Bell struck the door again.
“Open up!”
Silas did not move.
“Go back down the mountain.”
“I’m not leaving without her.”
“Then you’ll leave without your hat.”
A silence followed.
Clara stared at Silas, startled by the bluntness of the threat.
He did not look away from the door.
Bell’s voice dropped to a hiss.
“You’ll regret this, Mercer.”
“Maybe. But not tonight.”
The clerk’s boots crunched in the snow.
For a moment, Clara thought he had gone.
Then she heard him circling toward the window.
Silas turned sharply.
“Stay where you are,” he told Clara.
He moved to the side of the cabin, watching the frost-covered glass.
A shadow passed across it.
Clara clutched the belt.
“Silas—”
“Quiet.”
The shadow stopped.
Then a gloved hand appeared against the window.
Silas raised his voice.
“Step away from the glass.”
The hand disappeared.
A moment later, something struck the outer wall.
Silas crossed to the window and looked through a narrow gap in the curtain.
“He’s trying the shutters.”
“Can he get in?”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.”
He checked the bar across the door, then moved to the small storage chest near the bed. From it, he took a second iron latch and secured it to the window frame.
Clara watched, her breath coming too quickly.
The cabin was no longer a refuge from the storm.
It had become a place under siege.
And somewhere beyond the door, a man who had supposedly been dead was waiting to claim a bride who no longer knew whom to trust.
Silas had known Amos Reed before he knew Clara.
Not well.
But well enough to remember the man’s smile, his polished boots, and the way he could make a promise sound like a favor.
They had met in the lower valley two years earlier, when Amos arrived with a group of men surveying land for a proposed mining road. Silas had been hired to guide them through the mountain trails.
Amos had talked constantly.
He spoke of investment, opportunity, and a future in which every man with courage could become wealthy.
Silas had disliked him almost immediately.
Not because he was ambitious.
Because he seemed to regard everyone around him as a tool for reaching his ambitions.
After the survey party left, Silas heard rumors that Amos had been involved in a dispute over a mining claim. Several local ranchers said the man had promised to buy land, then attempted to pressure owners into signing documents they did not fully understand.
Silas had not seen him since.
Until now.
He turned back toward Clara.
“Do you know anything about a property claim near Bellwether?”
She shook her head.
“Amos said he was working for a railroad contractor. He told me he might have a position in the western territories after we married.”
“Did he ever ask you to sign papers?”
“No.”
“Did he send you money?”
“Only the ring.”