Ruby's Song (Love in the Sierras Book 3) by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

palms as he twirled her around in time to the music. He told jokes that made her laugh and drew a blush to her cheeks with his smile.
    A heady sensation of giddiness overwhelmed her and she awoke the next morning in its hold. As soon as she left the bed she opened the top drawer of her nightstand, smiling when the tiny wooden horse stared back at her. Every time she held it in her palm she felt closer to home, and though her newfound friendships at The Museum were a salve to her loneliness, they could never replace the friends she had in Virginia City.
    When she entered the dining room, Sarah was already seated in her usual place, nibbling on a buttered pastry.
    “Good morning,” Marlena chirped as she fixed herself a plate at the sideboard before joining the table.
    “You’re unusually chipper this morning,” Sarah returned, massaging her temples. “Almost as bad as the birds outside my window every morning at the crack of dawn. Ugh, it’s one of my least favorite things about summer. And about being a singer.” Marlena raised a questioning brow and Sarah shrugged with a knowing grin. “The rest of the females of our acquaintance happily drink themselves impenetrable, but we singers don’t get that luxury.”
    Marlena tightened her lips against the laughter pressing to come out. Sarah had never uttered an ill word against her peers, at least not in her presence. When Sarah allowed a soft chuckle to escape her lips, Marlena comfortably joined in, ignoring the oddity of the two of them laughing together. When the moment passed, an awkward silence descended and Marlena cleared her throat.
    “How did last night go?” she asked.
    “Oh, fine. Fine,” Sarah waved absently, but there was an air of preoccupation about her that Marlena had never seen before, an unguarded distractedness. Her eyes fixed across the room and out of the window. “Do you know what it’s like to feel everything shift in your life? Like suddenly everything that meant something no longer has any value?”
    The unusual question brought with it the familiar tang of sadness and Marlena studied her tutor. “Are you all right, Sarah?”
    “Yes, Sarah,” a deep, male voice called from the doorway and Marlena turned to see Elijah standing there, looking exactly as she had depicted him only hours before. His cold gray eyes bore down on his sister across the room. “I’m quite curious for you to elaborate on your little epiphany as well.”
    It took a full minute for Sarah to lock eyes with her brother, and the tension between them, the hate, was thick enough to raise the hairs on Marlena’s arms. She looked from one face to the other, waiting to hear Sarah’s response. For a moment, it appeared Sarah would engage in a verbal match, but the fight faded from her eyes and she shrugged casually.
    “Just making conversation, brother.”
    “Really?  Because it sounded to me like you were suggesting you might be somewhat dissatisfied with your life here? That you’d rather...drink yourself impenetrable? I would hate to hear that kind of talk coming from anyone in my household.” He faced Marlena. “Anyone indulging in any immoral behavior or espousing that sort of ungrateful attitude may find themselves turned out. Or worse.”
    Sarah’s eyes dropped to the tablecloth and there was a noticeable sag to her shoulders. Elijah’s white mustache twitched upward in a smug grin and Marlena’s hands curled into fists on her lap. She’d seen this kind of manipulation and oppression before. She’d been silent then, but she promised herself never again.
    “If a person were truly unhappy here, I would think turning them out would be a blessing, not a punishment,” Marlena said in an even tone, drawing Elijah’s tight-lipped purse and frosty gaze.
    His beady eyes narrowed and his voice dropped to a menacing tone. “You forgot the ‘or worse’ Miss Beauregard.”
    The warm press of the gun strapped to her calf was a comfort, but even still, she had