Fairest in the West- Chapter Six:

Dalton didn’t believe her, of course. Henry White was a respected man and his wife didn’t seem the type to go around trying to kill people. But then there was a terror in her eyes he couldn’t ignore. She seemed genuinely afraid for her life.

The only explanation was that she was soft in the head. Surely that was the case.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean it,” he said, disregarding how stupid it sounded. “And I’m sure she and your pa are very worried about you right now.”

“Probably not,” she said with a shake of her head. “Delilah thinks I’m dead and she no doubt told Daddy I’m visiting friends so he won’t worry himself sick about me.”

“If she tried to kill you why don’t you talk to the sheriff?” he asked, wondering why she wasn’t in town being someone else’s problem instead of here being his.

“He’s the one who she had try to kill me,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I promised him if he let me go he’d never see me again, so you can see why I can’t exactly go talk to him about any of this.”

Sheriff Hunter wasn’t exactly a pillar of virtue but Dalton also didn’t think him the type to attempt to murder innocent girls.

“Is that so?” was all he said, though his expression said more, showing the skepticism he hid from his voice.

She looked a little hurt for a moment, her face filling with pain and sorrow. “It’s because he’s sweet on Delilah. Most everyone is.” Her expression changed to one of horror. “You’re not sweet on her, are you?”

The woman was a shameless flirt with no respect for her marriage vows or the sanctity of what they represented. She flaunted herself in front of any man who happened to look in her direction and he found it disgusting. But he wouldn’t say that, not to Snow. The woman was her stepmother, after all.

So all he said was, “She’s a bit old for me.”

She laughed at that, her expression filling with mirth. It transformed her face and it was then that Dalton realized just how stunning the girl really was. “Don’t let her hear you say that. She likes to pretend she’s not a day over twenty-two, even though I happen to know she’s thirty-one.” The smile disappeared into a frown. “Not that it matters. All the cowhands think she’s an angel and everyone falls for her, sooner or later.” She looked up and met his eyes. “She is a very beautiful woman, you have to admit.”

It was true; Delilah White was considered one of the most beautiful women in the territory. Dalton didn’t much get the hype but then the few times he had seen the woman it had been in passing and he’d been too put off by her flirting and her charms to truly notice the package that was being offered.

But again, he saw no reason to say any of that to Snow. So he simply said, “I suppose she is.”

“So, you see why I can’t go back,” she said.

He shook his head, unable to follow her twisted reasoning. “What does your stepmother’s being pretty have to do with anything?”

“That’s why she wanted to kill me,” she said, exasperated, as if she thought he hadn’t been listening to a word she’d been saying. He had been listening. She just wasn’t making sense. “You see, everyone thinks she’s the most beautiful woman. They all love her. But she’s scared I’m going to take that away from her now that I’m getting older. Mama was so pretty, you understand, and people say I look like her and if that’s true, what with Delilah getting older, it’s possible that people will think I’m prettier than her and she can’t have that. So she tried to have me killed.”

Dalton wasn’t sure if this girl was just plain crazy or if she really thought so much of herself. He decided on the former since woman didn’t generally go around killing other woman simply because people thought they were prettier.

She was definitely out of her head.

Which was why he needed to get her home as soon as possible. No wonder Mrs. White had kept the girl away from people most of her life. She probably didn’t want folks to know something was wrong with her.

“I really think you should go home,” he said.

She shook her head, her jaw set in a stubborn line. “I’m not going back. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do before I came here but now I know. It’s obvious you need me here so I’ve decided to make you and the boys my purpose in life.”