‘I wish I were. But I can’t be, unless you allow me to be.’

‘How am I preventing you?’

She set down her fork. ‘You’re preventing me by refusing to tell me how you’re going to persuade Laurence Melford to approve the railroad. For goodness sake, Collis, it was my idea to come to San Francisco in the first place. The least you can do is tell me what you have in mind. I might be able to improve on it.’

Collis paused, and then he said, ‘I doubt it.’

‘How can you doubt it until I’ve had the opportunity of trying?’

Collis wiped his mouth with his napkin. ‘Hannah, my dearest, I don’t think you completely understand. Laurence Melford is more than a rival — more than a Southern businessman with an antiquated point of view about railroads. He’s a rich, ruthless, and very powerful enemy. He wouldn’t stop at anything to keep the transcontinental railroad from crossing the Sierras, not just because he believes it threatens his wealth and his influence, but because he knows that it will wreck the whole world as he knows it. He’s frightened, as well as angry, and that’s what makes him so formidable.’

‘I appreciate all of that,’ said Hannah. ‘But isn’t that all the more reason why you should seek from me all the assistance you can? If he’s so formidable, if he’s so ruthless, surely it makes sense for you to confide in me?’

Collis pushed aside his plate of shrimp. He had a fragment stuck between his teeth, and it took him a moment to worry it out. Then he said, ‘Under normal circumstances, Hannah, I’d agree with you.’

‘But these circumstances aren’t normal?’

‘My plan isn’t — altogether normal.’

‘You mean it’s illegal?’ she wanted to know.

He gave her a quick, embarrassed smile. ‘Let’s just say that it skirts around the law as it’s generally understood.’

‘Like the blanket affair?’

Collis nodded. ‘A little like that, yes.’

She reached across the table and held his hand, her fingertips touching his wedding band.

‘I think you believe me to be far more sensitive and shockable than I really am,’ she said. ‘I’m a Catholic believer, and I try to live my life by the Good Book, but the Lord is as practical and sensible as anyone here on earth. He knows that men have to trade and do business to better the life of the community; and unless what you’re planning to do is harmful or hurtful, I’m sure He’s capable of forgiving. Or at least of understanding.’

Collis laid his hand over hers.