Page 59 of If the Boot Fits

Samantha edged a little closer to Asher as she leaned against the settee’s back. “Do you still think he might have hired someone?”

Her father shook his head. “According to the marshal in Millsap, he pawned his cigarette case to cover his bar tab. He’s too short on funds to hire anyone.”

“If Leroy’s not behind the attacks, then who is?”

Dearing grimaced. “Well, we never figured out who broke in the night of the ball. Right now, he’s the only real suspect I got.”

Asher’s throat began to close up.

“We discussed this, Daddy.” Samantha leaned forward, her gaze darting back to Asher before settling on her father. “We don’t know why the trespasser was there, but we do know that he wasn’t a killer. He risked capture in order to save Clint’s life. That’s not the kind of man who would try to kill a woman.”

Asher cleared his throat and braced himself to clear the air. Listening to her defend his crimes rubbed his conscience raw. They needed to know the truth. Especially Samantha. She deserved—

“I’m not as sure of that as you are.” Dearing jabbed a pointed stare at his daughter. “But when I stopped by Jeter’s office on my way here, I also gave him the names of men who might wish me or my family harm. Men resentful of being left out of business deals and those I had to evict from properties.” His gaze narrowed as he aimed it at Asher. “Seems to me someone who grew up at that homestead would know the terrain real well. Where to hide. How best to escape.”

Mama Bess gasped. “My son would never!”

“Daddy, you’re wrong!”

Dearing flung out an arm in Asher’s direction. “Who else knew where you’d be this morning? Maybe he’s been cozying up to you in order to seek some kind of twisted revenge against me. He could have even orchestrated that wheel mishap with your cart to weasel his way into your good graces.”

“That’s outrageous!” Mama Bess jumped to her feet and planted her hands on her hips. “My Ash would never harm Samantha, or anyone. If you had half a brain beneath that thick skull of yours, you’d see how much he cares for her.”

“Easy, Mama.” How he loved her for believing in him so completely, but he knew his time of reckoning had come. “Mr. Dearing has reason not to trust me.”

He pushed to his feet, surprised when Samantha grabbed his hand and tried to tug him back down.

“Asher, don’t.” Her eyes pled with him, as if she knew what he was about to confess. But how could she?

“I’m sorry, Samantha. I should have been honest with you from the beginning.” He tugged his hand free and turned to face Eli Dearing. The man rose from his chair, hands balled into fists, face as hard as granite. “I did resent you when I heard what you’d done to my family. In fact, when I first returned to town, I was determined to prove you a heartless scoundrel who cheated good women out of their homes. I was the one who broke into your house the night of the ball. I riffled through the documents in your study, sure I’d find evidence of fraud or unethical behavior that I could use as leverage to get you to restore our land.”

“You thought to blackmail me?” Dearing growled through gritted teeth.

“I suppose I did, though at the time I considered it more an act of justice.” Asher shook his head. “I let my anger cloud my judgment, and I’ve come to regret my actions. I found no proof of wrongdoing. Only raised rents that my mother had failed to mention in her letters.” How he wanted to look at Samantha and judge her reaction. He prayed she was only disappointed and not completely repulsed. But the man he’d wronged deserved his full attention, so he kept his eyes on Eli Dearing and forced himself to voice the rest.

“After that night, I made peace with our new circumstances and vowed to do all I could to see Mama Bess and the boys well situated before returning to my job at the Bar 7. I’ve come to respect you, sir, for the care you show your daughter. If you wish to take me before the judge, I’ll go peaceably, but I pray you’ll wait until after we find the man responsible for the attacks on Samantha. She means a great deal to me, and I want to help keep her safe.”

“You think I’m gonna trust you, after this?” Dearing’s raised voice reverberated through the room like a Texas thunderstorm. His face contorted with all the menacing darkness of a funnel cloud, and his pale eyes shot lightning shards at Asher’s chest. “You’re a criminal! I don’t want my daughter anywhere near you.”

Samantha rose from the settee and came to stand by Asher’s side. “Well, your daughter intends to keep him close at hand, so you’re going to have to adjust your wishes.”

Dearing raised a brow and fired a few lightning bolts at his daughter. Not that she seemed to notice. Samantha held her ground and even slid her hand around Asher’s, offering him an anchor in the storm.

“Asher would never hurt me, Daddy.” Her steady voice soothed Asher’s bruised heart as nothing else could. She spoke with absolute certainty, as if the confession he’d just made had bounced off her without leaving a single dent. “I trust him,” she said, “and so do you. You assigned him to watch over me in town, remember? If he had wanted me dead, he could have killed me any of the evenings that he escorted me home. Goodness, he could have simply let the runaway cart do the job for him. But he didn’t. He saved my life, just as he saved Clint’s the night of the ball.”

She turned her gaze on Asher, and he had to lock his knees to keep them from buckling. Those glorious blue eyes glimmered with faith and confidence. In him. A man could face anything when his woman believed in him.

“He made a mistake. One he’s admitted. It takes courage and strength of character to admit to wrongdoing, but that’s what a man of integrity does. That is who Asher is—a man of integrity.” She smiled at Asher and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. Never had his heart felt so full. Then she turned back to her father. “You asked who else knew where I would be this morning. I can think of any number of people, all of whom work at the Three Cedars.”

“You think one of my men would harm you?”

“Leroy Thompson was one of your men.”

Having no answer to that, Dearing strode away from the group to stare into the empty hearth. His heavy fist banged softly against the mantel. “If it’s one of my men and I missed the signs . . .”

Samantha moved to her father’s side and placed a hand on his back. “Then you’d be human. Just like the rest of us.”

The granite crumbled from Dearing’s face, leaving him looking haggard and desperate. “I lost your mother. I can’t lose you, too.”