by Sadie Conall
*
They were less than two miles from the house when fourteen riders appeared, coming in fast, spreading out to form a circle so they’d come in around the back of Marrok and Ella, leaving them no room to escape.
“Here’s the army,” Marrok grunted. “And I bet they’re heavily armed. Which proves Jebediah carries a small fortune of cash inside the house.”
Ella watched the men ride hard towards them and felt the fear take hold in the pit of her belly. Marrok saw it and was stunned to see how pale she suddenly looked and watched in dismay as she swallowed a few times as though trying not to be sick. And then she started to fidget with Bear’s reins, her hands visibly shaking, causing the horse to move about with unease.
Desperate to calm her, Marrok nudged his horse closer to Bear and spoke rapidly, aware of the drumbeat of those fourteen horses’ hooves coming closer.
“I can’t speak for you Ella, not if I’m a potential buyer, so even if you don’t feel like it, act with confidence. If you appear weak, Jebediah will win and you’ll leave here with nothing.” He paused as she turned to look at him, her lovely hazel green eyes wide and full of fear. It shocked Marrok.
“You don’t know him like we all know him here in this county. He’s a monster. Everyone is scared of him. And me more than anyone, because of what I have to lose.”
“Ella, listen to me. You have to be strong. If not for yourself, then for Martha and Jasper. Don’t let Jebediah win. Don’t let Milton win. Fight this battle if you must for your father, for all those years he worked hard,” he glanced over at the riders who were less than half a mile away now. “I want you to tell these men you’ve come to do business with Jebediah and insist on seeing him. Tell them you won’t speak to anyone but him. Talk with a strong voice and hold your hands together to stop them shaking.”
Ella nodded, thinking suddenly of Quentin out in his fields for all those years, working long back backing days. And now she stood on the brink of terrible loss, seeing her father’s years of hard work all come to nothing, for if she lost it all, so did Quentin. He would have ended up working hard all his life just to hand everything over to Jebediah and Milton. And worse of all, those two men would end up making her parents look like fools, because all those dreams her parents held between them when they came to the ranch as newlyweds would have meant nothing. Well, to hell with that.
Ella had no time to reply to Marrok before the riders were upon them, yelling and shouting as their horses thundered around them, their purpose to intimidate.
Ella straightened her back even as she felt the beginnings of that now familiar rage, yet that rage took away her fear and allowed her to focus. Although as she steadied Bear, she was grateful Marrok was with her because she knew with a woman’s intuition as she looked at the leering smiles on the men’s faces surrounding them, that had she come here alone, she might never have left. For Jebediah had Milton’s word that he could take her in wedlock and it wouldn’t take much for Jebediah to keep her at this ranch until a preacher arrived to marry them.
She shuddered at the thought then took a deep breath as she raised herself in the saddle, appearing taller than her five feet six inches. Then she took Marrok’s advice and allowed her voice to ring out, loud and strong.
“You all know who I am. I have business with Jebediah. I wish to see him urgently.”
“Miss Ella,” the head man said, glancing at Marrok before turning back to Ella, his face badly needing a wash and shave. “You know I can’t let you through. No-one gets to see Mr Crawley unless they got an appointment.”
Ella paused for only a moment, her mind racing, desperate to get this done and be gone from here. “Of course I’m going to see him! Don’t be ridiculous! Jebediah and I are to be married within two weeks! If you don’t let us through, I’ll have you reprimanded.”
The men glanced at each other, then the head man nodded towards Marrok. “Alright, we’ll let you through, but not him. We got no idea who he is.”
Ella closed her eyes and took a breath, giving the men the impression she was intensely aggravated when in fact she thought she was going to be sick.
Don’t let Milton and Jebediah win.
She heard the words that Marrok had spoken, but in fact she saw her father’s face, worn from a day out in the fields with Jasper.
She opened her eyes and looked back at the lead man.
“If he doesn’t go through, I don’t go through and I shall tell Jebediah why, for this is an important business meeting and I’m sure Jebediah won’t want to miss it. Now, pull back and let us through.”
There was an awkward stillness among the group of riders then the lead man nodded. “Very well Miss Ella. I won’t be held responsible for stopping a man meeting with his future bride so you can both ride on, but we’ll go along with you.”
Ella nodded and kicked her horse forward. She didn’t look at Marrok. But he glanced at her as she rode on ahead, surrounded by those fourteen men, and Marrok thought she appeared fearless in that moment. Like some dark-haired goddess of old.
8
Jebediah sat behind a huge carved wooden desk in a room the size of the entire ground floor of Ella’s home. She’d heard plenty of rumors about the opulence of this place, but until now had never seen it for herself. Or truly believed it. But now she saw that every one of the rumors was true.
Yet the luxury and wealth on display left Ella cold, leaving her with no regrets about her decision to head west with Martha and her family.
As she walked into the room, Jebediah half rose from the massive wooden chair he was sitting on behind the desk, the chair padded in thick velvet for his comfort. He was a terrifying sight, a huge man standing close to six feet five inches tall, yet hideously obese. His dark eyes were half hidden within folds of fat, his lips bulbous and extruding over a recessed chin, his teeth badly decayed or missing. Yet as Ella watched him, as he allowed himself to fall back in the chair, his shoulders seeming to collapse on his great body, Ella suddenly saw him for what he was. A man who indulged his every whim, regardless of the expense or the consequences.
He was stunned to see her. “Miss Ella Torray!” he said, speaking slowly in that breathless slimy voice which made Ella’s skin crawl, as though she sat before him naked and alone. “Good Lord, I never expected to see you here, especially at such an ungodly hour! Please, do sit down. May I offer you refreshment? Perhaps a coffee? For its rather early in the morning for an impromptu visit, don’t you think? Indeed, you’re coming here has taken me completely by surprise. Luckily you find me up, despite it being only an hour or so past dawn.”
His scolding her for turning up unannounced did the opposite of what he intended, for Ella understood that Jebediah sought to take away her confidence. Instead his words made her feel stronger, even though her legs were shaking beneath her skirt. She sat down, glad to have the support of the chair beneath her. And then she sat up straight, her hands together to hide their trembling, for all she could hear were Marrok’s words if you appear weak, Jebediah will win.
She took a silent, deep breath as Jebediah watched her, his own hands clasped over his huge belly, looking at her with those tiny black eyes and Ella willed herself to hold his gaze. But when he smiled, licking his lips, as though she were a treat he was eager to devour, Ella realized in that moment that there was something wrong with this man. Something wrong in his nature, yet she didn’t have the experience to understand it, for she was unfamiliar with the ways of men. Yet all her instincts warned her never to be alone with him. He would easily overpower a smaller man with his size and strength, let alone a woman. And as she thought on that, she despised Milton for his bargaining her away into a marriage with this loathsome creature.
“No, thank you, for I’m afraid I have no time for such pleasantries,” she said, forcing the words out, willing herself to sound in control.
“Indeed, I’m leaving the territory shortly to join Martha and her family back east.” She paused at the look of shoc
k which passed over Jebediah’s face, shock that he was unable to hide. Then Ella carried on, choosing her words with care.
“So I’ve come to offer you a new deal on the ranch. A better deal than what Milton offered you.”
“Does he know you’re here?”
“No. And although I acknowledge he’s my partner with equal shares in the ranch, he negotiated the sale of it behind my back so I’m returning the courtesy.”
Jebediah laughed softly. “How intriguing! That you’ve come to re-negotiate the deal I struck with Milton! Yet how could it possibly be better, when I have you to look forward to as my bride?”
“Come Jebediah. You know that was never going to happen. So I’m here to offer you another deal, although it comes with conditions.”
“Which are?” Jebediah asked, eager to play this new game, as he once again licked his lips.
“First, we agree to a price and we sign a contract here, this morning. You can arrange for your lawyer to find Milton and have him sign the new contract. I believe he’s currently in Chesterfield in one of the saloons. The second condition is that I want the deal done in cash this morning, but I want to personally give Milton his share.” Ella paused, her mouth suddenly dry, but she didn’t dare ask for a glass of water because her hands were shaking too much to hold it.
“If those conditions aren’t met, I’ll leave here and sell the ranch to the man I rode in with. He wants it, but I came here to give you first option. I think you deserve that after all these years of being our neighbor.”
Ella saw Jebediah’s eyes flicker to the window and she grasped at the thought that he might be nervous about losing the sale. It gave her hope.
“And the price?” he asked, his voice suddenly hard.
“My uncle offered you $3 an acre. I’m offering you $2.80, which includes the four hundred acres and all the buildings. But I keep the two horses and the contents of both the house and barn. If you’re agreeable to it, I’m happy for you to have the papers drawn up now, otherwise I’ll sell it to my other buyer.”
“The other buyer being the halfbreed you rode in with?” Jebediah asked, a smirk on his bloated face.
Ella blinked. For a moment she said nothing, willing her face to remain blank, yet she was taken aback by Jebediah’s words. Marrok a halfbreed? She tried to keep her mind on the negotiations, yet in truth she now struggled, even as she remembered those dark eyes that always seemed aware of every little thing. His buckskin clothing and moccasins instead of leather boots. And the way he wore his hair long and tied back with a piece of knotted leather. Ella cleared her throat.
“It doesn’t matter who he is,” she said, fighting on. “What matters is setting myself up in Boston, so I’m going to accept the deal which gives me the best price. He intends to run sheep and says he can bring in five hundred ewes within the month.”
Now Jebediah did flinch, his huge body seeming to shudder. “Sheep, you say? What joke is this, Ella! Your ranch isn’t big enough to carry that many sheep. And they’ll graze over onto my land! This is nonsense!” He half raised himself off the chair to see better out the window. “What? Is he a Navaho? Bringing in the Navaho churros? I grant you they’re strong hardy beasts but I’ll tell you now, I will not have them on land next to mine. They’ll bring in the sheep scab and graze me out.”
Ella said nothing for a moment then leaned towards him. “Do you really think I care whether he brings in sheep scab or grazes you out?” She shook her head. “Your cattle have grazed on our land for decades, without my father giving you one word of complaint, even when we didn’t have enough grazing for our own cattle!” She sat back, willing herself to keep calm. “All I care about now is leaving this territory in the next twenty-four hours with cash taken from whoever gives me the best deal. That’s going to be you, or the sheep farmer.”
Jebediah said nothing, just glared at her. When he spoke, all pleasantries were gone and she saw the cruelty in his face. This was the Jebediah Crawley everyone knew.
“Well, who would have thought such a beautiful young woman could be so ruthless!” he hissed, leaning towards her. “I’ve seriously misjudged you, Ella. Although I must admit, you now intrigue me a great deal more than you did, so I urge you to think on our original deal. We could make a great team here in this territory. Just think of our sons owning all of this one day. And more. For I intend pushing more ranchers out between here and St Louis.” He paused and smiled, but there was a viciousness to that smile. “By your coming here, I imagine you’re now aware of your uncle’s debt?”
Ella felt her heart lurch at that. No, she knew nothing of Milton’s finances.
“Ah, perhaps not. Well, it probably doesn’t matter too much now. You see, the whole point of the deal I made with Milton was to ensure you became my bride. And for that privilege, your uncle and I agreed that he would be paid a substantial amount of money to make sure it happened. It was our secret, you see, between Milton and me, to secure your hand in marriage,” he shrugged, as Ella struggled to keep the anger from showing on her face.
“However, if you are no longer part of the deal, I don’t see the point in discussing this sale any further. Your hand in marriage was the only thing I wanted. I want strong healthy sons Ella, and you could give them to me. I’m quite aware, you see, that very few women in the territory will come near me, but by securing you through a secret deal, I was happy to pay whatever sum Milton asked. So without you, the purchase of your ranch holds very little interest for me. The land is worthless, there’s no water and its mostly silt. As for those two old horses you want excluded from the sale? You’re welcome to them.”
Ella felt the desperation claw at her and she thought suddenly of that winding road around her father’s ranch which Marrok had pointed out to her. It made for a long route into town for Jebediah. So she tried to ignore the double hand her uncle had played by using her as a pawn, and instead played her own last card.
“So you plan to buy other ranchers out between here and St Louis, yet you’d forego the sale of my father’s ranch to spite me? For that’s what this is about, I think. But you do whatever you want Jebediah, for I won’t be around to see it. I shall sell my land to the halfbreed waiting out there for me, and within the month you’ll have hundreds of sheep grazing on your land while I’ll be setting myself up in Boston. And that road that winds around our ranch that takes you several hours to get into Chesterfield? I do believe the sheep farmer intends to buy the ranch opposite, closing off your access into town. So before I leave, be forewarned. That halfbreed out there has money and like you, he sees the value in being close to St Louis. Who knows how many thousands of acres he’ll buy up before year’s end, or how big the flock he’ll bring in.”
“Old man Timmins wouldn’t sell his land!” Jebediah roared. “That ranch has been in his family for decades!”
“Well Jebediah, you know better than anyone that everyone has a price.”
The big man growled and used his legs to push his chair back from the table. Ella saw then that the chair was on wheels and as Jebediah cleared himself free of the desk, he used his arms to push himself to his feet. He towered above her, a behemoth of a man.
“I’ll give you $1.20 an acre and nothing more. It isn’t worth more to me than that.”
Ella hardly dared breath. She watched as he made his way across the room to a table. He moved slowly, his great weight bearing down on massive legs. As he reached for a bell, Ella rose from her chair.
“I won’t take $1.20. You know as well as I do that the land is worth more than that. The government is selling unbroken land to settlers for just over a dollar an acre. Our ranch is worth $2.80 an acre with the buildings.”
Jebediah squinted at her, his hand on the bell. “$2.50 and that’s my final offer. Take it or leave it.”
Ella knew then that it wasn’t the land he wanted, but what Marrok had so clearly seen. An access road built straight through her ranch.
Ella wondered how she could have missed
it. Had her father known? He must have, yet he never spoke of it. But an access road would give Jebediah a quicker, easier route into town and that alone would be worth a fortune to him, both in time and money. The negotiating with Milton for her hand in marriage had been nothing but a game for this man, a game she could so easily have lost.
She stood up and walked around her chair, needing to move, and glanced out the window to see Marrok standing against the corral railing less than a quarter mile from the house. And she saw him then, as Jebediah had seen him. A half-breed. Different in every way from Jebediah’s men standing around him, guarding him. And although he looked at ease leaning against the corral, Ella reckoned he was not. She saw his knife in its buckskin sheath on his belt and the other knife in the sheath on his right moccasin. His shotgun remained in the leather sheath by his saddle although she doubted he would need it, for she was quite sure this man could defend himself with just knives. And as if aware she were watching him, Marrok suddenly turned and met her gaze through the window. Ella felt her breath catch in her throat. He had known she was there all this time, that’s why he was standing there. This stranger, a man she had known for only a few short hours, had been listening out for her, keeping her in his sight.
She was aware that Jebediah still waited on her answer and Ella could almost hear him hold his breathe for the tension in the room was palpable. Now it was his turn to stand in fear.
“$2.60 and we have a deal,” she said, her voice soft, the way a woman speaks when she sees a man she admires. Then she took a breath and closed her eyes, forcing herself to refocus, before turning back to Jebediah.
He was watching her, yet his eyes weren’t on her face, but on her skirts, a lustful look to him. Ella decided then to end this.
“$2.60 an acre and the ranch is yours. Draw up the papers and I’ll sign them here. Although if you don’t carry that kind of cash, we’ll have a problem settling.”
Jebediah shook his head, clearly irritated. “There won’t be a problem.”
