Page 2 of Inventions of the Heart

“That’s the other thing I’ve decided, and it’s part of letting me run things.”

Zane didn’t hammer his fists again. Instead, he laid his face straight down on the table with a sigh that sounded like his whole body was deflating. “What now?”

She stared at the crown of his head. The dark swirl of his hair seemed much happier than he was. “I’ve decided that, for now, we shouldn’t hire miners. You should hire a few trusted men as guards and just let me and Jilly mine your gold. We’ll find out soon enough if it’s a rich vein. If it goes deep, then we can’t handle that much mining. But what if that big chunk of quartz is all there is? Jilly and I can quietly mine the gold. We can transport it back here under armed guard, and word won’t get out that you found it until you’ve sold it and used the money to buy half of California. That’s your goal, right?”

“Don’t act like I’m greedy.” He was speaking straight into the tabletop. “Not when you own a whole mountain covered with trees and live in a mansion that’d make a king blush over the excess of it.”

“You’ve never seen it.” Michelle paused, then shrugged. “It’s huge, though, and beautiful. A king would be lucky to have such a nice house.”

“I’m never going to let you run my gold mine. I’m sure you’d be good at it if you didn’t have to handle a bunch of rough men who probably have gold fever and might be willing to kill you.”

Nodding, Michelle said, “Not too many lumberjacks have any dreams about running off with their pockets full of trees.”

One of her brunette curls swung loose from the bun at theback of her head, and she twisted it in her fingers thoughtfully. “I could handle it, though. I might need a gun. Can I borrow a gun, Zane?”

That lifted his head up at least. She saw him roll his eyes. “You’re admitting it’s a dangerous job. I can’t put you at risk.”

“I’m educated enough to manage. And there’s no way to get the material in here to work on my gas engine.” She gave him a narrow-eyed look. “Is there?”

Zane shook his head. “Forget the engine. We don’t need an engine on a ranch.”

“It’s not for the ranch. It’s for, well, for lots of things. But mainly it can be used in the sawmill my family owns and the trains we’re going to own. And I also have some ideas for improvement on rolling stock.”

“You’re not rolling my cows anywhere.”

Michelle blinked at him. “Um, not stock like livestock. Rolling stock like the rolling cars the train engine pulls. I want to alter them to load logs onto them more easily and make sure they’re strong enough to take the weight. And there are issues with the braking system on a long downhill slope, so I—”

“Stop talking about trains and logs and tell me what you want to manage.”

“Well, your gold mining operation, of course. But honestly, I want to manage everything. The whole world would run better if they put me in charge. Don’t you like the hot water in your back room? In the kitchen? I could turn one of your upstairs rooms into a proper bathing room with a tub, if you’d just get me a—”

“No. The hot water in the house is a wonder, and I thank you kindly for it. But I’m not letting you run my mine.”

“We’re alone for the first time. Let me explain again how my papa raised me to—”

“Zane!” Shad, Zane’s foreman slammed into the kitchen. “Trouble. Come quick.”

Shouting sounded from outside. Screaming.

Zane was on his feet running.

Michelle gritted her teeth. Thwarted again. But as Zane ran for the kitchen door, Michelle got up and ran after. Whoever was shouting really sounded frantic.

Michelle got outside as two horses, galloping as if they were running from wolves, charged into the ranch yard. The first was ridden by a woman with ... two heads. Michelle squinted. What she was looking at made no sense.

A woman, for sure. Oh, not with two heads, but with a small child in front. Michelle felt better to figure that out despite the madly racing horse.

The woman’s dark hair flew wildly behind her as she screamed for help. The child, with her matching dark hair, wailed like a feral creature.

A man rode just behind her, terrible in his silence.

Michelle stopped feeling better. Too much blood. The woman was bleeding, but the man made the blood on her pale blue dress look like a scratch.

“Annie?” Zane’s shout could’ve shaken a roof down.

The woman, Annie, reined her horse frantically, and it skidded to a stop, almost sat on its haunches to do it, but she brought the horse under control. The man didn’t even react. He leaned down until the saddle horn had to be poking him in the chest. His horse galloped on until it came up on the barn. It whinnied and tossed its head and reared up higher and higher. Michelle thought it’d go over backward.

Zane ran toward Annie. Four men around the place, drawn by the shouting and galloping hooves, rushed for the rearing horse. The man tumbled off the horse as Shad reached the horse’s head, leapt high to catch the bridle, and pulled the horse down with his weight. He led it away so it wouldn’t trample the fallen man. The other three cowhands hurried to the rider.

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