Bobbi Smith (10 page)

The bidding erupted, and soon the price of the meal had reached over ten dollars.

“Going once . . . going twice . . . sold to Ben Fletcher for ten dollars! Congratulations, Ben!”

The eager cowboy raced up front, money in hand to pay the lady who was taking the cash. Lara was looking quite delighted as Ben escorted her to a table outside the tent.

“Next, we have . . .”

The auction was conducted in alphabetical order, so Sherri and Randi knew they had a while to wait. They sat quietly behind the head table while the bidding continued.

Each girl was a bit nervous as her turn to be auctioned off came up. Though there had been occasions in the past when the bidding had been low, that didn’t seem to be a problem this evening. The men were more than willing to pay for their dinners—and for the companionship of the lovely ladies.

Randi and Sherri were delighted when they saw Pat Walker coming to wait with them.

“You’re going to do it?” Randi asked.

“It’s for a good cause, and who knows? Someone might actually bid on me!” Pat laughed good-naturedly.

“I’m sure they will,” Sherri assured her.

Sherri turned her attention back to the crowd, and it was then that she saw Andy walk into the seating area.

“There he is!” she whispered excitedly to Randi, grabbing her arm. “Andy’s the one who just came in. He’s standing there in the back.”

Randi spotted the tall, dark-haired man right away. “You’re right; he is handsome. He probably didn’t bother coming sooner because you’re the only one he wants to bid on.”

“I sure hope you’re right.” Sherri gave her a grateful look.

“Next,” Mrs. Washburn announced, “we have lovely Miss Sherri Sadowski. Sherri—”

At her invitation, Sherri went to stand beside her. Cheers erupted from the crowd.

“Sherri’s dinner is roast beef and all the fixins. Shall we open the bidding?”

“Two dollars!” one of the men shouted from the crowd.

“All right, we’ve got two dollars. Anyone else?” Mrs. Washburn asked, keeping the bidding open.

Sherri pasted a smile on her face as the amount slowly crept higher and higher. Even though the dollar amount being bid on her was respectable, she was heartbroken, for Andy had not bid even once. She’d been hoping the attraction she felt for him was mutual, but now she was beginning to believe it had just been her imagination. Sherri glanced Randi’s way to see her friend giving her a reassuring look. She nodded back. It wasn’t as if no one had bid on her. She girded herself for the rest of the bidding to come.

“We have a bid of twelve dollars!” Mrs. Washburn announced. “Going once . . . going—”

“I bid fifteen,” Andy called out.

A murmur of surprise rumbled through the crowd as everyone turned to look at the newcomer who’d just bid.

“Fifteen!” Mrs. Washburn repeated happily. “Fifteen going once . . . fifteen going twice . . .”

The cowboys who had been bidding on Sherri were frustrated, but knew they couldn’t match the other man’s price.

“Sold for fifteen dollars to the gentleman in back. Sir, if you’ll come forward, the cashier will take your payment and you can be on your way to dinner with your lovely lady,” she directed.

Sherri’s heart was beating a frenetic rhythm as she watched Andy come forward to claim her. Her prayer had been answered! She went to stand by the cashier, carrying their boxed dinner.

“Miss Sadowski.” Andy nodded politely her way as he paid for the dinner and the pleasure of her company.

“Sherri, please,” she encouraged, coming around the table to join him.

“Let me take that for you.”

“Thanks.” She handed over the dinner box.

“Are you ready?”

“Would you mind if we waited to see how the bidding goes for my friend Randi?”

“Not at all.”

Andy led the way to the back of the tent again, and they stood together, looking on as Randi came forward. Sherri could tell Randi was a bit nervous.

“Our next lovely lady is Miranda Stockton, and her dinner is—” Mrs. Washburn started to introduce her.

“Five dollars!” a man shouted before Mrs. Washburn could even finish her announcement.

The elderly lady smiled at his eagerness, knowing his excitement boded well for the sale.

Randi, however, was shocked, for she instantly recognized the bidder’s voice. It was Fred Carter!

Randi looked out into the crowd. Across the distance his gaze met hers, and a chill of revulsion shot through Randi at the smirking look upon his face.

At Fred’s bid, Jack’s expression turned stony, he was about to offer a bid for his daughter when another cowboy spoke up.

“Six dollars!”

Randi’s moment of worry was eased by the other man’s offer, but her relief didn’t last long.

“Seven,” Fred countered, still grinning. He didn’t have a lot of money left from his final pay, but he hoped he had enough to cause Jack Stockton some grief. He wanted the rancher to worry about him spending the evening with his daughter. He didn’t know if he could win the bidding or not, but even if he didn’t, if he forced Stockton to bid for his own daughter’s meal, he could at least hit him in the pocketbook, where it hurt. He knew his ex-boss would outbid him just to “save” his precious daughter from his company.

“Nine,” Jack came back.

“Ten,” Fred offered.

“Twelve,” he countered.

A murmur went through the crowd again as they sensed the growing tension. If any of the other men had even hoped to win dinner with Randi, it was now out of the question. They couldn’t even think about joining in the bidding. They made only twenty-five dollars a month, and that money had to last them until the next payday.

“Fifteen!” Fred returned, sensing the tension in the air and enjoying the feeling of power it gave him.

“Seventeen!” Jack didn’t hesitate.

Fred was pushing his luck. He really had only twelve dollars left to his name. If Jack quit bidding against him and left him with the highest bid, he’d be in trouble, but he didn’t think that would happen. Even if it did, though, it would be worth it. Owing the church ladies money wasn’t nearly as bad as owing Trey. “Twenty!”

Hawk had remained quiet through the auction, but now his attention was all on Randi. He’d always known she was pretty, even from that first day when she’d turned on him with her gun in her hand, but tonight she was more than pretty—she was beautiful. Tonight she was a lady, and the thought that she might end up spending time with someone like Fred angered him.

Earlier when he’d come in with Wade, Hawk had noticed some of the townsfolk, watching him and whispering to one another. Their reaction to his presence hadn’t surprised him. That was the way of his life. No one had said anything directly to him yet, but he suspected that was all about to change, because there was something he had to do, and he was going to do it. It didn’t matter to him what the good people of San Miguel thought. All that mattered was keeping Randi safe.

Hawk called out his bid for Randi before Jack could counter Fred’s last offer.

“Twenty-five dollars,” he bid.

“What are you doing?” Wade asked him.

“I’m saving Randi—again,” he answered, waiting to see what Fred would do next.

The murmur of shock and surprise Hawk had expected went through the crowd. Most were taken aback that a half-breed would dare to bid on a dinner with a white woman.

Jack, too, was startled by Hawk’s offer for Randi. He’d expected to be the one who ended up winning dinner with her. He hadn’t even considered that someone else might outbid him. He frowned slightly, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

Hawk was aware that he’d caused a stir, but he didn’t care. He cared only about stopping Fred.

Randi was taken by surprise at Hawk’s bid, too, but unlike her father, she was delighted. Having dinner with Hawk tonight had been her greatest hope. It looked like this social was going to turn out to be as wonderful for her as it had been for Sherri.

Hawk had hoped his high bid would force Fred out of the bidding, and it did.

“Going once for twenty-five dollars,” Mrs. Washburn began, having waited for additional offers and gotten none. “Going twice . . . sold for twenty-five dollars! Congratulations, Miranda!”

Randi was smiling as she took the box containing her dinner and headed for the cashier.

“You want to eat with us?” Hawk invited Wade as he stood up to go claim his prize.

“No, I’m staying on here for a while. There’s a little lady coming up I’m interested in bidding on.”

“Good luck.”

Hawk got up and glanced toward Jack. He saw that Jack was watching him, and he nodded to him in acknowledgment before making his way through the crowd to where Randi was waiting.

“That will be twenty-five dollars,” the lady handling the money told him with a genuinely warm smile.

Hawk paid her.

“You’re new in town, aren’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“This is Hawk Morgan. He works for us out at the Lazy S,” Randi quickly introduced him.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Morgan. Enjoy your dinner.”

“We will,” Randi answered for both of them; then she led the way to the special seating area for the auction winners.

“Do you mind if we eat with my friend Sherri?” Randi asked Hawk.

“Not at all.”

They headed over to the table where Sherri and Andy had just seated themselves.

Jack watched Randi leave the tent with Hawk. He tried not to look too disturbed by the outcome of the auction, but it wasn’t easy. The good news was, she wasn’t with Fred, but he’d never thought she’d be spending the evening with Morgan.

“Jack!” one of the men sitting nearby called out.

Jack glanced his way.

“Are you going to let your daughter eat with the likes of
him?”

Jack gave the man a benign smile. “Hawk Morgan works for me.”

“But he’s a—”

“He’s a good man,” he finished.

“If you say so . . .”

“I do.” His tone brooked no argument or further discussion.

The man turned away to say something to those around him.

Jack ignored them. He didn’t care what they had to say. He tried to concentrate on the good news that Fred had been beaten out in the bidding.

“Would you two like some company?” Randi asked Sherry and Andy when they reached their table.

“Of course,” Sherri invited. “Andy, this is my friend Randi and—”

“Hawk Morgan,” Hawk finished for her.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Andy told them.

“Well, the hard part is over,” Randi said with a sigh as they sat down.

“The hard part?” Hawk asked.

“The auction,” Sherri explained.

“It’s always a bit scary, waiting to find out who’s going to bid on you,” Randi said.

“And there’s always the fear that no one will!” Sherri laughed.

“Neither one of you ladies will ever have to worry about that,” Andy assured them. “You both did very well tonight.”

“Yes, but we still got beat,” Sherri spoke up.

“You’re right. Granny Dawson beat us both.” Randi grinned. “Her top bid was thirty dollars.”

“I don’t think Granny Dawson really counts, though. Her son bought her dinner.”

“I guess we did all right—unless somebody bribed the two of you?” Randi gave both men questioning looks.

“No one had to bribe us,” Andy quickly assured them. “It’s worth every cent to enjoy the pleasure of your company. Right, Hawk?”

“That’s right,” he agreed.

“I like you already, Andy. You’re not only handsome; you’re charming, too,” Randi teased; then she turned to Hawk and smiled. “You know, you saved me again tonight.”

“I thought you never needed rescuing,” he countered.

“I might have if Fred had won the bidding.”

“The good news is, he didn’t,” Sherri said.

“Who’s Fred?” Andy asked.

Randi quickly told Andy what had happened out at the ranch. “But enough about that. What about you? Sherri told me you just opened a confectionery in town. How did you end up here in San Miguel?”

“I was in St. Louis for a while, but after hearing all the talk about Texas, I decided this was the place I wanted to build my future.”

“Well, we’re glad you came,” Sherri said, gazing at him across the table. “Just wait until you get the chance to try some of his candy,” she told the other two. “It’s delicious.”

“Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me. It’s the truth. Now, Hawk,” Sherri went on. “You’re new here, too. How did you end up working out at the Lazy S? And what’s this about saving Randi ‘again’? You mean tonight isn’t the first time you’ve rescued her from the likes of Fred?”

Hawk told her how he’d moved on from Dry Springs after hearing that Jack was hiring for the Lazy S.

“And he saved me on his first day coming out to the ranch,” Randi finished for him. “Angel had thrown a shoe, and he helped me get back to the house.”

“You were lucky he came by,” Andy added.

“Yes,” Randi said. Her gaze met Hawk’s, and she smiled at him. “I was.”

Time seemed to be suspended for a moment as Hawk and Randi regarded each other across the table. Hawk wondered how he’d been lucky enough to end up here with her tonight.

As Randi gazed at Hawk, she remembered how he’d looked the first time she’d seen him and how she’d thought he was a warrior. The change in him tonight was dramatic, but though he looked like the other men who were in attendance at the social, she knew there was a part of Hawk that was very different from them. He was a man who would fight for what he wanted—and not be denied.

“Hawk . . . that’s an odd name,” Andy said thoughtfully.

“I’m half Comanche,” Hawk said tightly.

“Really?” Andy had never met an Indian before, and he was curious about the other man’s background. “I’ve read some dime novels about Indians and half-breeds. There was
Brand, The Half-Breed Scout
, and one about Buck McCade. Was your father Comanche or your mother?”

It took Hawk a moment to realize there was no guile or hatred in Andy’s question. There was just honest interest. “My father was a trader. He met my mother when he came to the village, and eventually they married.”