Montana Sky: Becoming Mine (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Nevada Bounty Book 3)

by Margaret Madigan

“They do respect you. But remember, you’ll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

  “I don’t need to catch any flies, Ray. I need the flies to do their jobs.”

  Ray smiled. “Work does make the world go round, after all. Speaking of which, now that I have a feel for the place, what would you like me to do first?”

  “Love makes the world go round,” Miles said, immediately regretting having said it. It had just blurted from his mouth before he could stop it.

  “I’m sorry?”

  Now he’d be forced to explain himself. “You said work makes the world go round, but the saying is love makes the world go round.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t know anything about love, and when you think about it, it really is work that makes everything move forward.”

  “I suppose.” Miles moved to his desk and shuffled the stack of papers, sorting what he wanted to give to Ray to work on. But the semantics still bothered him. “Have you ever been in love, Ray?”

  Ray looked at him, wide-eyed and for the first time all day at a loss for words. When he finally found his tongue he said, “No, sir.”

  “Sorry. That was an inappropriate question.”

  “No, it’s all right. You just surprised me. I actually haven’t been in love. Have you?”

  With the tables turned, Miles realized how uncomfortable the question was when aimed at himself, and wished he hadn’t asked it. But what could it hurt to talk to the boy?

  “No. Not yet. Maybe someday.” Ruby popped into his head unbidden.

  “Maybe,” Ray said.

  Selecting one of the stacks of papers he’d sorted, he picked it up and handed it to Ray. “I met your sister the other day.”

  Ray’s head came up from studying the papers, his eyes wide with surprise echoing the expressing on Ruby’s face when Miles had bumped into her. “Oh?”

  “The two of you look remarkably alike.”

  Ray made a disgusted grunting sound. “I know,” he said. “It’s one of the first things people remark about, and it’s been a bother all my life.”

  Miles smiled. “I imagine. No man wants to be told he looks like his sister.”

  “Mmph,” Ray said. “If you’ll excuse me, sir, I’ll get started on this.”

  “Certainly.”

  Ray made his way out to his desk. Miles could see him from inside his own office, and the way in which Ray went about sorting and stacking the papers, his expression the picture of determined intensity, reassured Miles that he’d made the right choice. The boy was easy to work with, unlike most men who’d held the position. The last man had spent more time bristling at Miles’ requests than working. As if every chore Miles asked him to do was an insult to his manhood. The whole situation had been tiresome. Why would a man apply for a subordinate position if he couldn’t take direction?

  Maybe the trick was in hiring a younger man, one just out of boyhood. Those men hadn’t yet established themselves and were still used to others giving them instructions.

  Either way, Ray seemed industrious and hadn’t once yet scowled at him.

  As he worked, a bit of hair fell in his face and Ray tucked it behind his ear, a gesture that exactly replicated the one Ruby had done the day before. Not only was it eerie, but it brought her back to mind.

  He wondered what she did for a living. Was she married? The thought struck a note of panic in his heart, though for what reason he had no idea. He’d only just met her and had no claim on her, but clearly somewhere in his mind he’d already decided he had enough interest to perhaps pursue her. At the very least, he’d like to meet her again since their encounter had been so brief, to get to know her better. The likelihood was good that if they spent more time together it would break this mysterious spell that seemed to hold him in its grasp. The chances they’d like each other were small, but he was still inclined to find out.

  Before he lost his nerve, he stood and went to the door of his office.

  “Ray.”

  “Yes, sir?” Ray said, looking up at him with the question in his eyes.

  “Is your sister married?”

  Ray’s brows went up and he just stared at Miles as if he’d lost the power of comprehension. Miles had taken a step toward him to be sure he hadn’t had some sort of fit, but Ray recovered his wits and sputtered, “I’m sorry, what?”

  “I asked if your sister is married. Is it wrong of me to ask? Is she seeing someone?”

  “I…no...,” Ray stuttered. “She’s not married. Or seeing anyone. Why?”

  Ray seemed taken aback, as if nobody had ever thought to ask about her before. Miles liked how that impacted his chances of attracting her affection.

  “I think I’d like to call on her. Do you think she’d be receptive?”

  Chapter 3

  Ruby sat at the table in the kitchen at the brothel, an untouched piece of apple pie on the plate in front of her. Sarah leaned against the counter, and Cecelia, Victoria, and Chloe shared the table with Ruby. Each of them worked on their own pieces of pie.

  “He asked if you’d be receptive to him calling on you?” Cecelia asked between bites of pie. “What did you say?”

  Ruby ran a frustrated hand down her face, wondering for the hundredth time in the last few days how she’d got herself into such a mess.

  “I told him I’d have to ask her…me,” Ruby said.

  Miles had asked Ray about Ruby on Thursday. She’d demurred, telling him she—Ray—would ask Ruby—herself—if she’d be amenable to Miles calling on her. On Friday, Miles had given a note to Ray to pass to Ruby. The note had been polite and charming and had asked if Ruby would be so kind as to do him the honor of joining him at the dance the following week. On Saturday, Ruby—as Ray—had told Miles he’d given his sister the note and he’d let Miles know as soon as she replied, so she’d bought herself a little time. Now, on Sunday, Ruby had a day off to consider her situation with the help of the women at the brothel who had quickly become her alternate family.

  “Do you want him to call on you?” Victoria asked.

  “If it weren’t for Ray, I would certainly consider it.”

  “Mr. Collins is one of the most eligible men in Virginia City. He’d be an excellent catch,” Chloe said.

  “I don’t even know that I want to ‘catch’ anyone,” Ruby said. “I’d never really thought about it.”

  “You haven’t thought about marrying?” Chloe asked.

  “Well, I suppose I’ve thought about it, but I never really liked the idea. Why would a woman want to give up her independence to become some man’s property?”

  Sarah made a knowing grunt. Ruby had no idea if Sarah had been a slave before the Civil War, but she was old enough and if Ruby had to guess from her response, she’d guess yes.

  “You don’t want to get married, ever?” Chloe asked.

  If anyone had asked Ruby the same question before she met Miles Collins, her answer would have been that she never wanted to get married. But now she wasn’t so sure.

  “I don’t know. Maybe in the future,” Ruby said.

  “How old are you?” Cecelia asked.

  “I’m twenty-six.”

  “Hmm. You don’t have much future left to be considering marriage,” Cecelia said.

  “Mhm,” Chloe—who looked to Ruby to be about fifteen—said. “You’re far beyond being an old maid.”

  “If you were to marry,” Victoria said. “What do you think of Miles Collins as a suitor?”

  Ruby considered the question for a moment before answering, “First of all, any talk of marriage is premature. He’s only asked to see me, not marry me. Otherwise, he’s handsome, and smart, and after working with him for a few days I like him and appreciate how good he is at his job. But how am I supposed to manage both Ray and me? If he ever found out I doubt he’d be understanding,” Ruby said.

  Sarah made a sound of agreement, and they all turned their attention to her. “You got yourself into some kind of mess, that’s for sure,” she said.
>
  “Yes, I did,” Ruby said. “It wouldn’t be a mess if I’d never run into him on the sidewalk. If I’d never met him as Ruby I could just go on being Ray, working a job I like for a boss I like, and earning a good living.”

  Victoria snorted. “That’s fine if you were actually a man doing that job. But you’re a woman and you already admitted you find Mr. Collins handsome. Do you really think you’d be able to continue to work with him as if you weren’t attracted to him?”

  Ruby thought about how often every day she went in and out of his office—of his presence. Being close to him made her heart flutter. He smelled good, and she liked his smile which he didn’t share often enough with anyone. It felt like a prize when she pried one out of him. They’d already developed a good working rapport, and he talked to her with the confidence that she was Ray. It was refreshing to be treated, if not as an equal on the job, at least as a fellow man.

  But he’d never talk to Ruby in the same unguarded, straightforward way, which sparked a certain resentment that he’d treat her differently based on his assumption about whether she was male or female. She was still the same person with the same intelligence and ideas and thoughts, but the more she thought about it, the more it stuck in her craw that he’d treat her differently as Ruby than as Ray.

  “No. I wouldn’t. But why should I give up a good job just because I’m a woman?”

  “You can’t force him to accept something he won’t,” Sarah said. “Men don’t understand a lot of things.”

  Victoria, Chloe, and Cecelia all looked up from their plates, glanced at each other and burst out laughing.

  “Ain’t that the truth?” Victoria said.

  “So what am I supposed to do?” Ruby asked.

  “Can you keep up the ruse of being Ray forever?” Chloe asked.

  Ruby hadn’t thought about that. Did she really want to be Ray forever? Even if she did, could she pull it off? In fact, the longer she continued the deception, the higher her chances of being discovered. She hadn’t considered the long term consequences, only the short term gains.

  “No, probably not.”

  “Then we need to come up with a way to get rid of Ray that isn’t suspicious,” Chloe said.

  “But if I get rid of Ray, I’m back to the same dilemma I started with, trying to make a living,” Ruby said.

  “If she’s getting rid of Ray because of her interest in Mr. Collins, shouldn’t we wait until she knows whether she wants to pursue a relationship with him?” Cecelia asked.

  Sarah shook her head. “Chloe’s right. Ray was a bad idea from the start.”

  “I disagree,” Victoria said. “Ray was a wonderful idea. You like the job, don’t you, Ruby?”

  “I do.”

  “You just couldn’t have anticipated being attracted to Mr. Collins,” Cecelia said.

  “True.”

  “So shouldn’t you be certain what you have to look forward to after Ray is gone? If you like Mr. Collins, shouldn’t you make sure you have a future with him before you give up a job you like and that supports you and your family?” Cecelia asked.

  “You want her to get him to propose to her before she stops being Ray?” Victoria asked.

  Cecelia shrugged, neither confirming nor denying. But Ruby got the sense that’s exactly what she meant.

  “That feels like a deception of another kind,” Ruby said.

  “All I’m saying is, it’s not just about you. It’s about your family, too. So don’t give up a good job until you’re sure you have something to replace it—whether it’s a husband or another job,” Cecelia said.

  The frustrating truth of what Cecelia said settled over Ruby like a gloomy cloud. From the silence that followed, it must have sunk in for all of them. They’d all come from far flung places to find a home and family together, and if it weren’t for the fact that their income depended on selling their bodies to men who didn’t love them, Ruby envied the closeness of these independent women. They accepted her into their home, and treated her with respect, but she wasn’t one of them. She couldn’t know their fears, their disgrace, their dignity, their secret dreams. But she dared to feel at home among them anyway.

  On the other hand, they lived their lives by their own rules, defying propriety and decorum and charting their own courses. She certainly admired that kind of courage. Why should she do what everyone expected, just because they expected it? What if she wanted something different?

  Then she thought about Miles Collins. Would it be so bad to have a husband if she could have one like him?

  She glanced at each of the women around the table. They were hard-working, smart women playing the hand they were given in life. But would they ever find true love? Which was more important in a woman’s life—the freedom of self-determination or the joy of love?

  “What if I don’t want a husband?” Ruby asked.

  They all, every one of them, looked at her with a wistfulness that made her heart ache.

  “Honey, men are complicated and imperfect and can be impossible sometimes, but if you find one who will love and cherish you, that’s something you should grab hold of and never let go,” Victoria said.

  “But I thought you all prized your independence,” Ruby said.

  “We do,” Cecelia said. “And we love each other like sisters, but we get lonely, too.”

  “God made men for women and women for men,” Chloe added. “We frustrate each other and we butt heads sometimes, but we still need each other. We’re drawn together.”

  “Sometimes against our will,” Victoria added, a wry smile on her face.

  Their insight surprised Ruby. “So you’d give up everything you have for love?”

  “Real love?” Chloe said. “Certainly. But I wouldn’t be giving anything up. I’d be getting so much more.”

  “Besides,” Cecelia said. “What would we be giving up? We’ll always be sisters and friends, and as much as it’s nice to be independent, I’d happily give up working from my back.”

  “And the snubs and jeers and being shunned by everyone in town,” Victoria added.

  Ruby pushed away from the table, determined that Ray’s days were numbered. She’d give Miles Collins a chance and if he proved to be a man she could love she’d dispense with Ray. If he didn’t, well, Ray had served a purpose and maybe she’d find a real governess position to support her family.

  “Thank you, ladies. If you’ll excuse me, I must write a note to Mr. Collins accepting his invitation.”

  ***

  On Monday morning Miles found Ray already at his desk, hard at work.

  “Good morning, Ray.”

  “Good morning, sir.”

  Ray followed him into his office and waited patiently while Miles hung his coat and hat on a hook on the wall.

  “How was your day off?” Miles asked as he sat behind his desk.

  Ray’s responding grunt sounded as if his day off hadn’t been so good. “I have a letter for you.”

  Miles’s heart stuttered as Ray tossed the note onto his desk, then felt ridiculous for being excited that Ruby may have replied to his invitation. He’d only seen her the one time, yet he’d allowed her to take hold of his imagination. Seizing an iron grip on his dignity, he cleared his throat and said, “Thank you.”

  He moved the folded piece of paper to the side of his desk to read later, after he’d attended to some of his more urgent correspondence.

  But Ray stood in front of him, waiting. “Aren’t you going to read it?”

  “Later.”

  Still, Ray stayed for a moment longer, the look on his face judging Miles for not reading it. They looked at each other for an uncomfortable spell before Ray finally drew in a deep breath and released it, then turned on his heel and went back to his desk. His tense posture suggested his displeasure. Why would he be so upset? What did it matter to him if Ruby chose to accompany Miles to a dance?

  Unless Ray disapproved.

  When it came down to it, Miles knew nothing of th
eir family. It could very well be they had no father and Ray was the head of the family, in which case—in an ironic twist—Miles would need Ray’s permission to court Ruby. Assuming Miles decided he wanted to court her formally.

  Better to resolve it sooner rather than later. He picked up the envelope and broke the wax. He couldn’t help himself from lifting the letter to his nose to take a whiff. It smelled of fresh paper. He had no idea what he’d been hoping for, but not finding it left him disappointed.

  The note read:

  My dear Mr. Collins,

  Thank you for your kind invitation. I would be delighted to accompany you to the dance on Saturday next.

  Sincerely,

  Miss Ruby Jackson

  While he couldn’t deny the excitement that filled him that she’d agreed to his request, her note was frustratingly brief and uninformative. Was he to meet her there, or call on her to escort her? Would they need permission or a chaperone?

  Already this enterprise of incorporating a woman into his life had distracted him from his job and disrupted his otherwise steady disposition.

  If he hadn’t already made the invitation and she hadn’t already accepted, he’d call the whole thing off.

  But he had and she had, so best to sort it out.

  Then he remembered the pretty blush on Ruby’s cheeks when they’d met, and the way her hand had flown to her chest, and that lock of hair that had fallen loose.

  He stood and went to talk to Ray.

  “Yes, sir?” Ray asked as Miles approached him.

  “I’ve invited your sister to the dance next Saturday, and she’s accepted, but she’s no more gregarious than you are, so I have some questions for you.”

  Was he mistaken, or had Ray bitten back a smirk?

  “What do you need, sir?”

  “Will I need to request your father’s permission to accompany Ruby to the function?”

  Ray’s expression fell flat. “Our father’s dead.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Do you have an older brother, or are you the head of the household?”

  “Ruby doesn’t need my permission. She’s a grown woman. She makes her own decisions.”