“Hurry up. We don’t know who’s fighting or whether any of them are after us, but I’d guess it’s good ol’ Hannibal Hank. In fact, he could be faking a gun battle just to throw us off guard.” He hopped down and checked his weapons.
She took her derringer and the box of ammo. Before she climbed into the bed of the wagon, she removed her petticoats, lifted her skirt and tied it around her waist. “If they shoot the wagon, I’m not staying.”
He nodded. “Reasonable. Just keep low and don’t get lost.” He filled his pockets with cartridges.” Keep the canteen with you just in case.”
“In case of what?”
But Reese had no time for conversation, and ran down the road to a boulder just before the S-curve where there was a couple acres of flat land with piles of basalt boulders on either side. Perfect spot for an ambush. Men grunted and the sound of flesh meeting bone told him the fight was on.
“Charley, behind you!” one of the thugs who’d held them up earlier yelled. Hank turned and fired just as Midas charged him. Hit! Blood flowed down Midas’s arm, slowing him down just long enough for Hank to mount up and ride off.
Titus held his own against three men, but Reese entered the fray. He caught a man falling back and threw him on top of another, knocking one of Titus’s foes down. The big Swede could easily take care of two.
Reese ran over to help Midas, who, although shot in the shoulder, took on two of Hank’s men. One had a knife. Reese ran at him from the side and kicked the knife into the air. The outlaw turned and ran. When the other man saw he was alone in the fight, ran for his horse. Midas took after him but Reese yelled at him to hold up.
By then, Titus’s opponents looked scared. “Get out of here,” Reese growled. “And take your buddy with you.” They grabbed his shirt and dragged the wounded man to their horses.
“And tell your boss we don’t want to see him again. We’ve had enough.”
“We could’ve took ‘em, Cap’n,” Titus grumbled. “I just about had them two.”
“I’ve got a lady in the wagon and I’ll not put her in any more danger than necessary.”
Midas chuckled as he dabbed at the hole in his left arm. “Probably scared out of her wits. We’ll escort you back.”
The three men walked to the wagon. Midas lifted the tarp.
“Get away from here or I’ll blow your man parts off!” Lucinda sounded mad and determined. Reese laughed, hoping he never got on the wrong end of her ire.
Midas hit the dirt. “Shit, woman. It’s Midas.”
“There’s no call for profanity.” She rustled around and Reese wondered what she was doing under there. “Turn your backs while I get out and put myself to rights.”
Midas stood and wiped the sweat off his neck. “I don’t ordinarily make a habit of turning my back on someone who just said they’d shoot my nuts off.”
Reese slapped Midas on his good shoulder. “Good women are the scariest varmints of all.”
Chapter 15
Midas rode ahead and Titus rode along side as Reese drove the wagon toward Dickshooter. Lucinda didn’t show her fear, but it had taken a good half hour before her heartbeat returned to normal. The jostling ride didn’t help her backside, especially since every bump in the road reminded her of their activities in the Idaho Hotel.
She’d never felt so glorious, as when they’d made love but it couldn’t happen again lest they make a child, if they hadn’t already. Whether Reese was annoyed or relieved that she’d turned down his proposal, she didn’t know, but she also couldn’t reveal why she wouldn’t marry him.
The wagon wheel hit a rut and launched her into his arms. He caught her, held her just a little too long, brushed her cheek with a kiss, and lowered her back onto the bench. Her skin prickled and her face flooded with warmth. He smiled at her. She smiled back and rewrapped the blanket around her lap.
Could he actually love her? No one else, with the dubious exception of her mother, ever had. The notion seemed almost ridiculous, that a man could love her. She’d been born into debauchery, then groomed as a suffragist—certainly not a combination conducive to attracting a law-abiding man.
For the past weeks, she had closed her mind to the notion he could be a decent man because he owned a brothel. She’d never imagined that a brothel owner would understand the true value of women—until Reese, so kind, so strong, so caring.
He put his arm around her and she snuggled into his side. Realizing her error, she sat straight immediately. Titus cast a glance at her, smiled, then redirected his attention to the road.
Much as she wanted to get back to Dickshooter and the security of her own room, she didn’t look forward to arriving at the Comfort Palace. Every lady there, especially Fannie, would know that she’d let—no, practically forced—Reese to take liberties with her person. Still, she’d lived with shame her entire life, and being with Reese didn’t feel shameful at all. Warmth flooded her thighs every time she thought about his mouth on her breast or when she caressed his, uh, lower parts.
Nevertheless, she didn’t want anyone to know. She cleared her throat and sat straight in her best Miss-Hattie’s-School-for-the-Refinement-of-Young-Ladies posture.
Reese gazed at her and smiled. She tried not to notice.
Two hours later, they drove up to the Comfort Palace. Reese jumped off and offered his hand to Lucinda, who accepted it. At least that’s what she hoped it looked like. Truth was, she happily took the opportunity to touch him one last time.
“First time you’ve let me help you off the wagon.” He held her by the waist and lifted her down, holding her a little longer than necessary, but she didn’t mind. She’d remember it always.
“They’re here!” she heard Sadie call.
Footfalls echoed from within the brothel, and not a minute later, every single lady at the Comfort Palace stood on the porch. Seven ladies and Gus smiled at her in a knowing manner.
Did they know? They couldn’t know. She forced a smile in return. They knew.
Fannie ran to her like a mother hen. “Welcome back, Miss Sharpe!” She enveloped Lucinda in a bear hug. “You’ll just never know how worried we all were about you when we heard Hannibal Hank hadn’t gone to Montana.”
Her face did show concern, but considering Reese’s revelation that they’d been set up by these innocent-looking ladies-of-the-evening, Lucinda was skeptical. However, she certainly didn’t want them speculating on the state of her maidenhood, or lack thereof, so she hugged Fannie back and nodded to the women who studied her every move. She wanted to get to her room as quickly as possible to avoid further scrutiny.
Reese stood beside Fannie and Gus, a gentle smile barely touching the corners of his mouth.
Lucinda stepped away. “Thank you, Mr. McAdams, for escorting me.” He tipped his hat. She turned to Titus. “And thank you and your brother for the protection. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you in return.”
Then, even though her heart nearly tore out of her chest, she walked into the Comfort Palace without so much as a backwards glance at the man she wanted to love forever but couldn’t. Reese McAdams, brothel owner and reluctant Superintendent of the Dickshooter School District, wouldn’t be able to love her any more than she could allow herself to love him.
Not when he found out her mother had been lynched for murdering his father.
* * * * *
Fannie smiled at the departing Miss Sharpe. “A lot happened in Silver City betwixt our Reese and her, and you damned well don’t need to be a whore to know what,” she muttered.
“Huh?” Gus cocked his head and grinned at her. He always acted like he knew something no one else knew, and it drove her plumb berserk.
Playfully, she swatted him on the butt. “Don’t just stand there, Gus, get them buckets of hot water upstairs to pour Miss Sharpe a bath. I’d bet she needs one.”
He grabbed her by the waist and spun her around. Kissing her on the cheek, he said, “Yes, ma’am!” He strode off to do her b
idding, whistling a bawdy tune in time with his jaunty steps.
She caught her balance and her breath, too. That man! Some day maybe he would want to give her a poke, not just smooching and talking. The others would be downright shocked if they knew Gus had never even wanted a poke—except she was sure he did. But why didn’t he ever ask?
The autumn breeze picked up and reminded her how cold she’d gotten standing out there like a dimwit. The skin on her arms prickled and the cold blew right down her front. She dashed inside to grab her cloak, then marched to the barn on a mission—to see if Reese had fallen in love with Miss Sharpe. No doubt, the schoolmarm loved him, but it had to go both ways. Once he realized he loved her, he’d want to get married up.
In the barn, Fannie watched a minute as Buster chomped on oats while Reese brushed him down before she made her presence known. Those two were a lot alike, Fannie thought with a silent chuckle. They both enjoyed their grub, and they both were plumb spirited when they smelled a filly. Of course, Reese was mighty particular, but she supposed he’d not let a good one get away.
“Good to see you’re in one piece.”
Reese jerked around, apparently jarred from his own deep thoughts. “Yeah, well I didn’t even have a chance at Hannibal Hank. If I’d gone after him, Lucinda would’ve been alone, and I didn’t know if they’d circle around and nab her while I was gone.”
“It’s good you chose life over revenge.” But she was horrified that her scheme put him in that situation. If she’d had any idea at all that Hank was still around, she’d never have set it up. “Titus told me all about it when he brought Midas back.”
“How is Midas?”
“Ha!” she laughed. “Ain’t nothing wrong with him that a good woman can’t cure. The bullet just creased his arm, but he needs to build his blood back up. He’ll be fine—Chrissy’s been fussing over him like a mother bear. He ain’t lacking for tending, that’s for damn sure.”
Reese threw the currycomb into a bucket and shoved his hat back on his forehead. “Good.” He chuckled. “I never saw Midas back down from anyone, but Lucinda sure got him dead to rights. Before she knew who he was, she threatened to shoot off his man parts.”
So he’s calling her ‘Lucinda’ now. That’s a good sign. “She’s tougher than she looks.” Fannie dragged her toe through the dirt. “Did you have a good time in Silver?”
“We need to talk about your little matchmaking schemes. Fun and games are all right but when you put someone in danger like that, it’s got to stop.”
She watched for him to give away any tender thoughts, but he acted no different than if he’d just got back from riding the range. In fact, that very aloofness alerted her the most. Yup, she was looking at a man in love.
She stifled a smile and waved as she turned to go check out Miss Sharpe. The ladies nearly had it made—they’d each saved over five-hundred dollars that he didn’t know about, they could all read and sum enough to get by, and their boss had fallen in love with a respectable woman.
Their plan had worked!
* * * * *
“Dinner?” Lucinda questioned as she looked at the roast venison and potatoes. Sadie had always served breakfast at eleven or noon and dinner at four. It couldn’t be any later than one o’clock, but this food was definitely dinner, not breakfast. No matter what meal or what time, though, this food smelled heavenly.
“Hell, we et early this morning, waiting for Titus to get you home,” Sadie explained as she slapped a big hunk of venison on Lucinda’s plate and went on to serve Fannie. “He took his sorry-ass time, he did.”
Lucinda let the curses go, not wanting any attention focused on herself right then. Everyone at the Comfort Palace except Reese, Midas, and Chrissy had gathered for the meal. She had to be careful to shield the change in her life from being detected by people whose very livelihood depended on their abilities to read other people’s actions. Still, a respectable lady wouldn’t let such foul language slide.
“Please...”
“The road was washboard and rutted all the way, in case you hadn’t figured that out,” Titus interrupted.
Chrissy bounded down the stairs, and everyone at the table looked her way, including Lucinda, even though she chided herself for such bad manners. Still, she applauded Chrissy for distracting people’s attention away from herself.
“I’ll fix a plate for Midas,” Chrissy announced as she hurried into the kitchen.
Titus laughed and pointed his fork at her. “You’d think both his legs was busted, the way she’s fussing over that boy. I’m thinking it’ll take him quite a spell for him to recover, what with all this attention.”
Lucinda wondered why having good care would prolong the recovery time. It really didn’t make any sense.
Chrissy faced him holding a plate heaped with food. “He ain’t a boy!”
They watched her walk up stairs. Her chin stuck out indignantly as she balanced a plate in one hand and a coffee cup in the other while trying not to trip on her skirts.
“Midas don’t have a chance of a dead fly in a trout pond,” Petunia said.
Trinket winked at Titus. “I think he kinda likes being a dead fly.”
He appeared to shrug off her remark, but Holly studied him intently. Lucinda had noticed Holly glowing under Titus’s attentions. In fact, Reese and Chrissy were the only ones in Dickshooter who could readily tell the twins apart. Lucinda wondered if the twins loved their admirers, or if they just wanted free services.
She thought not. In spite of her original opinion of Midas taking advantage of Chrissy’s delicate progress, she now knew that the twins cared for others a lot more than they let on. Chrissy and Holly would do well with them as protectors and husbands. But did Midas and Titus have marriage in mind? That, she doubted.
Reese strode in, taking off his coat and hat and tossing them on the bar as he approached the table. No sooner had he sat, than Sadie placed a plate before him and plopped a slab of venison and two scoops of potatoes on it. “Sadie, darlin’, you’re going to make me fat as a pig.”
Darling. Darling! He called Sadie darling. Lucinda stabbed the meat on her plate with a fork, then sawed it into little pieces with her knife.
A low, meaningful laugh emerged from Fannie. “Looks like there’s lots of dead flies around, these days.”
* * * * *
In the weeks following, Lucinda did her best to maintain a proper schoolteacher’s demeanor, despite her frequent memories of her wonderful night with Reese in Silver City. Usually, she succeeded. However, when Reese looked at her with those warm, blue eyes, she melted inside every time. Her breath quickened and her heart lurched when he came near, and passionate ache tormented her privates with just a glance at his broad shoulders and capable hands. She wished he’d spend more time at his ranch.
Her courses had come right on schedule, which had relieved her stress considerably, although a small niggling pang of disappointment was there, too.
Someone knocked on the door. “Yes?” she called.
“Time for class, Miss Sharpe.” Holly’s voice had cleared up finally.
In a mere two months, Holly had gone through all the readers she’d brought to Dickshooter, and now read books from Lucinda’s own private collection. Her writing exceeded most of the students at Miss Hattie’s, and her math skills surpassed Lucinda’s own. Yes, she was very proud of Holly.
“I’ll be down in two minutes.”
Lucinda tucked the unruly blonde locks into the lopsided bun and smoothed her skirts. She’d miss this place. By March, she’d receive three-hundred dollars from the ladies, and a hundred-sixty dollars from Reese. After she paid him the two-hundred for school supplies, there’d still be ample money to get back to...to where?
Dismissing the question to be pondered another time, she picked up her lesson plan, books, and slate, and headed for the classroom—Reese’s office.
The ladies, already seated with their knees together, chins up, and backs straight. Miss Hattie
would have been proud. They greeted her with smiles. She smiled back. “Did you all get your homework done?”
All the ladies nodded except Chrissy, who lost her smile and dropped her gaze to her hands. Lucinda decided not to call attention to Chrissy’s reading struggles. “That’s wonderful. Let’s review.”
Fannie interrupted. “Miss Sharpe, we took a vote and decided not to have class until after Hannibal Hank leaves the territory, what with all his shenanigans and such, but you’ll still get paid for the whole month.”
Lucinda scanned the room and didn’t see a single expression of dissension. “All right, ladies. In that case, we’ll go over our homework and I won’t assign more until next week.” Meantime, she’d see if Chrissy would accept some private tutoring.
Petunia stood to speak. “Last night, old man Linstad told me that he’s missing more cows,” she reported, “about a dozen or fifteen, he says.”
Felicia shook her head in disgust. “You’d think the rustlers would have more sense than that because they’ll surely be caught. But the cattle can’t be too far on account of the weather’ll be turning shortly.”
“We’d better keep heads-up on this,” Fannie warned, “because our Reese is under suspicion.”
Felicia smirked. “Honey, there’s some things I can’t do heads-up unless I flip my gents upside-down.”
Lucinda couldn’t understand how Felicia could joke about something so serious. The lingering suspicion endangered Reese’s future, and, in fact, his very life.
Just as class wrapped up, Reese backed in dragging a large cabinet with eight compartments, each with a door labeled for one of the Comfort Palace ladies, including Lucinda. “Good afternoon, ladies.” He dragged it to the corner of the room and shoved it into place. “I thought you might need someplace to keep all the school supplies your teacher ordered.”
Fannie threw her arms around him and gave him an affectionate hug. “You imagine right.”
Lucinda looked away, not wanting to see him hugging another woman. Not that she had a right, but a woman could only take so much, even a spinster suffragist. She would always remember his tender lovemaking, even though nothing would ever come of it.
Much Ado About Madams Page 20
