Page 6 of A Convenient Heart
Jack had righted that wrong.
There was no money for Morris to collect.
And Jack didn’t want to think about how the man might try to enforce the debt. He winced.
The train braked with a hiss and screech. The voices outside the water closet rose and fell as passengers disembarked.
Jack edged open the door to find the small vestibule empty.
He cautiously moved out of the water closet and tried to guess where Morris had gone. Would he get off the train at this stop?
Jack crept through the doors and back onto his original train car.
It was empty.
As he tried to guess whether Morris had gone through here, Jack rushed forward to see that both the young groom and Gray Beard were gone.
But the groom’s coat and hat were abandoned on the seat. The coat was crumpled, flower hanging precariously.
The door opened at the end of the train car, and Jack’s pulse pounded as if he’d drawn a pair of aces.
It wasn’t Morris but a grandmotherly-looking woman. Short.
Over her head, Jack had a clear view of Morris’s back, his head and shoulders, in the train car beyond.
And then Morris started to turn.
Jack ducked, instinct pushing him to don the abandoned coat. He quickly shoved his arms into the sleeves, hastily pulling the coat over his own. His satchel hung awkwardly between the coats, but he ignored it for now. He reached for the hat, mashing it low on his head. It wasn’t much of a disguise, but maybe if he moved quickly, Jack would be all right.
He kept his back to where Morris had been and walked calmly away.
“All aboard!” the conductor called from the platform outside.
He couldn’t stay on this train with Morris on board.
He stepped off the train and onto the platform. Another train would pass by. Maybe this afternoon or maybe tomorrow. He’d get on it and find a place to hole up for Christmas.
“John?” A feminine voice called out.
He turned on instinct and came face-to-face with a woman who was pretty as a picture.
Snow dusted her dark hair, pulled behind her head in a low bun. Her dark eyes were intelligent, and he saw a moment of hesitation pass through them before she took one step closer, her pert chin rising just slightly.
“It’s me.” She sounded the way he felt—breathless. Anticipation shimmered between them.
“I’m…I’m your bride.”
Chapter2
Jack doffed the hat, aware that Morris might be looking out the train window. But his focus had shifted from the man somewhere behind him to the beautiful woman in front of him.
Thiswas the long-in-the-tooth spinster that the young groom had been worried about meeting?
Her groom was a fool.
He glanced around quickly—maybe it wasn’t too late for the young man. Jack could give back his hat and coat, explain the mix-up…
But the young man was nowhere to be seen. Was he hiding on the train somewhere?
