by Kit Morgan
ANGEL CREEK PRESS
Her Prairie Knight
2013 by Kit Morgan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.
All characters are fictional. Any resemblances to actual people are purely coincidental.
Cover design by Angel Creek Press
Canstock.com
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Epilogue
About
One
Clear Creek, Oregon. June 1858
Colin Bartholomew Cooke saw an angel.
She was of course everything an angel ought to be. Beautiful, of exquisite form, and with honey gold curls that bounced beneath her hat as she walked. He swallowed hard and wondered how those golden tresses would look if unpinned and allowed to cascade down her back. Would they descend to her small waist? Or travel further on to her shapely hips? His heart skipped a beat at the thought.
He couldn’t tell from his vantage point what color her eyes were but what did eye color matter on an angel? Maybe her eyes changed color depending on her mood. Wasn’t that a trait of angels, eyes that changed color? Just so long as they didn’t turn a fierce red.
Such as Mrs. Dunnigan's
Colin sighed, rested his forehead against the half-open window and continued to watch as his new found angel hugged Mr. Dunnigan first, then moved on to greet the devil’s own Mrs. Dunnigan. The bane of Clear Creek.
Though Colin and his older brother Duncan had been newly released from prison (and would be forever grateful to be gone from the dreadful place) it did have one redeeming quality. It didn’t have Mrs. Irene Dunnigan in residence.
Everyone in Clear Creek avoided the self-righteous, cantankerous creature as best they could. At least until they needed something from the mercantile. There was no choice then but to face her. Unless of course one got waited on by Mr. Dunnigan. But Mr. Dunnigan (Wilfred to his friends) was usually busy doing other things in the mercantile while Mrs. Dunnigan handled the counter and the cash. Of which there was little. Most folks relied on store credit instead. Maybe that’s what made the woman so cranky.
He watched as the stagecoach driver hauled down a few satchels and a trunk. Wilfred picked up the trunk while Mrs. Dunnigan and his angel gathered up the satchels. The Dunnigans talked and laughed as they led her inside. His angel must be planning to stay awhile.
Colin quickly closed the window and headed downstairs. He and his two brothers, Duncan and Harrison, had watched some of Harrison’s new stock driven through town from the second story of Mulligan’s saloon. It was a big day for his little brother. He and his new wife Sadie had just received a thousand head of some of the finest cattle in three territories. The stock was a gift from Sadie’s father and the brothers now found themselves plunged into the cattle business. It would be a far cry from pig farming. Something they’d done since settling in Clear Creek eight years ago. But it would prosper their family not to mention the town, and for that the three brothers were immensely happy. It had been the dream of their birth father to travel to the American west from England, settle, and then raise cattle. Now it was a reality. They just wished their father were still alive to see it.
“Everyone’s gone to the corral, Colin. Best get down there or your brothers will tan your hide!” Mr. Mulligan began. “And don’t forget to tell the folks to come back here when they’re done! This is a great day for our town. We need to celebrate!”
“Happy to oblige, Mr. Mulligan!” Colin said and ran out the swinging double doors of the saloon and quickly crossed the street to the stagecoach. Willie, the driver, was just about to enter the mercantile with the mailbag. “Afternoon, Willie! Can I help you?”
Willie looked at him, then to the mercantile. “If’n you want to take this in, I’d be much obliged.”
Colin watched as Willie’s left eye began to twitch. It often did when the poor man was nervous or agitated. “I’d be happy to help. Hand it to me.”
Willie smiled. Several of his front teeth were missing. The unfortunate result of a stage robbery four months ago. A robbery that brought Harrison and his new wife Sadie together. “I caint tell you what a help that would be. I don’t have much time and would really like to go set a spell with Mulligan.”
Colin grinned in understanding. To Willie, a good stiff drink was preferable to any sort of encounter with Mrs. Dunnigan. “Glad to do it. Best go see Mulligan then. I’ll take care of this.” He reached for the mailbag. Willie gratefully handed it over then skeedaddled across the street to the saloon.
Colin laughed as he watched him go and then turned toward the mercantile. He took a deep breath to brace himself, walked up the front steps, and opened the door. A tiny bell rang over his head to announce his arrival. He looked this way and that but didn’t see anyone. He went to the counter and tried to peek through the half opened curtain that separated the front and back of the building. The Dunnigans' living quarters were upstairs, the mercantile and storerooms on the first floor. They must be upstairs and hadn’t heard him come in. The floorboards overhead creaked slightly in confirmation, followed by the sound of bright laughter. His angel.
Colin felt his gut warm at the sound and had to swallow. She was above him. Probably right over his head, sitting in the small parlor. He closed his eyes when the sound came again and sighed.
“What are you doing standing there like that?” A voice snapped.
Colin opened his eyes to find Mrs. Dunnigan standing in front of the curtained doorway, a ladle in her hand. Her face was scrunched up as she glared at him with her dark, beady eyes. He lifted the mailbag in front of him like a shield. “Brought the mail, ma’am.”
“Well don’t just stand there, put it on the counter!”
“Yes, ma’am.” Colin slowly complied. It was all he could do not to look at the ceiling when the delightful laughter once again filtered down to tickle his heart and senses.
“Where’s Willie? Why didn’t he bring it in?”
Mrs. Dunnigan’s voice pulled him out of his dream-like state. “He had to go talk with Mr. Mulligan.”
“You mean he went to go drink!” She huffed. “Drink and then drive the stage out of here! I’ll see he’s fired!”
“I believe this is his last stop. He’ll head out again in the morning.”
“What does it matter? No decent man drinks then handles horses!”
Colin sighed; on the one hand she had a point. On the other hand the livery stable was less than fifty yards away. “I’ll see to the stage if it makes you feel better, Mrs. Dunnigan.”
“See that you do! Now get out of here. Unless you want to buy something?”
Colin listened. No laughter from above. He had to get the information he wanted quickly. He had to know who his angel was! “I’ll take some of your delicious cinnamon candies.”
She waddled behind the counter and opened a jar. “How many?”
“Give me a dozen.”
The floorboards creaked again and the delightful laughter rained down. The sound touched him like a sweet caress and he leaned against the counter to stay standing.
“I hope you have money! You know you Cooke's don’t have store credit anymore!”
Colin nodded and reached into his
pocket. “I saw someone get off the stage. Do you and Mr. Dunnigan have a guest?”
She stopped putting candy into a small bag and spun to face him. “It’s no business of yours if we have a guest or not!” She threw the last piece of candy in the bag and tossed it onto the counter in front of him. “That’ll be three cents!”
Colin handed her the money just as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Mrs. Dunnigan moved with a speed he’d never seen before. She came around the counter and began to shove him toward the door. She had him out on the porch of the mercantile faster than he could spit, and was back inside before he fully turned around. Which, was just in time to have the door slammed in his face. Colin stood there and stared at it like a lovesick dote.
What was happening to him? This was ridiculous! He had to get a hold of himself! Angel or no angel, no woman should have such an effect on a man!
The door suddenly opened and Colin jumped at the unexpected sight of the beautiful young woman who stood before him. “I believe you paid for this, sir.”
Her voice was heavenly. An odd tingling sensation made its way up his spine and he shook as if chilled. She stood there, his bag of candy in her hand, and held it out to him. He took it without saying a word. She was even more beautiful than he could have possibly imagined.
She smiled. “Good day.”
He nodded, too dumbstruck to speak. He wanted to but his brain was incapable of forming anything resembling words. Before he knew it the door had closed and she was gone. He slowly looked to the bag of candy in his hand. He didn’t know who she was, where she came from, how long she was staying, if she was a relative of the Dunnigans, what she was doing there? But now at least, he did know one thing.
Angels had blue eyes.
* * *
Isabelle Dunnigan, affectionately known as Belle, turned to the sour look on her aunt’s face. The woman went behind the counter and slammed the lid back on the candy jar before putting it on a shelf. Uncle Wilfred stood nearby and hid a smile. He’d handed Belle the bag of candy and whispered to give it to the gentleman just outside the door. He’d forgotten it. She did so without question but now wondered if it had been such a good idea. Aunt Irene looked about to bust a gut her face was so red.
“I’ll not have any of those Cooke boys sniffing around here, Wilfred!”
Uncle Wilfred calmly turned to face his wife. “Now, Irene. There’s no way to keep them away from her. And besides, of all the men in town, they are the closest in age to Belle.”
“I don’t care! They’re no good. I wish the whole lot of them would pack up and leave!”
Uncle Wilfred sighed and turned to Belle. “That there was one of the Cooke boys. Polite fellas. Born and raised mostly in England. Come out west and settled here a little after we did.”
“Englishmen? Here? How fascinating.” Belle commented. “Auntie, why don’t you like them?”
“Why? I’ll tell you why!” She waddled out from behind the counter. “Their pa drinks himself into a dead drunk every night! Two of the brothers just got out of prison and two more just went in! Thieves is what they are! Thieves! The only decent one of the lot was their mother. The Englishwoman. At least she had some manners but Jefferson Cooke drank too much and paid no mind when she got sick. Worked the woman to the bone he did! He killed her just as sure as I’m standing in front of you. I don’t want you anywhere near them, you hear me girl?”
Belle stood and gaped at her. Her first day with Aunt Irene and Uncle Wilfred and she already felt like her life was about to be taken over. Dispatched day in and day out by her aunt. Hadn’t she just left the same situation behind in Boston? Her father kept her under such tight control she couldn’t even pick out what she wanted to wear on her own. Any dress she chose he didn’t like. If she chose a hat, he didn’t like it either. Nothing she did was good enough. Her hair was too light, her eyes should have been brown. But James T. Dunnigan hadn’t always been so controlling and strict. He didn’t fall into it until after her mother died. It was almost as if he was trying to turn Belle into her mother.
Her mother loved to wear green. Belle preferred blue. Her father would insist she wear green all the time. He made her wear her mother’s hats. Her mother’s gloves. Yes she was sentimental about her mother’s things and at first loved wearing them. But it soon became apparent something was very wrong with her father. His constant trips to the gambling houses should have been her first clue. But it was his insistence she do and be everything her mother was that told her his sanity was slipping.
Belle let go a shaky breath. She was not her mother. She was her own person and wasn’t about to let anyone, including her Aunt Irene, turn her into something she wasn’t. She’d already suffered through that with her father. And now he was gone. And though his last few years were almost unbearable for her, she still missed him. Missed the man he used to be.
“Well? Don’t just stand there, girl! I want you to promise me you’ll have nothing to do with any of those Cooke boys!”
“Now, Irene,” Uncle Wilfred began. “Be reasonable. They gotta come get things from the mercantile now and then not to mention fetch their mail. You can’t expect them to stay away.”
Aunt Irene picked up her ladle and waved it at him as she talked. “This is my store and I’ll serve whom ever I wish. And that means not serve whom ever I wish!”
Belle looked helplessly to Uncle Wilfred. “I don’t understand.”
“Your aunt’s had a hard time the last few months. We’ve been sharing our place with the Mulligans while they rebuilt their saloon after the old one burned down. They just left a few weeks ago. Things have been a bit cramped and now you’re here.”
Belle looked to the wood planked floor. “Oh ... I see.”
“Now don’t take that wrong. You’re my niece and I wouldn’t want you anywhere else now that your pa has gone on to glory. You’ll live with us and work here in the mercantile. And when it comes time to be thinking bout marrying, well ... you can do that here too. Be plenty of gentlemen to choose from.”
“Gentlemen?” Aunt Irene snapped. “What gentlemen?”
Uncle Wilfred took a calming breath. “Let’s worry about it when the time comes. Now back upstairs, the both of you. It’s time to eat and I’m hungry.”
Marriage? Belle glanced to the front door. She wouldn’t mind a chance to get to know the gentleman who so recently stood on the other side of it. Had he been one of the men her aunt said got out of prison? She found it hard to believe. His countenance was one of awe and wonder. He looked at her as if she was the most beautiful star in the universe. He hadn’t tried to flatter her or looked her up and down as if she was his next meal. She went through plenty of that on the journey here. Lucky for her she was able to travel with friends of her father who were heading west to settle in Oregon City. She enjoyed the family’s company during the three month long trek and had learned a lot from them. She also discovered what it was like to have freedom. Real freedom. Something she’d not enjoyed in a very long time. Freedom of choice was a precious thing and she wasn’t about to give it up to her aunt. Not if she could help it.
Belle decided she’d just have to find a way to get to know the gentleman from the other side of the door. It was after all, her choice. Especially if anything having to do with marriage was involved.
* * *
“Where have you been?” Duncan asked Colin as he joined him on the fence of the corral. “Harrison needs our help.”
Colin watched as their younger brother Harrison had some of the drovers separate several dozen steers from the rest of the herd brought to town. The Sheriff and a few other men laughed and smiled as the drovers set to work. The steers were a gift from Harrison to the men who helped him rescue his wife Sadie when she was kidnapped by outlaws. Colin smiled. Their little brother always had been a generous sort.
Duncan slapped him on the back, jumped off the corral and began to make his way toward Harrison and the rest. Colin followed, eager to watch a
s more and more townsfolk gathered as well. It would be their first business transactions as the new owners of the Triple C. Harrison, again as an act of generosity, was selling off some of their new stock at incredibly low prices to help the townsfolk make it through the long winter months. A steer would see most folks through quite nicely. Especially the several new families that had just settled in town over the last couple of months and more were expected to settle in the months ahead. At this rate Clear Creek would need a bank, a land office, and a new schoolhouse. But the priority had been the new church. And once again, thanks to Horatio Jones’s generosity, it was almost complete.
“Ok, gather round!” Harrison called to the crowd. “We’ll separate out a few at a time and put them in the adjoining corral! The you can take your pick from there!”
The people cheered and headed for one of two smaller corrals to wait for the cattle to enter. The air was full of lively laughter, talk, and the mooing of hundreds of cattle. It was the most excitement the town had ever seen. And though the upcoming transactions would bring in much less than market value for the animals, Colin knew the sales would still start them off well. He took up his post at one end of the corral to handle the money and receipts and forced himself to concentrate. Would Wilfred come claim a steer? Or would he not bother? Did they need the animal to make it through the winter? Or were they set well enough? The real question, of course, was did they have three mouths to feed this coming winter or just two?
By the end of the day, Colin hoped to find out. Even if it meant giving Mrs. Dunnigan a steer for free.
Two
Sadie Cooke gathered what she needed and set the table for supper. The men would be home soon and no doubt plenty hungry. Selling cattle could work up a mighty big appetite. She knew. After closing a business deal her father, one of the biggest if not the biggest cattleman in three territories, could put away quite a feast. And he was just one man. The Cooke brothers were three.
She hummed a hymn as she checked on the fried chicken she’d prepared, one of her new husband’s favorites. Tonight was special and she wanted everything to be perfect. In fact, she’d left the sale early to do just that. Make things perfect. Life for Sadie the last four months had been like a fairy tale and she thanked the Lord everyday for the blessing of her new family. Her birth mother and father, reunited after nearly twenty years, were now getting married. She had a wonderful husband and two delightful new brothers-in-law. Nothing could make Sadie any happier than she was.
