Snippet : the villain in Ana's WIP

Meet Jonathan Vance:

Jonathan Vance stepped out of the Land and Loan and stared hard at Blade Masters’ back. Masters hadn’t flashed a tin star, and he didn’t carry himself like an itinerant cow-puncher.

According to Ginny at the hotel, he had money in his saddlebags but nothing that identified who he was, or whom he worked for. Maybe he was a gold digger looking for a rich widow. More likely, he was a land speculator, a lone wolf scouting for properties. It took one to know one.

If he was right, Masters would soon discover the Hawkins spread. The property was magnificent. Broken up and resold as neighboring homestead farms, it was worth a medium-sized fortune. More than enough to set up a smart man for the rest of his life.

Vance retreated to his back room, poured himself a whiskey, and swirled it as he studied his image in front of a full-length mirror. Last night, in bed above the Kicking Horse Saloon, Starlie Benoit had suggested a Lincolnesque beard might help him look more like an up-and-coming statesman.

He knew better. A man who wanted to be a state senator didn’t fool with cosmetics. He got himself a landowner’s wife.

He’d hinted about proposing to Starlie to keep from paying for her services, but he’d never taken his eye off Stormy Hawkins. If she didn’t agree to marry him at this Founders Day dance, he’d corral her when she defaulted on her loan.

After that, he’d make her dress right and act like a lady. And on their wedding night, he’d tie her to the bedposts and show her what he really liked.