“Maybe for you. I’m not sure about me.” The first sip of the dark, strong brew nearly scalded Kell’s mouth. “You sure don’t make coffee like Annie!”
“Thank you, Kellian.” Hortense set her spectacles in place and lifted her cane onto the table.
Kell set the cup down very carefully and eyed the cane, then looked at Hortense. “You intend to use a weapon on me?”
“I intend to have the answers I want.”
“Were you listening at keyholes, Aunt Hortense?”
“As if I need to at my age. You have turned my niece’s life upside down, Kellian. You have caused more excitement in the last few weeks than Loving and its people have seen in years. But, before you tend to all the business that waits, I want to know about Annie.”
“What about her?”
“You are being deliberately dense. A trait of most males, I fear. Did you propose to her?”
Kell found himself staring into his cup. “Shouldn’t you be concerned with her wound?”
“Annie’s body will heal. Women are quite strong, you know. It’s her heart I worry about. She’d been hurt once by a man—”
“I’ve heard about her almost marriage. Rest assured, I haven’t stolen your cash box.”
“Kellian York,” Hortense said, banging her cane on the table for emphasis, “do not try to banter with me. As my niece’s guardian I demand an answer. Are you going to make an honest woman of Annie?”
“Annie doesn’t need a guardian. Annie is already as honest as a woman can be. And for me,” he stated, shoving back his chair and standing, “that’s one heck of an admission.”
“Ah! We make progress at last. Sit down, Kellian. I’m not finished with you. You haven’t answered me.”
“And I won’t. Not now, maybe not ever.” He shot her a glaring look, one meant to intimidate, and found her dabbing at her eyes. “God’s earth! Don’t cry.”
“You don’t understand. I’m old. I shall go to my just reward resting easier if I know that my Annie Charlotte will have someone by her side to care for her. She has such a soft heart, Kellian. Too soft at times, and people tend to take advantage of her.” Sniffing, she glanced up at him. “Why, just look at you. Annie couldn’t say no, could she?”
Kell felt heat flood up the back of his neck and rise rapidly to his face. He had to get the hell out of this place! Never, never in his life had he been reduced to blushing. What was wrong with Hortense? Talking like this to him? She was a good woman, a lady, and ladies didn’t use such frank talk.
“Annie needs—”
“What your niece needs is peace, quiet, and sleep.”
“Are you talking about Annie or yourself, Kellian?” Her gaze drifted past his shoulder to the doorway. A smile formed, and brightened her eyes. A last wipe with her lace-edged hankie and Hortense tucked it beneath the cuff of her sleeve. “Do come and join us, Pockets, dear.”
“Pockets, dear?” Kell repeated, turning around. “What the hell’s been going on behind my back?”
Pockets, grinning around his cigar, sauntered over to stand beside Hortense’s chair. Kell didn’t miss his move to place one hand on Hortense’s shoulder, or hers to cover that hand with her own.
“Well?” Kell asked, settling his hands on his hips.
“What you see is simply a mutual understanding that even at our age, Pockets and I need companionship.”
Still grinning like a fool, Pockets nodded. He removed his cigar and looked Kell over. “Hate to tell you this, Boss. You’ve got business waiting in the back parlor. Bronc’s there with Emmaline.” He gazed down at Hortense. “I’ve shown your ladies group to the front parlor. They want news of Annie.”
“She’s fine. Everyone’s fine. But me.” Kell spread his arms wide.
“Are you looking for pity, Kellian?”
“Kell’s not a man who’d welcome pity, Hortense,” Pockets answered. “By the way, can’t find Li anywhere.”
“I might of known that he’d desert me too.” Raking back his hair, Kell eyed the two watching him. “Someone should feed Annie. As you reminded me, Pockets, there’s business waiting.”
“One more thing, Kellian. Please keep in mind that my niece has admitted she loves you to distraction. The good Lord knows why. But while Annie may love the sinner, she will still hate the sins.”
Kell’s grin was downright wicked. “Aunt Hortense, you may not know your niece as well as you think you do.”
“Well, I declare—”
Kell closed the kitchen door and never heard what she said. He couldn’t avoid tackling the problem of what to do with Emmaline any longer.
Two hours later, Kell emerged from the back parlor and went in search of Li. He still didn’t understand why he had done what he had about Emmaline. But it was definitely something more to be laid at Annie’s door. The woman was having an unaccountable influence on him.
Finding Li kissing Fawn behind the big cottonwood tree in the yard, Kell whistled a warning and waited until they broke apart before he joined them.
“Did you receive your pound of flesh?” Li asked, cradling Fawn close to his side.
Kell hooked his thumbs in his waistband and rocked back on his heels. “A pound of flesh is not what I’ve got. You are looking at the new owner of a dress shop.”
A rapid-fire explosion of Chinese didn’t faze Kell. He was entranced by the smile lighting up Fawn’s face. For once she didn’t hide from him, but met his gaze directly. And he had no need for Li’s explanation of her hand motions, touching her heart, then her forehead, and pointing at him.
“Fawn believes that love has made you act wisely.”
“Love had nothing to do with it,” Kell snapped back. “Bronc asked if I would accept it as payment for all the damage Emmaline caused me. He figures to leave here by nightfall. I agree that it’s for everyone’s best interest that they go. He’ll use his money to get started somewhere new. And before you go and get any ideas, I took the dress shop because he insisted. I’m not keeping it. Whatever money I get from the sale will go to help the doves.”
Li shared a long look with Fawn, thoughtful for a few minutes. Kell was steaming. He didn’t appear very happy with the way things had turned out.
“Kell, I want to make sure I understand. You are going to finish building the Aces?”
“That’s right.”
Aggressive was the only way Li could describe Kell’s voice and stance. If he didn’t know better, he would swear that Kell was looking for a fight.
“You plan to stay in Loving and marry Muldoon?”
“Annie. Her name’s Annie and I’m not marrying anyone.”
“Ah.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
With an innocent smile, Li shrugged. “You are back to calling her Annie, that is all. I did not think I would see the day you would give up your freedom.”
“And you won’t live to see it. I’m just wrapping up all the loose ends before I quit this place. You’ve been telling me from the first we shouldn’t have stayed here. Now I’ve come to my senses and agree with you.”
Li pressed a kiss to Fawn’s gleaming black hair and gently touched her cheek. Regret laced his voice as he glanced at Kell. “I do not think I can leave Fawn.”
“Well, it’s not going to be today. I want to find a buyer for the Aces and—” He broke off to see the adoring look that Fawn shared with Li. “I’m wasting my breath trying to talk to you now.”
“No, Kell. I have just found a peace that I have longed for and love which I did not believe in with Fawn. If the town will accept us, I want to live here.”
“So, like Pockets, you’re deserting me too. This is more of that infernal Annie’s fault. And don’t worry about finding acceptance. Believe me, with Muldoon on your side, she’ll make those biddies bite their tongues before she’ll allow a cross word against you.”
“Annie is a most formidable opponent,” Li agreed.
�
��Don’t be saying it like you’re warning me.”
Fawn touched Li’s cheek to gain his attention. She pointed to herself, then to Li. Using two fingers in a rapid, scissorlike motion, she indicated them walking before looking up at the second floor.
“Annie? You want us to go see her?” Li asked.
At her quick nod, Kell answered before Li. “You two go ahead. I’ve got things to do. And Li,” he added, “don’t mention that I’m pulling out. I’ll tell her myself.”
He hadn’t taken more than a few steps when Pockets called from the kitchen door. “Kell, you’ve got mighty ruffled feathers to smooth in the front parlor. Those ladies are demanding to talk to you.”
“Tell them to—”
“If not you, they’re threatening to go upstairs and see Annie.”
“They haven’t got the sense the Lord gave mules. Annie was shot! They can’t go bothering her now!”
Kell closed his eyes and threw back his head, muttering curses under his breath. He wanted a drink, craved one, in fact. Opening his eyes to find that Li, Fawn, and Pockets were watching him with intense interest made him think that a rip-roaring drunk would serve him better.
“Kell?” Pockets prompted.
“I’m coming. Tell ’em to keep their corsets tied.”
Pockets waited until Kell was abreast of him before he put out a hand to stop him. “I truly hate to kick a man when he’s down, but I’d better tell you that Annie’s been talking to the doves all along about finding other ways to make money.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me in the least. I never wanted them working for me. Right now, if I never saw another woman, it would suit me fine.”
And it was a fact he made clear to Lucinda, Velma, Ruth, Abigail, and Aunt Hortense. While the ladies listened politely as he told them about Emmaline and Bronc, they were not happy to hear that Kell intended to finish building his saloon.
Their reaction gave him a perverse sense of satisfaction, since he left out the part about trying to find a buyer for the place.
“We shall have to discuss this with Annie,” Lucinda informed him after a whispered consultation with the others.
“Not today you won’t. Annie’s been hurt, in case you’ve all forgotten that. She doesn’t need to be bothered.”
“Hortense!” Abigail glared at Kell. “Since when does hel—”
“Did I mention that I might have lumber left over to start your church?” Kell had additional satisfaction as their mouths shut and they faced him as one. “Trust me, ladies. Think of this as everyone holding a winning hand and splitting the pot. It’s the best deal you’ll get from me.”
“Hortense, how can you allow him to dictate to us?” Velma demanded, and her question was echoed by the others.
“Ladies, please.” Hortense patted her heart and leaned back in her chair just as Kell rose from where he had been sitting. “This has been a trying time for all. I’m too old to contend with constant quibbling and fighting. We shall trust in the Lord.” Hortense saw that Kell couldn’t get to the door fast enough. “Yes, that’s the best course. Trust the Lord and Annie to manage him.” Since the other women were watching Kell, no one noticed the angelic smile Hortense bestowed on him when he shot her a look over his shoulder.
“I told you—”
“Yes, Kellian, you did.” Humming a little tune that Pockets had taught her, Hortense wore a contented smile that could have rivaled one of Dewberry’s rumbling purrs. And no matter how many questions the ladies asked, she refused to say another word.
Kell gave a passing thought to going upstairs and checking on Annie as he made his escape. His shoulder ached, his head ached, and he realized he had had a bellyful of trying to talk sense to everyone in the boardinghouse.
Pockets came out of the back parlor. “Kell, the doves are still waiting to talk to you.”
“Later.”
“If you say so. But I warned you. If you don’t talk to them, they’ll go to Annie.”
“If I catch one tail feather of theirs up in her room they’ll have to answer to me.”
“Where’re you heading?”
“Where any sane man goes when he can’t find two inches of peace!” Kell’s shouting roused the house, but he didn’t care as he slammed the door and made good his escape.
Unfortunately for Kell, there was no escape from Annie. He couldn’t get her out of his mind. When he hit his thumb for the second time as he tried to work on the building, he tossed aside the hammer in disgust. He eyed the boardinghouse and resisted the urge to go back. He’d been wanting a drink all morning, and here it was late afternoon and he still hadn’t had one. That’s when he decided he would get drunk—stinking, singing-to-high-heaven drunk.
As he told his second bottle of whiskey, “Ain’t a green kid wet behind the ears. Ain’t gonna get trapped.”
Kell wasn’t so drunk that he didn’t know what he needed to cure him of his ills. “A pleasure-lovin’ woman.”
But the only pleasure-loving woman that he could imagine was Annie Muldoon.
He eyed the two empty bottles on the table in front of him and decided that they too were stacked against him.
Chapter 23
It was late Tuesday evening before Kell was sober enough to approach Annie’s room. He had bathed and shaved, wore his second-best shirt and had spit-shined his boots. He had come to a decision.
But it was with alarm that he saw Li coming out of Annie’s room. “What’s wrong?”
“A little fever, Kell. She will be fine. Fawn and Charity are bathing her to keep the fever down.” Taking note of Kell’s extremely neat appearance, Li added, “If you want to see Annie, you will have to wait. She did not sleep well last night, so I gave her a sleeping draught.”
“It wasn’t anything important. But you’re sure she’ll be all right?”
“I would not lie. It was only a flesh wound. From that she will heal.”
Kell had no choice but to accept that Li was telling him the truth. He certainly wasn’t going to go into her room now and tell her that he planned to leave. Had to, if he wanted to keep his freedom.
“Well, if she needs anything—”
“Are you worried about her, Kell? Do not. There are many willing hands to tend her. Annie will not want for anything.”
Kell grunted in reply. He wouldn’t give Li the satisfaction of asking if Annie had mentioned him.
It wasn’t until Thursday morning, when he attempted to see Annie again, that Kell realized a conspiracy was going on to keep him from seeing her. Ruby answered his knock, just as she had the previous morning, and told him Annie was still sleeping. When he returned after lunch, both Blossom and Daisy greeted him at the door of Annie’s room and told him they had just washed her hair, so she was in no condition to see him.
Kell snatched the supper tray from Fawn, but Lucinda was there, ready to take it from him. “Annie is indisposed, Mr. York. She is not up to having any visitors this evening.”
“And what are you?”
“Her friend. A longtime friend with her best interests at heart.”
Kell stared at the door that had been closed to him.
“Well, hell!” He turned the handle and found the door locked. “Annie! I want to talk to you.” Pressing his ear to the door, Kell waited. There wasn’t a peep to be heard from the other side.
It wasn’t until the sound of his stomping off down the stairs was heard that Cammy released Annie’s mouth.
“You almost spoiled everything, Annie.”
“But I want to see him.”
“Now, Annie,” Lucinda said, sitting close by the bed. “You don’t want to see him just yet. Listen to wiser heads, dear. We’ve all agreed this is the best way to bring him to his senses.”
Of course, when Kell made the accusation that they were all in cahoots to keep him from Annie, it was denied. He could have barged into her room and demanded that they be left alone, but L
i insisted that any upset could bring a return of her fever.
Kell, with a little modification, adopted Hortense’s favorite expression. He’d trust to himself to get this straightened out. And never once did he ask himself why it was so important that he tell Annie about his plans.
Pockets waylaid him early Friday morning. “You can’t put off seeing the doves any longer. They need to talk to you.”
Drawing on the small remaining store of his patience, Kell followed Pockets into the small back parlor.
Ruby stood by the piano bench, with the other doves arranged behind her. “I’ve been chose the one to talk to you,” she began.
“Fine,” Kell answered, leaning against the back wall with his hands in his pockets.
“We all want you to know we think it’s a swell thing that you’re gonna help build a church.”
Kell looked at each dove in turn, his expression stem. He caught the secret little smiles, Cammy’s smirk, and the laughter the doves couldn’t keep from their bright eyes.
“Glad I have your approval,” he finally said. His thoughts drifted immediately to Annie and what she would think about his offer.
“Kell,” Pockets called, shaking his arm. “You’re not listening.”
“Sure I am.” He roused himself and looked around.
“We know you’re worried about Annie.” Pockets dug into his vest pocket and removed one of his precious cigars. “Now you keep this for later. Annie don’t like anyone smoking in the house.”
“Ruby, please,” Charity said, moving up to stand beside her. “Go on.”
“You tell him. Kell isn’t going to say no. He doesn’t own us, girl.”
“That’s for sure, Ruby. I don’t. I never wanted the damn brothel. With Laine gone, I intended to talk to each one of you. I’m finishing up the Aces. The way the work has been going we should be ready to open Saturday night. I’ll give you all a choice. Work for me dealing or serving whiskey, but that’s all I have to offer.”
Charity launched herself at Kell, hugging him tight. “Then I can marry Jessup? He’s asked me so many times, and I want to be his wife.”
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