“I beg your pardon,” she gasped, attempting to shove it back down around his meaty fist so that her undergarments were covered.
“It’s pink, as I thought,” he muttered, relief ringing true in his tone even as his head swung back to Nettie, his lips parted as though to ask a question. But as quickly as the two had appeared at the end of the hall, they were gone.
She clarified his question for him. “Tonight is my first night. I will be dancing and serving drinks for now. And I must get back.”
His eyes narrowed and his mouth went tight. “For now. Does that mean you have plans to do more than dance?”
“It’s not really your concern.”
“I’m making it so, Coral. Answer me.”
“Well, I haven’t ever done anything of this sort, if you must know.”
“I do. You are obviously a lady,” he asserted once again.
She ignored that, disagreeing considering her situation. “And the dance money and tips are more than I expected. So perhaps I won’t have to.”
“Let’s make it so there is no perhaps about it.”
“I’m afraid that isn’t up to you, Bo.”
“I can have a say in it for tonight, at least. Let’s go.” He took her hand, and retracing the path she had taken moments before, he hauled her into the main room and made a beeline for the dance floor.
“You have to have a dance ticket,” she informed him breathlessly.
He dug in his pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar gold piece. “Will this do instead?”
As he pressed it into her hand, she cleared her throat and looked around, noticing several other gems watching them with interest.
“Gold is always good ‘round the Petticoat, Mister Bo,” Rose called from where she was serving the men Coral had drenched with beer.
“Perfect.” He stopped in the middle of the dance floor and spun her into his arms. “That has surely bought me the rest of your night.”
“I shouldn’t let one man monopolize my time.”
“Is that a rule?” he asked, his tone laced with doubt.
“Well…” she thought for a moment. “I don’t know, being new. But it hardly seems fair to the others.”
“All’s fair in love and war, didn’t you know?”
“Which one is dancing?”
“I’ll let you figure that one out for yourself.” He grinned and twirled her around the dance floor to Charlie’s rendition of Oh ‘Dem Golden Slippers. This satisfied him only for a short time, before he lifted his head and shouted, “Can’t my money buy me something slow and easy to which I can cozy up to my gal?”
A rousing cheer went up and the soft strains of Shenandoah began to play.
“Ah,” he murmured against her hair, as he tightened his arms around her. “Much better.”
He didn’t let anyone else get a chance, and Coral soon didn’t care, becoming so used to his big, warm body against her, she didn’t want to change it for stomping boots on her toes. Bo moved with a fluid grace that was effortless. He’d obviously had formal lessons because even though he held her much too close for propriety outside of a saloon and bawdyhouse, his technique was flawless.
By the time Amy called for the last round, they’d been dancing for almost two hours straight.
“Have dinner with me, Coral. Tomorrow.”
The truth of her situation crept back in at his tempting invitation. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“For one, I work in the evenings, Bo.”
“You get to eat dinner, don’t you? We’ll go early.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Lunch then, we can pack a picnic basket. There’s a pretty spot by the creek south of town.”
“Closing time!” Mister Gabe announced more forcefully to grumbles and scuffling feet as those who had lingered and consumed too much beer and whiskey staggered to the door.
“You have to go now.”
“Think about it. I’ll come round again for your answer. I warn you though, I’m stubborn. I won’t be accepting anything other than a yes from those sweet lips.” As his eyes fell to caress the sweetness he had mentioned, he lowered his head and stole a brief but thorough kiss. “Let that help you make up your mind.”
He then made his way, much steadier than all the others as he hadn’t had more than a sip of beer since she’d been with him. At the door, he turned and winked at her, then disappeared into the night.
“That is one smitten Swede.” This came from Opal who had come to stand beside her.
“And a handsome one, too. And big. All those muscles from wielding that hammer and pounding metal, mm,” Amy sighed. “He caught my eye the minute I came to town.”
“You and all the other girls between eight and eighty in a hundred-mile radius,” Opal replied, turning an eye on Coral. “Do you know this is the first time he’s ever been here?”
“Yep,” Amy agreed with a broad grin. “I’ve never seen him before tonight, either. Something new here must have caught his eye.”
Chapter Four
Muscles rippled under his white broadcloth shirt, the massive width of his shoulders testing the strained seams. She could sense the raw strength coiled within him as he tossed crates and sacks, as easily as if they were down filled pillows, into the wagon bed. Fascinated by the fluid grace of his movements, which was surprising in such a big man, she parted the sheer curtains just a little bit further, not wanting to miss a single moment or detail of the masculine display across the street.
“You could go and talk to him, you know.”
The voice in her ear made her jerk suddenly as she startled. Then, knowing she had been caught peeping, she let go of the curtain and spun around. “I was merely checking the weather,” she told Amy who was watching her with a knowing grin.
“Mm. A cloudless sky and sweltering July heat must be fascinating.” Amy elbowed her way past her and pulled the curtain wide. “Or it could be that fine looking Bo Magnusson who is catching every female eye in town as he puts on quite a show on trading day right in front of the mercantile.”
“Oh, is he there?” Coral commented, feigning disinterest as she examined the nails on one hand. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Amy threw her head back, her dark glossy hair brushing across her shoulders as she laughed. “You are a terrible liar. Admit it. You’ve been standing here watching him for half an hour.”
“Nonsense, I just arrived before you.”
“Mm, hm,” she replied with a disbelieving eye roll. “I don’t know what you’re afraid of. He couldn’t take his eyes off you last night, watched you from the minute he walked in the door until he sauntered back out with the taste of your kisses on his lips. And he wouldn’t let anyone else have a dance, not that anyone would have tried, the way you two were making calves eyes at each other all night. Everyone knows he’s smitten.”
Coral bit her lip. Last night had been more fun than any of the balls and soirees she’d attended after her debut. And aside from Gastineau, no man had ever paid her such attention. Of course, back home, dancing all night with the same young man would have set all the ladies to gossiping. She almost laughed, evidently the same held true in the Red Petticoat Saloon.
She worried her lip more as her eyes drifted back to the window. What she wouldn’t give to find out if his blue eyes held the same sparkle in the broad light of day. Yet approaching him on the street seemed so forward, even for a saloon girl.
“I couldn’t just go up to him. What would I say?”
“I don’t know. You could thank him for the dances, or tell him you enjoyed those kisses he stole in the back hallway. Better yet, be really bold and tell him you want to jump his bones.”
“Amy!”
Her new friend shook her head. “Honey, does it really matter what you say? Talk to him about the weather, you’re the expert on that. Just say anything to show him you’re interested in more than his twenty dollars.” Her worldly gaze met hers as she challenged blunt
ly, “You are interested in more than the money, aren’t you?”
The way the heat stole into her cheeks was answer enough. Amy grinned shrewdly, before she turned her head and called down the hall to the kitchen. “Nettie! Coral is heading over to Stapleton’s Mercantile. Need anything?”
“Have her check on my order,” the cook’s voice called in reply. “It was supposed to be delivered an hour ago.”
“There,” Amy said, turning back. “Now you have a mission and no excuse. You’ll have
to say hello as you pass. Not to would be very rude.”
Coral glared at her friend. “I’m not dressed to go out.”
“You look perfectly put together to me. Wouldn’t talking to him, and flirting a little, be
more fun than spying from a window?”
“I’m not spying!”
“Mm, hm…” was Amy’s skeptical reply as she shook her head again. “Keep telling yourself that and you might start to believe it. However, I know you better. You’re smitten, too and being shy.”
Coral glanced back out the window through the sheers. She shouldn’t. He was dangerous
to her state of mind. When he was near, her heart raced and she couldn’t see straight. And his kisses… She’d never felt anything like the warm caress of his lips, or the way they trailed along her jaw with feather-light touches, or how when the tip of his tongue flicked out and licked her throat, it sent desire coursing through her body. His kisses became more insistent when they reclaimed her mouth, his lips parting hers and his tongue plunging inside.
“Go on,” Amy urged, interrupting the naughty path her thoughts had taken. “Nettie will be looking for her order. I wouldn’t want to be you when supper time arrives and she doesn’t have what she sent you to fetch.” She leaned closer to her ear. “You’re new so you can’t know that the woman’s got a mean wooden spoon and isn’t afraid to use it.”
Coral twisted to look at her, convinced having seen Nettie with that spoon in her hands only last night. Amy nodded, and the way her hands moved to the back of her skirt was telling.
Apparently having no choice now, she smoothed both hands over her hair and straightened her blouse. Buttoned up to the chin in cream-colored cotton and a dark blue skirt, she looked respectable.
“I need a few supplies anyway,” she said as she started for the door.
This was true. She’d had every intention of shopping that morning, but hesitated upon seeing Bo out front and decided to gawk at him from the front window instead. Grabbing her string purse from the front table where she’d left it, she sailed through the door, chin high, spurred on by Amy’s, “Go get ‘em, tiger.”
Ignoring her friend, she was down the steps and dodging wagons and horses as she made her way across the busy street crowded with Saturday morning shoppers. Bo looked to be finished with his wagonload and was talking to a gentleman as she passed. Telling herself it would be much ruder to interrupt, she quickened her steps—chickening out really—as she aimed for the front steps of the mercantile. She couldn’t help giving him a sidelong glance to see if he’d noticed her as Amy claimed. Her heart nearly stopped to find his stunning blue eyes watching her.
Now that the moment was upon her, she panicked, her steps faltered and her tongue locked up behind her teeth. He seemed to sense her nervousness and grinned. That didn’t help in the least because now her attention was drawn to the white flash of his perfect teeth between sensual, full lips, and the memories of how he had kissed her so thoroughly consumed her thoughts.
She became warm, her face flushing with heat as did the rest of her body. Much to her dismay, she found herself becoming aroused right there on the public street. It was disconcerting, the power his attention had over her, not to mention that devastating smile. She needed more time to compose herself before she could speak to him. As such, she rushed toward the steps, but her gaze was still locked on Bo, and his tempting mouth, so she didn’t see when someone walked into her path.
Her body slammed into the other woman, Coral’s speed and size sending them both reeling. Knocked off balance, they fell in a tangle of skirts and feminine squeals onto the dusty ground.
Landing with a thud, it took a moment for Coral to get her bearings. When she saw the other woman was a good deal older and lying in an undignified heap, she bounced up and rushed to her aid.
“I am so sorry,” she exclaimed, reaching down with an outstretched hand. “Are you hurt?”
“No!” came the biting reply. It was followed by a smack, as she slapped Coral’s proffered hand away. “No thanks to you and your inattention.” The woman rolled over and pushed to her knees. Then with a grunt, she was able to get to her feet in an ungainly manner, brushing the dirt from her skirts as she did so.
Although the woman was quite rude, she was correct. Coral hadn’t been paying heed to where she was going, too involved with her infatuation with Bo to see who or what was in her path. Feeling wholly at fault, she hurried to retrieve the woman’s pocketbook that, from the swiftness of the collision, had flown several feet away. As she returned it, the woman snatched it out of her grasp.
“Kindly keep your filthy hands off my person and my things,” she hissed. “You’d think a Christian woman could go about her errands without being accosted by persons of your ilk.”
Coral immediately stiffened and took an unconscious step back. “I beg your pardon!”
“You heard me,” the pinch faced biddy replied. “You and the other gems,” the last word came out with a definite sneer as she practically spat it with disdain, “should keep away from decent folk. Keep your Sodom and Gomorrah morals away from good, upstanding, clean folk and we’ll all be much better off.”
The way she sent a scathing look up and down her person as she spoke the word clean made it sound as though she suspected Coral hadn’t bathed in a month of Sundays, or worse, had a dreaded disease. One of those kinds of ailments. Her face flushed red, and it was like being in New York all over again. Except there, the whispers had been behind her back. With this woman it wasn’t hushed gossip, it was an outright insult to her face.
Murmurs of other voices drew her attention to the crowd of onlookers who had gathered. The public venue made her insults sting ten times worse. This was the real reason she had hesitated to leave the saloon that morning, not Bo. After last night, her status had changed. She knew what others would think of her working at the Red Petticoat and the condemnation was something she wanted to avoid.
Coral took another step back. Once again she didn’t look and collided yet again with someone in her path. This time, the other person didn’t budge. In fact, large hands encircled her shoulders to steady her when she staggered slightly.
“Now see here, Millicent Crankshaw,” a gruff voice rumbled from close by her ear. Dear heavens, it was Bo. And he’d witnessed the entire sordid scene. She tried to pull away, to run, but his strong hands upon her held her fast. “You have no call to speak that way to Miss Coral. You don’t know her or what she’s been through to bring her to Culpepper Cove.”
“Nor do I want to, Mr. Magnusson. That I have to cross paths with her on the street is bad enough, to have to shop at the same store is simply too much.” She sent a cold, contemptuous look Coral’s way before she continued. “Mark my words, I shall have a word with Mr. Stapleton about who he lets into his shop. See if I don’t!”
“Do that,” Bo shot back. “And Myron and I will have a few words. Maybe I don’t want to do business with a man who can’t control his wife, who lets her spew venom all over a public street, harassing a good woman who is minding her own business.”
“She knocked me down!”
“I saw what happened. You cut in front of her to get to the steps first. You deserved to be knocked on your backside. Further, when I talk to Myron, I’ll have some advice as to what else to do to that narrow behind that might keep you in line. A stout switch comes to mind first.”
She gasped, truly outraged. “I never!”
&
nbsp; “Myron certainly hasn’t, or you wouldn’t behave this way.”
A buzz of hushed laughter rose from the onlookers at the same time Millicent shrieked and practically shook with outrage.
Bo wasn’t nearly done with her set down. “When I’m done with Myron, I believe I’ll head over to the parsonage and have a discussion with Preacher Black about how one of his flock could do with a little one-on-one sermon about tolerance toward others. Yes, indeed, I think that lesson might be long overdue. You and your family do still drive up from Shady Springs to attend services at Culpepper Cove’s community church, I believe.”
Of course, he knew, or his threat wouldn’t have held as much bite. The woman sputtered, opening and closing her mouth in such a way that she resembled a dying fish on the riverbank. Then, without managing another word, she turned on her heel and stalked off, her errand at the mercantile evidently forgotten.
The crowd that had stood watching hummed with approval, a few laughed outright, and still others applauded.
“About time that shrew was put in her place.” A woman who Coral didn’t know made this observation before climbing the stairs to the store.
Bo’s strong hands on her shoulders turned her around and he ducked a bit to see her face. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. It was my fault, really. I wasn’t watching.”
“I didn’t mean about the fall.”
Coral dipped her chin, looking away.
“I heard what she said, raring. Further, and although a gentleman shouldn’t admit this, I cannot in good conscience let it pass, I saw your pink petticoat when you fell. As did the others, I’m sure. Wearing it about town while you carry out your errands is almost asking for trouble.”
She tensed. Had she been wrong? Did he think less of her for doing what she did to survive? Was last night only about a good time with a pretty girl at a saloon to him? She stiffened and asked in a strained voice, “Is it a sin to be a dancing girl at a saloon?”
“No shame in that.”
“And to serve drinks?”
“That is also honest work. I’m just saying that it might be best not to call attention to what you do for a living. Not everyone is as accepting of, uh, well… saloon work. I’m sure most folks understand that Nathan’s unexpected passing left you in dire straits.”
Claiming Coral (The Red Petticoat Saloon) Page 5
