by Annie Boone
Alone in the silence of her room, Elizabeth had to battle to keep hot tears from streaming down her cheeks. For the first time since she arrived in Colorado, she wished she had a different option rather to marrying Mason. How happy she’d be if she could simply return home and be with her father, once again.
Making her way to the window in her bedroom, Elizabeth leaned her elbow against the frame and stared out into the night. She could see the fireflies buzzing about in the space below, tempting her to go out and dance amongst them.
Across the hall, she heard the loud slam of a door, a sign her future husband had also retired for the night. Biting down on her lip, Elizabeth considered Mason’s warning. He had warned that she shouldn’t go out into the night because of the coyotes. Coyotes?
Elizabeth shook her head at how ridiculous his statement had sounded. There would be no fear of the animals if he would simply stay by her side. Why did it seem that Mason had very little interest in spending time with her? Despite how many times he’d annoyed her over the past few hours, she still wanted to be with him. He had no right to send her off like a child. She was going out and nothing was going to happen.
Taking a spur of the moment decision, Elizabeth moved away from the window and grabbed the pair of walking boots she’d kicked off beside her bed. Tiptoeing barefooted through the room, she pushed her door open and peered out into the empty hallway. After seeing that no one was around that might catch her, she made her way down the hall and then down the flight of steps. When she was downstairs, she made a quick dash for the front door and hurried out into the yard.
She hadn’t waited long enough to wear her shoes and now that her feet had touched the lawn she wasn’t going to. She enjoyed the feel of the soft grass between her toes. Elizabeth breathed in the cool air of the night and let the cool sensation run through her.
Colorado had a very different countryside to Georgia where she was from. But it was certainly a place of beauty as well.
Spinning around, Elizabeth closed her eyes and listened to the night. Fireflies danced around her head, reminding her of the times when she was a little girl playing out on the lawn.
The noise of the front door opening startled Elizabeth and had her crouching and making a quick dash to hide in the shadows of a tree. Elizabeth watched as Mason stepped out of the house and made his way down the porch and toward the barn.
Standing perfectly still, Elizabeth didn’t move until she saw him emerge from the barn with his horse. Climbing up onto the saddle, Mason made a clucking noise with his tongue and the animal headed to the fields.
Where could Mason be going so late at night?
The sight sent a shiver down Elizabeth’s spine. She knew her fiancé spent a lot of late nights outside but she had thought he went about walking the fence rows and making sure that things were secure in the barn. She suddenly found her mind flooded with uncertainties. What if Sheriff Clayton was right? What if Mason truly was somehow involved in illegal activity?
Shaking her head, Elizabeth tried to clear her thoughts. Bending to put her shoes on, she decided to take a walk around the ranch to distract herself from the strange happenings of the night and to enjoy the sights of her new home under the light of the full moon.
While the fear of meeting a coyote weighed heavily on her mind, the truth remained that Elizabeth considered the fun worth the risk. She wanted to learn about this ranch especially as it was to be a permanent part of her life.
As she walked deeper into the ranch, she imagined what her life would be like once she and Mason were married. Was there hope that she and Mason could have the type of marriage she had dreamed about and longed for?
Elizabeth had always imagined a husband she could talk to freely, someone she’d be happy to have in her company. As things were turning out, it was beginning to feel more like her fiancé was simply a dictator.
Mason was certainly used to bossing people around and he didn’t make an exception where Elizabeth was concerned. Rather than getting better with time, Mason was becoming more overbearing and demanding.
“What kind of life will I have if I stay here?” Elizabeth whispered aloud, listening to her voice in the stillness of the night.
But she couldn’t ask herself those questions. The truth remained: If she didn’t stay, then she had no hope of a life at all.
In the distance, Elizabeth noticed a building, revealing itself in the light of the moon. Squinting, she tried to remember it from the tour she had received the day she arrived. Surely, she had managed to stumble on a part of the ranch she didn’t recognize.
Trampling on the longer grass, Elizabeth made her way to the shed-like barn. She put her hand on the door and tried to push it open, but it was padlocked shut. Through the wood of the building, she could hear the sound of a horse neighing softly.
What was this all about? Why did Mason have a secret barn where he was hiding animals?
Clayton’s words once again made their way through her mind, filling Elizabeth with a sense of dread.
What if the sheriff was right and Mason was keeping stolen animals hidden in this shed? What would she do?
Suddenly, she realized that she didn’t have the slightest idea about what to do. She knew she couldn’t ignore such a hideous crime, even if it was her fiancé doing it, and she’d have to turn Mason in. Then where would she be? Where would she go if Mason truly was a rustler?
Deciding she was better off not knowing, Elizabeth moved backwards from the unyielding door. She simply wouldn’t snoop into the strange building. She’d just have to trust her betrothed and assume that this barn was nothing, that he had simply forgotten to show it to her when he was introducing her to the rest of the ranch.
Hit by an overwhelming sense of dread and exhaustion, Elizabeth decided that it was time to head back to the ranch house. If Mason was into something illegal, she didn’t even want to know about it. She’d probably be better off if she could stay in the dark and simply trust that her future husband was doing the right things.
Elizabeth tried to force herself to remember the good things about Mason. She recalled his welcoming air and how charming he had being the day she first arrived in Plainsville but, try as she might, it seemed that the good memories were completely overshadowed by so many others.
The things he’d said about her earlier when talking with Clayton continued to play in Elizabeth’s mind, making her feel disgusted and angry. She was worth nothing to him, nothing more than property anyway.
For the first time, she wondered if Mason Reeve was really the upstanding man that everyone considered him to be. For all she knew, he might be as depraved and wretched as the sheriff was painting him to be, nothing better than a saloon thug.
What if it turned out that Mason was sneaking out into the night to meet another woman? What if he wasn’t true to her at all? He might be visiting the saloon himself, hanging out with some of the scantily clad women who entertained men.
The idea was so disgusting that Elizabeth could hardly stand it and yet it continued to churn through her mind. Somehow, she was going to have to learn to either blind herself to her suspicions or else put them to rest by discovering the truth.
Chapter Seven
Standing in the middle of the saloon, Clayton felt overwhelmed with the smell of mingled sweat, old beer, and cigar smoke. This was one place that Clayton truly did not enjoy and yet, as the sheriff, he found that he was called to the scene far too often.
“Boys,” Clayton called out immediately after Tommy Ratliff grabbed his brother, Amos, by the cuff of his shirt and delivered a firm punch square in the jaw. The impact of his blow sent Amos flying backwards across one of the bar room tables, causing drinks to scatter in all directions. Clayton expected Amos to lay down for a minute because of the force of the punch but Clayton found he grossly underestimated his resistance. Amos was back on his feet within the blink of an eye. Running at Tommy, Amos returned the favor by pushing his brother onto another table.
/> Rolling his eyes, Clayton stepped forward into the midst of the drama and reached out to grab Amos by the ear before jerking him to his feet. With his other hand, he grabbed Tommy by a handful of hair, making him stand beside his brother.
“Boys!” Clayton shouted again, raising his deep voice so that it boomed out across the small saloon. “What on Earth has gotten into you two?”
Though Clayton asked the question, he already knew the answer. Amos and Tommy were usually thick as thieves, but it was a weekly occurrence for them to get liquored up and fight each other. Clayton couldn’t count the times he’d been forced to break up a brawl between them since they moved to Plainsville last spring.
The previous week, the boys had been fighting over Tommy’s girlfriend when Tommy decided that Amos was making eyes at her. Trying to imagine what might be the problem this week, Clayton tightened his grip and asked again, “What’s the meaning of this?”
Struggling to get away from him, Amos rubbed his reddened jaw as he spoke.
“This fool drank up all the beer at our house. I’d just bought it last week.”
“Hey,” Tommy shouted back, reaching up to rub his head where Clayton was clamping down on his hair.
“Let go of me. And I didn’t drink the beer, Amos. You’re the fool. You drank it all. That drink was for both of us and we were supposed to split it equally.”
“I didn’t drink none of it,” Amos responded, his face growing beet red with irritation. “Bessie already told me that you did it.”
“No sir,” Tommy snapped, trying to take another swing at his brother. “Bessie told me that you drank it.”
Hearing the name of the boys’ buxom sister, things began to make sense of Clayton. Jerking them farther apart, he shouted out his own opinion.
“Boys, don’t you think that there’s a chance that Bessie is the one who drank it all?”
Both of the boys sobered as reality hit them. Staring at each other, their eyes widened and their gazes grew softer.
“She has been staggering around quite a bit lately,” Tommy admitted.
Amos slowly nodded his head and lowered his fists.
“Sure has.”
Releasing both of them numerous assurances that they were properly cooled off, Clayton pushed back his hat.
“Boys, I suggest that you start hiding your beer from Bessie or, better yet, just stop buying it all together. You two turn into the most ornery people when you’re liquored up. If you fight again, I have a good mind to take you both to the jail.”
While Clayton realized that his suggestions were falling on deaf ears, he at least had to make an attempt at settling them down. Starting toward the saloon’s swinging doors, he heard owner of the bar call out.
“Thanks, Clayton. I’m sure I’ll be calling you again soon.”
Giving a nod in return, Clayton was glad to step out into the fresh air. He had to get to his office.
“Sheriff.”
The voice came from the alley and made Clayton stop in his tracks. His skin crawled uncomfortable as he realized that someone was watching him. Lifting his hand to his gun holster, he instinctively prepared himself for trouble.
To Clayton’s surprise, he found the small form of Elizabeth Brown standing in the shadows, her tiny face looking pale and her expression troubled.
Realizing he wasn’t in any danger, Clayton released his hand from his gun and took long steps over to her side.
“Miss Brown,” he muttered, whilst trying to comprehend why she was hiding in the alley, in an obvious attempt to remain unseen. “What’s going on?”
Elizabeth stepped out of the alley but her blue eyes didn’t stop darting back and forth like she expected someone to jump out of the shadows to take her.
“Sheriff Clayton, we need to talk.”
Hoping she might possibly be coming to give him a lead on Mason Reeve, Clayton heard his heart beat speed up as he looked down at the wicked man’s planned bride.
“How about we go in my office?” Clayton suggested, almost afraid that his idea might cause her to retreat back into her own thoughts.
Nodding slowly, Elizabeth followed him to the sheriff’s office. As they made the short trip to the building by foot, Clayton could see she was on guard, constantly watching as if she was afraid of being caught.
Once they stepped into the small office, Clayton closed the door and locked it shut behind him, leaving the two of them entirely alone.
“Where’s your fiancé?”
He wondered if that was still a safe description of Mason to her as he looked down at the innocent young woman before him.
She looked away and then back up at him.
“He’s ordering supplies and allowed me to walk down to the general store. He thinks I’m talking to your sister, so we have to make this quick.”
“Why did you want to talk to me?”
Elizabeth bit down on her lower lip, making her appear even sweeter and more innocent than before. In that instant, Clayton could remember all the terrible things her intended husband had said about her, comparing her to a piece of livestock and claiming he owned her. Looking at how gentle and tender she was as she stood in front of him, Clayton fought the desire to track Mason Reeve down to dish him a good beating for the terrible things he had said.
“Sheriff,” Elizabeth began, in a rather shaky voice.
“I just want to know why you dislike Mason so much. It’s obvious to see that there’s some sort of bad blood between the two of you. Why? What has Mason done?”
It was then Clayton realized that there was little chance that Elizabeth was going to give him the information he had so desperately hoped she had come to disclose.
“Mason Reeve has never done anything to me,” Clayton assured her, before reaching up to run a hand through his hair. “In fact, I used to think a lot of him. I was just as thrilled with him as everyone else, but lately I’ve had reason to think he may not be as decent a man as I used to believe. I just hope I’m wrong.”
Clayton started to say more but he looked into her frightened eyes again and changed his mind.
“I’m afraid that’s all I can say.”
Elizabeth seemed to be considering his words and then she slowly replied, “I guess that’s fair enough.”
For Elizabeth’s sake, Clayton truly did hope he was wrong about her future husband. The idea of her being stuck with the Mason Reeve Clayton thought he knew was too terrible to even imagine.
“I am afraid I’m going to have to ask you one more question.”
Elizabeth’s voice grew shakier as she tried to formulate her next words.
“Do you think that Mason … well, I hate to ask this, but you are around town and you keep up with what everyone is doing. Do you believe that Mason might be seeing other women? I want to believe he’s true to me but, well, there’s just this part of me that wonders.”
As she admitted her deepest fear, Elizabeth’s face grew a bright pink. Clayton noted her discomfort, quickly held in a small laugh and decided upon how best to tackle her question. A part of him wanted to laugh out loud at the thought that Mason would ever be faithful to any woman at all. After the way he had talked about Elizabeth in his barn, it was obvious that Mason simply viewed her as a possession he could exclusively own while he continued to be friendly with countless other women.
Clayton shrugged then replied.
“I’m afraid that’s something I can’t answer for you. My only suggestion is that you take time to truly get to know Mason Reeve before you two get married and be careful in the meantime.”
Realizing he was risking saying more than he should, Clayton looked out the window for a short moment before he finally spoke. “I see Amy is headed to the dress shop. Why don’t I take you over there and you can visit with her for a while? I’m sure she’d be glad to see you.”
Elizabeth looked down at the floor and nodded. Clayton was positive she wasn’t satisfied with his answers about Mason, but he wasn’t sure what els
e he could do. He didn’t want to lie to her and, at the same time, he didn’t want to paint her fiancé as a worse man than he possibly was.
Deep in his heart, Clayton was beginning to recognize that he felt a good level of attraction toward Elizabeth Brown himself. He grappled with an insane desperation to make her see that her fiancé was nothing more than a scoundrel, and that desperation made Clayton afraid. He was generally so professional in all his dealings as a sheriff. Why was this making him so crazy?
Leading Elizabeth toward the dress shop, Clayton noticed the way his sister’s smile lit up when she caught sight of her friend.
Mrs. Jennings, the owner of the shop, was cutting a piece of bright blue material when they stepped into the building.
“Good morning, Mrs. Jennings,” Clayton called out, not at all surprised to see her do no more than give him a curt nod. Mrs. Jennings was an older woman who, though not mean, could certainly come across as cold during first time meetings.
Watching Elizabeth and Amy greet each other, Clayton waited until Elizabeth had drifted over to look at a beautiful green dress before he grabbed his sister by the arm and pulled her toward him.
“Don’t ask any questions, Amy.”
Clayton spoke in a quiet voice, so he could go unnoticed by Elizabeth.
“But watch after her, will you? If she says anything that seems like she’s in danger, let me know immediately.”
Amy’s brow furrowed in confusion and she opened her mouth to ask something, but Clayton put a finger to his lips, signifying that it was time for her to be quiet.
Satisfied with the dress she had just seen, Elizabeth came back to Amy’s side and grabbed the other woman by the hands, a gentle smile crossing her lips.
“Amy, it’s simply so good to see you again. I keep hoping I’ll be able to make a visit out to your ranch soon, if Mason can ever find a day when he’s not too busy to bring me.”
It was obvious that Amy was trying to push away her concern as she smiled back and replied, “Oh, don’t worry about that. If you ever want to come visit, I’d be happy to come by your place and pick you up. Bart taught me how to drive a wagon long ago. Perhaps it’s time for you to learn, too.”
