Twin of Ice Read online

  “Miss Houston,” Susan said. “Miss Jean Taggert is downstairs with her father and all their belongings in a wagon, and they want to speak to you.”

  “I’ll be right down,” she called, reluctantly getting out of bed, wishing that Kane had stayed with her. He was already at work by the time Houston was dressed.

  Downstairs, she led Jean into the small drawing room. “I’m so glad you’ve decided to accept my offer,” Houston began. “I really do need a housekeeper.”

  Jean waved her hand. “You don’t need to continue the lie. I know why you’re offering me the job, and I know more than you do that you’ll have to teach me everything, and that I’ll be more of a hindrance than of any use. But more important than my pride is getting my family out of the coal mines. Rafe blackmailed Ian into leaving, and my father has blackmailed me. I’ve come to ask for more charity than you’ve already offered. I’ll work myself into a stupor for you, if you’ll let my father live here with me.”

  “Of course,” Houston said quickly. “And, Jean, you’re family, you don’t really have to be my housekeeper. You can live here as a guest, with no duties or obligations except to enjoy yourself.”

  Jean smiled. “I’d go crazy in two weeks If my father is welcome, then I’ll stay.”

  “Only if you sit at the table with us for meals. It’s a big table and almost empty. Now, may I meet your father?”

  When Houston saw Sherwin Taggert, she knew why Jean wanted to get him out of the mines. Sherwin was dying. Houston was sure that Jean knew it, and that her father did also, but it was also apparent that no one was going to mention the fact.

  Houston found Sherwin to be a gentle, polite man and, within minutes, he had the rest of the staff running to make him comfortable. There was some argument as to where the elder Taggert would stay, but Jean won when she put her father in the downstairs housekeeper’s rooms with a door leading outside to the gardens and placed near the stairs that led to the upstairs room Jean chose.

  At luncheon, Kane stayed in his office, but Edan joined the growing group who sat down to meals. Ian relaxed visibly when he saw his uncle and Jean, and the meal became very pleasant. Sherwin told a funny story of a happening in the mine and, while everyone was laughing, Kane came into the room. Houston introduced him to his relatives, and he looked about for a seat. Since Jean was seated next to Edan, Kane stood still for a moment until Houston motioned for a footman to pull out the chair at the head of the table.

  Through the rest of the meal, Kane sat quietly, saying very little but watching everyone, and especially watching the way Houston ate. She ate slowly, prolonging the meal and giving Kane plenty of time to see which fork she was using.

  Toward the end of the meal, Houston tamed to Ian. “I have some good news for you. Yesterday, I sent a telegram to a friend of my father who lives in Denver and asked him if he’d like to move to Chandler and be your teacher. Mr. Chesterton is a retired British explorer. He’s been all over the world, up the Nile, to the pyramids, to Tibet; I doubt if there’s anywhere he hasn’t been. And this morning, he agreed to come here. I think he’ll make you a marvelous teacher, don’t you?”

  Ian could only stare at her. “Africa?” he said at last.

  “That among others.” She pushed back her chair. “Now, who’d like to play baseball? I have equipment, a playing field chalked out on the north lawn, and a book of instructions. Unfortunately, I have no idea what a word of it means.”

  “I think Ian could show you some of the basics,” Sherwin said, eyes twinkling. “And I imagine that Edan knows a few rules, too.”

  “You’ll join us, Edan?” Houston asked.

  “I’d love to.”

  “And you Jean?”

  “Since I have no idea how to even begin running a house like this, I may as well make myself useless on a baseball diamond.”

  “And Kane?” Houston asked her husband as he began to pull back from the group. He wore a puzzled expression.

  “I have some work to do, and, Edan, I need you to help me.”

  “I guess that leaves me out of baseball,” Edan said, rising. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

  Once in Kane’s office, Edan watched his friend pace the floor and look out his window at the others on the baseball field. Edan wondered if Houston had purposely put the diamond outside Kane’s office. Twice, Edan had to repeat questions before Kane answered them.

  “She’s really pretty, isn’t she?” Kane asked.

  “Who?” Edan asked, pretending ignorance as he looked through the morning’s batch of telegrams, studying the offers for land, factories, stocks, whatever Kane was buying or selling at the moment.

  “Houston, of course. Damn! Look at that Ian. Playing! At his age, I was working fourteen hours a day.”

  “And so was he,” Edan said. “And so was I. Which is why he’s playing now,” he said as he dropped the telegrams on the desk. “Everything here can wait for a few hours. I think I’ll go out and enjoy the sunshine, and listen to something else besides money.”

  He paused at the door. “You coming?”

  “No,” Kane said, his eyes on the papers. “Somebody better stay here and . . . ” He looked up. “Hell, yes, I’m comin’. How far can a body hit that ball with that bat? I’ll put a hundred on it that I can beat you and anybody else out there.”

  “You’re on,” Edan said, leading the way out the door.

  Kane took to baseball like a child to candy. It took three swings before he first hit the ball—and no one had the nerve to tell him of the three-strikes-and-you’re-out rule—but when he hit it, the ball flew through the air and smashed a second-story window. He was disgustingly pleased with himself and from then on proceeded to give everyone advice.

  Once, Kane and Ian almost went after each other with bats, but Houston managed to separate them before it became bloody. To her consternation, both men turned on her and told her to mind her own business. She retreated to Sherwin’s side.

  “Ian will feel at home now,” Sherwin said. “He and Rafe argued all the time. He misses the discussions.”

  Houston groaned. “Discussions are what Kane calls them, too. You don’t think they’ll hurt each other, do you?”

  “I think your Kane has too much sense to let it go that far. It’s your turn to bat, Houston.”

  Houston didn’t care for trying to hit the ball that came flying at her, but she very much enjoyed it when Kane put his arms around her and snuggled up against her to show her how to hold the bat. Ian shouted that Kane was giving the opposing team an unfair advantage and, while Kane was shouting at his young cousin, Houston slammed the ball past second base.

  “Run!” Jean shouted. “Run, Houston, run.”

  Houston took off as fast as she could, holding her skirt up almost to her knees. Edan, on first, just stood there grinning at her with delight, but Kane tore across the field, grabbed the ball and went running for Houston. She looked up, saw him coming and thought that, if he hit her, she’d never survive the impact. She started running faster, hearing in the background everyone shouting at Kane to stop before he hurt Houston.

  He caught her at home base, grabbing her by the ankles and slamming her face down into the dirt. But she stretched out her arm and touched the plate.

  “Safe!” Sherwin yelled.

  Kane jumped up and started yelling at his smaller uncle and Ian, on the same team as Kane, joined in the shouting. Sherwin just stood there quite calmly.

  Jean helped Houston up and examined her for cuts and bruises. Houston looked fondly at her shouting husband and said, “He does like to win, doesn’t he?”

  “Not any more than you do,” Jean said, looking at a huge tear in Houston’s skirt, and the dirt on her face.

  Houston touched her husband’s arm. “Dear, since we’ve beaten you so badly today, perhaps we could stop now for refreshments, and you can try again tomorrow.”

  For a moment, Kane’s face darkened, then he laughed, grabbed her in his arms and twirled her a