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Ty wasn’t completely caught off guard. Her lack of trust was as thick in the air as the smell of vomit. He waited a moment or two, to see if Roger answered. When he didn’t, Ty nodded. “You’re right. I’m not a lawyer. Although I have attended law school.” He didn’t bother to add that it had been years ago, before he’d gone overseas. Roger Nightingale would tell her all that.
“Out east,” she said. “I can tell by your accent.”
He nodded again, and proceeded to tell her what he’d told Roger last night.
* * *
Even if she had been able to sleep, Norma Rose would have been in her office by sunup, digging out notes she’d made on every musician who’d played at the resort over the last couple of years. She had notes on ones that had played other places, too, even the Plantation. Years ago, the nightclub had been as big as the resort, drawing in crowds like no other. That was before Galen Reynolds had left for California and Forrest had returned.
Norma Rose’s mind, though, wasn’t focused on her notes, or the Plantation, or even Forrest Reynolds. None of that had been the reason she hadn’t been able to sleep. The stench of a rat had done that, and the smell was still eating at her.
Ty Bradshaw.
The man who’d been roaming the resort since sunrise. She knew a varmint when she saw one, whether it had two legs or four. A grin tugged at her lips. She should feel guilty, sending the workmen over to the cabin next to his so early, but there were no other guests in the nearby cabins. They wouldn’t arrive until later this week. And she did want the renovations done by then. Besides, the workmen had been up; she’d seen the lights in their tents from her bedroom window.
As her heart did a little flutter, recalling seeing Ty outside her office window a short time ago, she flipped open the cover of a writing tablet and grabbed a pen. “You are no gentleman, Ty Bradshaw,” she mumbled.
Scanning the first pages of her notes, she huffed out another breath. Her mind just wouldn’t focus, and it was too early to wake Ginger. Her youngest sister would pitch a fit, but Ginger knew all the local musicians. Not personally—their father did not allow the younger girls to mix with the guests or hired entertainers—but Ginger had perfect penmanship and helped Norma Rose write out contracts regularly, and was interested in such things.
Ginger would be up in a couple of hours and although her duties, along with those of Twyla and Josie, were doing laundry and cleaning cabins, Norma Rose could ask her to help find performers for the next two weekends. Ginger wouldn’t mind. Twyla and Josie would.
Norma Rose just couldn’t understand why her sisters weren’t as dedicated to the resort as she was. They, too, remembered secondhand clothes and soup three times a day, and they loved the clothes now filling their closets, along with the cosmetics, jewelry and shoes, yet they didn’t seem to make the connection that the only way to maintain all the fineries they’d come to enjoy was to keep the resort running. Making sure every minor detail was seen to. Just last week she’d had to make Twyla rewash a complete load of sheets. Brushing off bird droppings was not acceptable. Her sister was still mad at her.
Then again, Twyla was always mad at her.
Footsteps in the hall had Norma Rose lifting her head. It had been some time since her father had gone out to see Uncle Dave. She’d almost followed, but couldn’t help remembering the smell. It had been strong and powerful, and she couldn’t expose herself to it again. Not this early in the morning. She did want to know how Dave was, though, and kept her gaze on her door, waiting for her father to open it.
The footsteps went right past her door without slowing.
Her heart seemed to stop and start again. For the briefest of moments, she’d wondered if Ty would be with her father.
Letting out a breath, she concluded the morning cleaning had started. Part of the reason she liked coming into her office early was to get in a few hours before the chaos started. By eight, the resort would be humming with preparations for another long day and night of catering to guests.
Twirling her pen between her fingers, she gave in and let her mind focus on Ty Bradshaw. He wasn’t a lawyer. He was pompous enough, and sly enough, but he just didn’t look the part. He was almost too smooth. Maybe he was a runner, or a buyer, which would explain him meeting Dave, but runners or buyers never stayed at the resort. Their bosses did, but she felt sure Ty wasn’t a mobster, either.
The pen tumbled onto her desk with a clatter. A Prohibition agent.
Hired to raid speakeasies, find and destroy stills, and arrest gangsters, a few had visited the resort before, but they’d never found anything. Ty didn’t dress like an agent, though. Norma Rose knew clothes, and his were expensive. Prohibition agents were paid less money than factory workers, which is why they accepted money under the table so easily.
Ty could be a revenue man. When the prohis couldn’t find anything, they’d send in a revenue man, looking for tax evasion. They’d find no tax evasion at the resort, either. Every dime was accounted for. She saw to that personally. The government hadn’t planned very well. What they’d lost in tax dollars gained by the legal sale of alcohol, they were trying to make up with income taxes. Along with new taxes came new tax lawyers, and the resort paid several to keep abreast of every law that appeared.
Prohibition had changed the world, in some ways for the better, as with Norma Rose’s new life at the resort, and in other ways for the worse. The problem she saw was that the law hadn’t done what it had initially set out to do. Based on the Temperance movement, which blamed all of society’s problems on the consumption of alcohol, Prohibition was to change all that. That sure hadn’t happened. Crime was more rampant than ever. The law didn’t say anything about the consumption of alcohol, either. It focused on the sale, transportation and manufacturing. All a person needed was a prescription and they had better access to alcohol than when saloons had lined the streets of every town.
Norma Rose didn’t like the idea of breaking any laws, but Prohibition created a society where even the average person broke the law. She didn’t like that, either, but, more importantly, she’d never go hungry again.
Lost in her little world of what she’d do if anyone would ever listen to her, Norma Rose didn’t hear the door open. When she glanced up, the ink pen between her fingers snapped in two.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I knocked, but—”
“You didn’t startle me,” she interrupted, trying to get air to settle in her lungs as she stared at Ty Bradshaw.
“I didn’t?”
His gaze was on her hands, and she quickly looked down. Blue ink covered her white gloves, and the pad of paper full of her notes. A quick swipe at the pool trickling out of the pen smudged the entire sheet.
“Oh, good heavens,” she growled.
“Here, let me help you.”
“No.” She pushed her chair noisily across the floor as he rounded her desk. “I don’t need any help.”
“Well, you certainly don’t want to touch anything.” Ty lifted the pad and carefully set it on the corner of her desk. Spinning back around, he grasped one of her wrists.
She tried to pull away, but his hold was too firm.
“I’ll just take this glove off, you can do the other one,” he said, already peeling the cuff over her wrist. “Do you always wear gloves this early in the morning?”
Norma Rose didn’t answer. It was none of his business when she wore gloves. She managed to snatch her hand away before he pulled the glove all the way over her fingers. His nearness, and touch, had her heart beating inside her throat.
After peeling off both gloves, she held them carefully, not wanting to get any ink on her dress. Her hands were now blue, covering the red line of scars across her knuckles from her days of bleaching linens.
“We can talk later,” Ty said, stepping away from her desk. “It’s obvious you need to go and wash.”
She definitely wanted to go, but curiosity made her ask, “Talk about what?”
“Your father wants me to go over a few things with you,” he answered, on his way to the door.
“What things?”
Chapter Four
Ty held the door open and gestured for her to walk ahead of him. Norma Rose bit down hard on her frustration, struggling to keep everything concealed from his penetrating stare. She wanted to know what her father had talked with him about, was furious he’d ruined one of her best pairs of gloves and was more than a little perturbed that he had to look so stupidly handsome and at ease when he was clearly not welcome.
Staunchly, she refused to take a step.
He lifted a brow. “I’d think you’d want to get those gloves soaking. They’ll soon be stained for life. Might already be.”
“Don’t worry about my gloves,” she said, even though the blue ink was soaking into her skin and starting to itch.
“I’m not worried about your gloves,” he said, stepping toward the open doorway. “I was hoping to talk to you before breakfast, but I guess it can wait.”
He walked out the door and Norma Rose scrambled around her desk to catch up. “Talk about what?” she asked again, trying her best to sound only half-interested.
