Winning His Wife

by George H. McVey

  Suddenly Cookie Bullfincher was walking toward the table. “Maybe you’d be willing to bet for her debt?”

  The gambler looked up. “Old timer, I know you ain’t got no money so even if I was willing you wouldn’t have the funds to wager for her.”

  Gavin saw the gleam in the gambler’s eyes. He’d seen it before. The man had the gambling fever and he’d take a bet if the stakes were right. Gavin reached into his boot and pulled out two hundred dollars. “How about you bet me two hundred against her debt.”

  The man looked at the money in Gavin’s hand. He licked his lips and then laughed. “Nah, I think I’ll keep her.”

  Gavin reached back in his pocket. “Four hundred.”

  Now the whole saloon was focused on them. Gavin didn’t care one way or another, he was going to free this woman from the low life in front of him. “You don’t want to do that, cowboy. Do you know who I am? I’m Rufe Bennett. I’m known for winning at cards all over Colorado.”

  “Then what’s the worry, Mister Bennett? If you’re such a card sharp why not take my bet?”

  “Not enough return on my investment. Right now I’ve got this ripe young peach. Why would I care about less money than is on this table right now?”

  “Then let’s make the stakes worth your time.” Gavin reached into his boot and pulled out everything he’d made in the last few days.

  “I’ll bet you fifteen hundred dollars against that lady’s debt on a single round of Twenty-one.”

  He laid the money out for Rufe to see every hundred-dollar bill. “What do you say? You think them stakes are high enough?”

  That gleam had burst into full gambling fever in Rufe Bennett’s eyes. “Mister, you got yourself a bet.”

  “I want you to put it in writing, Bennett. I don’t trust a professional gambler as far as I can throw one. You write out that you sign over any debt this lady owes you and then we’ll have a bet.”

  The gambler smiled. “Anyone got a paper and pencil?”

  Cookie handed him one “Here you go, you sidewinder.”

  Rufe took the paper and wrote out a marker stating that the holder of that note had won in full Adelle Cordovia’s debt to one Rufe Bennett. “Satisfied?”

  Gavin looked at a couple of the men sitting at the table. “Would a couple of you sign that as witnesses?” Two of the men who’d been playing with Bennett signed the note. “Now I’m satisfied.”

  Rufe gathered up the cards and started to shuffle them. Gavin shook his head. “I’m not some stupid cowboy, Bennett. There’s no way I’m playing with your cards or letting you deal. I want fresh cards and someone else to deal for us.”

  The barkeeper held up a deck of cards. “I got this unused deck you can use.”

  Cookie walked over and got the deck. “You both know me a bit. I’ll shuffle and deal unless you’d like someone else too.”

  Bennett shrugged. “Don’t matter to me who deals.”

  Gavin nodded. “Works for me.”

  “One hand of Twenty-one?”

  Both men nodded. Cookie shuffled the cards. “Who gets first hand?”

  Gavin nodded toward Rufe. “Let the gambler go first; he can show me how it’s done.”

  Rufe smiled. “Let’s make it interesting, deal ‘em face up, Bullfincher. Let’s see what lady luck has for me.”

  Cookie dealt two cards face up to Rufe. The nine of hearts and the king of spades. “Nineteen.”

  Rufe laughed. “I think I’ll stay on that. Looks like I’m gonna be fifteen hundred dollars richer.” He reached for the money and Gavin put his hand over them. “Game ain’t over yet, Bennett. I got cards coming.”

  “Why don’t you just give up, cowboy? Ain’t much chance you are going to beat my nineteen.”

  “I got cards coming. You reach for that money before I see my deal and I’ll plug ya for cheating.” Gavin pulled his Colt out and laid it on the table, his hand resting on it. Then he looked at Cookie. “Deal the cards, Cookie, face up just like you did for Mister Bennett.”

  Cookie nodded and dealt the first card. Queen of Hearts. Then he pulled the next card and turned it face up. Ace of Hearts. “Twenty-one, the cowboy wins.”

  Gavin reached out and snatched up the marker before Bennett could snatch it off the table. “That’s impossible!”

  “No, that’s the game.” Gavin stood up and picked up his Peacemaker but didn’t holster it. He grabbed the marker giving him Adelle’s debt, and then gathered up and pocketed his money. “I demand we deal again. That old cowboy cheated!”

  Gavin walked around the table and handed Cookie his boot knife “Cut the lady loose.” He looked at Bennett who’d jumped to his feet. “He cheated, I want another deal.”

  “He couldn’t have cheated; everyone in here heard you order him to deal face up and so did I. How did he cheat? It was a new deck and he shuffled and dealt. Face it, you lost.”

  Gavin took the young lady by the hand. “Miss Cordovia. You’re free but I’d suggest you leave with me and let me take you somewhere safe.”

  “Don’t you walk out that door, Adelle, if you do I’ll go straight to the telegraph office.”

  Gavin looked at Bennett. “Are you threatening the lady, Bennett?”

  “No threat, cowboy, just a straight out promise.”

  “Then know this. You lost and I won fair and square. You cause this lady any more problems and you’ll answer to me.”

  He looked at Adelle. “Miss Cordovia, if you’d move behind me and take hold of my belt then make straight for the saloon doors, I’d appreciate it.”

  The woman came behind him and reached for his belt. “Don’t worry about that, Gavin. I’ll make sure Mister Bennett stays put for a while.” Cookie spoke up, holding a revolver on the gambler.

  Gavin nodded. “Much obliged, Cookie.” He turned and took Miss Cordovia by the arm and hurried her out of the saloon. “Let’s find a safe place for you and you can tell me what that no account meant about sending a telegram.”

  “Thank you. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

  “No payment needed, Miss, but I would like to know what I just got myself involved in.”

  The woman nodded. “Let’s go to the Hearth and Home and I’ll tell you everything.”

  Gavin smiled and motioned for the woman to take the lead. “Lead the way, my lady, and I shall follow.”

  The girl laughed and then started up the boardwalk.

  Chapter Five

  As they entered the Hearth and Home, Julianne gave a little squeal and ran over hugging Adelle. “Oh Adelle, thank goodness. Why did you leave with that man? What’s going on? I told you we’d keep you safe.”

  “It’s a long story, Julianne. Let’s just say he knew what to say to get me to do what he wanted right up until he decided to turn me into a soiled dove to pay my debt to him.”

  Gavin stood behind her. “Can we get a table? I need to know what’s going on so I can keep you safe.”

  Adelle took a good look at her rescuer. He was ruggedly handsome, that was for certain. His sandy blond hair and two-day scruff made him look rugged. He stretched the blue canvas shirt across his chest and shoulders, showing that he was certainly the most manly man she’d ever seen. And his eyes looked like the sky on a stormy day, almost grey with just a touch on the blue side. He looked good; his face was narrow with a chiseled chin and angular nose. The plain brown cowboy hat on his head was pulled about half way down and he was still somewhat dusty from whatever he’d been doing that day. He had on leather chaps over top of denim pants and his boots were the same brown as his hat and looked like he’d lived in them.

  What caught her attention was the look on his face. One of care and concern, she’d noticed it when their eyes had met in the saloon and they’d not changed. This was a man who would have caught her attention in Denver but only because he was so different than the society men she’d been introduced to. Next to him those men were pale, weak or overweight boys. This was a man tanned by the sun and
roughened by the weather. A man who worked with his hands and what hands they were too, large with long fingers. She just itched for them to reach out to her to stroke her cheek or tangle in her hair.

  Julianne was directing them to a table in a corner. “Let me get us all something to eat. Don’t start on your story until I get back, Adelle. I want to know what’s going on as well.”

  The man pulled out her chair for her and her heart seemed to skip a beat. He was not the sort of man she was used to but his manners were as good as any she’d ever met. “Thank you. I’m sorry there’s no one to properly introduce us. I’m Adelle Cordovia.”

  “I’m Gavin Knight, Miss Cordovia. I’m glad I could be of help to you.”

  “Well Mister Knight, you’ve certainly been a knight for me. That was a very bold thing you did risking all that money to get me away from Mister Bennett.”

  “It was only money. I won it breaking some horses. If I’d lost, I’d just have broke a few more and made it up, but I will tell you this: Once I got him to write that marker releasing you, I wasn’t leaving without you and that paper. I don’t know how you got involved with that man but I knew you didn’t want to be there or go through what he was indicating you’d be forced to do.”

  Julianne came back. “Okay, Edwin is fixing us all plates of his special, it’s roast beef and vegetables and Millie’s rolls and I have someone bringing us a pot of coffee. Now why don’t you explain what’s going on from the beginning, Adelle, so we can figure out how to help you.”

  Adelle started at the beginning with the night her father surprised her with an engagement to Reginald Masterson and all that she learned and ended with what Gavin had just done for her. “That’s the whole story and while I’m very grateful to you, Mister Knight, as you can see if Mister Bennett sends that telegram I’m still in a mess.”

  “Well then, first thing we need to do is talk to Marshal Wheeler about what Cookie witnessed. I don’t know if he can arrest that low down snake but he can at least keep an eye on him and let K.C. and Dutch know to keep an eye out too,” Julianne said.

  “That doesn’t help much keeping her safe from this man in Denver. While you may have thrown them off by traveling the way you did, if this fella is determined to find you, he will. I have a solution for you, but I don’t know iffen you’ll want to take it or not.”

  Adelle looked into the kind eyes of the cowboy who came to her rescue.

  “It couldn’t be as bad as the other two options I have, could it? Become some gambler’s soiled dove or the wife of a man who all but admitted to killing his previous wives.”

  Gavin sort of grinned. “No, I don’t think it’s worse than those options but then again you might.”

  Julianne had a strange yet pleased look on her face. “Why don’t you tell us your solution, Mister Knight.”

  “Well, Cooper White is having a partnership agreement drawn up between him and I to be equal owners of his ranch and horse breeding business. He’ll breed them and I’ll train them. With the partnership I was given a small house. What I don’t have is a wife. Iffen you were willing to marry me, Miss Cordovia, I reckon you’d be safe from either of them fellas.”

  Adelle sat back in her seat. “Marry you? But I don’t know you.”

  Julianne stood and took Adelle by the hand. “Will you excuse us a moment, Mister Kinght? We’ll be right back, I’d like to have a word with my friend.”

  Gavin stood as the women left the table. He was so polite; but marry him? He was a stranger. How could that be the solution to her problem? Julianne pulled her across the dining room and into a hallway at the back of the room. “Now then. Let’s talk. It’s a good solution, Adelle. He’s right, it would protect you from that gambler because I know Cooper White, he and his hands could and would help Mister Knight keep you safe. Plus, if the man your father promised your hand to showed up it would be too late, you’d already be married.”

  “I know but I left home so I could marry for love. If I marry for protection, how is that any different than marrying Mister Masterson?”

  Julianne laughed. “Well for one thing I saw your face when you talk about Mister Masterson, he makes you sick and I can’t help but see the way you look at Mister Knight. You find him attractive.”

  Adelle blushed. “I do I’ll admit it, he is so handsome and rugged and yet so polite and gentlemanly. But that isn’t love, Julianne, and I don’t know if it’s enough to marry on.”

  “I have friends whose marriages started on less. My friend Marta, she married because her husband needed someone to help take care of his five children and she needed a place to live. Now they are completely in love and that’s with seven children and I suspect another on the way.”

  “So you think I should do it?”

  “Tell you what, let’s pray about it and see how you feel.”

  Adelle nodded and bowed her head while her new friend asked God to show them what to do. While Julianne was praying Adelle’s mind went back to that simple desperate prayer she’d prayed today when it looked like she was going to end up doing what Mister Bennett wanted. God had sent Gavin Knight as her help. She thought back even further to that prayer she’d prayed in her room while reading Ivanhoe, for a man like the knights of old willing to fight for her, to stand against danger just for her. Again, wasn’t that what Gavin was offering to do? Suddenly like a window to heaven had opened she felt a peace flow into her and she knew with certainty what she was supposed to do. Julianne finished her prayer. “I hope that helps.”

  Adelle smiled and hugged her new friend. “Thank you so much for your friendship, Julianne. I’ve never had a friend like you before.”

  “You’re welcome, Adelle. I’ll introduce you to all my friends and then you’ll have a bunch of us.”

  “That sounds great. But right now we need to get back before my knight in cowboy boots gets away.”

  Julianne laughed and the two headed back to the table. Adelle didn’t even bother to sit down. “I accept your offer, Gavin Knight. I will marry you.”

  Julianne clapped and Gavin looked up at her and smiled and her knees almost gave out at how much more handsome that one act made him.

  Gavin had been so sure that Adelle was going to turn him down. He hoped not; there was something about her that just called to him. Yeah, she was a few years younger than him, about five if he had to guess. Still her cute-as-a-button face had just seemed to call to him when he’d seen her in the saloon. There was something about her that made him want to scoop her into his arms and onto the back of Diablo and ride her out to his cabin and hide her way from any trouble that might come her way.

  Was it love? He didn’t think so, but it was something more than he’d ever felt for any other woman he’d known. It was something worth holding onto, and if she’d let him he’d hold onto her. Even if she didn’t, he’d stand between her and any danger that came her way. He’d empty a Colt into any threat and if that wasn’t enough he’d lasso it and drag it behind Diablo until it gave up the ghost. He might not love her, but he just knew she was his to protect and that’s what he’d do. So when she’d come back to the table and said she’d marry him, his face had broken into the biggest smile ever. “Well then let’s go find us a preacher.”

  Julianne laughed. “Might I make a suggestion, cowboy?”

  Gavin nodded. “Yes Ma’am.”

  “Why don’t you let me take your bride upstairs and help her get a bath and change into something more wedding like than a split skirt? While she’s getting ready you should go over to the barber shop and have a bath as well. Maybe go by the mercantile first and get yourself a clean change of clothes. I’m sure Reverend Theodore would appreciate you not tracking all that dirt and dust into his church.”

  Gavin could feel himself blushing. “Yes Ma’am, I think that sounds like a great idea. Um, would you happen to have a piece of string?”

  Julianne looked at him and then reached into her apron pocket. “As a matter of fact, I do.” She pulled out
a piece of butcher’s twine she’d picked up while she was in the kitchen talking to Edwin and Millie earlier. She held it out to him. He took it and tied it around Adelle’s ring finger in a knot before rolling it off. “That way your ring will fit.”

  “Oh you don’t have to get me a ring, Gavin.”

  He looked Adelle straight in the eyes. “Yes I do. I want everyone to know you’re married and that I’m your husband, the man who will protect you the rest of your life. So while I’m at the mercantile getting clean clothes, I’ll get you a ring too. Anything else you need? I’ll set us up an account while I’m there.”

  Now it was Adelle’s turn to blush. “Thank you, I might get some material tomorrow then. I only have this and two other dresses with me.”

  Julianne all but pushed him out the door and took his bride-to-be upstairs. As he stepped out onto the boardwalk he saw Cookie coming to him from one direction and Cooper from the other. He waited until they were both beside him. “Well friends, congratulate me. I’m getting married.”

  Cookie nodded and laughed. “A good solution, youngster.”

  “Married? Well now this is a busy day for you, Gavin. A horse, a partnership and now a bride.”

  Gavin nodded. “Does seem like everything I’ve been praying for is happening all at once. I’m hoping you men will stand with me at the church this evening?”

  “Oh, I can’t,” Cookie said. “I need to head out for a bit, got another job to look into.”

  Cooper nodded. “I would be glad to, my friend. I thought you were going to the saloon.”

  “I did. I’ll explain on the way to the mercantile and the barber shop.”

  So Gavin set out to get a set of clean clothes and a wedding ring before having a bath and taking his bride-to-be to the church. He told Cooper everything that had happened between when they left each other and now.

  “You have been busy.”

  “One of those days, for sure.”

  “And you’re sure about marrying this woman?”