Mr. Gordon cleared his throat and then looked at Marianne. She nodded, and he turned back to the crowd. “As I mentioned before, we have 13 slots, and you can see we have 25 women here. As qualified as you are I cannot offer everyone jobs today. I do want to say, however, that we have more agents coming in over the next few weeks, so if you are not matched up with someone today, the option is open to return. We have selected you because you were the best of what came through the door. I think your skills will make a fine addition to the Pinkerton team, and especially the Denver office.”
A murmur of relief went through the crowd and Claudette felt like she could take a breath. Archie held up his hands asking for silence from the crowd. “There is one matter which requires some attention." He looked at Marianne who turned away, signaling she wasn't going to help him.
Claudette wondered what he might say that would require all this hemming and hawing. Suddenly collective gasps went across the room. What did she miss while she was wool-gathering?
"What did he say?" Claudette asked to Jacqueline who was right next to her.
"He said we have to marry our trainers."
"What?"
"But we can get an annulment afterwards. I'm not sure how I feel about that."
Neither did Claudette. She wasn't opposed to being married again, in fact she would welcome it. But she didn't want another arranged marriage, even if there was a clause to get out of it once the job was done. She wanted to be free to choose a husband of her own. Preferably someone she was falling in love with.
The noise in the room grew as some of the candidates voiced their displeasure at the news. A few grabbed their bags and simply left. Claudette saw one of the girls faint.
Mr. Gordon cleared his throat again.
"Well now, it seems we are down from 25 agents to 17. If you will move this way, you’ll find out who we have partnered you with and we will begin the ceremony.
They were getting married now? Without getting to know their agent? Claudette felt a knot in the pit of her stomach. It was the same knot she had when she told her father she was leaving Louisiana.
The 14 men lined up in the dining room – she recognized the last man as the judge that had been in and out of the office the past week, so she assumed that the other 13 were agents. This was the first time she had seen all 13 at once. If several of them didn’t have scowls on their faces she would have said they were a handsome bunch. The others she couldn’t make out if they were happy, sad or indifferent about the turn of events. It must be hard on them too, she thought. She went down the line and her eyes caught on Bronco. He was dashing in his dark suit, his hair falling around his shoulders. He gave her a quick wink.
Claudette smiled back him. How could he appear so confident when she was a mess inside? She didn’t want him to marry one of the ladies. They wouldn’t honor or cherish him. Or perhaps even love him. Even if there was the clause for the annulment, Claudette believed a marriage was forever and you made the best of it.
She wiped her hands down her skirt. Jacqueline reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. It appeared the young woman was nervous too.
The first few pairings went extremely well, Claudette thought. All of the couples were handsome and appeared to be well suited, if looks were anything to go by. She heard Mr. Gordon call Bronco and she held her breath.
“Bronson, I have you with…” he looked at his list. “Sarah Walters.”
Claudette felt the gasp escape her throat and she turned to Jacqueline. She couldn’t bear to see Bronco tied to someone else, and certainly not Sarah, the one from the boarding house whose father said… well never mind.
Bronson let out a roar the same time Sarah yelled, “Absolutely not.”
Voices started to rise, and Archie put his fingers between his lips and imparted a shrill whistle over the room. “Silence!” he boomed.
“Miss Walters, I’ve paired you with Agent Wauneka.”
Claudette saw Bronco reach for his knife that wasn’t there. Her fingers came to her mouth as she said a quick prayer for peace.
Sarah’s face was the color of the plums right before they were ripe on the vine. Claudette was surprised she was still standing, it appeared she was holding her breath.
“I will not be paired with that… that... Indian. You may pair me with someone else.”
Claudette breathed a sigh of relief.
“Then you may leave.”
The woman started screaming and cursing and Claudette thought her ears might fall off. She saw Archie signal to the judge and he walked over, taking the woman towards the door.
Mr. Gordon adjusted his tie and turned to the group again. “Where was I?” Claudette heard Marianne whisper to him. “Uhm, yes. Bronco, I have you with Claudette LeBas.” Bronco let out a cry with such vigor you would have thought Indians were going to start storming the building. He ran over to Claudette and took her face in his hands, planting a kiss on her lips.
“I don’t know why you are kissing that savage,” Sarah yelled, reentering the room.
“I’m sorry, Archie, she broke free as I tried to close the door.” The judge grabbed her arm, but Sarah pulled it free.
“You haven’t seen the last of me. I promise you that.” When the judge went to get her once more, Sarah hissed at him, “I can see myself out.” She left the room and the front door slammed, causing several of the women to jump. Claudette could still hear her screams as she headed down the sidewalk.
She looked in Bronco’s dark eyes. They swirled with gold flecks and Claudette thought she could get lost in their depths. “I had hoped it would be you. I was praying about it,” he whispered to her.
Claudette leaned her head against his chin. “Me too, cheri. But if you try to kiss me again without my permission, I’ll slap you so hard you’ll wish you hadn’t tried.”
Bronco gave her a wink, “Understood.”
“Is there anyone else who would like to leave? Now is the time.”
Claudette saw Jacqueline step forward. Oh, no. Not her new friend. She listened to her ask to be removed from the list as the time wasn’t right and the thought of marrying a stranger bothered her.
Mr. Gordon assured her that she was welcome back, and with a hug to Claudette she was out the door.
The rest of the couples were paired off. With a quick turn of the vows, Archie pronounced them man and wife.
She looked at the man before her. Her husband. She just promised to love, honor and obey him.
“May I kiss you, Claudette?” She nodded, and he let out another whoop before claiming her up in his strong arms.
The kiss was unlike anything she had ever had. Not even her dead husband’s kisses fired up the passion like those from this man. It was as if he was demanding everything from her and promising everything in return.
Claudette put her hands against his shoulders. She needed to pull him closer. She needed to push him away. She wanted to lose herself in the kiss. She needed to breathe. Pushing him away she took a large gasp of air.
Bronco stumbled backwards and fell into the agent behind him and they both went into the beautiful cakes lined up on the table.
Oh no. What had she done?
Chapter 6
They had been waiting in the dormitory for Archie to send for them. Most of the couples left right after the wedding and several stayed in town to either begin their training or because there wasn’t a Saturday train to where they were going.
“Why a knife? Why not a pistol or something else?”
Claudette’s voice broke through Bronco’s concentration and he dropped his blade. Picking it back up he polished it on his buckskin pants and ran his finger along the blade looking for nicks.
“Married less than 12 hours and you are already nagging?”
Claudette laughed. “You haven’t heard me nag yet, Mr. Wauneka.”
“I hope I never do, Mrs. Wauneka.”
Claudette Wauneka. Bronco rolled the name around on his tongue. He liked the way
it sounded.
He had no intention of marrying, yet here he was. Thanks to Victoria’s silly question about love at first sight. Now he was married. Granted it was to keep his job, but being able to solve a case with a beautiful partner? That was definitely a plus.
“So why a knife?” she repeated.
Bronco twirled the knife on his finger. He had a callus on the tip, which allowed him to spin it without injuring his hand. He tossed the knife in the air and grabbed it by the handle before sliding it back into the sheath on his leg.
“To honor my ancestors. And because it is silent. You can’t do that with a gun. It always leaves traces – either a bullet, or powder. A knife doesn’t do that.”
“What about blade marks?”
“Only on the bones.”
“Or in wooden walls.”
Bronco grinned. “Yes, in wooden walls.”
“I saw you were practicing in your room.”
Bronco shrugged. “Keeps me on my toes.”
He gave Claudette his bed after the ceremony. When it became apparent that they weren’t going to be leaving until today he knew she needed somewhere to stay. They went back to the boarding house and grabbed her items, bring them back to Bronco’s room. His roommate wasn’t due for a few more days, so it was a good choice for her.
Bronco slept on the settee in the dormitory. He knew his feet would hang over the end, but he felt better knowing Claudette slept in a bed.
“What are we waiting for exactly?” She looked anxious, as if she wanted to get a start on the case.
“I’m not sure. We were going to be leaving this afternoon to head to Kansas City, but Archie asked us to delay. So we just need to wait for him.”
Claudette stood up and began to pace the room. “I’m a bundle of energy. You know, like a firecracker about to explode. I wish I could calm down.”
“Patience is one of the traits of a Pinkerton agent. It is going to be one of the things you need to learn.” Claudette looked at him. “Take this knife for instance.” He pulled the knife from the sheath and held it up to her. “It takes patience and dedication to learn how to use it. Before that it takes patience and dedication to make it. You need to find the right steel. You need to find the right bone for the handle. It requires time to carve the bone into a handle. Time to forge the steel into the blade. There are many steps before you can just throw the knife.” He let the blade fly from his fingertips into the wall behind Claudette.
She jumped, moving away from where the knife was embedded in the wall. “Don’t do that! You could have killed me.”
“No, I wouldn’t. It is too far away. I had you in my sights the entire time. But you didn’t see the knife coming. Two things – patience and be aware of your surroundings at all time. You could have seen me priming to throw the knife. You need to pay attention, Claudette. Your life could depend on it.”
“I don’t think I could ever throw a knife.”
“Of course, you can. You just need patience and practice. Let’s go outside. I don’t want to you to break anything in this room.” He led her outdoors to where a tree trunk laid on its side. It wasn’t the whole tree, just a large log. “Come stand here.” He pointed to the ground.
Claudette walked over and faced him. He put his hands gently on her shoulders and turned her so she was facing the tree.
“There are two basic throws, a spinning throw and a straight throw, which means no spin. In the spinning throw the knife flips over end-over-end and the no spin technique is a straight throw. Let me show you the spinning technique." Bronco demonstrated by sending the knife towards the tree.
Claudette watched as the knife did spin and eventually land in the tree. "You held that by the blade?"
Bronco rewarded her with a smile. "You were paying attention. That throw is good if you have time to gauge the distance. I want you to walk to the tree and then count how many strides it will take for the knife to get there."
Claudette walked to the tree and turned to face him. She took one long step, stretching her leg as far as it would go. "Walk normally, you don't need to stretch it out."
Claudette started again and counted the steps out loud. "Three... four... five."
"The number of strides is the number of spins the knife should take."
When she returned to Bronco he handed her the knife. "Hold it by the handle and feel how it is in your hand."
Claudette took the knife and rolled it along her palm before taking it in a firm grip.
Bronco came behind her and placed his arms around her.
Claudette jumped.
"Shhhh," he whispered in her ear. "I'm just going to show you how to throw it." He wrapped his arms around her again and took the hand with the knife in his. Her hand looked so small compared to his. He ran his thumb along the back of her palm.
His fingers intertwined with hers on the other hand before he released it to trail his fingers back up to her shoulder. He heard her breath catch as he leaned in closer to her.
The smell of her hair was intoxicating. Bronco never had a woman affect him like his new wife. He wondered what it would be like if this marriage was real. Would they have a real chance of making it work?
Claudette turned to look at him, her pupils became so wide they blocked out any color in her eyes. She parted her lips and her tongue peeked out to wet her bottom lip. Bronco groaned and pulled her closer to him, lifting her chin, he started to lean down to capture those lips.
“Claudette, may I kiss you again?”
Before she could respond, the spell was broken when the sound of a door catching sounded through the air. Marianne came into the yard.
She looked up at the sky and then at them. “It looks like it might rain later. I guess that is a good thing. The spring flowers can always use a drink. Are you teaching her to throw a knife?” Claudette nodded and removed herself from Bronco’s embrace. She flipped the knife around and handed it back to him.
“Perhaps you can teach me later?” she whispered as he took the knife. Bronco swallowed hard and nodded.
Marianne looked at them with a questioning look on her face. “Archie is ready to see you now. He had some correspondence with the Chicago office and the Kansas City office. That is what took a while.”
Marianne led them back to the main house and through the kitchen. Claudette gave a little wave to Pearl while Bronco nabbed two cookies off the plate near the cooling window. He handed one to his wife as he munched on the other. His wife. Yes, he definitely liked the sound of that.
“Come in,” Archie said when he saw them standing at the door. “I’ve already had your bags sent to the train station. You’ll be leaving in about an hour, so we don’t have much time. We don’t have a dossier for the case, but I’ve put together as much as I can.”
“What’s going on. Aren’t we headed to Kansas City?” There was a bootleg whiskey operation that the local mayor there wanted to shut down. Why the mayor wanted to hire the Pinkertons, Bronco didn’t know. But it wasn’t up to him to decide the cases. If the client had money, they would go.
He handed Bronco the ticker tapes from the telegraph machine. “God bless Alexander Bell. I’ve been working with the home office and Kansas City since the news came in.”
“What happened, Mr. Gordon,” Claudette asked him.
“Are you familiar with Lou Wallace?”
“No,” Claudette replied.
“Isn’t he the governor of New Mexico?”
“The very same. It appears his daughter didn’t return home last night.”
“Perhaps she was staying with a paramour?” Claudette offered.
“No. She went to the theater with some friends. She never made it home.”
Bronco leaned forward as he looked at the tape with dots and dashes on it. “Did she stay at one of her companion’s houses?”
“That is what we were trying to determine. If you read some of the correspondence there, that was the first thing the local law enforcement did. The governor i
s going mad with worry.”
“I understand his concern, but wouldn’t they wait for at least a few more hours before sending someone down there to investigate?”
“In normal circumstances, Bronco, I would agree with you.”
“What makes this case so different, other than I know Governor Wallace is a good friend of Mr. Pinkerton’s.”
“That and the fact that nearly two dozen women have disappeared over the past three months. I want you to go and see if there is any connection between those women and Charlotte Wallace’s disappearance. And God willing, you can find her.”
An Agent for Claudette (The Pinkerton Matchmaker Book 4) Page 6