“That the sheriff is the most handsome man I’ve ever met,” Tansy said, placing her long, artist’s fingers over her heart.
“The sheriff isn’t interested in a woman ten years his senior,” Aster countered in her blunt fashion.
Faith gritted her teeth. “The only thing the sheriff will be interested in is evicting us from his town.”
“The sheriff loved our flirting,” Iris said.
“Well, I didn’t. I was terrified one of you would go too far and—” She bit her lip to stop her rush of words, but tears welled up in her eyes.
“Oh, dahlin’, don’t do that.” Tansy grasped Faith’s hands. “There’s no need to worry.”
“This is our only chance,” Faith whispered, choked by her emotions. “We have to be careful not to tarnish our reputations.”
“We know that, child.” Tansy parked her hand on her narrow waist. “We only teased the sheriff a bit.” She nodded toward the corner where Cora was plowing a stick through soil. “Not one of us will do a single thing to ruin that little girl’s future.”
Her aunts adored Cora and Adam, and Faith wanted to believe they would behave themselves, but she feared the women had spent too many years working in a brothel to be able to conform to polite society.
“Faith, you were so tense you were making the sheriff suspicious.” Iris grinned with satisfaction. “I just flirted a bit to get him to hook up the gas line.”
“I could have hired a man to do that.”
“With what?” Iris asked. “We each contributed every penny we owned to make the move to Fredonia and set up our business. Other than the few coins in your jar, not one of us has a penny to our name.”
“All the more reason for us to mind our manners and present ourselves as decent, respectable women,” Faith insisted.
“Being respectable isn’t going to put food on our table. The only way we’re going to eat this week,” Iris said, “is to get some paying customers into that bathtub.”
“No.” Faith pressed her palms to her nervous stomach. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to open a bath.”
“Selling herbs won’t earn enough to feed us,” Iris insisted. “Our stock in trade is our ability to make men feel good.”
“That’s exactly what worries me! You know what people will think when they hear we’re giving herbal baths and massages.”
“My growling stomach doesn’t much care,” Aster said, her white eyebrows dipped in a scowl. “I vote for Iris’s plan.”
“Me, too.” Dahlia patted the small paunch beneath her large breasts. “Maybe we weren’t respected while working at the brothel, but at least we ate well.”
Tansy nodded. “What harm can come of giving herbal baths, as long as our patrons wear bathing garments and we don’t give any massages in private?”
“The harm is that one false move, or one nasty rumor, could tear our reputations to shreds, and it’s a risk we can’t afford to take,” Faith said. “We’ve only been here three weeks. Let’s wait a while and see how we do selling herbs.”
“We could afford to wait if one of us had a husband who could provide for us.” Iris arched one ebony eyebrow at Faith. “Maybe you should have flirted with the sheriff.”
“He wouldn’t want a woman like me.”
A sly smile tipped Iris’s lips. “Oh, he wants you.”
Faith heaved an exasperated sigh. “I meant that he wouldn’t want to marry a woman with my past.”
“None of us will get a marriage proposal if we don’t get some men in the door,” Dahlia said. “Believe me, Faith, they won’t come to buy herbs. The only way to get male patrons is to make them feel good.”
“And in turn,” Iris added, “they will make us feel good, which is my first requirement. The second is that the man is handsome. The third is that he’s—”
“Who cares about feeling good?” Aster asked. “I’d be happy with a man who has money and a comfortable home.”
Tansy hugged her arms to her waist. “I would love to hear a man sing again.”
“Bah.” Dahlia patted her buxom cleavage. “Give me a man who’s willing to put his money right here, and I’d spend an hour or two with him.”
Faith threw up her hands and stared at the women. “You are incorrigible! You’re all addicted to men.”
“Not addicted,” Aster said, “just in need. We need money, and we can only get it from the men in town. Without that bath, we’re going to starve.” Aster widened her stance and crossed her arms over her chest. “When was the last time we ate a decent meal?”
It had been at least a month. The week before they left Syracuse they had barely slept, much less eaten a decent meal. But their goal had been to stay alive and to get out of town before Judge Stone returned and stripped them of everything they owned. Faith and her aunts had pooled their money and hired a local livery owner to secretly transport the contents of their greenhouse to Fredonia. In addition to paying his enormous fee, Faith had to buy the grist mill and pay a carpenter to install the huge windows in the first floor. They were broke, out of food, and out of options.
“All right,” she said, heaving a defeated sigh. “I suppose we have no other choice. But you four must promise to be on your best behavior.”
“Fine,” Iris said, “but don’t you forget your part of our bargain. You promised to use your pretty face to get a marriage proposal from a man who can protect us from Judge Stone.”
“Surely you don’t expect me to marry one of those men who proposed to me?” Faith shuddered, remembering the rangy, leather-faced man who’d caught her in the yard while they were first moving plants into the greenhouse. He had kindly carried in several flats of herbs, but he was twice her age and dense as a brick. A young store owner had offered her credit if she would allow him to court her, but his intense interest in the bodice of her dress sent her from the store empty-handed.
“Dahlin’, I wouldn’t let you cross the street with either of those men,” Tansy said, “but I’d push you straight into the marriage bed with that handsome sheriff.”
“Are you insane? The last person I want snooping around here is a lawman.”
“But who better to have defending our lives than the sheriff?” Iris gave her a bold wink. “Can you imagine having a man like him in your bed?”
Yes, she could. In one short visit she’d noticed too much about the handsome sheriff. He was a take-charge man, a man in control of himself, a sharp-eyed investigator aware of everything around him. His dark eyes had sized her up within seconds of their introduction. His smile said he liked what he saw, but she sensed a fierce resolve in him that scared her to death.
END
For more of Duke Grayson's story read KISSING IN THE DARK by Wendy Lindstrom
Electronic Books by Wendy Lindstrom
Historical Romances:
Shades of Honor
The Longing
Lips That Touch Mine
Kissing in the Dark
Author's Note:
Fredonia, New York is the site of the first Women's Christian Temperance Union, formed December 22, 1873. The women of Fredonia are credited with being one of the first women's groups to visit saloons to protest the dangers of alcohol.
Much of my research on the temperance movement in Fredonia came from the Fredonia Censor newspaper; however, I was unable to determine a definitive outcome of the marches. The temperance marches began on December 14, 1873 with great fervor. By August 1874, the Censor writes that "...enthusiasm has abated somewhat of its zeal." An article in the Evening Observer (March 30, 1891) references a visit by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) to Fredonia in August 1874, wherein Mr. Twain was purported irritated by his "...inability to find a drink in temperance-happy Fredonia."
For the sake of historical accuracy, please note that the sheriff of Fredonia in 1873-1874 was Sheriff Hitchcock, the Pemberton Inn was not a saloon, Wreinsler Saloon did not exist, and there was no mention of a boycott taking place in Fredonia. Most importantly, my s
ources did not mention any incidents of violence taking place during the marches in Fredonia.
The small liberties I've taken with the setting and history of Fredonia are meant to heighten the excitement and fun of this story. I hope you enjoy Claire and Boyd's story.
—W.L.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter 1, KISSING IN THE DARK
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Lips That Touch Mine Page 37
