With Autumn's Return (Westward Winds Book #3): A Novel Read Online Free Page B

think you knew he was guilty but took the case to make a name for yourself.”
    Jason clenched his fists, releasing them slowly. He should have expected that reaction. After all, not everyone in Cheyenne knew him personally. Those who did not had no way of knowing that he would never have accepted Adam Bennett as a client had he thought the man had murdered his wife.
    “You know better than that.” Too agitated to sit, Jason began to pace the room. “It’s true that Bennett deserved a defense. Everyone does. But if he’d told me the truth, I wouldn’t have defended him. I’d have advised him to plead guilty and accept his punishment.”
    Leaning back in his chair, Richard raised an eyebrow. “Do you think he would have agreed, knowing that he’d be facing a noose?”
    Jason shook his head and continued his pacing. “You’reprobably right. A man who’d kill his wife—especially the way he did—and then lie about it wouldn’t be willing to pay the price.” When he reached the far wall, Jason turned and faced Richard. “You know what bothers me even more than the fact that he lied?” It was a rhetorical question, and so Jason did not wait for a response. “Adam Bennett showed no remorse. To the contrary, he seemed proud of the fact that he’d killed Helen. If that isn’t evil, I don’t know what is.”
    The lines that formed between Richard’s eyes told Jason he agreed. “That didn’t sit well with a lot of folks. They don’t think a murderer deserves to live.”
    “And they blame me.”
    Never one to mince words, Richard nodded. “Some do. You might want to avoid public gatherings for the next couple days. Let the hotheads cool down a bit.”
    “If I want to get beat up, I can always go next door.” The instant the words were out of his mouth, Jason regretted them. He didn’t want to think about Dr. Harding, and he most definitely did not want to talk about her.
    “You’ve met the doctor?”
    His lips tightening at the memory of their meeting, Jason said, “It was one of the less pleasant events of the day, and considering what happened with Adam Bennett, that’s saying a great deal.”
    Richard was silent for a moment, his expression pensive as he stared at Jason. “I’m surprised. I’ve never met her myself, but Miriam says the doctor is charming.”
    “She wasn’t charming to me.” As memories of her sharp retorts whirled through his brain, Jason glared at Richard. “Some friend you are. You knew the doctor was a woman, but you didn’t tell me.”
    “Didn’t I? It must have slipped my mind.” Richard’s feigned innocence irritated Jason almost as much as the way Dr. Harding had pronounced the word “counselor” when she’d addressed him.
    “A likely story.”
    A shrug was Richard’s response. He crossed his ankles, appearing to relax. “I’m going to make up for my previous lapse,” he said, his voice as smooth as Dr. Harding’s skin had looked. “Miriam and I are planning a party to welcome the new doctor to Cheyenne, and—”
    Jason wouldn’t let him finish the sentence. “Why on earth are you doing that?” He was annoyed as much by the fact that his thoughts continued to stray to his acerbic neighbor as by Richard and Miriam’s plans.
    “It’s simple. She’s Charlotte Landry’s sister.”
    “Barrett’s wife?” Everyone in Cheyenne knew of Barrett Landry, the cattle baron whose name had been mentioned more than once as a senatorial candidate. Jason had even heard speculation that he was planning to marry Miriam Taggert at one point. That must have been idle gossip, for Richard had married Miriam and not too long afterward, Barrett had announced his engagement to a woman named Charlotte. “Barrett’s wife is the doctor’s sister?”
    “One and the same. Before she married Barrett, most of Cheyenne’s women knew her as Madame Charlotte. Her last name was Harding, though she didn’t use it very often.”
    That explained why Jason had made no connection