Chapter 7

"Jarrod, I think we'd better go home in the morning," was the first thing Nick said when Jarrod rejoined his brothers in the hotel bar.

"You and me both," Jarrod said, sitting down with Nick and Heath again, "but I do need to have one more conversation with Gwendolen and see if there's anything I can do for her."

Nick shook his head. "You're getting in too deep."

Heath quickly agreed. "Nick's right, Jarrod. I know how you feel about your clients and leaving them with nothing more you can do, but you're looking at a lot of trouble here."

"I know," Jarrod said. "Believe me, I know."

"What are you going to do if Gwendolen says she wants to go after Hill for her money when you talk to her again?" Nick asked.

Jarrod took a deep breath. "Well, that's the sticky wicket, isn't it? If she wants to do that, I'll have to help her."

"Why?"

"Because she is still my client, Nick. The matter I represented her on before – her divorce – is still not settled. I won't run out on a client who still needs me."

"She just talked to you about that Cecily woman, didn't she?"

Jarrod nodded. "She took me to talk to her, but I told her I couldn't be her lawyer."

"Do you think she got the message?"

Jarrod took a deep breath. "I think so, but I don't know for sure."

"Be careful, Jarrod," Heath said. "You don't need two desperate women in love with you."

Jarrod had that awful feeling in the back of his mind that it might already be too late about that. After the questions Cecily had asked him, the very personal questions, the possibility was hanging out there. Jarrod decided on the way back over here that he was not going to bring up that part of the conversation with his brothers. The moment he told them his own marriage had come up while talking with Cecily and Gwendolen, his brothers would each have him by one arm and would be dragging him back to Stockton.

"I know, Heath," Jarrod said, "and I bid Miss Carter farewell when I left her just now. She knows I won't be her attorney or her confidant or anything else."

Nick rubbed his forehead. "You may have doomed yourself, Jarrod. Don't expect a woman who's confused in love to act rationally."

Jarrod raised an eyebrow. "Brother Nick, you've never been the man in this family who knew what a woman was thinking."

"I've been taking lessons, hard lessons," Nick said.

"Whether Nick has gained some insight or not, he has a point, Jarrod," Heath said. "Walking away can make a woman want you more."

"Heath," Jarrod said, "in my line of work, I've had plenty of desperate women fall head over heels in love with me, or at least think they have. I'm not in new territory here. And women are not inherently foolish. So far every one of them has wised up about who I am to them."

"Go home with us in the morning, Jarrod," Nick said anyway.

Jarrod said, "Let me talk to Gwendolen later tonight. I'll let you know after that."

XXXXXXX

After Jarrod left them, Cecily did not get up as Gwendolen expected, so she sat down again. When Cecily first came to see her, Gwendolen had felt a little awkward about it, but they talked for quite a while, and having the same man – Abel Hill – as the one confusing their lives had brought them together fairly quickly. Gwendolen was sorry in a way that Jarrod could not give more advice to Cecily, but she understood his position.

"He's a nice man," Cecily said, watching Jarrod leave. "No wonder Abel thinks you're in love with him."

"I'm not in love with him, Cess," Gwendolen said. "I thought I was once, but it was need, not love. He's just my lawyer."

"I'll bet he's a good one, too," Cecily said, "and I'll bet he's trying to figure out how he can get Abel to start paying you again."

"He probably is," Gwendolen said, "but I don't think there's any way. And that's what you have to be careful of with Abel. He takes a lot more than he gives."

Cecily wiped her eyes. "I wish I knew what it was I felt for him. I think I love him and then I don't and then I do again – oh, why couldn't he be more like Jarrod Barkley?"

Gwendolen remembered now how it felt to be in love with Jarrod, so different from being in love with Abel Hill. She hadn't become disillusioned with Abel before she married him – as Cecily was doing. She wished every day that she had. Then he never would have pushed her into this corner she was trapped in. She might have met someone better than Abel and married him. Somebody like Jarrod. "Jarrod is a good man," Gwendolen said, "but he's not a man to fall in love with. He's just my lawyer."

"He's not mine," Cecily said, thinking.

Gwendolen knew what she was thinking. "Cess – don't do this. You're already in a big enough mess. Don't make it messier."

Cecily shook her head. "I know. It's just – to have two engagements go wrong on me now. I'm getting too old, Gwen. I need to be married. People are laughing at me."

"No, they're not," Gwendolen said. "People know you're the daughter of a judge. That's nothing to laugh at and they know it."

"Still – Jarrod Barkley is exactly the kind of man I've always wanted to marry."

"Cess, you only just met him!"

"My father knows him. He trusts him."

Gwendolen stood up. "Cecily, I think you need to be going now. You need to go talk to your father and figure out what you're going to do with the fiance you have before you start circling over another one."

Cecily stood up, offended. "I'm not circling over Mr. Barkley!"

"Good," Gwendolen said, sounding and feeling very protective. "Now, get on home and talk to your father. Figure out what you're going to do with Abel. You are engaged to him, not Jarrod."

"I know that!" Cecily said, and she went out fast.

Gwendolen sighed, feeling angry. How dare Cecily start aiming at Jarrod, when he was – Gwendolen sighed. Jarrod is mine, she thought, and then she felt confused and stupid. Was she secretly hoping she could draw him back into her life? Had she been wondering if he would come to her rescue in every way, and take her away from this rotten saloon and terrible boarding house and anything to do with Abel Hill – and marry her?

How stupid, to fall into that trap again. Her feelings all spilled out in that letter, and that's what got her into this mess in the first place. Jarrod Barkley never loved her. She shouldn't start acting as confused and stupid as Cecily was acting.

But what if Cecily was aiming for Jarrod? What if she was the one who convinced him to rescue her? What if he fell in love with Cecily?

Gwendolen actually started to cry, but she quickly got rid of the tears. She had to go back to work. She had to be practical now, because if she did something to lose her job, she would really be in trouble. She couldn't let Cecily's confusion rub off on her and make her crazy, too. She sucked her feelings in and went back out to the bar.