A Match of Wits by Jen Turano Read Free Book Online Page B

name?”
    “You may call me Mr. Blackheart.”
    “You’re not going to give me your first name?”
    “Boys, enough,” Mrs. Swanson said, stepping in between them. “This is hardly the time to engage in such nonsense when there are more important matters to discuss. But, in the interest of retaining a small semblance of peace, we’ll continue to call Mr. Blackheart by his preferred Mr. Blackheart since he seems to have an aversion to his given name. I am, however, perfectly comfortable with everyone calling me Drusilla.”
    She sent Zayne a smile. “Now then, since that’s settled, on to those important matters. . . . What in the world possessed you to become involved with this venture given the harsh environment that currently surrounds us? Making your way out here every day can’t be good for that leg of yours.”
    “Forgive me, but I don’t really see where it’s any concern of yours what ventures I become involved with,” Zayne returned.
    Drusilla drew herself up. “I’m making it my concern because, again, I’m good friends with your sister, Arabella. You and I know she’ll be peppering me with questions once she discovers I’ve seen you, and I’m the type of lady who likes to be informed before I answer anything.”
    Zayne’s mouth suddenly went a little slack. “Good heavens, Drusilla, I must beg your pardon. You and I have been introduced before, and it was extremely ill-mannered of me not to immediately remember you. But what are you doing out here with Agatha? Shouldn’t you be with your husband, Edward?”
    What seemed to be anguish flickered through Drusilla’s eyes, but then she blinked and the anguish was gone. “Edward passed away almost two years ago. Arabella thought I needed a change of scenery, and when Miss Watson began to make plans to travel west, I decided to apply for the position of her chaperone—or paid companion, if you will, since she’s too old for a chaperone.”
    “That was brave of you.”
    Before Agatha could smack Zayne over the head, Drusilla laughed. “Agatha has certainly kept me busy and taken my mind off my loss, so for that, I’ll be forever grateful to her.”
    Zayne smiled but then sobered. “I’m sorry about Edward. He was a fine man.”
    “Yes, he was,” Drusilla agreed. “But, he had a dangerous. . . er . . . Well, no need to delve into that at the moment. You have a mining venture to explain.”
    Leaning heavily on his cane, Zayne released a sigh. “Since it’s becoming clear I won’t get any work done until I give at least a brief explanation, we might as well make ourselves comfortable.”
    He hobbled over to a pile of large boulders, took a seat on one, and waited for everyone to join him. Setting his cane aside, he began his story.
    “I ended up in Colorado about seven months ago. Stopped here to see if one of the natural hot springs I’d heard about would help my leg. It was of no help, so I made plans to leave, but an unexpected blizzard delayed my departure, and it was during this blizzard I met a man by the name of Willie Higgins.
    “He’d come out west to seek his fortune in order to support his family back in New York. We got to talking, and I discovered Willie had found next to nothing in his mine and was desperate to go home. He was a proud man and refused to accept charity from me, so in exchange for a ticket back east, he signed over this mountain.”
    Agatha frowned. “You got an entire mountain for the price of a railroad ticket?”
    “As I said,” Zayne said, “Willie was very clear regarding the fact he’d been completely unsuccessful finding anything of value in the mine he’d purchased.”
    Agatha lifted her chin. “It’s still a lot of land, and since Colorado Springs is growing at a rapid rate, I’d say poor Willie got swindled.”
    “If I told you I gave him a hundred dollars for good measure and signed the deed without ever seeing the land I was purchasing because, again, we were in the midst of a