“After what happened, do you think I’d have a chance at convincing a judge I didn’t kill those men? I can’t return the gold until I can turn in the murderer with it.”
James sighed. “My friend, you’re in a fine predicament, if you ask me.”
“The worst part was losing Rosalyn and you for the past year. After the trouble died down, I tried to find Rosalyn. I sneaked into the Rose Palace only to discover she’d skipped town for parts unknown. I even hired a detective to locate her, with no luck.” Dalton jerked his head toward James. “And you were gone on a bounty hunt.”
“How do you plan on finding the real murderer?”
“I’m thinking the man responsible has been looking for that gold or for me since. This whole mess started here in Memphis. I figure it’s the place with all the answers.”
“Is it safe for you to be here?”
“Probably not, but I can’t live like this anymore. I want my life back.”
“And Rosalyn?”
Dalton’s lips quirked. “I’m not sure she wants me back. But once this is all settled, I’ll work on that. In the meantime, I should stay clear of her to keep from setting her up as a target.”
“Were you seen with the soldiers at all? Did you know them?”
“That’s the bad part. I played a hand of poker with one of those soldiers earlier that day. I remember his face as though it was only a couple hours ago.”
“Did he mention he was carrying the payroll for Fort Riley?”
“He mentioned he was headed that way, not why.”
“Who else played poker with you that night?”
“A gentleman by the name of King—Tyler King. Said he was a local businessman from Memphis. And there was a gambler named Pierre Saulnier up from New Orleans.”
“Saulnier.” James squinted in the moonlight. “I recall there being some trouble with a Saulnier down in Greenville, Mississippi. Shot a man in the chest, claiming it was self-defense.”
“All I know is he had a love of fast horses, loose women and cards. One of his favorite ports along the Mississippi was Memphis. He’d even spoken of the Rose Palace. I didn’t mention my relationship with Rosalyn or hers with the Rose Palace.” Dalton stared at his friend. “You think he might have been involved?”
James shrugged. “Wouldn’t hurt to find the man and ask a few questions. What about this Tyler King?”
“King said he enjoyed a good night of gambling away from his wife and children. I’d hoped to find him in Memphis and ask him what he knew about Pierre or the soldier we played cards with.”
“Did you consider Mr. King might not trust you since you were the one accused of the murder?”
“I’d thought of that, but I have to try.”
“The soldiers were found slain in their beds at a hotel next to the Rose Palace near the port of Memphis, the bag of gold they’d been responsible for gone.” James’s voice rumbled low across the water. “The marshal gave Roz a hard time, trying to accuse her of having something to do with the murders since they were next to the Rose Palace and you and she had been seen together.”
“I thought by my leaving she’d be spared.” Dalton closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’d never have left if I thought she’d be in trouble.”
“Someone knew they were carrying payroll for the U.S. Army.” James tapped a finger to his chin. “Question is, why set you up for the murders and plant the gold in your cabin instead of taking it with them? Did you make someone mad?”
“I don’t recall.” Dalton shook his head, searching through his memories for anyone he might have angered enough to set him up. He had nothing to go on. “What I want to know is if anyone came back looking for the gold once the marshal and his deputies left without it.”
“I’ll help all I can to solve the murder and the mystery about the frame-up. But you’re on your own with Roz. She’s got a lot of hurt and anger built up over the year you two have been in hiding. And frankly, I love the woman too. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings none if she married me instead of you. At least this time she’ll be given a choice.”
Dalton glared at James. “She loves me.”
“Not anymore. We might be friends, but I want Roz, and I’m willing to let all of her dreams come true, even if it means we won’t be living in a house, raising a passel of children. I know for a fact she’d be bored inside a week.”
“Not if you know how to treat her properly.” Dalton clapped a hand to his friend’s shoulder. “And, my friend, I do.”
“Don’t be so sure I don’t know what the woman likes. You have an upward hill to climb with that firebrand. I’m not so certain she won’t push you back down it.”
Those were precisely Dalton’s thoughts. Rosalyn hadn’t been exactly ecstatic to see him. The hurt he’d briefly seen in her eyes had been because of him, and who could blame her? A year was a mighty long time to go without word from him. If only he’d known where she’d hidden, he’d have gone after her.
Her contacts at the Rose Palace hadn’t received a letter from her since last fall and that had been posted from Wichita, a stage stop in the Kansas Territory. He’d traced her from there to Denver. That’s where he’d lost her trail. After combing through the thriving little city over the winter, he’d come back to the river where he’d met her, hoping that if he found a way out of his current troubles, he’d find his way back into her heart.
Now he wasn’t so certain. Enough time had passed to forgive and forget. Rosalyn hadn’t done either.
“I need to talk to her.” Dalton spun away from the romance of the moonlight and headed for the stairs leading down to the cabins. Rosalyn was on the same boat as he was. He couldn’t leave their relationship as it stood. He shoved the ring back into his pocket, the cold metal burning a hole through his heart.
James caught up with him. “Wait. Didn’t you just tell me it was too dangerous to let anyone know you two are involved?”
“Damn it, I know. But I can’t ignore her.”
“It’s been a year, what’s a few more days going to hurt?”
They descended the stairs into the ship and worked their way down the corridor. “Which room is she in?”
“The last one on the left.”
“And you know this because?” Dalton gave James a narrow-eyed look.
“She isn’t holding a grudge against me.” James smiled. “It was better than old times.”
A rush of heat washed over Dalton, and his fists came up.
“Hey, she wanted it as badly as I did.”
“Couldn’t you have waited?”
“Until you showed up? We could only guess at when that would be. And now you’re telling me you don’t want anyone to know about you and Roz. I’d say you’re going to have to leave me to please the woman…alone. Which goes right along with my plan to woo the sweet Rosalyn.”
Dalton sucked air into his lungs through gritted teeth. “I will get my life back, if it’s the last thing I do.”
A man exited a room near the end of the hallway, glanced their way and turned the other direction.
The gentleman’s hair was lighter, but there was no mistaking the man’s long, crooked hooknose.
Dalton’s heart raced. “That’s him.”
“Him who?” James asked.
“Pierre Saulnier.” Dalton took off at a run.
At the top of the stairwell, a steward stepped in his way. “Sir, may I assist you with something?”
By the time Dalton shoved past him, Saulnier had disappeared down the gangplank and melted into the darkness.
Chapter Three
Rosalyn paced her room, anxious to leave the boat, to get away from Dalton and check on the Rose Palace. After a year’s absence, she wasn’t sure what she’d find at the bordello she’d built into a thriving establishment.
Now that she’d seen Dalton, she’d discovered the attraction was as intense, possibly more so, than the last time they’d been together. After nearly a year, she’d h
oped the physical aspects of their relationship would have waned, when in fact that was the furthest from the truth. Her body had responded immediately to his presence. Sitting in his lap, feeling his cock nudging her bottom, hadn’t made it any easier to deny her desire and forget the man.
Why was it so difficult to walk away from this man? Gambling away his ring should have brought the closure she sought. If she had any sense whatsoever, she’d leave without looking back.
Perhaps the bigger question still lingering in her mind was why had she come looking for him in the first place if she intended to end it? Had she secretly hoped their connection would be as strong, that their love would have outlasted the time, distance and circumstances?
Suddenly the boat wasn’t big enough. Rosalyn needed more space between her and Dalton, enough space that she wouldn’t be tempted to sneak down the hall, corner him in his room and demand answers to questions she’d accumulated over the last year. She couldn’t take the chance of reacquainting herself with all the reasons she’d agreed to marry Dalton in the first place.
A trip to the Rose Palace was in order, and the sooner the better.
Had her business continued on without her? She had money tucked away in the bank, but she couldn’t get to it without exposing herself to the law. If the marshal had any idea Dalton was back in the area, they’d be looking for her as well.
Rosalyn pulled on the trousers she’d purchased from her friend Katherine, who now lived high in the Colorado Rockies with her husband. That and the cowboy hat and boots she’d purchased on the trip east made up her disguise. She’d borrowed a white shirt from James, rolling the sleeves up to fit her shorter arms and tucking the bulk of the shirttails into her trousers. James’s long coat completed the outfit, removing emphasis from the swell of her hips.
She tucked her hair up into the hat and studied herself in the mirror. With the light from the candles, she couldn’t fool anyone that she was a man, but out in the shadows of darkness, if she kept her head down, no one would know the difference.
Once dressed in the men’s garb, she slipped across the gangplank and onto the dock, hurrying toward the Rose Palace a couple blocks away from the wharf.
She passed by the establishment, getting a feel for the patrons entering and leaving, then she ducked around the back and entered through the servants’ entrance.
A matronly woman in a dull gray dress stepped in front of Rosalyn. “Excuse me, sir, patrons must use the front door.”
Lowering her voice, Rosalyn addressed the woman, trying to remember who she was and coming up blank. “I’m not a patron. I need to see Madame Mystique.” Rosalyn kept her head down, cowboy hat on, the brim shading her face from the light.
The old battleaxe crossed her arms over her ample chest and looked down her nose at Rosalyn. “She’s busy. Come back in the morning.”
“It’s a matter of great importance. She would be very angry with you if she missed talking to me. Tell her I have news of Rosie.”
The older woman’s brow furrowed. She studied Rosalyn as though she had tracked in horse manure. “Very well, I’ll check with the madame. In the meantime, you stay here.” She snagged a young maid bustling through with an empty tray of glasses. “Watch him and make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.”
“I don’t have time to babysit a boy. There are thirsty men out there hollerin’ for their drinks.”
“Watch him.” The older woman marched through the door into the Rose Palace.
Rosalyn stood with her hands in her pockets, her head down, stealing glances at the maid. Another woman she didn’t recognize. Had the Palace had a complete turn over in staff?
A few minutes later, a stout woman with fiery red hair and heavily rouged cheeks breezed through the doorway demanding, “Where is this boy you spoke of?”
She came to a halt when she saw Rosalyn standing there in her trousers and cowboy hat. “Ah, there you are. What news do you have of dear Rosie? Be swift, I haven’t time to waste.”
“What I got to say needs to be said in private.” Rosalyn couldn’t believe how easy it was to slip into her role and almost laughed when Mystique rolled her eyes.
The madame waved a hand toward Rosalyn. “This better be good. I need to get back to work.” She jerked her head toward the open doorway. “Come into my office.”
Rosalyn noted the way the other woman had called the office hers, when in actuality it belonged to Rosalyn. And should she ever come back to manage the palace, she’d take over the space again. Instead of arguing with the madame, Rosalyn followed her down the hallway, one she could have navigated blindfolded.
Once inside the office, Rosalyn closed the door and stepped toward the madame, formerly Melissa Taylor of Roanoke, Virginia, Rosalyn’s most trusted friend and advisor since they came to Memphis over seven years ago.
“How are you, my friend?” Rosalyn pulled the cowboy hat off her head and shook out her hair.
Melissa gasped. “Rosie?” Tears welled in her eyes, and she pressed fingers to her mouth. “Rosie? Is that you?”
Rosalyn smiled. “Yes, it’s me.”
“Oh, Rosie!” Melissa scooped Rosalyn into her arms, hugging her so tightly she couldn’t breathe.
Rosalyn felt odd being addressed as Rosie after a year of being strictly called Rosalyn. Somewhere along the way she’d lost touch with the Rosie who had been a huge part of the success of the Rose Palace. “How have you and the girls been?”
Melissa stepped back and shook her head, a sad smile curving her lips. “So much has changed since you left.”
“Tell me.” Rosalyn took a seat behind her desk where she’d sat for more than seven years as the owner and driving force behind the success of her business.
“Mattie left less than a month after you did. She decided to head out west and try her luck in California. Katy Sue up and got pregnant and found her a farmer out west who agreed to marry her and take on her and her child. Lily married a railroad man and is livin’ the highlife. Got her a baby on the way too.”
Rosalyn’s heart squeezed so hard it stole her breath away. So many of the people who’d been an integral part of her world at the Palace had gone on to pursue other careers or lives. She herself had escaped the tawdry stigma of the ladies of the evening, if only for a year.
Tears welled in her eyes. Only a few short months ago she’d helped deliver Honor Braun’s baby high in the Colorado Rockies, in the cabin next to the Lucky Lady Mine. She’d been almost as proud as the mama to see that squalling baby arrive last winter, all fresh and innocent, the world at her feet.
She missed her friends in the hills, the people who’d taken her in during her year in hiding. What a different world it had been, living up in the mountains with nothing but birds singing and shared laughter at a quiet dinner table. How very different from the hustle and bustle of the busy river city of Memphis.
Melissa went on about all the new additions, the patrons, run-ins with the law and the local clergy. After a short while, Rosalyn wasn’t concentrating on Melissa’s words but remembering how it felt to be just another woman in a household. Granted, she’d been a guest, a companion to Honor, not really a member of the family, but she’d gotten to see what a real family was like.
And she wanted one too. Even if she could come back without retribution from the law, did she want to return to her old life as Madame of the Rose Palace? On the flipside, would she be satisfied to be just a wife and mother? A staid matron with a placid husband?
Dalton was anything but placid, and even as a wife and mother, she’d never be bored in bed with that man. He knew more tricks than Rosalyn, and she’d been in the business long enough to acquire a few of her own.
Melissa smiled. “Enough about the Rose Palace, tell me about you. Where have you been?”
Rosalyn shrugged. “Out west.”
Melissa sighed. “I bet there are hundreds of rugged men starving for the attention of a good woman.”
“There were. Many of them too rangy
and smelly to get close to, but some of them cleaned up pretty good.” Rosalyn rose from her chair, found her cowboy hat and walked toward the door to the office.
Melissa frowned. “Don’t you want to see what we’ve done to the Palace?”
Rosalyn shook her head. “I can’t. Until Dalton is cleared of charges, I have to lie low. Besides, you appear to have everything in order. I left the Palace in capable hands, why change that now?”
“Thank you, Rosie.” Melissa blushed. “I never realized how hard it was to run a business.”
“You’re very good at it. I knew you would be.”
“I’ve deposited profits to your bank account every week for the past year. You should have a tidy sum built up by now. If you don’t want to come back and run the Palace, you don’t have to.”
“Thank you, Melissa. I’ll know more as time passes. In the meantime, you’re quite the business manager. I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Rosalyn left the Rose Palace through the back door, slipping out like a thief from her own building. Only it didn’t feel like home anymore. She had lost her connection to the one place she’d thought would always be there for her.
She wanted more from life than running a whorehouse. She wanted a family, children of her own and a loving husband. Everything she’d dreamed of when Dalton had asked her to marry him.
As it appeared now, she had little chance of achieving it with the gambler. She’d be better off with a dirty, smelly miner desperate for female companionship.
Rosalyn boarded the Marie-Dearie and went directly to her cabin, entering quietly and shutting the door behind her. She tossed her hat onto the quilt and shook her hair out.
“That’s a new look for you,” a gravelly, deep voice spoke behind her.
Rosalyn spun, her heart thundering. It pounded even harder when she recognized the man leaning back against the wall.
Dalton Black stood with that errant hair dipping down over his forehead, a smile teasing the corners of his mouth, the closely trimmed beard making him look like a dark and dangerous man.
Her knees weakened and heat spread throughout her body, pooling low in her belly. Damn the man for making her want him.
River Bound: Bound and Tied, Book 3 Page 3