Seleste deLaney - [Badlands 02] Read Online Free PDF

attention of the clerk manning the ledger. “Something wrong, lad?”
    “I was just trying to find out the name of the woman who placed the winning bid for me. She left before I could speak to her.”
    The girl answered before Cartwright could. “She’ll pay what she bid. Just...leave Henrietta alone. Things are hard enough for her right now.”
    “Lucinda, hush. Henrietta you say? Marshal, as rude as my daughter was, I have to agree with her. Between the loss of her father and her own peculiar habits, Henrietta Mason is a difficult woman to pin down.”
    “Mason? Did you say Mason?” Carson’s mouth went dry. The daughter. She wasn’t supposed to be here. Studying in Europe was the last he’d heard. Damn it to the seven hells, if he’d had Mason’s daughter in his arms all night...
    “Yes. Senator William Mason passed on about six months ago. I assume you heard about it.”
    He had, and he’d been trying to track down any of the man’s connections ever since. Tonight he’d allowed the closest one to slip right through his fingers. Obviously the file he’d collected on Henrietta Mason had been filled with something other than the facts. A problem that had to be remedied immediately, especially if there was any chance other people had more accurate reports. Carson needed to find her—and not just because she’d made him feel alive for the first time in years—because if he didn’t protect her, she might not be alive for long.

Chapter Three
    Henri reached up and tucked a curl back into her coiffure before allowing her gaze to sweep over the bare space. Her father’s lab used to be a place filled with so much excitement and joy. Now, with the equipment and many of the clockworks auctioned off—and the rest in crates on the Dark Hawk —it was vacant, hollow. The ghost of her laughter a dim thing here amid the dust and emptiness.
    She wished for the millionth time since he’d died atop the Rocky Mountains that she could erase her father’s memory as easily as she’d dispersed his things. She hoped once all ties were gone, she’d finally be at peace. No more reminders of what he’d brought on the Badlands in his quest for gold, or how she’d never been good enough in his eyes. Not a son and not nearly enough of a lady.
    The gala last night only served as another reminder of how right he’d been. She fit in nowhere—not yet, but she would. She’d fight the devil himself to do her mother proud.
    But no matter how hard she tried, her father haunted her both asleep and awake. She clutched her side. The bullet wound had healed, but if she thought too hard about that night on the mountain, a phantom ache spread through her muscles. Bad enough seeing his face as he died at Ever’s hand. Or even the disdain when he shot Henri. The worst though, was the absence of humanity in his eyes when he murdered Ezekial.
    And that was the part she could never forgive herself for. As much as Henri might not have approved of his lifestyle, she’d had a grudging respect for Ezekial. Without her assistance in her father’s schemes, he wouldn’t have been on that mountain. If not for her, Zeke would still be alive.
    Pained thoughts of him brought back the more recent memory of leaving Carson on the street last night. He never should have taken off his mask. Now his image was burned on her mind—a real man, not some memory she could pretend didn’t exist. His crooked smile and the way he hadn’t given her any quarter made every place he’d touched her tingle. He was a man—so very like Ezekial—who would stand toe-to-toe with her and never budge. Strange how in all the time on the Dark Hawk she’d never seen Zeke as anything other than a nuisance. Then again, the resemblance between the two men was superficial at best, brought on by sadness and loss.
    Carson was far more in tune with her. During their secret conversation, he’d managed to lure her into a sense of security she hadn’t felt since her father’s