Page 34 of Borrowed Time

She stood, too, expression still worried. “I fear I haven’t been much help — ”

“Oh, but you have,” Devynn broke in, her face and tone earnest. “You’ve let us know that people here appreciated and cared about our sister, and that is always something we can hold close to our hearts.”

A faint smile touched the older woman’s mouth. “You are very kind. And if I think of anything, of course I will send you a note. You’re staying at the Hotel San Francisco, I assume?”

There were other hotels in town, but the Hotel San Francisco was definitely the finest. Seth supposed it was a sign of approval that Mrs. Marshall couldn’t imagine them securing lodging anywhere else.

“Yes, we are,” he replied. “And we plan to be here for at least a few more days, so please, if something else comes to mind, go ahead and send us word at the hotel.”

“I will.”

That seemed to be that, and they exchanged goodbyes, with him and Devynn emerging in the crisp fall air just a few moments later.

“I felt kind of bad lying to her,” Devynn said once they were a safe distance from the house. “She seems like a nice person.”

Seth agreed with that sentiment, even as he also knew they didn’t have any choice except to keep up the fiction that they had no idea what could have happened to their lost sister. “Well, you gave her some kind words there at the end. I’m sure Mrs. Marshall appreciated that.”

A small tilt of her head, but Devynn didn’t quite look at him. Today she’d pulled her hair into a tightly braided bun at the back of her head, a style that seemed to fit more with what most women wore here, although he thought it had been prettier when she’d allowed her long locks to fall loose over her shoulders. Still, with her hair drawn away from her face like this, he could better see the fine lines of her neck and jaw, pure and graceful as a carving on a cameo.

Dear Goddess, how he wanted to kiss her.

But even as heat pulsed through him, he did what he could to ignore the surge of desire. What would the proper Mrs. Marshall think if she should look through her lacy curtains to see the supposed “brother and sister” kissing one another on the quiet lane that led to her house?

Nothing good,he thought grimly.

It was the sort of behavior that could get you run out of town on a rail.

“I still don’t like it,” Devynn said after a long pause. She tilted a look up at him, the ostrich feathers on her black velvet hat dancing in the fresh breeze that swept down from the San Francisco Peaks, and he could almost see her thrust those worries away as she arranged a more pleasant expression on her face. “But what should we do now?”

“Lunch,” he responded immediately. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t think a single sugar cookie is enough to tide me over until dinner.”

She chuckled then, and the sound seemed genuine enough. “No, you’re probably right. What did you have in mind?”

Luckily, he’d already thought of that. “We passed several restaurants on the way to the general store, one of them in the Banks Hotel. Why don’t we try that one and see how it compares to the restaurant where we’re staying?”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Devynn replied, and looped her arm in his. That sort of contact was innocent enough that he doubted anyone would raise an eyebrow at a brother offering his sister an arm to steady her as they walked along the uneven streets, and yet he once again felt a little thrill go through him, one he knew signaled that he was open to much more intimate contact.

It wasn’t going to happen, though. Yes, he supposed their hotel rooms were private enough once they were inside, and yet they couldn’t take the risk of having anyone passing by in the hallway seeing them come and go at odd hours. As much as he disliked the idea, Seth knew they would have to be extremely careful during their tenure here.

And pray that it wouldn’t go on for too long.

The restaurant was very pleasant, with round tables topped by white cloths and gilt-framed mirrors on the walls. Because it was a little past peak lunchtime — and probably because it was a weekday — Seth and Devynn were shown to a table almost as soon as they walked in. And when he scanned the menu the waiter had handed him, he saw it had plenty of familiar food on it — baked ham and trout and roast chicken and sausage.

Devynn looked it over as well, and although not much about her expression changed, he could tell she wasn’t quite as pleased with the offerings.

“Is something wrong?” he asked. “We can go someplace else — ”

Immediately, she shook her head. “No, it’s fine,” she said. “But by the time we’re done with all this, I’ll be ready to kill for a salad.”

“Fruit salad?”

Now she grinned. “No, a salad of greens. Different types of lettuce, with tomatoes and cucumbers and a vinaigrette dressing.”

While Seth had to admit that sounded refreshing, he wondered if such a meal would have much staying power. It wasn’t that he’d never had salad in the summer when the ingredients were available, but it was always an adjunct to the rest of his food, not the main course.

It sounded as though quite a few things were different in the future. Just knowing that Devynn had experienced the sorts of things that should have sounded like pure science fiction — except that they were real — made a stir of excitement go through him.

He thought it might not be such a bad thing to experience that future for himself.

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