Longarm and the Wyoming Woman (5 page)

Longarm drained his wineglass and refilled it. “I'm afraid so. I have not only heard of Wade Stoneman, but I once worked with him.”

Addie's wineglass slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor. But she didn't bend to clean it up; she just stared at Longarm. “Custis, you can't be serious!”

“I'm afraid that I am.”

Longarm bent to pick up pieces of glass and to help Addie clean up the mess, but she grabbed him and said, “Are you . . . are you a friend of his?”

“No!” He lowered his voice. “Wade Stoneman was a deputy United States marshal when I first came to work as a new federal law officer. I was assigned to learn under Wade because he was the best. But then he crossed the boundaries of the law again and again, so that I could see that the man was without a conscience. After he killed a few people without even attempting to arrest them, I asked to be assigned to some other senior federal agent. Wade never forgave me for that and swore that he'd been betrayed. He had thought of me almost as a younger brother. He taught me things that have saved my life. But I never wanted to be like him and I never have been.”

Longarm decided that Addie had had enough troubles today and it would do her no good to learn about the two boys that Wade Stoneman had gunned down for stealing an old, broken saddle.

“Here,” he said, finding another wineglass and refillingit for her. “We can talk about Stoneman later and I'll tell you more if you want . . . but I'm not sure you want to hear stories about how ruthless and cunning that man can be.”

“He's the one that is after my father.”

“Addie, let's sit down for a minute. I have something to tell you. Something important.”

Longarm led the young woman over to the couch, and then he sat down next to her and thought a moment before he said, “After I left you this afternoon, I went to my office and was told by my boss that I need to go to Buffalo Falls and investigate Wade Stoneman.”

“Are you serious?”

“I'm afraid so. A telegram came to my boss's office begging for help. There was no signature, but maybe it was from your father.”

“It wasn't,” Addie said with certainty. “My father never begged for help from anyone. The telegram had to come from someone else in Buffalo Falls.”

“It doesn't matter. The point is that I'm going there and I'll be leaving on the train tomorrow.”

“Then I'll leave with you!”

“I'd rather you waited a week or two,” Longarm told her.

“But why!”

“You'd be a distraction for me. I'd be thinking of you and worrying about Stoneman and what he might do to both you and your father.”

Addie set her glass down, and then she set his glass down on the table and looked into his eyes. “Custis,” she said, “I am overwhelmed by you and the way that you just made love to me.”

“Addie, that—”

“Please! Let me finish. But I can't stay here in Denver while you go to Buffalo Falls. And don't you see that the coincidence of you saving my life and our family's money . . . and then learning that you're being sent to Buffalo Falls . . . is an omen?”

He didn't get it. “Omen?”

“Okay, maybe not an omen,” she persisted. “But it's a clear sign. A sign that we were meant to go to Buffalo Falls together and fight this terrible man until he is either dead or in prison!”

“Addie,” Longarm said, “I fear no man, but Wade Stoneman is . . . is, well, he's the best at killing that I've ever seen. He is an absolute crack shot with rifle or pistol and he's inhumanly quick on the draw. You add that to the fact that Wade Stoneman is now wealthy and will have killers in his employ, and it all adds up to long odds against beating him.”

“All the more reason I have to come with you!”

“I wish you'd give me a week or two head start.”

“And stay here wondering if you and my father were killed by Stoneman?” She shook her head emphatically. “Not a chance. If we lose this fight, I want to lose it together. I just couldn't live with myself if I was here safe while you and Father were up against such impossible odds. Can't you, of all people, understand that?”

Addie was nearly begging, and Longarm could see that she was right. Had he been in her position, he would have taken exactly the same stance. Absolutely nothing could have kept him safe in Denver waiting for the outcome of a showdown taking place in Wyoming.

“All right,” he said, “we'll go together. We'll leave on the train for Cheyenne tomorrow.”

Addie hugged his neck so hard, he thought she might crack bones. And she cried. Longarm couldn't stand women crying, but in this case it all seemed entirely understandable.

Addie pushed back from him and wiped her eyes. “Custis, we're not going to be killed by Stoneman. We're just not!”

“I hope you're right. I'm tough to kill. A lot of men have tried and none have succeeded.”

She ran her fingers across his bare torso. “But you have so many scars. Terrible scars from terrible wounds.”

“You noticed.”

She nodded. “Sure I did. I'm almost a doctor. Remember?”

“That's a good thing for us, Addie. Because I've got a bad feeling a lot of blood is going to be spilled and some of it . . . some of it may be my own.”

“We'll make it. I told you that I'm tough. That I can shoot straight and, if I have to, I will stand by you and Father to the death.”

“I just hope you don't have to,” Longarm heard himself tell her.

Addie drained her wineglass, then went into her kitchen. In a cabinet she found a bottle of Kentucky mash. “This is premium stuff and it's more powerful than the kick of a Missouri mule.”

“Do you drink that?” Longarm asked.

“A sip for luck and courage when I need it, but mostly I use it to kill germs.”

“Let's give it a taste,” Longarm said, abandoning his wineglass. “After all that talk about long odds and Stoneman, I think we could use something stronger than wine.”

“My sentiments exactly.”

So they filled fresh glasses and raised them to each other.

“To life and love,” she said.

“And to the end once and for all of Wade Stoneman,” he added.

“That, too.”

They drank, and both coughed and sputtered a little. Longarm was the first to stammer, “Gawd, this is pure alcohol!”

“Yes, it is,” she admitted. “Kills those germs
real
good! So how about a toast to Pasteur, the man who came up with the Germ Theory?”

“I'll drink to the man,” Longarm said, voice raw. “And then I'd like to up the ante and celebrate again in your bed, between your long and lovely legs.”

Addie splashed more mash into their glasses and blushed. “By golly,” she said with her voice a little husky from the fiery liquor, “I believe that you're a man worth fighting and dying for.”

“Like your father?”

“Like my father.”

Longarm nodded, and they drank their mash down neat.

“To bed!” she cried, grabbing his hand and nearly jerking him off his feet as she rushed back into her bedroom.

They threw themselves into a second bout of passionate lovemaking. When it was finally over and they lay close together, Longarm said, “I never made love with a woman doctor before now.”

“And I never had a tall, handsome marshal,” she replied.

After that, they lay tight in each other's arms, each silently thinking about Buffalo Falls and wondering how they could possibly stop Wade Stoneman.

Longarm and Addie arrived at the train station just minutes before the train was set to pull out for Cheyenne. They found Marshal Billy Vail pacing up and down the platform in a state of high anxiety.

“Well, there you are!” Billy said sarcastically. “Custis, I'm so glad you could get out of bed and finally make it down here to the station.”

Longarm was in no mood for levity, so he nodded and took the money that Billy handed him in a brown envelope. “How much?”

“Two hundred.”

“I was hoping for at least four hundred,” Longarm said with a frown of disapproval. “Billy, you know that I might have to hire a few men as well as a horse and outfit. On top of all that, I'm going to need to buy a good rifle and boxes of ammunition.”

“How come you didn't bring your own rifle?” Billy said, not pleased. “The new one we bought you when you got in that big fix over in Santa Fe.”

Longarm looked sheepish. “Well, if you have to know, the last time I took it on an assignment, it was . . . was stolen.”

Billy shook his head with disgust. “That's pathetic, Custis. You're a deputy United States marshal and you allowed someone to steal your new Winchester?”

“Dammit, Billy, I got distracted.”

“By a woman, I'll bet.”

Longarm looked away, confirming Billy's suspicion.

“Speaking of women,” Longarm said, pocketing the cash and wanting to change the tone of the conversation. “This is my new friend, Miss Addie Hudson. Addie was the young lady that was mugged yesterday, so don't be thinking I beat her up and gave her both a split lip and a shiner.”

Billy managed a tolerant smile. “Miss Hudson. I'm glad that my deputy could help you yesterday. Sorry that you had to go through such a bad experience.”

“He's my hero,” Addie said, using her good eye to wink at Longarm and then slipping her arm through his arm. “Marshal Vail, I'm sure that I don't have to tell you that you're very fortunate to have such a brave and resourceful deputy marshal.”

Billy nodded. “He's one of a kind, all right. A real piece of work for certain. I don't have anyone else that I would dare send alone to Buffalo Falls. So let's just hope that we see him return safe and in good health.”

“I'm going to do my best to see that is what happens,” Addie said. “I'm a doctor, Marshal Vail. Even more to the point, I'm accompanying Marshal Long to Buffalo Falls.”

“No!” Billy's response was instantaneous and instinctive. Probably embarrassed by his outburst, he lowered his voice. “I didn't mean to sound so forceful, Miss Hudson, but Custis is going on a very difficult and dangerous assignment. I really don't think that you should—”

“I know all about the dangers he's up against,” Addie said, cutting him off. “And while I don't want to shock you, I'm from Buffalo Falls.”

Billy's jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. My father owns a ranch near that town and he's under attack from Wade Stoneman as are many others.”

Billy glanced at Longarm, who nodded. “It's true, Billy. Miss Hudson is from Buffalo Falls. She's been living here in Denver for a few years studying to become a woman doctor.”

“That's wonderful, Miss Hudson, but all the same I don't . . .”

He didn't get to finish because the locomotive's whistle blasted three times, drowning out his objection.

“Billy,” Longarm said, picking up his bag as well as Addie's. “I tried hard to get Addie to stay here in Denver—or at least give me a week or two to sort things out in Wyoming. But Addie is a doctor, and furthermore, she knows the territory and the politics in Buffalo Falls. And she thinks that that telegram you received isn't from her father, but from someone else who is being bullied and railroaded by Stoneman. So I couldn't stop her from coming with me to Wyoming even if I tried.”

“I don't like this,” Billy said, looking from one of them to the other. “Custis, the last thing you need is to be worrying about Miss Hudson's health and safety.”

“She's not only a doctor who knows the locals and the land,” Longarm said, “but Miss Hudson assures me that she is a crack shot with either a gun or a rifle.”

“That is remarkable,” Billy said, not sounding convinced, “but she is still—”

“A woman,” Addie said, finishing Billy's sentence. “So because I don't have the right . . . plumbing, you think I can't help but be a complication and hindrance to your deputy.”

Billy was embarrassed. “No offense, Miss Hudson, but I just don't want to see either of you get hurt . . . or worse.”

“I've been hurt before. Marshal Vail, my dear father is fighting not only for his ranch, but also his life. I could no more stay here in Denver than I could fly to the moon. So I'm sorry if you think I'm a threat or liability to your best deputy marshal, but I'm still going with him to oppose and bring down Wade Stoneman.”

The locomotive suddenly jerked, and the sound of couplings crashing tight echoed all down the train. The conductor cupped his hands and shouted, “All aboard for Cheyenne, Wyoming!”

Billy's eyes shifted slowly from Longarm to Addie and back to Longarm, as if he thought he might never see either of them again. “Just . . . be careful,” he pleaded as the train started moving. “Keep in close touch by telegraph and, if you need help, I'll send more agents!”

“I'll do that!” Longarm shouted as Addie swung up onto the Union Pacific train, and then he followed her onto the step. “And I'll probably need more money in the next week or two!”

“Custis, if you handle this Wade Stoneman mess, then I'll see that you get a big, fat monthly raise.”

“Fair enough! But I'm still going to need more money to take care of business in Wyoming.”

“I'll keep that in mind!”

“You do that!” Longarm called as the train pulled out of the station.

Billy nodded and waved, thinking it was very likely that his friend and best deputy marshal might not live long enough to spend the money he had already pocketed.