Two Brothers by Linda Lael Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

peaky?”
    Aislinn’s heart pumped with sudden and painful force. “I was hungry,” she said, and hated herself for the lie. Eugenie was kind, for all her gruff words and ways, and she might have sympathized with Liza Sue’s situation. In the end, though, Aislinn couldn’t take the risk of explaining; there was simply too much at stake. “I’m sorry if I disturbed you.”
    Eugenie assessed her in silence, as though weighing what she’d said. Then, with a weary sigh, she nodded and went back to her own room.
    Aislinn got out her spare dress, a plain green gown of lightweight wool, praying no one would recognize it, and took the stairs one step at a time, barely daring to breathe. Liza Sue was still cowering in the pantry, but she’d found a piece of bread and was nibbling on it. She looked hungrily at the woolen dress.
    “Put this on,” Aislinn whispered crisply. The lamp was burning low and the candle had already guttered out. Soon, they’d both be in the dark. “I’ll get you some water and soap.”
    “How are you going to account for me just appearing all of the sudden?” Liza Sue demanded, but she was stripping off her disreputable gown. “This whole plan is plain crazy—”
    “Maybe so, but it’s the only one we have. You’ll sleep in the storeroom next to the dormitory. In the morning, we’ll pretend that you’ve just arrived in town. You can present yourself at the kitchen door and ask for work.”
    “What if they say no?”
    “Oh, for mercy’s sake,” Aislinn hissed, “stop fussing. We’ll worry about that when and if it happens. I told you, Eugenie’s always looking for help.” She brought a basin of cold water, a sliver of soap and an old dish towel from the kitchen. “Here. Wash your face. Have you eaten? There are some corn biscuits left from supper, and there should be some cold venison, too.”
    Liza Sue was already scouring industriously, and itmust have hurt plenty, she was so badly bruised. “I’d be obliged for a biscuit,” she said.
    The second trip up the stairs was more harrowing than the first, for this time Liza Sue was right on Aislinn’s heels. They’d left the lantern behind, on the kitchen table, and outside, the brindle dog began to howl plaintively, calling to the absent moon.
    There was a line of light under Eugenie’s door, and as they passed Aislinn could hear the steady squeak of a rocking chair within. She held her breath and did not release it until they’d reached the threshold of the storeroom.
    “Good night,” Aislinn whispered, after fetching the blanket from her bed.
    Liza Sue’s eyes glittered in the gloom. She nodded and slipped back into the darkness.

Chapter 3

    T HE MARSHAL CAME TO BREAKFAST the next morning, looking all scrubbed and spit-shined, and put in an rder for ham and eggs. That wouldn’t have been strange, but for the fact that he’d already been in, an hour before, and consumed a double portion of corned beef hash.
    Aislinn, preoccupied with the logistics of getting Liza Sue from the storeroom to the back door, where she could ask for work without arousing too much suspicion, put it down to a hearty appetite. After all those months of seedy living, Marshal McQuillan was surely in sore need of nourishment. Out of loyalty to Eugenie, who thought highly of the man, she even managed a hasty, fretful smile.
    “You are a lovely creature,” the marshal drawled, rising to leave. He flashed that infamous grin, but to Aislinn’s surprise and relief, it didn’t affect her as it had before. “Maybe I’ll see you tonight, at the dance?”
    Aislinn bit her lower lip. The hotel manager put on a social, with music and fruit punch, the first Saturday of every month, but the maids and kitchen and dining room employees were not allowed to attend, lest there be an implication of impropriety. “I’m afraid that’s against the rules,” she said.
    “That,” he replied smoothly, taking up his hat, “is a pity. In fact, I’d say there