His Golden Touch [Gold Rush 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (10 page)

“Now, you go talk downstairs or in the spare room, I don’t care which. I am going to bed alone.” Truth to tell, Rocco had worn her out this afternoon and her behind felt raw from his slaps. All snuggled into the covers, Hanna expected to fall asleep quickly, but she tossed and punched pillows for several minutes. With a scowl, and arms interlocked across her chest, she scooted to a sitting position. She hated to admit that certain parts of her anatomy were very tender and she needed a night alone. Cicadas chattering beyond her window created a buzz like children in school when her back was turned. A loose shutter hitting the sill boomed like a percussion instrument.

She climbed out of bed and tiptoed into the hall. The men had gone downstairs to talk. Rocco’s resonant voice could be heard clearly from the top stair. She sat to listen.

“My partners are working the mine with pick and shovel, but we only get enough to live on that way. It’s not as easy as swirling a pan in a stream. To get to the mother lode, we need to make holes in hard rock.”

“How the hell do we do that?” Hannah recognized Brady’s angry voice.

“We dig a main shaft to get the ore up and out of the lode once we reach it.”

“Reaching it is the problem, as I see it.”

“You’re right, Brady. To reach the ore we need to dig tunnels and blast holes with black powder. Then we have to buy mules to transport it to the main shaft so we can hoist it to the surface.”

Wade interrupted. “Do you think we’re millionaires here? Shafts, blasting powder, mules, and that’s only the beginning.”

“Too true, which is why I came home to see if my dad could stake me, but he had the fire and lost everything and was wiped out the day before I arrived.”

With her head resting on the banister, Hannah closed her eyes. Her idea of gold country had been an idyllic scene by a river bank, not being cooped up in a hole in the ground. Damp walls of hard rock seemed to surround her where she sat. She couldn’t stay in Plantsville if Grant Slyke carried out his threat to smear her name. She wouldn’t be able to hold her head up, never mind teach schoolchildren. Shoulders stooped and eyes misty, she went back to bed and curled into a ball.

She slept undisturbed but not well that night and, in the morning, set things in motion. Rocco told his parents they’d be moving into Hannah’s house and managing the ranch in her absence, with Vern retaining his position as overseer. Hannah took the buggy to town and arranged to set aside a fund to manage the ranch. She kept her parents’ savings in the bank. Without telling her husbands, she closed her own account and took all the money with her for expenses on the trail to the gold mine. She was not happy to be leaving her home but found it surprising that she wasn’t sad about it either. Inside, she felt a nervous energy as in the days before Christmas when she was a child. This could be a great adventure if all went well.

With all the love in her heart for her three men, she galloped Addy back home, not from fear of meeting Sheriff Slyke, but from the excitement of expanding her horizons. If they didn’t find gold, at least she’d get to see San Francisco and the bay and she’d still own the ranch.

The men had been busy making their preparations also. They’d hired some of her students to pick vegetables. They picked those that were not quite ripe, thinking they would ripen as they neared their destination. The students wrapped them carefully in brown paper and packed them loosely in bushels. Hannah was amazed at all they had done by the time she returned from town. Fear struck her as she realized no delays were in sight. This was it. They would leave at first light in the morning.

No one could sleep that night. They turned their nervous energy into sex until exhaustion overtook them. In the morning they hitched Bessie up to the wagon filled with bushel baskets. Hannah refused to leave Addy behind and wanted to drive her own rig. Two straw laden coops were nestled into Hannah’s buggy for the hens. Wade erected a lean-to with sheets to give the hens shade and dragged out a mattress from the spare bedroom for Hannah.

She laughed when she saw it. “All us chickens will sleep together.”

“I’m sure you’ll have human visitors along the way whenever you want them.”

“Thank you, Wade. The mattress was very thoughtful.”

He touched the brim of his hat and went to the shed for shovels and pickaxes and other tools. They planned to take three days before going to the site of Rocco’s discovery. As they neared San Francisco, they would begin selling the vegetables and drive a circuitous route to sell all but what they needed to other mining camps.

Although Hannah constantly objected to the gouging prices, she was outvoted every time as tomatoes, lettuce, and apples sold for fortunes. The last night on the road before heading to the camps, Wade and Brady headed into San Francisco. Like Hannah, they’d never seen it. Rocco stayed to guard the wagon and keep Hannah company. She wanted to go into town, but the men were adamant that it was too dangerous and volatile for her to be safe.

In the back of her buggy, in the makeshift shade tent for the hens, she changed from dress to britches and a homemade flannel shirt. With her hair piled under a wide brimmed hat the cowboys used on rainy days, she felt sure she couldn’t be recognized as a woman. One of the reasons she made this trip was to see San Francisco, and she did not intend to miss it because of her gender. How bad could it be? Addy behaved as Hannah walked her horse on a grassy path until they were out of earshot of Rocco. As soon as she was clear, she mounted and spurred Addy on to catch up with Wade and Brady. They halted once they recognized her and swore they’d not go any farther unless she went back to the wagon. They were no match for a determined female. She won the argument and they grudgingly continued to the city with their partner. They promised to remember to call her Hank, not Hannah.

San Francisco was not at all what Hannah expected. The streets were muddy and infested with flies and probably worse, but she tried not to notice anything scurrying around. Homes were nothing more than poorly made shanties. She managed to peek into a lodging house as someone stepped out, and it looked to be merely one large room with rows of cots.

The people rushing around were strange and foreign and wore odd costumes. Men sported hats she’d never imagined, ponchos, and weird belts. She did recognize the Chinese because she’d seen pictures of them in their pigtails and quilted jackets in her magazine.

June was mild and pretty back home, but since they’d arrived on the outskirts of this town, it had been cold and foggy and ugly. Hannah, or Hank, as she was now, uttered not one word of complaint for fear Wade and Brady would take her back to Rocco before she got to see everything.

They dismounted in front of a flimsy wooden building called the Maggie Lass. Wade whispered, “Stay close to us until we find a table where you’ll be safe.”

Hannah’s eyes widened. At last, an adventure lay before her. “What manner of shop is this?”

“It’s a groggery that Rocco recommended,” Brady answered. “We’ll order milk punch, but it will be laced with rum or gin, so sip slowly.”

Wade took her arm then let it drop. “Do not let your hat slip and try not to talk. If you have to, growl to sound more masculine.”

They entered three abreast and quickly found a table in the middle of the room. The tables out in the open were small and empty. Every man in the place seemed to prefer sitting in the shadows with a woman on his lap. Wade ordered three drinks that came quickly.

Hannah spoke softly into Wade’s ear. “There are other women in here.”

“These women are, um, soiled doves and fair game for wandering hands. For money, they’ll go upstairs with any man for a quick poke. Down here, they get a percentage of what a man buys for them and if a man is generous, they’ll stroke him to completion under the table.”

Hannah craned her neck, trying to discover who was doing what to whom, but Wade and Brady blocked her view. “Oh. Look, I don’t want to spoil your fun. The tits around here are lots bigger than mine, go play. I’ll sit here with my punch and listen to the fiddler while you two walk around and see everything you want to see.”

Brady glanced at Wade then back at her. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?”

“You didn’t come to town to babysit me. I’ll be fine. Go.”

The soiled doves fascinated Hannah. They seemed gay and carefree. She managed to catch one of the bawdiest doing two men at once under the table while she continued to talk and crack jokes. She even handed them napkins afterward.

The prettiest woman, who still had a good figure, went upstairs with two men patting her rear. It titillated Hannah to think of what they were going to do up there. She’d loved fucking since her first experience with Wade and Brady, and when Rocco came, he’d taken her to new heights, but she couldn’t do it with just anybody. She loved her men. With that realization, she looked around for Wade. She wanted to leave this place and have her own fun.

She wandered through the room until she found Wade in a dark corner, his hands all over a woman’s gigantic bosom. Brady was behind the woman, squeezing her ass.

Hannah decided to watch. If they took the woman into one of the stalls designed for fucking, she would leave and ride Addy like the wind back to Rocco. Brady came around the woman, and he and Wade pinched her nipples, laughed with the woman a few more minutes, then gave her some money and turned to leave. They nearly passed by Hannah without seeing her, they were laughing so hard.

“She was a gamer, that one,” Brady said.

Wade slapped him on the back. “You ever see such huge tits?”

“No, sure didn’t. Boy, she liked havin’ us play with ’em.”

“Because we paid her, dope.”

Hannah stepped out of the shadows. “I’d like to leave now, but you two can stay if you want.”

“Oh, hey, Hannah.” Wade skidded to a stop, his face a bright pink. “No, we’ve seen enough of this place. Let’s all get out of here and never come back.” As Wade helped Hannah onto Addy, a huge, black rat ran over her foot. She stifled a scream. “I’m glad I saw this for myself, but I’ll not come here again unless they do some serious cleaning.”

Rocco was asleep in the back of the wagon when they returned. Hannah went into the tent with the hens. She didn’t know where Wade and Brady settled. In the morning, she woke to the smell of bacon. They’d brought quite a bit with them from the ranch. Breakfast was quick since they were all anxious to see the mine.

Explosives and wood for the mine shaft were purchased before they began the trek up into the mountains. Prices were exorbitant, but with what they had to trade, milk from Bessie and eggs, they got off easy.

Within the last mile, Rocco took his companions aside. “There’s something I need to explain about my partners, Gus and Sam.”

“You told us they were young and had been inseparable friends for years,” Hannah said.

“Yeah, but there’s more. I could let you reason it out for yourselves once you meet them, but I don’t want anyone to blurt out anything hurtful.”

“We’d never do that.” Hannah, atop her horse, raised her chin in defiance.

“Sometimes when surprised, people say things they ordinarily wouldn’t. You see, Gus and Sam are lovers.”

“Lovers? In what way?” Hannah tightened her grip on Addy’s reins.

“They’re in love with each other, and they sleep together as a man and woman would.”

“Julius Priest!” Brady spit out his chaw of tobacco. “Why did you wait until now to tell us?”

Wade waved at him to be quiet. “What difference does it make? We’ll be fine with them.”

They circumvented the other camps along the way by traveling an unused path partway up the side of a foothill then down again and into a valley pass that led to the face of the mine. Gus and Sam were not in sight until the horses neighed. They appeared as if from nowhere, guns drawn. “Hey, Gus, look what the cat dragged in.” The blond spoke first.

“Naw, no self-respecting cat would fool with that,” Gus, with a dark, unruly mass of curly hair, said. “He must have wandered in by himself.” Gus holstered his gun, and Sam did the same. Rocco embraced first one, then the other.

Hannah had to make a conscious effort to close her gaping mouth. They were gorgeous, virile men. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t these two gods right out of some mythological epic. She’d estimated Rocco as somewhere over six feet tall and both Gus and Sam were taller than Rocco. They were younger, too. Wade and Brady were in their thirties, Rocco she figured in his late twenties. These two were even younger. Rocco introduced everyone then showed Gus and Sam the contents of the wagon and buggy. Gus stuffed a whole tomato in his mouth without taking out the core. Juices ran down his chin as he moaned in ecstasy. “Oh, my. I haven’t tasted anything this good in a year.”

Sam hugged the pickaxes the way one would a baby. The show of enthusiasm by the two men made Hannah smile. She imagined they’d be jolly companions whatever happened with the mine.

They unpacked the tools, and Sam gave Wade and Brady a cursory tour of the cave. Rocco showed Hannah the gold nuggets they’d unearthed by hand.

Her eyes wide, Hannah bounced a nugget in her hand. “It’s heavy and not as shiny as I thought it would be.”

“In daylight a bit of gold will reflect the sun’s rays and make you blink.”

Wade came up behind them. “I see a lot of work to be done. Do we sleep in that canvass structure over there?”

“No, that belongs to Gus and Sam. We’ll pitch the tents we brought from Plantsville, and I have my own stowed in a corner of the cave.”

“Uh, how do we explain our arrangement with Hannah to Gus and Sam?”

“No need. If we ask no questions, they’ll ask no questions.”

“What questions?” Brady came into view from the bowels of the cave.

“Nothing. What do you think of the mine?” Rocco clapped him on the back.

Hannah shushed them. “We’ll have plenty of time to go over what needs to be done. Let’s set up the tents. I want to get out of these britches. I’ve worn them for three days, and by now they can stand alone. After that, I want to curl up in bed.”