No Place for a Lady (Heart of the West Book #1): A Novel

by Brendan, Maggie

  “No need to get in a huff, Crystal. But don’t come out here alone at night, understand? It might not be safe.”

  “I don’t remember taking orders from you, Mr. Weber. And when I need your advice, I’ll ask for it, thank you very much,” Crystal snapped. “You had no right to follow me!”

  Luke reacted like he’d been branded with a hot iron, bringing his hand back to his hip pocket. “I came up to the house to give you the list for the supplies we’ll be needing for the trail drive. When no one answered the door, I decided I’d better go looking for you.” He walked off and called over his shoulder, “Find your own way home, ma’am.”

  After stripping her wet things off, Crystal donned a warm flannel gown and prepared to retire. She had decided to stay in the small room, preferring it to her aunt’s. Somehow she just couldn’t bring herself to move in there. Not just yet. Her thoughts turned to Georgia. She shivered when she thought of the screams of the mountain lion sounding so much like a woman. Everything about this place was so different. Georgia— and civilization—seemed a million miles away. Would she be able to stick it out and keep her part of the bargain?

  Even though her headaches finally went away, she was always thirsty, and her skin itched from the dryness. At this rate, her soft complexion would take on the appearance of the dried apricots she’d found in the pantry. Next time she was in town, she’d ask Mary at the mercantile store for some special cream for her hands and face.

  She smiled, thinking how kind Rusty was. An hour before supper, he had walked in and said he was going to help her cook supper. She readily acquiesced, and he began to panfry slabs of beef while she peeled potatoes. Such a sweet man. He told her the story again of the blizzard in’87 when the drifts were as high as the roof of the barn. That year it was 46 degrees below up in Montana where his family lived. Many of the smaller ranches were about wiped out.

  Crystal could only shake her head in disbelief at his stories. She noticed Rusty refrained from talking about Kate. She knew his loneliness was deep for Kate, though he never said anything, and her heart went out to him.

  In a short time, supper was made, steaming hot and on the table before the rest of the crew staggered in. The meal vanished in a matter of minutes.

  Crystal spent some time reading her father’s Bible before going to bed. When she read Galatians, a verse in chapter 6 seemed written for her. It said not to lose heart in doing good and you would reap a reward. As always was the case, she found the strength and encouragement that she so needed. She knew that she wasn’t alone.

  Once she was snuggled under the quilt, she remembered April’s party. She wearily got back out of bed, opened the wardrobe, and pulled out her lavender gown. Kurt had told her that anyone who was anyone would be there. She wished she had the material she had lost in the twister. Perhaps she could ask one of the cowboys to go looking for it.

  Mindful of the talk about her dress at the last barn dance, Crystal decided to add more material to the décolletage. Not wanting to be the topic of conversation again, she would add a little lace with bits of ribbon here and there to reconfigure the neckline a bit. She dragged her rocker near the lamplight, opened the sewing kit, and began working until there was a nagging pain between her shoulder blades.

  From where Luke stood at the bunkhouse, he could see a light still burning in Crystal’s window. He hadn’t been able to sleep. His thoughts had been consumed with running the ranch and wondering just how Kate had managed to keep up with everything. He sure missed her advice about horses and cattle alike, not to mention her presence.

  He wondered what on earth Crystal was doing up so late. She sure was a feisty and outspoken little thing. In fact, he admired that streak in her, but he didn’t want her to know it. He knew that once you told a woman she was pretty and took her to a church social in these parts, you were considered practically engaged. Yes sir, he’d better be real careful where this one was concerned.

  11

  Crystal had stayed up late the night before working on her dress. Although her sewing left something to be desired, it turned out better than she thought it would.

  Once the breakfast dishes were put away and the kitchen was tidy, Crystal hurried through her morning laundry. She wanted to spend some time going over her aunt’s ledgers, a task she had put off longer than she had intended to. She settled down in the high-back chair beneath the antique desk whose very existence showed its years by the many scars on its surface. If only the desk could talk, she thought. She lifted the rolltop and pulled several journals from their dusty cubbyholes. It seemed very peculiar to be going through someone else’s possessions. She felt as though she was violating her aunt’s privacy.

  Soon she was involved in trying to make sense out of the entries. Month-to-month entries were almost nonexistent. In some places an entry of accounts received was recorded, but the thing that really gave her a blow was the outstanding debts tucked in the back of the journal. There were long-overdue bills to the mercantile store for feed, kerosene oil, and various tack and harness equipment, most of which Crystal had known nothing about. There was an outstanding bill to the blacksmith for repair of a wagon tongue.

  But the most shocking of all was a sizable note signed by Kate Morgan naming Jim McBride as the lender to be repaid by the end of the year. Crystal was surprised not only by her aunt’s poor bookkeeping but that, as far as she could tell, Kate had made no attempt to begin payments to McBride. Crystal had always seen Kate as someone in control and methodical. But in this case she was mistaken.

  Maybe she could speak to McBride about the matter. If she had a chance tonight at April’s party, she would. Yet McBride might decide to drive a hard bargain, and she might have to sell him the ranch.

  She was thoroughly depressed now, something that was so out of character for her that she wasn’t sure how to deal with it. Kate had commented on her sunny disposition and how her laughter made everyone feel good. What a joke. If Kate could see her now . . . She put her face in her hands and began to cry.

  She felt frustration at the mess Aspengold was in, and then from acute homesickness. She longed to see her maid Lilly and even Drew. She wanted to be able to take a ride in her new, shiny buggy through the crowded streets of Atlanta and peruse the shops on Peachtree Street, have lunch with Mary Jo and Charlotte, and plan their next church bazaar. But the buggy, along with almost every possession, had been auctioned off that fateful day. A sharp longing for her family and home struck her, causing more tears to fall.

  Lord, please help me. I don’t know which way to turn. Crystal poured out her heart to God until her tears lessened.

  As Luke crossed the yard on his way to the barn, he paused as his attention was directed to the clothesline that held Crystal’s sheets fluttering in the breeze, alongside stiff white petticoats that seemed to be standing on their own. He reluctantly dragged his eyes away, feeling like he’d viewed something intimate and personal, and looked up at the puffy clouds the color of pink streaked with the pale blue sky. How he loved this country! There was nowhere else he’d rather be.

  He was about to continue on his way when he thought he heard a whimpering sound. At first he thought it was one of the hounds, but as he walked closer, he realized the sound was coming from the house. He stepped lightly on the porch, tapped at the front door, and discreetly opened it a crack. Across the room, yellow shafts of sunlight filtered through the open doorway, placing golden highlights in Crystal’s dark head on the desktop.

  “Crystal?” he whispered. “Everything all right?” He moved to stand near the chair and reached out to touch her head lightly.

  She jerked her head up and sniffed, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. Her face was swollen and tearstained, green eyes glittering, and her lashes were wet against dark circles under her eyelids. “Not really. I think I just had my first bout of real homesickness,” she managed to croak between hiccups. She rose to stand and face him.

  Crystal looked directly into Luke�
�s blue eyes, unable to tear her eyes away. Her feet felt glued to the floor, and she was wedged between Luke and the desk with nowhere to go.

  He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head back to look deep into her glistening eyes, then leaned down and covered her quivering lips with his own. His thin lips were soft and caressing. Crystal felt an exquisite shock numb her very being. His hand touched the small of her back, gently pulling her to him until she felt his hard chest against hers. She felt safe here and wanted to stay in his arms. She leaned against him and closed her eyes.

  When he released her, he said in a hoarse voice, “After you get things settled here, you can go back to the South. I can help you see to selling the ranch. I’d buy it myself if I had the money. If you like, you can leave next week. You don’t have to stay till the trail drive. Me and Rusty can handle things for you.” He took a big step away from her.

  Crystal noticed his ragged breathing. She jerked herself back to reality, straightened her shoulders, and pressed her unruly hair back into its pins. So the kiss was to cheer her up. It hadn’t meant anything to him. Why should she be surprised? Obviously, a kiss was something he handed out as easily as the peppermint candy he had given her.

  He picked up the cold cup of coffee and said, “Goodness, this stuff is awful. Come on. I’m going to make up a decent pot of coffee for once.” He headed toward the kitchen, and she walked stiffly behind him, not knowing what else to do.

  “Now you just sit there and relax.” He motioned for her to sit at the table.

  “I’m not leaving, you know. Not yet. I never back down on my word,” Crystal said. She watched his movements about the kitchen while he ground fresh coffee in the mill and proceeded to boil water.

  He looked completely at ease in the kitchen and seemed familiar with the cupboards and their contents. He took out two cups and saucers and placed them on the table. He reached in the cupboard and removed a large tin that was hidden from view in the back. Inside were dubious-looking sugar cookies. Luke placed them on a plate between the two cups.

  The smell of coffee permeated the small kitchen, and Crystal waited patiently with her hands folded in her lap. She watched him dart from one side of the kitchen to the other. His long legs moved with alacrity, and his spurs made a tinkling sound. He was small hipped, and his britches were well-worn and snug, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up past the elbow. He stood near the stove with his weight on one hip, making certain the coffee didn’t boil over. He removed the pot from the stove and placed it alongside the milk and sugar on the table.

  Outwardly he appeared calm, but inside, Luke’s thoughts were running a mile a minute as he thought back to their brief kiss. It had felt so nice, so right. Why hadn’t he felt that way when he kissed April? What was he thinking, doing that? He wasn’t sure what it meant, but when he’d looked at the curve of Crystal’s face tilted up and watching him, his heart had begun to thump hard against his ribs.

  He poured the coffee and sat down to join her. He pushed his hat to the back of his head and crossed his outstretched legs in front of him. “See if you don’t like my coffee, and if you do, I’ll teach you how to make it.” He winked at her. “This is the quietest you’ve ever been.”

  When she smiled back at him, he felt funny in his stomach. Probably the greasy breakfast. He was glad that he was sitting across from her, or he might be forced to kiss those quivering lips again. “Too bad we don’t have one of those good pies Carmen makes. That would just be perfect.”

  She wasn’t about to tell him that those had been her pies, not Carmen’s. With his hat pushed back, she could get a better look at his face. His skin was richly tanned from the many hours in the saddle, and his wide forehead was low with two permanent wrinkles around his eyes from squinting in the sun. She liked the way his long fingers curled around the cup that he held in one hand. As he munched on a cookie, the crumbs caught in his moustache.

  Realizing that she was staring, she sipped her coffee and took a bite of the cookie. “Very good, I must admit.”

  “I’m glad you like it. Made that batch of cookies up myself. I kinda have a sweet tooth. We gotta teach you to cook while you’re here.”

  Crystal laughed. “I can cook a couple of things. Wait until you taste my skillet cornbread and red beans.”

  “You need to learn how to make sourdough biscuits.”

  “What’s that?” She looked up into his blue eyes.

  “Sourdough? Well, next to the Bible, sourdough is the most important possession on the frontier. You can make flapjacks and biscuits with it, patch a crack in the cabin, treat wounds, and even make brew.”

  Crystal wondered if that meant the Bible held some importance to him. “I’ve never heard of sourdough.”

  “Well, it was a popular item and a staple with the prospectors during the Yukon gold rush. They carried their starter dough buried in flour or in pots strapped to their backs.”

  “Why didn’t you try mining? Maybe you’d have struck it rich and been able to have your own ranch.”

  “I did. Went to Leadville and Central City when I was just seventeen with dreams of getting rich, but all I wound up doing was working hard, spending every cent in gambling halls, and kicking up my heels. I was young and stupid.’Bout the only strike I ever made was pyrite.”

  “And what, pray tell, is pyrite?” Crystal was enjoying this exchange of conversation.

  “It’s called fool’s gold because it’s usually mistaken for the real thing. Anyhow, a lot of people did become millionaires. Others squandered their money like it was water. Ever hear of Horace Tabor?”

  She shook her head. He stood, reached for the coffee, and refilled their cups with the scalding liquid.

  “He started out with a third of a grubstake and wound up almost instantly rich and purchased a dozen or so more mines. He was lieutenant governor back in 1878 for six years. He built the Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver. Yep, he was very rich.” Luke paused in his story and reached for another cookie.

  Crystal felt very content to be sitting here talking like friends instead of having their usual banter. This was an interesting new side to him that she wanted to know better. “Well,” she nudged, wanting to hear the rest, “what happened to this rich Horace Tabor?”

  “Let me see . . . He divorced his wife and fell in love with a woman called Baby Doe, who was also divorced. He met her on one of his trips to Leadville and lavished her with fine things. I heard tell from the stories that he gave her a $7,000 wedding dress and a huge diamond worth close to $100,000.”

  Crystal gasped. “Really?”

  “They live in Denver now, and I hear his businesses and mines are all but petered out, except for the Matchless Mine. It seems he mortgaged all his real estate to develop new mines and has fallen on hard times.”

  Crystal sighed. “It sounds romantic but sad.”

  “Feeling better now? You have a party to go to tonight, and you don’t want to go with a swollen face, now do you?”

  “Are you and the boys going?”

  “As sure as a snowstorm in February. Wouldn’t want to miss it. We can all ride together.”

  “Actually, Josh will be coming to escort me.” Crystal saw Luke’s jaw tighten.

  “Oh, I see . . .” He wanted to ask her about Drew. It had been nagging him ever since the night she was unconscious, but now wasn’t the time.

  “About the ranch . . . I meant what I said.” He looked across the table, and their eyes locked for a long moment. He started to say something else, but decided against it and shifted in his chair, causing it to creak in protest. “You don’t need to worry. Not after all that you’ve gone through.” It was almost a carbon copy of what had happened to her in Georgia, and he was concerned for her.

  “I’ll be okay, don’t worry. Once I get everything figured out. God has never let me go begging.” Crystal sighed again, moving to place the dishes in the sink. “You’ve made me think about something other than my troubles for a little while
.”

  Luke watched as Crystal assumed her dignified air, her back and shoulders set in their usual determined way. He had to admire her resilience.

  12

  Friday at six o’clock sharp, Josh came up the dusty drive in a shiny new buggy with a pair of high-stepping thoroughbreds. Crystal was just completing last-minute touches to her hair, but upon hearing the horses rattling to a halt out front, she picked up her white straw hat and hurried out to greet Josh. He was impeccably dressed in a tan suit with a brown silk cravat and his usual tan Stetson hat. Crystal noticed a red blotch where his stiff white collar rubbed his throat, and it continued to creep up his neck when his eyes fell upon her as she emerged from the house and waited on the top step of the porch. She wore a lavender silk dress and knew that it enhanced her creamy white shoulders. This time her bosom barely peeked from under the edging of ribbon circling the scooped neckline.

  After setting the brake, he climbed down to where she stood waiting. He extended his large, squarish hand to hers and lifted her up to the shiny buggy.

  “You are going to be the prettiest one at the party tonight.” Josh’s eyes twinkled.

  “You’re looking pretty dashing yourself,” she said.

  “Do you have a wrap, Crystal? It will be a little cooler when it gets late.”

  “Oh, could you just step inside the door? My woolen shawl is hanging on the rack.”

  He retrieved her shawl and settled her in the buggy before taking his seat beside her and clicking to the horses. She waved to Curly and Jube when they passed the bunkhouse and saw Luke and Rusty out of the corner of her eye as they walked up from the barn. They had all cleaned up and were fixing to saddle up to leave for the party. Curly whistled shrilly, and she turned around to blow a kiss at him. They guffawed and watched as the buggy faded over the hill and out of sight.