Deborah Camp (16 page)

“Sally, we can’t end our friendship over this,” Adele said, reaching out a hand to appeal to Sally’s better sense.

“It seems you have chosen to do just that.” Sally rounded the counter and went to unlock the front door and let in the people waiting outside.

“… two more sacks of flour and a jar of molasses,” Mrs. McDonald recited, moving around the kitchen and checking the supplies. “Your mister says several of the older hens aren’t laying like they used to, so we’ll either have to raise some young ones or buy extra eggs from someone else. I ran out of eggs yesterday morning and I only have six left today.”

Adele nodded and added the items to her list. “We should have some chicks hatching soon, but I’ll speak to a few farmers and see if we can’t buy some young hens. That will be cheaper in the long run, I think.” She rubbed her temple and glanced at the kitchen door, wondering if Sally had gone upstairs to her room or into town after her shift was over.

The day had been fraught with tension, almost as if Adele was working with a cold stranger instead of her best friend. Sally had avoided any contact with her and had been almost surly to the customers.

“Is she going or staying?” Mrs. McDonald asked, then smiled when Adele shook her head in confusion. “Mrs. Baldridge,” she clarified. “That’s who you’re thinking about, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Adele sighed and fell back in the kitchen chair, letting the pencil drop from her hand. “She’s
staying, but only because she is honoring the contract she signed. Do you understand what she sees in him?”

Mrs. McDonald sat down at the table across from Adele. “This will be hard for you to swallow, but Taylor can be quite the gentleman when he puts his mind to it.”

“That is hard for me to believe,” Adele agreed.

“He’s got a way about him. Quiet and steady and sort of like the king of all he surveys. It’s easy to get caught up in that, into thinking that you’re his queen and you’ll be sitting pretty on a throne. He’s real generous at first, too. He gave me all kinds of baubles and bolts of cloth so fine I almost cried when I touched the fabric.”

“But he sells women,” Adele said with a shiver of revulsion. “How can anyone forget that?”

“Women are fools for love, Mrs. Gold. I guess every one of his saloon girls had the same notion I did when I first started up with him.” Her mismatched eyes misted. “We all thought we’d be his only one, that he’d give up the rest. I convinced myself he’d marry me, that he loved me better than anybody. But then things turned ugly.”

“How?”

“He started hitting me, kicking me, making me do things I didn’t want to do.”

“Why didn’t you leave the first time he put his hand on you that way?”

“Because by that time I was into a life that sucked me dry of any pride I ever had.”

“I can’t stand by and let him do that to Sally.”

“Oh, I don’t think he will,” Mrs. McDonald said,
wiping her eyes on her apron. “No, I do believe he’ll marry her.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s a lady, and Taylor’s always had a hankering for a lady. That’s why he puts such stock in Little Nugget. She looks the part. But he knows underneath all that finery and pretty gloves and hats, she’s just like the rest of us. Soiled and with nobody to care about us, nobody but him to look out for us.”

“So you believe he will treat Sally differently?”

“Yes. She’s respected in this town. He wouldn’t think of putting her up in one of them rooms at the saloon. No, ma’am. He means to marry Mrs. Baldridge and start a family with her. The one I’m worried about is Little Nugget. He’s been treating her real bad lately. I’m afraid for her.”

“Have you told her?”

“Yeah, but she tells me I should watch out for myself. She says Taylor is hopping mad about me leaving him and working here. He keeps telling Little Nugget that he won’t put up with it much longer.”

“What can he do about it?”

Her smile was full of fear and worry. “Plenty. He’s got no conscience. Nobody would raise a hand to stop him if he decided to line up me and Nugget in the middle of Main Street and—”

The back door opened and Reno stepped in. He swept his wide-brimmed hat off his head and stamped his feet, dislodging bits of dirt onto the mat.

“Where have you been all night and day?” Adele asked, taking her frustration out on him. “You certainly know how to make yourself scarce.”

Reno looked from her to Mrs. McDonald, and
Adele could tell from his expression that he didn’t like being scolded in front of the cook. “I’ve been fixing the wagon,” he stated tersely.

“I went out early looking for you,” Adele said. “You weren’t in the barn.”

“I had to take the wheel and axle to the blacksmith’s to get it repaired.” He frowned and hung his hat on a wall peg. “Good afternoon, Mrs. McDonald.”

“Afternoon, Mr. Gold.” The cook turned to the deep sinks and began filling them with hot water from kettles steaming on the stove.

Reno looked at Adele and gestured toward the swinging door. “I’m going to wash up. Mrs. McDonald, could I trouble you for a bowl of beans and a hunk of cornbread?”

“No trouble at all,” she said. “Want to eat in here?”

“Yes, thanks. Be back in a few minutes.”

Adele followed Reno from the kitchen, through the restaurant, and into her quarters.

“The wagon is fixed and ready for you to use.” He turned suddenly. His eyes were turbulent with emotion. Reaching out, he clasped her shoulders and pulled her to him. His mouth branded hers, hard and hot, taking her breath away. “And next time you want to snap and sass at me, do it in private.”

“Let go. You can’t grab me on your every whim and force your will on me.” She pushed at his upper arms and felt his muscles tighten to hold her fast.

“You owe me.”

“Owe you?” She looked up into his eyes and was momentarily adrift in the blue-gray pools.

“I fixed the wagon.” His mouth slanted into a grin. “You remember our deal, don’t you? Tit for tat.” He
loosened his hold, but only so that he could skim his lips down her neck to the open collar of her dress. “Speaking of tit …”

“Stop!” Adele bolted from his arms, getting a robust chuckle from him. He went to the sideboard, where he poured water from a pitcher into a shallow bowl. “Fixing that wagon caused me to work up an appetite, but once my belly’s full, I’ll be ready to satisfy another hunger.” He chuckled again and looked over his shoulder at her. Catching her fretful expression, he sighed and picked up a ball of soap. “What’s got you in such a snit? Sally? I thought you two would have ironed all this out by now.”

“It will take longer than a day for that.”

He soaped his arms up to his elbows. “You told her you tore up her contract.”

“I haven’t.”

“Not yet, but you mean to.” He glanced at her again. “You told her that?”

“Not exactly.” Adele sat on the parlor sofa and watched him rinse suds from his forearms. His trousers and the shirt pulled taut across his wide shoulders were smudged with dirt and flecked with bits of hay and grass. He’d been working hard outside, and she had greeted him with sharp words and spears of doubt. He wasn’t the one she was mad at. She was mad at herself and at Sally and most definitely at Taylor Terrapin.

“What exactly did you say to her?” He faced her and dried his arms and hands on a soft cotton towel.

“I told her that … I left things as they were.”

“Dellie,” he said, drawing out her name in a gentle scolding tone, “I thought you were going to square
this with her. Why didn’t you tear up the contract and save your friendship?”

“I don’t know.” Adele bounded up from the sofa and walked to the windows. How could she explain to him that all her good intentions had gone up in smoke when Sally had called him names? She couldn’t even explain her reaction to herself, much less to Reno. “She was in such a horrible mood today and I decided to … that is, I simply postponed my decision. I’m hoping she’ll have second thoughts.”

Reno shook his head. “Leave Sally to her romantic tussles and concentrate on your own.”

That brought her up short, and she gave him her undivided attention. The glints of mischief in his eyes didn’t console her.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I’m a hard-working man, sugar, and I’ll be expecting my payment in full come tonight. After I have something to eat, I’ll work on the shed. With any luck I might just finish it by nightfall.”

Adele whirled away from him and stared out the window, her nerves jangling. Gray clouds met her view. “Looks like rain,” she said brightly.

Reno laughed behind her. “Maybe. We’ll see. Anyway, the wagon’s fixed.”

“And you were paid for that.”

“What? That little kiss I stole? Dellie, be fair. Working all day on that wagon deserves more than a kiss.”

“I thought you said the blacksmith fixed the wagon.”

“He did some ironwork, but I supplied the muscle.” He moved closer to her. “No, I’ll be ’round to collect tonight after the restaurant is closed.”

Adele released her breath in a soft hiss. What was he planning? If he wanted her, why did he leave last night? And just where had he gone?

“By the way, you never told me where you slept—” She abandoned the rest when she turned and found that she was talking to an empty room. “Reno?” She glanced around. Alone again. Blast that man! He was as hard to pin down as a feather in the wind.

She started after him, but made a detour outside when she spotted Taylor Terrapin’s buggy pulling up alongside the restaurant. Terrapin lowered himself from the vehicle and tipped his hat when he saw her. Now what? Adele wondered, sensing his visit would add to her burgeoning headache.

Rail-thin in his all-black clothing, Terrapin’s physique was as duplicitous as his demeanor. Adele knew he was much stronger than he appeared and much meaner than his courteous behavior implied.

“Looking for Mrs. Baldridge?”

“No, I was hoping to have a word with you, Miss Adele. You have upset Mrs. Baldridge and I have come to negotiate a peace treaty.” He smiled and hung his thumbs in his gun belt. “She’s meeting with my builder and discussing the house I’m having constructed on some property I purchased outside of town. It’s going to be a grand place and I hope you will visit us often.”

“Will it be another whorehouse?” Adele asked, folding her arms and giving him a cold appraisal.

He lowered his brows menacingly and his fingers twitched. Itchy trigger finger? Adele wondered.

“It will be our home, Miss Adele.”

“Her name is Mrs. Gold,” Reno spoke up from behind
her, having come from around the side of the building. “I believe in fairness, Terrapin. I figure it’s only fair that you stay away from here, seeing as how you told me to stay away from your businesses.”

Terrapin extended Reno a disparaging glance. “This restaurant is not your business, Gold. I’m speaking to the lady. You’ll excuse us.”

Reno walked to Adele’s side and placed an arm around her shoulders. “Dellie, darlin’, you don’t mind if I give a listen to what Terrapin has come to say, do you?”

She shook her head, glad for his company. “I don’t mind at all.” Slipping an arm around his middle, she smiled at him with her eyes before facing Terrapin again. “You want peace, Mr. Terrapin? Please stay away from my friend. Don’t ruin her life. If you care anything for her, then you must admit that she deserves a better man than you.”

Beside her, Reno found himself startled by her bold, brash honesty. He admired her profile, the tilt of her chin, the way her nose poked at rarefied air. Her arm felt good around his waist, and the curves of her body fitted perfectly with his, as a wheel fitted an axle.

But she was also foolhardy and a mite too stubborn, he surmised, sensing the explosive heat behind Terrapin’s cold anger.

“I care deeply for Mrs. Baldridge,” Terrapin said, “which is why I intend to marry her and do everything in my power to keep her safe and happy.” He squared his shoulders. “I have come in hopes of reasoning with you. Sal—that is, Mrs. Baldridge has informed me that you are holding an employment contract over her head.”

Adele arched a brow, wondering just what he intended to accomplish with this visit. He wasn’t stupid, so he surely knew that her doing him a favor was highly unlikely. “Sally signed an employment contract and she has three months left before its provisions are met.”

“But given the circumstances, you could void that contract.”

“What circumstances?” Adele asked, being purposefully thick-headed. Let him spell it out. Let him ask.

“Her impending marriage to me. She wants time to plan the wedding and oversee the design of our house. And I don’t think it would be seemly for my intended bride to work. Her job here can be given to some other young lady.”

“Maybe Little Nugget,” Reno spoke up, gaining a quick, cutting glare from Terrapin.

“Nugget is happy where she is, and you’d better leave her alone. I haven’t forgotten that you hired Doris out from under me. That situation is intolerable and will be corrected.” His smile was chilly. “Excuse me, Miss Adele, for the rude interruption.”

“I told you, her name is Mrs. Gold.”

Terrapin kept his gaze pinned on Adele, as if Reno hadn’t spoken.

“The point of having the ladies sign a contract is so they can’t marry and leave before the year is up,” Adele told him. “You see, decent ladies are hard to come by out west and are snatched up so quickly that keeping waitresses is hard. Thus, the contracts.”

“Of course, of course, but Mrs. Baldridge is your friend and exceptions can be made. Must be made.”

Adele bristled at his authoritative tone. “If I make an exception, then others will expect the same. I might as well not have any employment contracts.”

“Ah, well, that’s probably best. If you can’t keep them working here without making them sign their lives over to you, then your ability to conduct a business successfully certainly should be scrutinized.”

“Are you saying that you think I’m inept?” Adele asked, narrowing her eyes with contempt.

“I’m simply saying that I’m a successful businessman and I’ve never required anyone to sign a contract to work for me.”

“No, you just threaten them with their lives,” Reno said. “I don’t think Dellie would like doing business that way.”