possible.

  This seemed to displease Dirk. She jerked her hand towards him, ripping her sleeve in the process. “You insolent little bitch. You may have had my brother wrapped around your finger, but you most certainly don’t have me. When a man offers to take you home, you will oblige him.”

  He held her wrist up to his face and backed her against the nearest stone wall. His face got close to hers and she could smell the alcohol on his breath. Her heart started to beat heavily, so loudly that it was ringing in her ears. She had never been so scared in her life. She looked around her and saw that no one was around. Maybe she should have taken Mrs. Harris up on her offer. At least if Harold was here, she would have had a witness. She inhaled a breath and with as much courage as she could muster, she pushed Dirk back. “Let me go, Dirk.” From her outburst, he tightened his grip on her wrist and edged his body so she could feel his legs wedging between hers. “You’re hurting me,” she let out in a whisper.

  “It looks like I have to teach you a lesson,” he said, as his lips came up to her ear and trailed across to the front of her face. For a moment, it seemed as he was going to kiss her, and that scared her to another level. Nothing good could come from this opening. She struggled even more, but that seemed to amuse him as he laughed. “Struggle all you want, but no one is going to come and help you. James is dead.”

  Her eyes widened and she wanted to scream. But she felt paralyzed against the cool stone. She kept telling her legs to kick him, to do anything to get herself away from him.

  As if on cue, a voice shouted behind them “Hey, what are you doing over there!”

  Dirk instantly let go of her and turned around to see where the voice was coming from. It was a tall police officer, with a large brown beard, speckled gray. He walked up to stand beside Dirk, facing Samantha.

  As Samantha caught her breath, Dirk was the first to speak. “Nothing, officer. The lady and I were just having…a disagreement,” he said while eying her with a deathly glare.

  The officer seemed suspicious. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you were assaulting this woman.”

  Before the officer could say any more, Samantha spoke up. “Actually, Sir, we were having a disagreement. I had wanted to go home, but my friend here wished to stay out a bit more. Therefore, I was imploring him to take him me home.”

  Confusion passed through Dirk’s eyes, but it couldn’t be any more confusing than to Samantha herself. She didn’t know why she had blurted this out; deep down, though, she knew that it would kill James to know his brother would get into trouble. Even though she felt terror still, down to the balls of her feet, she knew she had no choice but to keep her mouth shut.

  “I can escort the lady home then,” said the officer.

  “I don’t think that would be…”

  “Yes, that would be lovely” Samantha interjected, cutting Dirk off. She grabbed the officer’s arm and turned to Dirk. “You enjoy your night and I’ll speak to you in the morning.”

  Dirk seemed to want to say more, but now that she was under the watchful eye of the police officer he stayed silent. He just shrugged his shoulder and turned to walk the other way down the street.

  Samantha felt she could breathe again as she took the officer by the arm and lead him down the street. “Thank you for your service,” she said quietly.

  The officer took stock of her shoulder, looking at the ripped fabric in the sleeve. “You have a tear on your shoulder.”

  Samantha looked over at her left shoulder and chuckled awkwardly. “Yes, it seems that there is one. I must have caught a corner.”

  “Ma’am, I know you might not want to tell me what was going on there, but it seems it was more than a disagreement.”

  Samantha sighed. “My husband just died. That was his brother. He’s taking it a lot harder than I thought.”

  The officer looked in her direction and shook his head. “That isn’t a reason to accost a lady.”

  “I understand that, but please, nothing happened. He is just angry at everything. Please give him consideration.”

  The officer didn’t seem too convinced; he just gave a gruff nod and they continued down the street. A few moments later, they were at her front door and she bid the officer good bye. When she entered the house, she closed the door quickly and sank the floor, shaking. She started to sob and Misty, having heard the commotion, came running to the door. She kept saying “What’s wrong Miss?” but Samantha couldn’t string any words together.

  Misty had no choice but to help Samantha up to her room for the night, but not before Samantha turned around and made sure Misty had set every lock on the door so there would be no intruders.

  Chapter 3

  The sun had set by the time Dirk had made his way to the tavern near the outskirts of town. He turned the corner to go in through the back-alley entrance but was stopped by a shadowy figure. “O’Donnell, do you have the payment?”

  A cold sweat came over Dirk. “It’s coming. I still have a week to get it to Frank.”

  The shadowy figure stepped into a light in the alley, and Dirk saw that it wasn’t just one figure, but three. The man standing before him was large and looming; his name was Gregory, and he was Frank’s main henchman. He recognized the other two less large but still menacing gentleman behind him from around the gambling tables but couldn’t remember their names.

  Gregory rubbed his chin and smiled sinisterly. “We are here looking for the down payment.”

  Dirk’s fear started to amplify. “That wasn’t part of the deal.” He tried to sidestep Gregory but was met with the hard chest of one of the other lackeys. “Let me talk to Frank and explain the situation.”

  Gregory laughed and grabbed Dirk by the arm and pulled him back, so he was facing him again. “This is coming from Frank.” He grabbed Dirk by the throat and pushed him up against the stone wall to the left of them. Dirk grabbed Gregory’s wrist to keep from slipping. “Frank is getting impatient. You aren’t doing a respectable job of getting his $1,000.”

  Dirk started to sputter and choke with the weight of Gregory’s fingers on his throat. “Please, give me a few more days. I promise I can get the money.”

  “If it was my choice, I would kill you here and now because I don’t believe you.” Gregory released his fingers and Dirk fell to the ground. His knees knocked the hard concrete and he grabbed his throat to sooth the burn. “But Frank is feeling really generous. He’s going to give you another two weeks because he believes you can come through with your end of the bargain.”

  Gregory leaned down to Dirk’s level and looked him square in the eye. “But we still need to teach you a lesson so you don’t forget who you are indebted to.” He smiled wide and turned to the men behind him. “Boys?” he said casually as he leaned up and stepped out of the way.

  The two men descended on Dirk and began to kick, punch, grab, and pummel him. Dirk started to lose sight of what happened as pain shot from every inch of his body and blood trickled down his face, covering his eyesight. He lost track of time and didn’t know how long he was on the ground or when they had finished. He knew it was over when Gregory told the boys it was enough, kneeled down once more to Dirk’s level, and grabbed the top of Dirk’s hair so they were eye level with each other. “Two weeks. There will be no more excuses or what will happen to you next will make you wish or this again.”

  He dropped his head with a thud on the ground and turned away laughing. As the gentleman scurried behind him the catch up, Dirk rolled over so he could see the night sky. He felt his face to take stock of the damage. Even though he was bloody, everything felt like it was still there. As he twisted again to try
to get on his feet and make the long walk home, he thought to himself about his predicament.

  He wasn’t making enough headway with his brother’s dumb wife. She wasn’t being as agreeable as he would like. He had no other choice but to hurry the process along. He needed to find a way to make her his wife so he could get his hands on his brother’s money. The sooner, the better.

  The next morning, Samantha had set up in her husband’s study to fix her jacket. Being in her husband’s study gave her comfort; it was as if he was sitting with her there, watching her every move. And after last night, she had wanted all the protection she could get.

  She heard a knock on the door but didn’t stir. Misty was cleaning the foyer and would no doubt answer the door. She silently sighed to herself she didn’t alert her to say she wouldn’t want any visitors for the day. It was probably Mrs. Harris, checking in to see if she made it home properly. But instead of a homely older woman, she heard a few muffled shouts, as Misty exclaimed: “You can’t just barge in!”

  Samantha got up from her chair, letting the jacket fall to the floor. She held the needle and thread in her fingers as she looked towards the hallway. Whoever it was, was not listening to Misty’s shouts, as the loud footsteps crept closer to the study. She gasped as Dirk entered the room with Misty hard on his tail. She was huffing from the run and managed to squeeze out “Miss, Mr. O’Donnell just barged in here. I tried to stop him…”

  Dirk lifted his hand to silence her. “There is no trouble, the lady was expecting me.” He removed his hat and started to take off his gloves. “Weren’t you, my dear?”

  It was in this moment Samantha looked up at his face. He had a large bruise over his right eye, while his left eye was a bit swollen. There was a cut on his lip and a few scuffs on his chin. When she had left him last night, there was not a scratch on him. Although she was sure he deserved whatever had come to him, judging from his behavior last night, she didn’t know what to make of it. Maybe he had gotten into a drunken brawl? He was rather drunk.