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Chapter Two
“Fifteen years is a long time.”
Seated in one of the leather chairs in Rhine’s office with a tumbler of fine scotch in his hand, Kent thought about all he’d seen and done since they’d parted ways in Virginia City. “Yes it is.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
He smiled ruefully and sighed. “The long and short of it is, I bedded the wrong man’s wife and spent three years in a Mexican prison for it.”
Rhine showed his shock.
Kent explained. “He was a don. Pretty powerful, too. After he caught me in his bed, he convinced the local police I was responsible for a series of robberies in the area. Even supplied witnesses who swore they’d seen me at the scene. I was young, stupid, and full of myself. Not anymore.” He slowly swirled the liquor in his glass. Memories rose of the hell he’d lived through and he turned his mind away.
“Does Doc know?”
He thought about his father, Oliver. “He was so upset about my not finishing medical school, I didn’t have the heart to write while I was in prison, not that I had access to stationery, but once I was released, I did send him a letter detailing my sins. We’ve corresponded on and off since and in one of his letters he mentioned you and Eddy were here in Arizona Territory.”
“What have you been doing since your release?”
“Went to San Francisco first and signed on with a merchant shipping company and sailed the world. Afterwards, went to work at a ranch up near Sacramento. Learned everything I needed to know about horse wrangling. Saved my money. Would like to start my own operation someday.” And since then he’d drifted from California to Wyoming and places in between, hiring himself out as a ranch hand, riding herd on cattle drives, and taking any other work he could find.
“And now?”
“Hoping you can give me a job.”
“How long do you plan on being around?”
“As long as you’ll have me.” He met Rhine’s eyes and added truthfully. “Looking to settle down.”
“We already have a bartender but we can find something for you, I’m sure.”
“Whatever you have will be fine.”
Rhine raised his glass. “Then welcome back.”
“Thanks.”
Fifteen years ago, after the mob destroyed Rhine’s saloon and Eddy Fontaine’s newly built diner, a younger and cockier version of Kent enrolled in Howard Medical School. Being a doctor was the last thing he wanted—all he ever wanted to do was be a rancher—but he and his physician father had locked horns for years over his future, so to get Oliver off his back, Kent moved to Washington. He’d hated everything about it from the weather to the classes to the sneering condescending attitudes of the East Coast scions of the representative class. He’d enjoyed the young women though and spent an inordinate amount of time studying female anatomy, but in the end, not even that had been enough, so he’d left, much to his father’s fury.
In response to a soft knock on the closed door, Rhine called, “Come in.”
His wife, Eddy, entered. “Kenton! Portia said you were here.” She threw her arms wide and a smiling Kent hugged her tight.
“So good to see you!” she gushed. “My goodness! Where have you been all these years? Did you fall off the face of the earth?”
“In a way. Rhine can explain.”
She studied him, studied her husband’s poker face, and said, “Okay. Are you staying?”
“I am if Rhine can find me a job.”
Her joyful expression filled Kent’s heart. He’d missed having them in his world. Rhine had been the older brother he’d always wanted and Eddy, the sister.
“Good. You could use a bath.”
He chuckled. She’d always been frank.
Rhine asked her, “Should I put him in our wing?”
