Read Online The Nanny's Little Matchmakers (Love Inspired Historical) by Danica Favorite - Free Book Online Page B

Mercantile, then out the back door of the Mercantile. People probably didn’t even realize the two were connected. He could only hope that the commotion didn’t hurt his brother’s business too much. Iris was expecting another child, and they’d just built a nice house down the road.
    Though no one had seemed to notice Mitch’s departure, he still carefully wound his way through town, taking alleys, backtracking and going the most unlikely routes possible. When he finally arrived at the parsonage, he could hear laughter coming from the backyard.
    Polly opened the front door before he could knock. “Good. You made it. Everyone is waiting for you in the parlor.”
    Everyone? “I thought I told you to keep my family business private.”
    “And I have,” she said, looking him so firmly in the eye that if he were one of the children, he’d obey her immediately. “However, if you think that you’re going to be able to continue to shelter your children from the reporters and those people with the awful signs, then you can’t keep them at the apartment. Uncle Frank has said that we can all stay here until the furor dies down.”
    He should be angry with her. Had every right to be angry with her. Polly MacDonald was so efficient at managing everything around her that she’d forgotten that he was an adult, perfectly capable of managing himself.
    Except in this instance, she was right.
    If they went back to the apartment, the children were bound to see the signs. Were bound to ask questions like, “Did you kill our mummy?” just as Polly had.
    “Thank you,” he finally said. “But I don’t see why everyone needs to be gathered in the parlor over all of this.”
    “Because you’re in a serious situation,” a deep voice behind him said.
    Mitch turned to see a tall man younger than he sporting a badge prominently on his vest.
    “Will Lawson,” he said, holding out his hand as he examined Mitch.
    Mitch shook, wondering what this lawman was going to do in the situation. Polly had mentioned a close family friend being a lawman, but that didn’t mean the man was going to be on his side. None of the lawmen in Denver seemed to care about the truth. Why would this guy be any different?
    “Mitch Taylor, but I suppose you already know that.”
    “Seems to me you’re in a bit of a pickle.”
    “My lawyer is handling things.”
    “Fair enough. But I’m happy to do some investigating of my own.”
    What would Will find that the deputies in Denver hadn’t already found? Supposedly, they’d exhausted every lead, and everything seemed to point right back to Mitch. The last thing he needed was more evidence suggesting he was guilty.
    Back in Denver, Mitch had hired an investigator of his own, a man who promised he’d find something on the real killer. That man now worked for the deputies, claiming there was nothing that said Mitch didn’t do it.
    Mitch swallowed the lump in his throat. “Thank you, but I believe my lawyer has everything in hand. I’d hate to take you from your important work here in Leadville.”
    “It’s no trouble,” Will said, obviously not accepting the easy way out that Mitch had given him.
    What was the other man’s agenda?
    “All the same, I think we’ll be just fine.”
    Actually, they weren’t. That was the trouble. So much evidence was stacked against him, or at least that’s the way it seemed. It didn’t appear to matter that they couldn’t prove that Mitch had been at the murder scene, or that Mitch had any connection to whatever had been used to bludgeon Hattie to death. But that’s what happened when all they really wanted was someone to take the fall so the sheriff looked like a hero.
    Mitch turned to Polly. “I believe you said people were waiting on me.”
    Her brows furrowed as she pursed her lips, but she didn’t argue with him. She meant well, he knew, but Polly didn’t understand what he was up against. What he’d always been up against. People were constantly trying