Ryan (8 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Gracie
sat on the bed holding Maggie’s hand.

“Don’t
you worry because I’m going to take good care of you until you’re up and about
again,” said Gracie.

“That
might be some time and you don’t want to be with an old lady all the time.”

“You’re
not old.”

“I’m
sixty-five on my next birthday.”

Gracie
had never met her grandparents and didn’t or hadn’t known anyone that age but
she wouldn’t let on. She wanted Maggie to think she was still young and useful
around the place.

“You
know what Maggie? I’ve been thinking about business and I have some ideas on
how you can make more money.”

“Really,
well I’m listening.”

“You
charge more money for certain things the men want. If they want to kiss the
girls, that’s extra. If they want the girls to… well, you know put their
members in their mouth, that’s extra too. And if the men want to put their
mouths on the girl’s…”

“Pussies,”
said Maggie.

“Yes,
that will be extra.”

After
what Ryan had done to her when he’d put his mouth on her pussy it should in
fact be the girls paying the men but she didn’t want to let Maggie know about
what had happened in the barn.

“Quite
the business woman, aren’t you Gracie?”

“I’m
not done yet. I was thinking there could be women who want to make some money
but don’t want to have sex with men so they could sit with them in the saloon
and dance with them and the men would have to pay for it.”

Maggie
laughed so hard, she had to hold her leg. “Ouch, that hurts like hell. I like
this idea and that’s why I’m going to allow you to run this place while I’m
laid up like this.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you young lady.
And when I’m
gone from this life, this place will be all yours.”

“Mine.”

“I’ve
no one else to leave it to and I know it will be in good hands with you.”

Gracie
laid her head on Maggie’s shoulder.
 
Her running a whorehouse.
She guessed her parents had never
thought that one day their little girl would be doing that for a living.

****

“Maggie,
this is wrong, wrong, wrong,” said Ryan. Maggie moved gingerly on her walking
cane and then sat down with a thud on the chair.

It
had been two months since Maggie’s accident and despite his protests Gracie had
now taken over running the saloon and upstairs business. Business was indeed
blooming with men coming from other towns not only to have sex but
companionship of the women who they paid to drink and dance with.

“Ryan
Doyle I think it’s wrong, wrong, wrong of you not to have asked me for that
girl’s hand in marriage. It will soon be a year that you’ve known her and still
you’re dragging your feet. What else is a woman to do if she can’t be a wife
and mother?”

“Maggie,
I vowed never to marry again and like I’ve always told you a better man will
come along one day for Gracie.”

Maggie
lifted her cane at him. “Then so be it, she’ll be like me, an old maid running
the whorehouse.”

****

Gracie
opened up the account books. Business had never been better and Maggie was on
the mend. How better could things get? Well, apart from Ryan asking her to be
his wife. It was probably never going to happen and they’d just stay as they
were. She loved him and wouldn’t love another. Maybe she’d end up like Maggie.
Nothing wrong with that.

The
door opened and she expected to see Maggie or one of the girls standing in the
doorway but instead it was a man, a customer by the look of things. They
weren’t allowed in this section of the property so she stood ready to direct
him to one of the rooms. The stench of whisky on his breath and clothing hit
her before she even got a few feet from him.

“Is
it the service of one of the girls you wish tonight?”

“It
is,” he slurred.

In
this state she wouldn’t let him near any girl. He’d be sent on his way to sober
up.

“Then
may I suggest you come back tomorrow evening when you’ve had less to drink.”

“I
want to put my cock into some pussy tonight.”

“We
don’t allow men who are drunk to be with our girls.”

“Then
I’ll have you.”

He
grabbed her and she tried to get away from him. His breath was so bad, so
putrid and not just from the drink. She almost was sick. He tried to kiss her
and then inched up her dress.

“If
you don’t get your hands off me I’ll have to knee you in your private parts.”

“I
don’t think so whore, my private parts are going into your pussy.”

He
was on top of her and had her on the floor before she could fight back. One
hand had her pinned while the other ripped the front of her dress exposing her
breasts. He put his mouth down on one of her nipples and she tried to get free
but couldn’t.

Next
thing she knew his hand was on her mound, his fingers beginning to bury
themselves in her curls. She would not let this man rape her and violate her.
Only Ryan Doyle would ever touch her.

“Help,
someone help me,” she screamed out. The music was loud in the saloon and she
doubted anyone would hear her but she cried out again.

“Please
help me.”

Chapter Fourteen

Ryan
knew that was Gracie’s voice.

“You
hear that?” he asked Maggie. “It’s Gracie calling for help.”

“Last
time I saw her she was in my office.”

Ryan
headed to the door and ran down the hallway.

“Help
me please.”

Ryan
burst into the room and saw the man on top of her. Thoughts of his wife flashed
through his head.
The vile man who raped her and caused her
to take her life.
Gracie wouldn’t suffer the same way.

He
took his gun from his holster and aimed at the man’s head but before he could
fire the gun, someone else had done just that, grazing the man in the arm. He
slid off Gracie and slumped onto the floor.

“I
didn’t want you getting into trouble again, sheriff. And Gracie, are you okay
my girl?” asked Maggie, holding her gun.

Gracie
sat up, her dress ripped, her hair hanging around her face.

Maggie
sat beside Gracie as the man groaned and held his arm.

“You
could have killed me,” he said.

“I
intended to but I only have one damn eye and I’m a lousy shot.”

Ryan
walked over to Gracie, tears streamed down her face. “Did he?”

Gracie
shook her head. “He touched me, but no he didn’t violate me.”

“I’ll
take Gracie to her room and get her cleaned up and put her to bed and you get
this animal out of here,” said Maggie.

****

Gracie
still shook as she sat in bed. If Ryan and Maggie hadn’t heard her and come to
her aid, well, the vilest thing that could happen to a woman…she didn’t want to
think about it. No wonder poor Ruth had chosen to take her life.

Ryan
stood in the doorway.

“You
okay?”

Gracie
nodded as he came in and sat beside her.

“I
hope you locked him up and threw away the key.”

“I
did,” said Ryan. “He’s from out of town and he’s leaving as soon as Doc’s
stitched him up and he’s sober.”

Gracie
took a deep breath. “I know how your wife felt and I’m ashamed to say I’ve been
jealous of her since the day.”

“What
day?”
“The one where you told me you couldn’t think of me in the same way you thought
of her.”

“Oh
Gracie it’s not how I meant it to sound. I meant that I loved her, but I’m in
love with you. I guess I have been since the first time I laid my eyes upon
you. It’s almost as if you and I knew one another in a former life.”

She
looked up at him. “You’re in love with me?”

He
nodded.

“Then
why don’t you marry me?” she asked.

“Vowed never to again.
I was a bad
husband and bad man and I just keeping thinking someone fine and good is coming
for you.”

She
put her hand on his face. “He already did.”

He
got hold of her hand and kissed its palm. “Gracie if anything would have happened
to you, life would end for me.”

She
leaned over and kissed him. “So does that mean there’s something you want to
ask Maggie?”

****

“Well,
of course you can have my girl’s hand in marriage. But only one condition that
you don’t stop her from inheriting this place when I’m gone.”

“The
sheriff and the madam,” said Ryan.

“You
know that has a nice sound to it. I’m going to insist that’s what the place is
called after your wedding,” said Maggie. “Now let’s go have a drink and plan
out the best damn wedding Grantsville will ever see.”

Epilogue

Katy
wiped her eyes. She loved a happy ending. Jennifer was going to love reading
this. In fact, she was meeting her for lunch tomorrow after her and Connor went
to the doctor’s to see their first ultrasound of their baby.

The sheriff and
the madam.
She’d have to do some research and see if it did ever get named that. She’d sat
so many times in the Old Mill tavern never knowing it was once a whorehouse run
by a woman with one eye. And Gracie, she sounded so beautiful. Ryan sounded like
a hunk of a guy. No wonder Cash was so gorgeous with those two as his great,
great, great, great grandparents.

Cash,
yeah he was a lot like his ancestors.
A man with a secret.

She
hadn’t figured out why he hadn’t kissed her. At first she wondered if he might
be gay or married but there was something else and she couldn’t put her finger
on it. She already had a vested interest in him and just like Gracie she was
going to get her man.

She
pulled out her cell phone and already had his number on speed dial.

“Hello.”

“Hi
Cash.”

“Hi Katy, how you doing?”
“
I’m
doing just fine. You know I’m heading to Las Vegas next weekend?”

“Yeah,
I remember. You want me to stop by your place and water your plants while
you’re gone?”

“No,
I want you to come with me.”

“With you?”

“Yes,
I hate going on my own.”

“Okay,
but I have to insist on separate rooms.”

What
is wrong with you? Katy mouthed at her phone.
One step at a
time.
He’d agreed to come along and that was the main thing.

“Okay,
I’ll book two rooms. I’ll give you a call when I have all the details and
flight departure times.”

“All righty.”

She
put the phone down. He was going to share a room with her and a bed with her if
he liked it or not. And what better way to seduce a man than to take him to
Vegas to a sex toy convention.

Katy
smiled thinking of the advertisement about what happens in Vegas…

The
End

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Other Books by Vanessa
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