Redemption In Red Desert: A Clean Western Historical Romance Novel

by Ember Pierce

  But Silverbrook had a friendly voice, a voice that had a note of gaiety in it.

  * * *

  “You have something against working, Mr. Silverbrook?”

  * * *

  “Only if I have to do it, ma’am. And, please, call me Clay.”

  * * *

  Such a request was shocking to her. She had never talked extensively with a gentleman—if you could call a gambler a gentleman—much less called him by his first name.

  * * *

  “And I admit I do have a character flaw, but I don’t think it involves cards. I don’t like to get up early. Always feel grouchy when I get up with the sun.

  * * *

  “I’m not a morning person. But if I had a regular job, I would have to get up with the sun, might even have to get up before the sun rises.” He smiled.

  * * *

  “Just don’t know if I could handle that. But with my job, I don’t have to get up early. Most of my work is done in saloons, some very fancy but some not, and a few rich, private homes.

  * * *

  “But there seems to be some unwritten law in my profession that we don’t play poker before hte afternoon, so I get to sleep late. A lot of the places where I do my work wouldn’t think of opening in the morning—and that is fine with me.”

  * * *

  Bonny chuckled. “When I first met you, I was taken aback, never having met a gambler before. But I must admit, I like you… Clay. You seem like a very nice man.”

  * * *

  “Thank you, ma’am. Gambling is a good vocation for me. My papa said something else that I have always remembered.

  * * *

  “‘Get a job that you don’t consider work and you won’t have to work a day in your life.’ That’s good advice. Never really considered gambling work.”

  * * *

  Bonny laughed again. “I think you are a rather unique character Mr… er, Clay.”

  * * *

  “So, what are you doing out here in the wild West? It may be a place for gamblers, but it’s not really a place for a woman traveling alone.”

  * * *

  “I am a mail-order bride and I’m going to meet my possible husband, a man named Kristian Downing. He has a ranch out in Red Desert, Wyoming.

  * * *

  “I was in Philadelphia and I desperately wanted to get out of there. And Mr. Downing sounds like a fine fellow.”

  * * *

  “Well, I hope the marriage is very happy. I have been to Wyoming but, as a state, it’s a bit cold for me.

  * * *

  “In the winte,r it can get chilly up there. What attracted you to Mr. Downing?”

  * * *

  “To be honest, one attraction was he didn’t live in the east. Plus, he sounds like a very nice man.

  * * *

  “And he has a ranch with horses. I’ve always liked horses. Always thought they were wonderful creatures.” She shook her head.

  * * *

  “I grew up with twelve people in a small house, Clay. I’m a reader, but never got to do it much.

  * * *

  “The wonderful Mr. Downing promised we’d have a small room at our house that I could use as a reading room and sit down every once in a while and read poetry, which I always thought was beautiful.

  * * *

  “For a girl who was looking at a dim future and had never known privacy, that sounded like a dream.”

  * * *

  “I’m sure it will be a good one. But you are taking a chance.”

  * * *

  “Not when you consider the possibilities back home. Besides, my husband’s family is friendly with the local pastor. I figure that’s a good sign.”

  * * *

  This time, Silverbrook laughed. “It might be, ma’am.”

  * * *

  “I guess it will be an adventure no matter how it turns out. But I am, admittedly, a bit nervous, but I’m optimistic, too.

  * * *

  “It still seems to me you take a great risk in your profession, Clay. You risk all your money on the turn of a card. That seems rather frightening and you do it constantly.”

  * * *

  Silverbrook smiled. He slipped his hand into his coat and bought out a deck of cards.

  * * *

  “Ma’am, you and many other people do not regard gambling as an honorable profession. That’s fine. But much of life is a gamble.

  * * *

  “In my line of work, I have known many gamblers, but, ma’am, it seems to be you are the biggest gambler of us all.”

  * * *

  He didn’t say it in a mean or insulting way, but in a matter-of-fact tone. He might bet money on the way cards landed on a table, he explained, but she was betting her life on a man in Wyoming—a greater bet than any he was making.

  * * *

  If he lost, he could make it up on the next hand. What would she do, he asked.

  * * *

  “I have lost at a poker table, every gambler has, but we have won, too. We know the odds on a specific hand and we know the rules of poker. We can judge the chances.

  * * *

  “If we lose, we can usually go back and try again. There are a number of people who make their living from poker, and make a good living.

  * * *

  “But you are in a more precarious position. If something goes wrong in Wyoming, you can’t just start over.

  * * *

  “I hope your young man is handsome, honest and a great husband. But it’s a great gamble.”

  * * *

  “I never looked at it just that way, Mr. Silverbrook,” she said.

  * * *

  “But as a gambler, miss, I sincerely hope you have made the right bet.”

  * * *

  “Thank you, sir.”

  * * *

  He pulled out his wallet and took out some bills. He had an envelope in his coat, and he shoved the cash into the envelope and sealed it.

  * * *

  “Ma’am, I hope you won’t think I am presumptuous, but I want you to have this. You’re taking a great risk and if something goes wrong this will help.

  * * *

  “And if nothing goes wrong, then you can use this to buy the poetry books to stock your library,” he added.

  * * *

  He gave the envelope to her. She opened it and found several fifty dollar bills. She shook her head.

  * * *

  “I can’t take this.”

  * * *

  “Yes, you can. It’s a welcome to the West, ma’am. From time to time, I like to think I’m doing something good with the money I earn from the poker tables.”

  * * *

  He smiled. “I like to do an occasional good deed.”

  * * *

  “But if something goes wrong, the husband is obliged to pay for the trip back east for his mail-order bride.”

  * * *

  “This is just in case he doesn’t. I realize this is a little usual, ma’am, but I would be very pleased and honored if you would take it.

  * * *

  “You’re coming to a land that can be hard and savage. Beautiful, too, but tough at times. I’d feel a lot better if you would please take it.”

  * * *

  Bonny thought for a long while then nodded. She folded up the envelope and put it into the purse. “I have met a gambler with a pure heart.”

  * * *

  He smiled. “Something to tell your grandchildren, ma’am.”

  * * *

  “My family didn’t go to church much, but I will pray for you, Clay. Perhaps we all need someone to pray for.”

  * * *

  “Perhaps so. That may be very insightful, ma’am. And I will always remember it.”

  * * *

  Pete Harkley tossed down three jacks and the other four men around the table groaned. Kristian was among them.

  * * *

  He had dropped three sevens on the table. He gritted his teeth.

&nbs
p; * * *

  “Sorry, but luck doesn’t seem to be smiling on you all today,” Harkley said as he gathered the money. He pushed the cards to Bill Dawley, who was going to deal the next hand.

  * * *

  Kristian stared down at his money. He had less than a hundred dollars now.

  * * *

  At one time, he’d seemed to play well and had walked away from the table with money—then, his luck started to go bad. He swore he would keep away from the table, but he had bumped into Graves O’hara

  * * *

  And O’hara, as usual, was always ready to loan him money.

  * * *

  Kristian had no idea why the man was so nice to him. The loans he provided were interest-free and, to his knowledge, he was the only man who was extended that courtesy.

  * * *

  He regretted that he’d ever agreed to the first loan. O’hara had hounded two or three men until they’d sold everything to pay off their loans to him.

  * * *

  And it was rumored that when Willie McClain shot himself, one of the reasons was his debt to O’hara. But O’hara had always been rather friendly to Kristian.

  * * *

  Kristian shook his head. He couldn’t think about that now. He wanted to win back some money.

  * * *

  He pulled in the cards as Dawley dealt them and gave a silent groan. The five cards were not a good poker hand.

  * * *

  He had a six of clubs, an eight of hearts, a three of clubs, and nine of diamonds. The king of hearts was his only face card.

  * * *

  His luck was as dried up as that old Jackson Silver Mine on the edge of town—and it had been played out for years.

  * * *

  “Would anyone like to open?” Dawley said.

  * * *

  “Not with this hand,” Jack Rawlins said. “I think the deck we’re using doesn’t have any face cards. Must be a defect.”

  * * *

  Harkley laughed. “I’m doing fine. Poker is my game. Maybe you all should take up horseshoes. That’s a nice game.”

  * * *

  “It’s to you, Kristian.”

  * * *

  Kristian dropped the cards on the table. “Not with this hand. It would be throwing good money after bad.”

  * * *

  He’d had more than three hundred dollars when he’d come into the saloon. Now, it was dwindling down.

  * * *

  He wondered if he should try one more hand to get back to even. But he’d said that before and it had rarely worked out.

  * * *

  He frowned. Well, maybe one more hand. This time might be different.

  * * *

  He knew he had to get back to the ranch to be there when Bonny came, but that was assuming the stage would be on time. And that wasn’t always the case.

  * * *

  He had to give this up, he thought, especially with a wife on the way. He watched as three of the men tossed in money, but this time the dealer came out with two-pair, jacks and sevens, to win the hand.

  * * *

  “If I didn’t know Jack was an honest man,” said Rawlins, “but he’s just a lucky dealer.”

  * * *

  “One more hand,” Kristian said, “then I have to get back to the ranch. I keep telling myself I will quit this game and still keep sitting down at a table.”

  * * *

  “If you don’t play, you don’t win,” Harkley said.

  * * *

  “My problem is I don’t win when I play, either,” Kristian retorted.

  * * *

  His cards were marginally better this hand. The initial five cards included two eights. He smiled. Getting a pair on the deal was a good sign.

  * * *

  He discarded the other three cards and asked for three more from the dealer. He made an initial fifty-dollar bet that was matched by two of the players.

  * * *

  After the deal, he raised his eyebrows when he picked up two sevens. He bid another forty dollars.

  * * *

  Harkley called him and added fifty. Kristian was stunned. He was out of money.

  * * *

  “That’s okay, you’re good for it,” Harkley said. “You can pay me when you see me again.”

  * * *

  “Okay, you’re called,” Kristian said. He showed his two pairs. “What do you have?”

  * * *

  His mouth dropped when Harkley dropped three nines on the table.

  * * *

  When she arrived in Red Desert, a driver had been arranged to take Bonny to the Downing ranch. She mulled over the conversation as the driver explained items about the area to her.

  * * *

  “The Triangle Ranch was named after the triangle made by the river on one side of the property, the forest on the other side, and the road on the third side.

  * * *

  “Why, if you could be a bird and see it from the sky, I bet it makes a right perfect triangle,” Gus, the wagon man, said.

  * * *

  Bonny tried to arrange her face into a look of extreme interest, but she had a feeling she only grimaced. Her stomach was in knots, and she couldn’t actually remember the last time she had eaten anything substantial.

  * * *

  She felt like she was either going to vomit or faint. There would be no in between on a day like this.

  * * *

  She had secured the fifties that Silverbrook had given her. Her heart was still touched by the gesture. To be honest, it was the first time anyone had given her anything.

  * * *

  “Wow, that’s… something,” Bonny said, her mind drifting again to how she would approach the ranch once she got there.

  * * *

  Gus lapsed into silence for a moment. Then, he asked, “So, what brings you out to the Red Desert?”

  * * *

  “I’m a mail-order bride. My future husband may be Kristian Downing,” she said, trying out the way it sounded.

  * * *

  Her younger siblings had reacted with varying degrees of sadness at the news that she was leaving, although it didn’t come as any surprise since they all knew the rules in their family about what happened when you turned eighteen.

  * * *

  Her parents had been thrilled at the prospect of a second daughter becoming a mail-order bride. And even though Bonny was excited about her future, there was something in her parents’ attitudes that hurt her feelings.

  * * *

  Once she left the house, it might be the last time she saw her parents and siblings.

  * * *

  Now that she’d had an entire journey to think through their reactions, she could see that they were only excited about the prospect of her having a better life than just working in a factory until she got married.

  * * *

  And even then she would probably have to work in a factory.

  * * *

  But none of it mattered anymore. She had made it here, and she was going to start her new life.

  * * *

  It was true that some marriages like this did not work out. But she wasn’t going to back out. Her breath hitched in her chest as excitement swept over her.

  * * *

  “Is that right?” Gus asked. “That’s fine, real fine. Never thought that boy would get his act together. And now he’s getting hitched?

  * * *

  “That’s a good turn of events. I’m sure his parents are real happy. They’re good people, and they deserve some happiness after their other son died last year.”