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it would do any good!” Jennie inhaled deeply and told herself not to raise her voice. She felt as if she had wrapped herself tightly, but the bindings were beginning to unravel. What she needed was a good cry, but that was out of question in front of Oliver. She had to remain in control for her son’s sake. She exhaled slowly and balled her hands in her lap. “This woman married
my
husband and she has control of
my
future. Don’t you think it wouldn’t behoove both of us to talk about it?”
    “Look here, Mrs. Hastings,” Zach said. “Luna can be – contrary. You don’t want to barge in and make demands or you will just be stirring a hornet’s nest. Let me talk to her and see how she reacts. If she doesn’t fly into a spitting rage and tell me to go shake hands with the devil, then I will suggest a meeting.”
    “I’m not planning on making demands, so what has she got to be contrary about?” Jennie asked. “She is holding all the cards, as I see it. And you two gentlemen almost seem to be afraid of her!”
    “I’m not afraid of Luna,” Zach drawled. “I’m being reasonable and keeping a cool head, which is what I’m asking you to do, as well. Let me handle this my way and we should have some kind of resolution by the end of the week. I know you can’t remain in limbo here, Mrs. Hastings. You and your son deserve a swift answer so that you can either claim the land or go back to Missouri.”
    “We aren’t going back there,” Jennie said, casting him a cool glare. “We have taken a room at the Philpot Boarding House and I will be looking for work in Guthrie.”
    “What?” both men exclaimed in unison, although Adam Polk’s voice was an octave higher than Zach Warner’s.
    “That’s right.” She retrieved her gloves and slipped them on, smoothing the soft lace over the back of her hands and between her fingers. “I still intend to take residence on the land Charles purchased. However, in the meantime, I can’t spend every dollar I have while I wait for Polk and Warner to untie all the knots left by my hus — Charles. I do want you to make quick work of this, Mr. Warner, but I’m not going anywhere.” She turned slightly in the chair so that she could bestow a knowing smile on him. “So, don’t get any ideas about sending me packing so that you can put this business behind you and get on with your next dissolution of marriage. You’re stuck with me.”
    You’re stuck with me.
    Those words buzzed in Zach’s head as he rode Mercy slowly along the streets of Guthrie. He didn’t mind one bit being stuck with Jennie Caldwell Hastings. Any man in his right mind would be glad to be in her company. She was a beauty; smart and spirited. What Charles Hastings was thinking when he petitioned to be shed of her was anybody’s guess.
    What bothered Zach most was that Jennie Hastings obviously thought that he saw her as a thorn in his side. Usually, people he worked for were happy with the outcome he wrangled for them in court. Most of them came to Guthrie as a last resort. They were trapped in a bad marriage and were desperate to escape from it. Some of them were teary-eyed at having to call it quits, but the vast majority were dancing jigs and buying him drinks when the gavel ended their ordeal.
    Divorced. In Guthrie, that was a beautiful pronouncement and it was the reason Zach had left Kentucky to seek his fortune in Indian Territory. At present, he was one of about ninety lawyers in Guthrie, a town that barely existed until the Land Run of 1889. Overnight it had grown to ten thousand people.
    Jennie Hastings wasn’t going to be happy with the outcome of this case, Zach thought as he rocked back and forth in the saddle. She would not be in a dancing mood or want to buy him a shot of whiskey. He didn’t think there was much chance that anyone could charm, shame, or berate Luna Lee into relinquishing her hold on the ranch she’d inherited.
    Zach slowed Mercy to a walk as they drew near the