LITMIR.BIZ

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      “I want evidence gathered on one man specifically, Brendan Kane,” Josh heard Gowery say.

      “Is this because he seduced Helena then discarded her?” a voice unknown to Josh asked.

      “He’s miles below her in station. He had no right to even talk to her let alone have his way with her. I want him to swing—if not for that then for Harry Conwell’s murder,” Gowery demanded.

      “We have no proof that Helena’s father was even killed by a miner let alone her lover,” the undercover Pinkerton agent said. The man’s British accent seemed to be tinged with a touch of Irish. “I was there,” he went on. “I held Conwell as he died.”

      Newspaper accounts of Harry Conwell’s murder had placed both Gowery and Jamie Reynolds, the Earl of Adair, at the scene. Did that mean that for some reason an earl was working undercover for the Pinkertons? Joshua had to agree with the man’s assessment of Helena’s father’s death. Josh was sure Brendan Kane was innocent of everything except seducing Helena.

      Josh wished he could simply warn Brendan but that might not be wise. He was trapped, Josh thought as he made his way to his room upstairs. If he didn’t agree to the marriage, Gowery would just take Helena and leave town.

      He had to talk to her.

      Since Josh rarely put off unpleasant tasks, he went immediately to her room and tapped on the door.

      “Joshua?” she whispered after cracking the door open.

      “I need to talk to you. I know it’s late, and that this is irregular, but may I come in?”

      Helena’s shadowed figure grew rigid. “I don’t know what Uncle Franklin told you, but I assure you, I will not allow you to sample the merchandise!”

      She started to close the door, but Josh pressed his shoulder against it. “I said talk. That’s what I meant. Look, I don’t want to sound melodramatic but this is a matter of life or death.”

      Helena considered him, then stepped back and silently motioned him inside. She had a lamp burning low on a table between two chairs at the far end of the room. She walked to one of the chairs and sat, gesturing to the other.

      He sat. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but—”

      “I was awake.” Her tone was flat and preoccupied. “I don’t sleep well anymore.”

      “You’re very resentful of me. Why?”

      “You’re a man,” she snapped. “I doubt you have the capacity to understand. What exactly is the plan for tonight? Compromise the little heiress and gain control of her fortune?”

      Josh raked a hand through his hair. What if she resented Brendan? “I came here to ask your help,” he explained. “You don’t want to marry me and I don’t want to marry you. My father married my mother for her money. I was merely the second clause in the negotiations. She had little choice, and it seems you don’t, either. Am I right?” She nodded. “If I don’t marry you, Franklin will go looking for another man for you.”

      “He has another man all picked out to step in line.” Helena laughed quietly but it was a sad sound. “I can’t marry the man I love, because he’s poor and Uncle Franklin is sure he’s after my money. It’s perfectly acceptable, though, to hand me over to you or some earl who is probably bankrupt and obsessed with me. There’d be no pretense of love in the marriage on my end, but one of you will have my money as a reward. With him I’d be the Countess Adair. What do you have to offer?”

      She’d answered the question of why a man of consequence like an earl would be foolhardy enough to become involved with spying on the AMU. He was trying to find the man who killed the father of the woman he loved. So where did all that leave Helena and Brendan? Poor Helena was closer to a slave than the miners. “Do you still love him and does Brendan Kane return your feelings?”

      She looked up in surprise at the mention of Brendan’s name and a tear glistened at the corner of her eye. “He loves me so much he won’t see me or talk to me. He thinks he’s not good enough for me but that isn’t true. He’s wonderful. And noble. All he worries about is that he can’t give me what I’ve always had. He’s bitter about losing me but he’s as stubborn as Uncle Franklin. I wanted to run away with him, but he says he won’t rob me of my inheritance. How did you find out his name?”

      Joshua leaned forward and took her fisted hands in his. “I just got an earful outside my father’s room. Franklin wants retribution, Helena, and he’s using your earl to get it. Have you ever heard of the American Miners United or the term Workmen?”

      “Of course, Uncle Franklin says it was members of the AMU who shot your father and killed mine. And they’ve threatened Uncle Franklin. Workmen are what their members are called.”

      “Do you think Brendan Kane could be a Workman?”

      Fire shot to her eyes. “He’d no more shoot a man in cold blood than he would his own father! And he wouldn’t belong to an organization that would!”

      He’d needed to know what she thought. She thought Workmen had killed her father. She wouldn’t harbor one. “I hadn’t thought so but I haven’t seen or heard from Brendan since I left here.”

      Helena’s eyes widened. “You know Brendan.”

      “He was my best friend. Your guardian is trying to frame Brendan as a Workman. They have Pinkerton spies all over Schuylkill County. A man named McParlan is close to getting a membership list in his sector. If they bring the men involved with the AMU to trial, many will hang. Your guardian means to see Brendan’s name added to the list.”

      “I’ll warn him,” Helena burst out.

      Josh shook his head. “No, you can’t. Neither can I. He may know men who’re in the AMU. They could be his good friends. There’s no sense in tempting him to warn a friend. If he did and something happens to one of the Pinkerton agents, and especially the earl, Brendan could be implicated.”

      Joshua thought of Brendan as he watched emotions and thoughts race across Helena’s face. He didn’t like the idea of his friend being in the kind of pain he himself had been in for years. He didn’t want him to feel the emptiness that goes with losing love. For long minutes, the only sound in the room came from a clock ticking in the corner.

      “According to the terms of your father’s will, will you ever be able to marry as you wish?”

      “When I’m twenty-one. In three months time, I inherit, married or not. I’d hoped to put him off but Uncle Franklin is determined to choose for me before then. I can’t let another man touch—” She stopped and shook her head, a blush staining her pale cheeks. “I won’t marry anyone but Brendan.”

      Joshua stared at the young woman across from him. Helena seemed strong enough to bear up under the strain of a plan forming in his mind. In a way, it would be less pressure than she was currently under.

      “What you need is a diversion. What I need is to keep Franklin here in Wheatonburg where I can watch how his trap for the AMU unfolds and so I can make sure Brendan isn’t caught in it when it’s sprung.”

      “How do we accomplish that?” she asked, her eyes wide with excitement and dread at the same time.

      “By letting everyone think we’re considering marriage.”

      Helena simply stared. “So,” she said slowly, “we pretend you’re courting me and Uncle Franklin takes me off the auction block.”

      “Yes, but we have to find a way to keep Franklin here so I can watch him.”

      Helena shook her head. “He won’t leave me here. The last time I was here I met and fell in love with Brendan. He’ll want to make sure we stay away from each other. I’m just afraid Brendan will think I’ve given up. He keeps telling me to, but I swore not to.” Her lips turned up in a sudden mischievous grin. “I suppose it would

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