Carol Cox by Trouble in Store Read Free Book Online Page A

least tell me where I can find him.”
    Caleb splayed his hands on the counter and leaned forward. “I have every reason to believe that he is in heaven, Miss Ross.” He looked directly into her shocked gray eyes and spoke in a level tone. “My uncle passed away last month, leaving me in sole charge. While I am aware that he and your cousin ran the mercantile together, he was the surviving partner and, as such, inherited the store when George Ross died.”
    The stunned expression on her face gave him the first moment of satisfaction he’d felt since she’d marched into his store. It was a pleasure—no, a relief—to see her at a loss for words. Unfortunately, that state of affairs didn’t last long.
    She fixed him with a penetrating gaze. “So am I to assume that you are his heir?”
    “That’s right.” Caleb pressed his lips together to hide a smile of triumph. Miss Ross had been a little slow on the uptake, but the truth was beginning to dawn on her at last.
    “I see.” Her gaze faltered, and she bit her lower lip while her fingers tapped a rapid beat on the counter. Then she drew a shaky breath and turned back to face him. “In that case, it would appear that you are the one I need to deal with.”
    A sense of foreboding prickled in Caleb’s mind. Something in her tone warned him she wasn’t ready to pick up her carpetbag and head back to wherever she came from.
    Melanie Ross squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “Everything my cousin told me about your uncle implied he was a man of his word. I would hope that you are as much a man of honor as your uncle was reputed to be.”
    Caleb opened his mouth, then closed it again, unable to form a coherent sound. Finally he managed to croak out, “And just what do you mean by that?”
    She held up the folded papers she’d waved at him earlier. “George Ross was one of the proprietors of this establishment. When he died, he left everything he owned to me. Surely that would include this store—or his share of it, at least.”
    Her voice seemed to take on confidence with every word she spoke. “I believe the sign outside reads the Ross-Nelson Mercantile . Am I correct?”
    Caleb nodded.
    “Then not only is my name on the sign, but it’s on there first.”
    Caleb wagged his head back and forth like a punch-drunk boxer. Taking the papers from her, he scanned both documents, then read George Ross’s letter again. “I have no quarrel with the idea that your cousin left his personal belongings to you. My uncle once pointed out that they’re packed away in a trunk upstairs. But there is nothing here that specifies he planned to leave any part of the mercantile to you. As I said earlier, he and my uncle had a partnership. Therefore, when your cousin passed away, the store became my uncle’s. And he left the store to me.”
    Miss Ross stood for a long moment, then dipped her headin a brief nod. Taking the letters from him, she slipped them back into her carpetbag and snapped it shut.
    Caleb sighed, savoring his moment of victory.
    She looked up at him and pursed her lips. “I wonder if the local constabulary will see things your way. Would you kindly direct me to the marshal’s office?”
    A punch to his solar plexus couldn’t have taken Caleb’s breath away more effectively. He felt sure of his legal standing—fairly sure, anyway—but he was also aware of Marshal Hooper’s tendency to follow his own interpretation of justice rather than the letter of the law.
    Coupled with that, it was no secret that the town’s lawman had a weakness for damsels in distress. He could see it now—Melanie Ross waltzing into the marshal’s office, batting those flashing gray eyes at him, giving him a winning smile, and manufacturing a tear or two.
    Who knew what might happen then? The marshal might give the whole store to her, and boot him out altogether. It wouldn’t help a bit that Levi had already alienated the marshal by kicking him in the shins. Twice.
    Caleb