Rescuing The Wildcat

by Angela Lain

  “I will be going to Radnor Spring tomorrow,” he stated softly but firmly.

  Reuben opened his mouth to protest, saw the look on his face, glanced at his daughter, and shut his mouth again. Jared was grateful his friend showed restraint. He didn’t want to argue, because this was breaking his heart, but he had to leave.

  Kanti stood up. “I think I will go to bed now. Good night.”

  “See you in the morning.” Jared watched her leave, so controlled, so accepting of the death of something which had never really had the chance to start.

  ***

  Jared rose early the next morning, as he did every day. He rolled and packed his blankets and took them outside to the stables when he went out with Rueben.

  “So you are resolved to leave?”

  “Rueben, my friend, I have no choice. It’s best I go before things get… even more complicated.”

  “You can’t go before breakfast. Wait, fill your belly and say good bye.”

  Jared glanced at the door, “Maybe I should go right now.”

  “And maybe not. You know I don’t want it, nor does Kanti.”

  “You know I have to leave because of her. She is … too lovely, too... tempting.”

  “I know you would never overstep the mark.”

  “That’s not the point. I like her, a great deal; I think she likes me. But it can’t happen. I have to go home, do you honestly think she could come with me? Leave here? Leave you? You called her a wildcat; how could I expect a wildcat to be happy in England, in what would amount to a gilded cage?”

  Reuben sighed and patted his shoulder. “I hadn’t looked at it that way. Could be you are right.”

  “I know I’m right. I need to go before it gets even harder.”

  “Breakfast?”

  “All right, but then I must away, immediately. No more delays.”

  He saddled Topper and Dusty and left everything ready so he could leave immediately he had eaten.

  They returned to the house to eat the breakfast Kanti had prepared. She said little, merely sat and picked at her food, and cleared the plates when they had finished.

  Jared tried to stick to his plan, he would go, speedily, the longer he remained the harder this was.

  “Thank you for your hospitality, friend.” He shook Reuben’s hand firmly. Then he turned to Kanti, she was now watching him. He stepped towards her and she held out her hand as her father had done.

  “Good bye,” she murmured simply.

  Jared took her hand and lifted it to his lips to kiss her knuckles, as he would have done a fine lady back in England. She blushed and dropped her eyes.

  “Good bye, Kanti. It’s been… lovely.”

  He dropped her hand, spun around and headed out of the door before he said something stupid. He was on his horse and away in a matter of moments. Rueben stood at the door and waved, of Kanti there was no sign.

  ***

  She could hear the hoof beats as he trotted away along the beaten track, the snow couldn’t muffle that desolate sound. Maybe she should have stood on the veranda and waved good bye in a polite fashion, but if she had she might have disgraced herself. She would have cried, she might even have run after him and begged him not to leave. Never before had she felt like this about a man. It was more, even, that she felt for her father. Of course she loved Papa, but that was something constant and comfortable. This feeling was… wild, it made her nervous, and excited, and now it made her wretched. Her heart hurt.

  She scrubbed at the pan in the sink. She felt her father behind her.

  “Kanti…”

  “Don’t.”

  “But…”

  “No, don’t. I can’t talk about it. I know you will tell me it is for the best. I know it was impossible; he has obligations, and a life that cannot include me. But knowing that doesn’t make it any easier. Please, just leave me be.”

  She heard her father move away, and then the door closed.

  She moved to the table and sat, dropped her head into her arms and cried.

  CHAPTER SIX

  December 18th

  J ared covered the fifteen miles to Radnor Spring in two hours, the snow lay around, but it was not impassable.

  He rode along the main street to see what there was to offer. There were a number of small businesses including a barbers, which he would make use of as soon as he had settled Topper and Dusty. There was a bank, a boarding house and a saloon, The Black Ace, which sat in the center of the buildings. Kanti had told him the hotel she worked in was at the far end of the main street. She had said her ex-employer would not accommodate him, but he was going to ask anyhow.

  He installed the horses in the livery stable, left most of his gear with the livery owner, and walked along the street to see what he could see.

  He walked into the barbers for a shave and a haircut, the barber was chatty, but he didn’t feel much like opening up to the man. He was well aware that he was just going through the motions, doing what he had to do. His mind was back there at the homestead, with a girl who would never be his.

  He stepped from the barber’s shop wondering what he should do next. He needed to wire Eddie and explain that he was well, but delayed by the winter, so he went to the telegraph office to do exactly that. He kept facts to the minimum, he would write a letter later today and explain things a little better.

  After he had sent the wire, he stood and looked aimlessly along the street. He should find accommodation; frankly, he wouldn’t much care if he slept with his horses this night, anywhere would seem lonely.

  His eye fell on the saloon sign, maybe a good stiff drink would buck him up. He pushed the door open and strode in, it was mid-afternoon and already there were a number of men sitting and drinking and playing cards to pass the time. He walked up to the bar.

  “What can I get you, sir?”

  He opened his mouth to demand whisky, but changed his mind at the last second.

  “A beer, please.”

  Coin changed hands, and he leaned on the bar and surveyed his fellow drinkers.

  He couldn’t help but over hear the talk.

  “Yeah, he rode out this morning. Never did like that Forncett. I heard he came here for a girl, left without one. The girl is down at Mrs. Hislop’s now.”

  “He was asking about McGrath’s girl. She left town last week.”

  Jared straightened and headed for the table.

  “What did you say?”

  “Excuse me? Do I know you?” The man squinted at him.

  “No, but I heard what you said. Who was looking for McGrath’s girl? Reuben McGrath is a friend of mine.”

  “Oh, right. That Mr. High and Mighty Forncett was asking after her. I told him she went home.”

  “Does he know where home is?” Jared demanded.

  “How should I know?” the man shrugged.

  Jared wanted to hit him, but he restrained the urge, getting himself arrested would help no-one. He turned and left the saloon without finishing his beer. He headed for the end of the road, intending to speak with Kanti’s former employer. Maybe she knew what was occurring.

  As he came to the Sheriff’s office he detoured in to discover if the man knew anything.

  ***

  “Mr. Forncett? Asking after the McGrath girl, you say? Come to think of it, I did hear her being discussed in the saloon yesterday, I wasn’t aware that Forncett had asked about her, but someone did. Of course, if Forncett was after her, it would hardly be a surprise.”

  “Meaning?” Jared snapped.

  “Girl like that, Indian blood, can’t expect much else than a life on her back.”

  Jared didn’t even think, he was across the room and had the sheriff by the front of his coat, about to drag him over the desk.

  “Hey, whoa a minute! Hang on stranger,” the sheriff blustered. “I’m the law around here. You can’t…”

  “I can, and I am! And I would thank you not to malign the girl I’m going to marry!”

  “Marr
y?” the sheriff yelped. “The McGrath girl?”

  “Yes! She will be my wife and come back to England with me.”

  It had taken Jared just two seconds to decide. He had thought he couldn’t take Kanti away to a life about which she knew nothing. But he couldn’t leave her here, to a life where she was considered worthless because of her native blood.

  He released the sheriff’s coat. “Maybe I shouldn’t react that way, but you provoked me. Now tell me what I need to know about Forncett. Is it right that he runs a brothel? Does he make a habit of taking girls against their will?”

  The man made a show of straightening his clothing. “Yes, Mr. Forncett runs the cat house over at Files Crossing, and he has plenty of girls. No idea where he gets them, but…” he grimaced. “Come to think of it, Miss McGrath came to me a week or so back, with money to give to Mr. Forncett. She said it was payment from a young woman who owed Mr. Forncett for her travel ticket. I didn’t give it much thought, just paid the man. Maybe he had paid her to come here? I wouldn’t think him beyond taking a girl, particularly when the girl is… well…”

  “Of mixed blood!” Jared stated softly.

  “Yeah, well, they find it hard to make a go of things, men might want them, but not as wives. Everyone in town was surprised when Mrs. Hislop employed her, but the lady was new to this town, and didn’t know the way things were in this area.”

  Jared gave a grunt of disgust. “If that’s the way you all think, I shall be glad to leave this place. I had thought it a decent area, but all people deserve proper treatment!”

  The decision had been made, he had to go back to the homestead and ensure Kanti was well, then he had to take her away from all this.

  He hurried out of the sheriff’s office and back along the main street. No point in speaking with her former-employer, he knew what he needed to know. Maybe he was making a whole lot too much of this, but he wasn’t going to take the chance! Poor Topper looked most indignant at having his rest interrupted at almost supper time. He gathered his belongings saddled up and left the town at a lope some half an hour later.

  ***

  Kanti’s day had gone from bad to worse. Her father had come in for lunch and tried to talk with her, she had blanked it out. While they were talking, or rather he was talking and she was trying not to listen, they didn’t hear the approach of a horse.

  There was a knock on the door.

  Reuben jumped to his feet, Kanti was fairly sure he believed Jared had returned, she had to admit, she hoped for it, too.

  If only.

  To her horror the man on the doorstep was not Jared. Instead it was a man she had hoped to never see again.

  Mr. Bradley Forncett.

  “Good day to you, sir. I don’t suppose I could get a cup of coffee on this cold day?”

  If she’d had the chance, she would have said no, and very loudly. Unfortunately her father, welcoming as ever to a stranger, stood back and allowed him entry.

  “Kanti, pour our guest a good hot cup.”

  Kanti did as she was asked, silently and as unobtrusively as she could. She slid the mug across the table rather than go around to stand at his side. Little good it did, his eyes had been on her from the moment he entered the room.

  “Where are you heading, my man?”

  “North, possibly on to California.”

  “A bit late in the year,” Rueben observed.

  “Maybe I will get on the rail road.” He looked directly at Kanti. “Maybe San Francisco. Maybe you would like to come with me?”

  She backed towards the stove. “No, thank you.”

  Her father looked startled, glancing over to her in a questioning fashion. That was his undoing, the moment his eyes were avert from Forncett, the man attacked.

  He was a big man, despite his dandified appearance he knew exactly what he was doing. He knocked her father to the floor and kicked him, hard. Kanti grabbed a pan off the stove and waded in to rescue her father; much good it did. Forncett was probably twice her weight. He back handed her and she flew across the room, hitting herself on the stove.

  By the time she struggled to her feet, her father was lying unconscious on the floor. Forncett launched at her and grabbed, once he had her there was little chance of escape. Had she been outside, she would have had her knife in her coat pocket, here in the house she had no weapon to hand. He subdued her in seconds, binding her wrists with a rawhide thong from his pocket.

  “Gotcha. They told me you were a wild one. Good thing I was prepared for you.” He shook her. “I’ll teach you not to try hitting me with a pan.”

  “What do you expect?” she spat, trying to struggle.

  He didn’t bother remonstrating with her, he hit her again, so hard that her head spun and she saw stars.

  The next thing she knew she was out of the house and thrown onto his horse. Before she could think, they were away.

  She felt sick. Was her father dead? Would she soon be dead? Or was her fate even worse?

  ***

  Jared arrived at the homestead as darkness was falling. There was no light at the window and precious little smoke from the chimney. Worse still, when he mounted the veranda the door stood ajar. The cold wind howled; disaster had already struck.

  Reuben McGrath lay on the floor beside the table. Jared knelt at his side, afraid his good friend was dead, but when he touched him, Rueben groaned softly.

  “Reuben. Talk to me. Where does it hurt? Are you shot?”

  “Jared? You came back? Thank the Lord you came back.”

  “Tell me, where are you hurt? Can you get up?”

  “Ahh, my head, and my ribs. The cur dog kicked me. And, my leg, he stamped on my leg. I don’t know…”

  “What happened Reuben? Why did you let him in?”

  “He was a traveler, asked for coffee. Kanti wasn’t exactly welcoming, but she’s been a bit sad all day… Where is she?”

  “Exactly what I was about ask you! I am afraid he has taken her.”

  “Taken her? But…”

  “Tell me what happened, Reuben. Exactly what happened, and what he said. What did he look like? Did he give you a name?”

  “No, I don’t think we got to names. He was a big, brash, good-looking sort of fella, with slicked back hair and a mustache. He seemed pleasant enough but…”

  The description told Jared exactly what he needed to know. Kanti had described him in the same fashion.

  “That was him. Bradley Forncett. The man who rejected the mail-order girl. The reason Kanti came home early. Did she not tell you about him?”

  “No, I thought… she said another girl needed her job.”

  “Yes, that girl. And Forncett was the one who ordered her, apparently for reasons not associated with marriage.”

  He helped Reuben to his feet, not an easy task, because he could not put weight on his left leg.

  “Arghh, it hurts something wicked.” Reuben moaned.

  Jared suspected it was fractured, he needed a doctor. But what was he to do? Any doctor was miles away, while, as far as he could make out, Kanti was a prisoner, and being taken in the other direction. Surely if Forncett had headed back to town with her, he would have seen or heard something while on the trail?

  He needed to get after Kanti as soon as possible, but that was likely to be first light. Did he ride for a doctor?

  “He’s got my girl? You say he gets girls for evil purposes? Is that what you meant?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you have to go after her, right now.”

  “I want to, but… what about your leg? And a doctor? And it’s dark as pitch out there!”

  “Not for long. The moon will be up in a couple of hours. You go then. Please, Jared. You have to save my girl. Go after her, get her back. He will ruin her, he might even kill her because she will fight him.”

  Jared didn’t bother to point out she was ruined whatever happened. Even if the man never touched her, no-one would believe her. Not that it mattered now, when he f
ound her he would marry her, no matter what.

  “Please, Jared. Save her.”

  “I will my friend, but I worry about you.”

  “I’m old enough to look after myself. Even if it’s broke, it will heal. Maybe not as well as if the doc came, but people have to deal with things like that out here. Go after her.”

  Jared gave in. “I will go when the moon comes up. You sit here, I need to feed and water the horses. I will need Topper in a couple of hours. Then I will come back and make you a bed, and food, and coffee.”

  “And maybe a crutch,” Rueben added.

  Jared threw wood onto the almost dead fire and hurried back to tend his horses.

  His mind was running in circles. Of all the situations he’d ever been in, this was the most desperate. Reuben was right, he had to get her back.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  K anti had no idea how far they had come, thrown across the front of the saddle as she was, she was almost crushed between his body and the saddle horn. At first she had thought to throw herself off, but the rocky terrain had frightened her. As they had ridden further it became clear to her that he would not loosen his hold enough for her to even try it.

  His body pressed on her.

  It made her feel sick to think he was pressed against her, closer than she’d even imagined a lover would be. When that thought crossed her mind, she felt sicker than ever. He had leered at her outside the saloon, he wanted her for her body, how long before he forced himself on her?

  Finally they came to a halt.

  “Now girl, if you behave I will let you ride the other horse.”

  He pushed her from the saddle and she landed in a heap on the cold, snow covered ground.

  Kanti struggled against the ties on her wrists, furious that she could be so ineffective in her efforts to escape.