Silver-Tongued Devil

by Lorelei James

  He immediately returned. “It’s okay if you’ve changed your mind, we’ll give it back.”

  “It’s not that. Before we started talking, did you see where Miss Dinah went?”

  “Nope. But I saw that West feller that Silas don’t like sneakin’ up behind her. I tried to warn her with my eyes, like Dickie’s been tryin’ to teach me, but it didn’t work, and she turned away to talk to him. Then we were talkin’ and when we were done, she wasn’t there.”

  “Jimmy, before you return to the carnival, I need you to find either Silas or Deputy McKay. Tell them to look for me because I’m trying to find Dinah. I’ll have this white parasol.”

  “Should I tell ’em about that West guy? ’Cause Silas gets so mad—”

  “Yes, tell him.”

  “What can I do?” Marty asked.

  “Look for her—them—where the buggies and horses are kept. If you see them, do not approach. Zeke is a dangerous man and he won’t care if he has to hurt you to get rid of you. Promise me, Marty, you won’t do anything but look for them.”

  “I promise.”

  Ruby took a deep breath and marched toward the center of the crowd.

  She was so anxious to find Dinah that the whispers and comments rolled right over her.

  Her panic increased with every moment that passed and she didn’t catch sight of her friend.

  Too many kids and people and dogs and noise; how was she supposed to concentrate?

  Ruby stopped walking to focus on the movements of others. Without knowing West’s agenda, she couldn’t be sure if he’d try to hustle Dinah away to the outskirts of the crowd or if he’d remain in the thick of it.

  Then she saw them. Her relief didn’t last long. With the hold West had on Dinah’s arm, she wasn’t going with him willingly. But she wasn’t actively fighting him either, which meant…

  Sweet baby Jesus, he was forcing her cooperation in some way.

  She had to stop this now. So she did the unthinkable; she drew attention to herself. Putting her fingers in her mouth, she let loose an ear-piercing whistle.

  Twice.

  The sound caused West to stutter a step and look around for the source.

  Which was long enough to capture Dinah’s attention. Embracing her Madam Ruby persona, she yelled, “Dinah! Where do you think you’re going? Get back here right now.”

  West kept ahold of Dinah’s arm as he marched her through the crowd toward Ruby. “If it isn’t the town whore. Business slow today that you’re out recruiting schoolteachers to work on their backs?”

  Her hand tightened on the parasol handle. She could whack him with it if it came down to that and she’d enjoy every hard blow. “I don’t believe Miss Thompson appreciates your vulgar sense of humor any more than I do.”

  When Zeke reached her, he said, “How much will she cost me?”

  “Let go of her,” Ruby said sharply.

  “Give me a price range. Let’s say I want her mouth, cunt and ass. I’d also want to fuck these sweet titties. How much?”

  “She’s not a working girl, Zeke, which you’re fully aware of. Stop being a pain.” Ruby thought maybe she could get the upper hand and get Dinah away from him if she acted annoyed rather than petrified.

  “Not a working girl? Then why did I see you two laughing and talking together? And don’t try and convince me you’re friends.” He sneered at a silent Dinah. “Ruby don’t have any friends. Most people would like to see her strung up.”

  “What are you getting out of causing a scene?” she demanded, stalling for time in the hope Jonas would soon arrive and put a stop to this.

  Dinah opened her mouth to answer and then a look of pain crossed her face.

  “No talkin’ out of turn, Miss Thompson,” Zeke chastised her. Then to Ruby he said, “Me’n my friend Dinah were about to have a private celebration.”

  “I’d think you’d want to hide your face in shame, not celebrate. Losing the sheep competition to a couple of cattlemen.”

  “You shut up.”

  “Let the girl go and I will.”

  “What do you say?” Zeke mock whispered loudly to Dinah, ensuring that Ruby heard every word. “Shall we share the details on the private celebration I had planned? You. Me. Alone in the woods. All the time in the world to explore our urges. No one to bother us. No one except me to hear you scream with pleasure…or pain. No one will ever find—”

  “You just threatened to kidnap, rape and kill her,” Ruby snapped. “Now it’s her word and mine against yours—”

  “What’s the word of a whore worth?” He shrugged. “Not as much as one of your holes, that’s for damn sure.”

  His malicious gaze flicked to something behind her. Immediately his expression turned self-satisfied and Dinah’s face drained of all color. “Now it’s about to get interestin’,” Zeke said. “Look who I found keepin’ company with a whore. You should thank me for tryin’ to save her reputation, McKay.”

  “Get your fuckin’ hands off her,” Silas snarled.

  “Certainly.” He shoved Dinah away from himself with such brutality that she skidded across her hands and knees in the dirt several feet away.

  Silas flew at Zeke, knocking him to the ground.

  They exchanged words and a few punches until Dinah gasped. “No, Silas, don’t! He has a knife!” as Ruby helped her upright.

  That did get Silas’s attention.

  He pushed to his feet and stormed over to her. “Did he hurt you?”

  Dinah shook her head.

  Silas looked as if he didn’t believe her. “You’re sure?”

  She nodded.

  He pulled Dinah into his arms, trying to control her trembling before he focused on Zeke. “If you ever come near her again, I’ll kill you. Do you hear me, West? I will motherfucking kill you.”

  “Oh, I heard you.” He gestured to the crowd gathered around them. “So did everyone else.”

  That bastard. That’s what this drama had been about.

  And Silas had played right into his hands.

  Silas continued to glare at Zeke.

  Dinah had her face buried in Silas’s chest, refusing to look at anyone.

  Zeke West sat on the ground in his fine clothes, the embodiment of pure evil.

  That’s the scene Deputy McKay arrived at.

  Ruby ached at the reality that she couldn’t go to him. She had to watch him weigh his fear for his brother with his anger that Silas hadn’t learned anything from his previous altercations with Zeke and balance that with his responsibility as the law.

  Jonas had to listen to Zeke whine and spew lies about feeling threatened by Silas when he’d been trying to do the man a favor. She hated that it wouldn’t make any difference in the way Deputy McKay had to handle this, if she told him that Zeke had intended to kidnap, rape and kill Dinah.

  The deputy stopped Zeke mid-rant to shoo people away. “Okay, show’s over folks. Move along.”

  Zeke stood and brushed the dirt from his clothes. “Since you’re not takin’ this seriously, I demand to speak to Sheriff Eccleston about your brother’s continued threats when I was merely havin’ a conversation with his friend, Dinah, in order to help her.”

  “She’s more than my goddamned friend, and you know it,” Silas spat.

  “And yet…I still don’t see her wearing your ring.”

  Deputy McKay held up his hand to quell any further outbursts. “If you can find him in this crowd, West, you’re more than welcome to speak with him,” Jonas said evenly. Then he pointed to an object on the ground behind him. “Just make sure you tell him why that knife was necessary when you had a ‘conversation’ with Miss Thompson.”

  Zeke glanced over his shoulder at the knife. “I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about, Deputy. That’s not my knife.”

  “My mistake.” Jonas crouched down and picked it up. He didn’t bother examining it; he just pushed the switchblade closed and dropped it into his pocket. “Shame that someone lost such a nice piece. I�
��ll keep it in the deputy’s office in case the owner comes lookin’ for it.”

  God, she loved this man.

  “I believe the sheriff is officiating the three-legged race. Best be getting over there if you wanna have a word with him before it starts.” Then he turned his back on Zeke, making sure he understood that Deputy McKay wasn’t afraid of him.

  Zeke slunk off. Alone. It appeared even his brother had abandoned him.

  Silas started to speak but Jonas held up his hand. “You’ve said enough, doncha think? Head on home. I’m right behind you.”

  “We have to make a stop first.”

  “Fine. But I’m gonna make sure that ‘stop’ is in the opposite direction from the one Zeke West went.”

  Silas took Dinah’s hand and they walked away toward the horse paddock.

  Then Jonas stepped in front of Ruby. “You okay?”

  “Not really. I’m scared for her. Something isn’t right with him. This is beyond card games, and land rivalries and missed courting opportunities.”

  “I know. But the hell of it is…I don’t know what to do about it.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Tell me what West said.”

  Ruby made a show of examining her parasol. “As West pointed out, the word of a whore isn’t worth anything, so I’ll save my breath.”

  “That ain’t fair.”

  “No, it’s not.” She looked at him. “I can’t do this anymore, Deputy.”

  Those eyes darkened with an emotion she’d never seen before. “Do what?”

  Watch you hurting. Pretend I don’t care about you deeply. Hide from you that I love you like I never imagined I could love another living soul.

  But she couldn’t tell him that. Not here. Maybe not ever.

  Brusquely, she said, “You know exactly what.”

  “Christ, Ruby. What am I supposed to say?”

  “Nothing. We’re both very good at doing that.” She popped open her parasol and turned to walk away.

  And Jonas let her.

  Ruby’s tears had dried by the time she’d cleared the end of the racetrack. It startled her to see Gigi from the Beulah Brothel approaching her. She offered Gigi a genuine smile. “It appears they’ll even let old whores like us celebrate with the decent folk today.”

  But Gigi wasn’t smiling. She seemed out of breath, as if she’d been running. “I didn’t come here to celebrate. I came here to find you.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Madam Marie. She’s been sick but she took a serious turn for the worse yesterday. I got a telegram today because they sent one to you yesterday, but no one would deliver it you.”

  Not the first time that’d happened.

  Gigi took a breath. “Marie’s girls are catfighting and the whole house is in chaos. Dorothy fears that if things aren’t sorted quickly, the Lawrence County Sheriff will seize the chance to close Madam Marie’s down after she’s dead, since it’s the last workin’ whorehouse in Deadwood.”

  “What am I supposed to do about that from here?”

  “That’s the thing; Marie has requested we both come to Deadwood to restore order to the house, pick her successor and stay for her funeral.”

  Dammit. Going to Deadwood and handling this would take more than just a day or two.

  “She’s going to die, Ruby. This is the last thing she’s askin’ of us. We owe her.”

  Ruby knew Gigi was right. “It’ll be at least tomorrow before I can get transportation—”

  “You don’t understand.” Gigi grasped Ruby’s hands. “Marie sent her carriage for us. It’s waitin’ on the opposite side of the tracks.”

  “Right now? God. This really is dire.” She looked around. “But I can’t just leave from here. My girls—”

  “Will be fine. Send word to Mrs. Mavis that Dickie should expect a telegram at Sackett’s from you as soon as you’re in South Dakota. If we went to Labelle to get your things, we’d be wastin’ time that could already have us halfway to Deadwood. Marie has everything you need—except extra time. We have to leave now.”

  Ruby had no choice. “All right. I’ll write Mavis a note and make sure Jimmy gets it to her. Then we can go.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  The community celebration had lost its appeal after their run-in with Zeke.

  Silas insisted they return to the ranch and forget everything that had happened after the rancher’s competition. It’d surprised Dinah that Jonas had agreed and was waiting for them when they’d arrived from Sundance.

  Now the brothers were outside arguing while she’d opted to stay in and cut up the chicken Silas had bought from Farnum’s.

  He’d also bought her a gun.

  Which was why the brothers were arguing.

  Silas had been so overwrought that he was chopping wood like a mad man. Shirt off, muscles in his arms bulging, sinew in his back straining as he swung the axe over and over. Sweat dripping from his brow. Sweat running down his torso. The man was a sight to behold even in his anger.

  Maybe especially in his anger.

  Dinah had been so distracted by Silas working half-naked, all those perfectly sculpted muscles flexing right outside the window, that she’d nearly sliced off her finger. So she forced herself to listen to their conversation through the open door instead.

  “I know I threatened him. I know everyone around us heard me threaten him. What you’re not hearin’ is me apologizing for doin’ it because I’m not sorry. Not even a little bit.”

  “So you’ve said ten fuckin’ times. That’s not the point I’m tryin’ to make,” Jonas snapped.

  Thwack. Crack. Then a hollow thud as he pitched the chopped piece into the pile.

  “Then get to the fuckin’ point, Jonas.”

  “What did West say to her?”

  Dinah’s stomach tightened. She’d been relieved that Silas hadn’t pressed her for details because she couldn’t remember beyond someone tapping her on the shoulder. She’d turned to find Zeke West shoving a knife against her belly and he’d warned her not to make a scene.

  She’d gone with him willingly. But fear had overtaken her. Her thoughts were on Silas and how he’d react if he saw West with a knife, not to mention the bruising grip Zeke had maintained as he’d marched her through the crowd. She’d chanted please don’t hurt me so loudly in her head that Zeke’s voice in her ear had been a blur of sound, as if he’d been speaking to her through water.

  Her shock had left her addle-brained even after Ruby had bravely tracked them down. Dinah remembered standing across from the fierce-eyed madam, watching her lips moving and yet not hearing anything she’d been saying—thankfully nothing Zeke had said registered either. But she had felt the tip of Zeke’s knife twisting into her spine as a warning while he’d conversed with Ruby.

  What had shaken her out of her mental stupor was Silas bursting onto the scene. Her fear hadn’t abated; it’d increased at witnessing the fury on Silas’s face at seeing Zeke with his hand on her. The burning sensation of the knife puncturing her flesh forced her out of her physical stasis seconds before Zeke had hurled her to the ground.

  After warning Silas about the knife, Dinah had attempted to hide her injury, knowing if Silas saw red, nothing could’ve stopped him from killing Zeke, right there in public.

  Nothing. Not even his promise that he’d never fight with Zeke again.

  Then Deputy McKay had shown up.

  At that point Dinah had come back to herself. Jonas had more to deal with than just Silas’s outburst, so she had to buck up. The best way to handle Silas was to act as if this incident had just been another unfortunate run-in with Zeke. She wouldn’t berate Silas for breaking his promise not to fight with West. She wouldn’t confess her fear she’d never see Silas again. She especially wouldn’t share her gut feeling that Zeke had tried to separate her from the crowd because he’d intended to rape her and kill her.

  After they left Jonas with Ruby, they mounted up.

  Silas had insisted on stopping at Farnum
’s to use his newly won store credit. She’d stayed with the horses and wasn’t aware he’d bought more than two fryer chickens and a big bottle of whiskey until he’d set the purchases, including the gun, on the table in the cabin.

  The moment Jonas had seen the gun, he’d lit into Silas and wouldn’t let up.

  That’s also when she’d become theatrical about their fighting and kicked both men out of the house. That allowed her privacy to change out of—and to try to clean up—her blood-stained dress.

  Examining the stab wound had proven difficult given it was in a spot she couldn’t see—not even with the help from her hand mirror. She could only feel the length of it, but if she touched it, it bled. Treatment of the wound beyond cleaning it would have to wait until she returned to Doc’s.

  The bruises on her arm would be harder to hide.

  Zeke had wrenched her arm so violently she understood why Silas believed his arm had been broken the time he got into it with Zeke. It’d been agony holding the reins on the ride home. Lifting her arms to get undressed. Using force to cut through chicken bones. She still had pie crust to roll out and if Silas saw her struggling, he’d demand to know why and she could not—would not—tell him.

  Keeping her injuries from him was a matter of life or death this time.

  She’d used her mother’s best trick, adopting a chipper “can-do” attitude to mask her emotions, even when part of her was bothered that Silas believed everything was fine and dandy as soon as they’d reached home and hearth.

  “Listen to me,” Jonas said sharply, outside the window, snagging Dinah’s attention again. “Gimme the gun.”

  “Nope.” Thwack. Crack. “You have your own collection of guns. A big collection.”

  “They’re not all mine. They’re ones I’ve confiscated after they’ve been used in a crime.”

  “This one ain’t ever been fired, so back off on your need to confiscate it.”

  “Maybe, you stubborn bastard, I’m tryin’ to head off a crime before it happens.”

  “Is that a new law enforcement tactic? Or just one you’re usin’ on your younger, hotheaded brother?”