Page 43 of The Saloon Girl's Only Shot

“Then you’ll be a tavern and you’ll have to change the sign, won’t you?”

“I can tell you’re being sarcastic, but that’s exactly the sort of forward thinking I need. Have you ever shot a gun?”

“Lord help me.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, then dropped her hand and lifted her gaze to his. “Do you understand that suggesting I’ll have to quell a brawl by threatening to shoot people does not make me eager to work for you?”

“What else are you going to do? I mean for work. There’s really no other way to cool hot tempers.”

She stared at him for a full ten seconds, then huffed out a breath and paced across the front of the table.

“I don’t know.” She looked around, then set her hand on the table and tried to hitch herself onto it.

It was too tall for her to do it gracefully. She had to set her handbag aside and plant both hands on the table. Even so, as she tried to jump and lever herself, she failed twice.

It was too painful to watch. He walked over and boosted her, plopping her onto the edge so she faced him. They were nose to nose. The outside of her knee was pressed to his thigh. The memory of their kiss was abruptly alive in this charged space between them, making his lips tingle.

“If you think you can seduce me, I won’t let it happen,” she said, voice quavering.

But wouldn’t it be fun to try?

“I could say the same thing.” He made himself turn away before he did his damnedest to do exactly that. With one hand on the hardwood between them, he swung his ass onto the table so they sat side-by-side, legs dangling.

“I hate you,” she muttered.

“You have other skills.”

“Like what? Don’t say it’s my appeal to men.” She held up a warning finger. “In this town, that’s not exactly a talent. Clarence could walk around in a skirt and men would find him fetching.”

The dog heard his name and padded over to sniff their feet, then flopped onto the floor beneath them.

“A skirt on a dog is like spectacles on a cat. Or a hat on a donkey. You can’t help but admire them.”

“There’s an occupation I haven’t considered. Millinery for animals.” She tucked her fingers under her thighs. Sighed.

“Or you could help me with my books,” he suggested. “That sounds like a skill you have that I need.”

“If you believe I have that sort of skill, why won’t you hire me to do the report?” she challenged.

“All right, listen. Much as it pains me to be serious, I’ll give it to you straight. Virgil bends silver dollars in half, he hangs onto them so tight. He would never put you and your father up all winter in Denver. My guess is he offered to pay your father’s accommodation because he planned to put him in our bunkhouse and let our camp cook try to poison him.”

“I don’t have to do the full report,” she hurried to say. “Introduce me to him. We can work out something with a very low budget. I only need to finance my return to Chicago.”

“Why do you want to go back to Chicago?” He frowned. “I thought you wanted a stage ticket to bring your father here.”

Her expression blanked with shock, the way it might have if she had stepped into a deep hole of muck without seeing it and was suddenly up to her knee.

She snapped her attention forward, mouth pressed flat.

“What?” he asked with suspicion.

“He’s not coming,” she admitted on a wince.

“Who?”

“Papa.” Her voice held the kind of agony that accompanied a tooth extraction. “The doctor told him he’d be reckless to come in his condition. He didn’t just fall on our way here.” She glanced at him, expression begging for leniency. “He fell because he had some sort of fainting spell. He keeps having them. He’s going home where my stepmother can look after him. He should be able to return to teaching.” Her feet swung with more agitation, almost as if she were trying to run away from this confession. “But I have to make my own way home.”

Owen might have been put out by her white lies, but he could see how distressed she was in the way her mouth trembled and her brow crinkled.

“I just keep thinking that if you introduced me to Mr. Gardner...” She pressed her lips together again, chin set and determined.