B.J. Daniels - Rogue Gunslinger

“Who would you like me to sign it to?” she asked, her voice breaking.

He knelt down, realizing he was towering over her, although he suspected that wasn’t the problem. “Silas.” He spelled his name and watched her write it out in her neat penmanship. “I can’t tell you what a thrill this is. From the first time I picked up one of your books, I wanted to meet the woman behind them.”

He saw her pen falter on the page. Those sea green eyes came up to meet his. He smiled and saw her shiver. She quickly looked down and hurriedly signed “Enjoy” and her name. Well, not her name exactly. TJ St. Clair he’d learned was her pen name. Her legal name was Tessa Jane Clementine.

She handed him the book. “I hope you like it.” Her voice was throaty, almost a whisper.

He saw that there was no one behind him since he’d caught her at the end of the signing. “I have enjoyed your books so much. I just had to tell you that.” He started to rise, but stopped. “I know this is probably out of line, but is there some reason I make you so nervous?”

She parted her lips as if to speak. She had a great mouth, he noticed. She quickly closed it for a moment before she spoke. “Is there a reason you should make me nervous?”

“Not that I know of,” he said. “When I saw that you were going to be signing books here, I had hoped...” He shook his head. “You probably don’t accept dates from your readers. I don’t blame you. It’s just that reading your books...well, I feel I know you. That must sound crazy. But you’re why I ended up building a cabin here.” He shrugged. “I’m sorry, you’re probably anxious to leave.” He smiled as he rose. “Maybe we’ll see each other around town. Thank you so much for this,” he said, looking down at the book in his hands. “I’ll treasure it.” He met her gaze. “It was wonderful meeting you.”

* * *

TJ SAT STUNNED as she watched Silas Walker stride over to the checkout counter and pay for his book. She kept thinking about his intense blue eyes and his disarming smile. He knew that he made him nervous. Had he been enjoying that, or was he trying to make her less nervous?

“Well,” Chloe whispered as she rushed over to her. “Is it him?”

For a moment she couldn’t speak. “I have no idea. Apparently, he was going to ask me out but changed his mind.”

Annabelle appeared to hear the last part. She let out a laugh. “So he just wanted a date?”

“He gave you no indication that he might be True Fan?” Chloe demanded.

“None.” And yet... She remembered the way he’d looked into her eyes. What had he been looking for? She shuddered and let out a sigh. “I am so glad this book signing is over.”

“He was at your table for quite a while,” Chloe said, not letting it go. “What else did he say?”

“I don’t know,” TJ said. “My brain was on spin cycle. He said he felt as if he knew me from my books and that was probably crazy. Oh, and that I was the reason he built a cabin here. That is, my books were.”

Annabelle’s eyes went wide. “That doesn’t sound good, but you don’t live here anymore. You live in New York City, so...”

“He didn’t mention saving your life in the city yesterday morning?” Chloe asked.

“No,” TJ said with a shake of her head. “I should have asked him but my suspicions all seemed so ludicrous at the time. He kept looking at me as if...” She shook her head. As if he really just wanted to ask her out? Or something else? She had no idea.

“You knew your True Fan could be charming, right?” Chloe asked. “Maybe you should have accepted the date.”

“No!” Annabelle cried. “What if he is...True Fan?”

“Well, he changed his mind about asking me out, so the point is moot,” she pointed out. “Tommy Harwood asked me out though.” Her sisters gave her a blank look, which confirmed that Tommy had gone through high school as invisible as she had been.

When she described him, Chloe said, “I do remember him vaguely.”

“Kind of getting bald guy with the little potbelly?” Annabelle asked.

“That’s him. He works at the auto shop.”

They both quickly lost interest in him.

“I saw Dot. She hasn’t changed a bit,” Chloe said.

“Joyce Mason apparently works here,” TJ said, keeping her voice down. She thought Joyce might be hiding nearby listening. “She was a little strange.”

Chloe put an arm around her as she got to her feet to leave. “You survived it.”

She smiled. She had. But she was no closer to finding out if one of the people who’d come through the line was True Fan.

“I say we go have some lunch,” Annabelle said.

“It’s that or head straight to the Mint Bar,” Chloe said. “Up to you, Tessa Jane.”

“Didn’t someone say food?” Annabelle asked innocently. “I’m starved.”

Chloe looked to TJ and said, “Food. I’ve never seen you this thin.”

“Yes, we’ll get you some good Montana eats and fatten you right up,” Annabelle agreed. “How about some chicken-fried steak?”

TJ felt her stomach roil at the thought. “Yum.”

Her sisters laughed as they headed out the door. It was a wonderful sound that felt like a much-needed salve. She told herself that her True Fan hadn’t been in Whitehorse today, hadn’t come through the line, hadn’t gone home with her latest book.

And yet she couldn’t help but think about each and every one of the people who’d come through the line, including the young woman who’d been right before Silas Walker. TJ had been distracted, but now that she remembered...

“I signed a book for Nellie Doll,” she said as they started up the street.

Chloe stopped, coming up short. “Lanell? I didn’t see her in the line.”

“She sent her niece to get it for her,” TJ said. “The niece had me sign it ‘to Nellie, just like old times.’”

“That is kind of creepy, isn’t it?” Chloe said. “You and Nellie weren’t friends.”

“No,” TJ said. “Far from it.” She tried to shake off the memory.

“You aren’t thinking that Nellie...” Annabelle was walking backward in front of them, looking from TJ to Chloe and back again.

“That she’s True Fan?” Chloe shook her head. “Anyway, didn’t you say that the letters had been sent from all over the country? I’m betting Nellie’s never been out of the county.”

TJ nodded, remembering the girl Nellie had been in high school. She couldn’t imagine that she’d want to drop so much money on a hardcover book, especially TJ’s.

She tried not to think about True Fan. She had so many amazing readers. Why did one fan have to spoil it? What bothered her was that she really didn’t know whether True Fan was a man or a woman. She’d had several women murderers in her books. In fact, in the book she’d just signed, the antagonist was a woman.

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