Page 64 of Fairest of Heart

Coy turned from the stove to point a spatula in her direction. “You go sit down, Miss Penny. We’ll take care of everything this morning. You been pamperin’ us plenty. It’s time we return the favor.”

“That’s right.” Ike came up beside her and steered her toward the foot of the table. “The kettle’s full. I’ll set some tea to steeping for you.”

“But—”

“No buts, young lady,” Doc said as he rose from his place at the table to hold out her chair. “You’ve had an extremely trying few days. Persistent stress like this takes a toll on a body. Even one as young and healthy as yours. You need rest, my dear, and your body knows it. That’s why you slept so hard this morning.” He waited for her to move in front of the chair, then scooted it up to the table as she lowered herself to the seat. “The boys and I have decided that today will be a Penelope Snow holiday. You aren’t to lift a finger.”

“But the laundry needs to be ironed, the rugs need a beating, and I have a mound of mending waiting.”

“All of that will keep,” Doc insisted with a stern, fatherly look that warned her against protesting. “Today is a day of rest. Doctor’s orders.”

She glanced around the table. Five heads nodded their agreement to Doc’s decree. Five. Not six. Her heart stuttered. “Where’s Rowdy?”

Had he run off again? She’d promised to make him a big flapjack breakfast, then she’d slept right through her window of opportunity.

She turned to Doc and gripped his hand. “I need Rowdy to show me where the gems are. Titus is counting on me.”

Coy set a heaping platter of flapjacks in the center of the table. “Don’t you worry none about Rowdy, Miss Penny.” He peeked sideways at her, then turned to stare at the tabletop the instant she met his gaze. “I saw him afore he left. He promised to be home for lunch. There’ll be plenty of time to hunt them jewels this afternoon.”

Ike retrieved the stack of plates Penelope had removed from the cabinet and began handing them out around the table. “I think it would be safer for her to stay at the house,” he said. “That Hunt fellow could be out there somewhere, waiting for another chance to strike.” He set a plate in front of Penelope, and his kind eyes met hers. “With Titus gone, I’d feel better if you stayed close to home where we can look after you.” He turned to the rest of the men. “Half of us can go with Rowdy, half can stay here. Just in case trouble comes.”

All the nodding heads chafed Penelope’s hard-won independence. Did they not see the double standard? Rowdy was out there alone right now, and no one seemed anxious on his behalf.

“I gave Titus my word,” she insisted. “It’s because of me that this trouble is at your door, and while I welcome your offer of protection, I won’t hide from what needs to be done. Rowdy’s out there unprotected. If you think it safe enough for him to gallivant around, surely it can’t be too dangerous for me to go out with an armed escort.”

Doc dipped his chin and shot a look at her over the rim of his glasses. “Hunt has no reason to suspect that Rowdy knows anything about the jewels. You, on the other hand, are his prime target.”

“Not me exactly. He wants the corset.”

The corset. A thread of an idea began to weave through her mind.

“Well, he wants the jewels inside the corset,” Doc corrected. “Jewels that are no longer there.”

“But he doesn’t know that.” Excitement swelled in Penelope’s breast as the wisp of an idea solidified into a viable plan. “I could repair the tear and sew small rocks and beads back into that boning channel. It would feel the same. Look the same.” She glanced over at Jeb. “We could use the corset like one of your fishing lures. Hang it on the clothesline and leave it unattended. He could grab it and run without having to threaten any of us.”

Doc scratched at his chin. “Does Titus need the corset as evidence?”

“I don’t think so. He would have taken it with him if he thought it important. There’s nothing to prove it’s hers besides my testimony that I retrieved it from her trunk. Mildred could corroborate, I suppose, but Madame could easily claim that I stashed it in her trunk, since I had regular access to her luggage.”

“Hmmpf.”

Choosing to interpret that cryptic grunt as Doc conceding to her logic, Penelope discarded the notion that Titus might need the corset as evidence and returned to selling her scheme to the skeptics in the room. “Mr. Hunt really isn’t a violent man by nature. He could have killed me the night he tied me to the tree, but he didn’t. If we give him an easy way to get what he wants, he’ll take it.”

“Say he does,” Doc countered. “What happens when he discovers he’s been tricked? That LaBelle woman will know you have the jewels, and it won’t matter if Hunt has a violent nature or not. You’ll be her target, and if Hunt won’t go after you, she’ll find someone else who will.”

He wasn’t wrong, but to her way of thinking, it was a gamble worth taking. “It would buy us time,” she argued. “Time for Titus to make an arrest, or at the very least to return to the Diamond D.” Doc didn’t look convinced. “What’s the alternative?” she asked gently. “Keep me locked in the house until Titus gets those two behind bars?”

“I’m not averse to that plan,” Doc grumbled.

Penelope laughed. “Well, I am.”

Doc heaved a sigh, and Penelope held her breath, hoping capitulation would follow. Hunt might not be out there waiting for a chance to invade the Diamond D again, but if he was, she wanted to give him an excuse to leave peacefully. She couldn’t bear for one of her new grandfathers to get caught in Hunt’s crossfire if things escalated. Doc and the others might believe it their duty to safeguard her, but she had a protective duty, too. These men were her family, and while she might not possess the skills to take up arms in their defense, she possessed other talents. If she could shield them with a patched corset and her wits, then that’s what she was going to do.

The righteousness of her cause swelled within her chest, straightening her posture and lifting her chin. Oddly enough, the change in her did not deflate Doc’s demeanor. His own posture straightened, but not in challenge. No, there was a different light altogether dancing in his eyes, one accompanied by a small smile that arched Penelope’s eyebrows.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Doc said. “I’ll agree to your undergarment subterfuge if you promise to stay at the house this afternoon while half of us search out Rowdy’s hiding place.”

She hesitated, still wanting to be the one who retrieved the jewels from wherever Rowdy had hidden them, but protecting the Diamond D men was more important than impressing Titus with a handful of recovered gems.