Scent of Deception

CHAPTER 1

What was that scent? He had smelled it before; he knew he had, yet he could put no name to it. It was faint and soft and sweetly pungent with a clean trace of the oranges he had sometimes found in the toe of his Christmas stocking. It did not make him think of Christmas though. No, it brought to mind . . . Adam tried to snatch the memory flitting just beyond his consciousness, but it slipped away. He shook his head and set the mail he carried on the credenza so that he could unbuckle his gun belt.

"You back, Adam?"

Adam turned to see his younger brother sitting in Adam's favorite blue chair with his legs stretched out and his arms folded behind his head.

"Obviously, little brother," Adam replied slightly irritated that he could not take his favorite seat.

Little Joe ignored his brother's tone and asked, "You get the mail?"

"I said I was going to, didn't I?" Adam picked up the string-tied bundle and walked over to his brother. Letting the correspondence drop into his brother's lap, he ordered, "You can sort through it; I want to get washed up."

Adam's tone rankled Joe, and his reply was a curt, "Fine." Then he looked up and saw his brother's retreating back. Indulging a childish impulse, Joe stuck his tongue out at the black shirt. Then he popped the string holding the mail together and began to sort it into piles.

Adam was buttoning the cuffs of his clean shirt when he heard his door open. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Little Joe saunter into the room.

"I thought Pa taught you enough manners that you knew it was polite to knock," Adam observed acerbically.

Little Joe shrugged and plopped down on Adam's bed. "Guess not." He kept his feet on the floor but lowered his back to the bed. Then he held up a letter and studied it. Bringing it down to his nose, he sniffed loudly.

"What's that?" Adam asked failing to admonish his brother for musing the bedclothes.

"A letter." Little Joe sat up. "One I thought you might not want to receive in front of Pa."

"Why wouldn't I want to receive it in front of Pa?" Adam asked moving across the floor to stand in front of Joe.

"Well, seeing as how it's been drenched in perfume and the writing's pretty feminine, I thought you might not want Pa asking what little lady you've got tucked away in Sacramento."

"I haven't got any ladies tucked away in Sacramento or anywhere else for that matter." Adam's temper snapped his words, and he reach out to snatch the letter from his brother, but Joe pulled it out of reach.

"Well, she's definitely female even if she ain't a lady," Joe teased and then had the good sense to pull up his feet and roll off the far side of the bed. Keeping the bed between himself and his now angry older brother, Joe tossed the letter toward Adam's face and darted out the door.

Adam cursed softly and plucked the letter from the bed. Bringing it to his nose, he smelled the scent that had teased his memory earlier. Perfume, yes, it was perfume, her perfume. Memory did not flit at the edge of consciousness this time but washed down at him like a flashflood in a dry river bed. The hand holding the letter trembled with emotion he chose not to acknowledge. He stared at his own name written in her hand, and the paper seemed to burn his fingertips. He dropped the letter onto the bed and remembered. The memory brought both anger and shame and underneath that a burning desire to see her again. Recognizing that desire, he snatched the letter from the bed and began tearing it into smaller and smaller pieces. When a pile of paper shreds were left on the bed clothes, he lifted the bedcover and folded it over the pieces. Carrying the folded cloth, he went down the backstairs, through the kitchen, and out the door. Crossing the yard, he walked into the woods. A steady breeze rustled the branches overhead as he unfolded the his bundle and let the pieces of paper cascade onto the wind and blow away. Then he walked back to the house. Going straight to Joe's bedroom, he rapped once and entered without waiting for a reply.

"Joe."

Little Joe turned and swallowed convulsively. "I was just funning, Adam. Didn't mean nothing by it."

"You will not mention that letter to Pa or Hoss or anyone else, for that matter. You will not mention it to me. Do you understand me, Joseph?"

Little Joe understood his brother's tone and the look in his darkened eyes. "Sure, Adam. If that's what you want."

"That is the way it shall be!" Adam spun on his heel and strode out of the room.

Little Joe shook his head. He did not think there was a man anywhere who could rattle his unflappable big brother, but apparently there was at least one woman who could.