Indigo Blue Read Online Free PDF Page B

need an outsider coming in. This will only mean more wages.”
    Her mother’s mouth twisted. “Oh, darling, I know you’ve dreamed of running the mine yourself, but dreams aren’t always practical. No matter how capable you are, you’re still just a girl. You can’t expect a crew of men to take orders from you.”
    Indigo could, and would, but she could see saying so would change nothing. She swallowed down an angry retort. These last few weeks hadn’t been easy on her parents. “When does Mr. Rand want to go up?”
    A relieved look crossed her mother’s face. “Immediately, I believe. He’ll be taking over first thing in the morning.” She placed a hand on Indigo’s shoulder. “Don’t look so crestfallen. Your time will come when you’re older. For now, be proud that your father has chosen you to be Mr. Rand’s right arm. That is what you’ll be, you know. You’ll provide the answers to all his questions. Why, if you think about it, you’ll be running things through him.”
    That seemed like idiotic thinking to Indigo, but then life was pretty insane sometimes, especially for a woman. She knew the mine as well as the lines upon her palm, yet she was supposed to instruct another in its operation? It wasn’t enough, but she knew she must settle for it. Her father was seriously injured. Their mine was teetering on the edge of disaster. Her mother was holding things together with a prayer and a smile.
    “You can count on me, Ma.”
    “Was there ever a question?” Her mother took a deep breath of the rain-touched air. “Things are looking up. I can feel it in my bones.” Her brilliant blue eyes met Indigo’s. “Would you like to come in and be introduced to Mr. Rand?”
    Indigo brushed at her buckskin pants. “If I’m going back to the mine, there’s no point in cleaning up. I think I’ll just wait out here rather than muddy up the floors.” A thought occurred to her. “Ma, what happened to the man from Ore-Cal? He was supposed to come today. Didn’t he ever show up?”
    “No, thank God. They wired saying he’ll be delayed a couple of weeks. Imagine how we would have felt if we’d sold the mine to Ore-Cal and then Mr. Rand had knocked on the door.”
     
    Lantern light touched the bedroom with amber, a pleasant contrast to the stormy gloom that spilled in through the window. The rain started up again, tapping an uneven tattoo against the polished glass. Soothed by the lamp’s steady hiss and the cozy warmth coming from the stove and fireplace in the other room, Jake settled himself more comfortably in the rocker beside Hunter Wolf’s bed.
    He couldn’t recall ever having seen another home with this one’s simple charm. Everywhere he looked he saw evidence that Loretta Wolf’s hands had been at work. When Jake considered the extraordinary amounts spent on decorating his house in Portland and compared the resultant cold elegance with his present surroundings, he felt strangely lonesome and hollow.
    “You have a nice place here,” he said to his bedridden host. By Portland standards, the place was little more than a shack, but he liked the colorful rag rugs and rustic log walls. They gave him a feeling of timelessness. And something more, an unnameable something that made Jake want to linger.
    Hunter Wolf’s indigo eyes warmed with affection. “My woman has magic in her hands.” He shifted his broad shoulders and winced as he tried to get his bandaged right arm into a painless position. He settled his gaze on the wedding ring quilt stretched across his lap. “She puts great love into everything.”
    Yes, Jake thought, that’s what I feel in this room, a great deal of love, something all the money in the world can’t buy or duplicate. Suddenly uneasy and uncertain why, he rocked forward and braced his arms on his knees.
    Hunter Wolf wasn’t what bothered him. Jake liked the man, so much so that he couldn’t credit anyone wanting to kill him. Yet the proof lay before him. From the