She waved heartily at the sentry who appeared at the gate. He was wearing a uniform like the ones she had seen back at Fort Smith—blue pants with yellow stripes down the sides tucked into knee-high black leather boots. His shirt was a darker shade of blue, and a yellow bandanna was tied around his neck. The rim of his felt hat shaded his face, but she could still see his astonished expression and how his mustache twitched as his mouth dropped open in surprise at the sight of her.
The sentry had a difficult time concentrating on what Jacie was saying. All he could focus on was the fact that here was a beautiful young woman where women were a scarcity. Her excited babbling about coming all the way from Georgia to find her mother was lost on him as his gaze swept her comely figure.
A real treasure to be sure, he was thinking, snapping back to harsh reality as a soldier of higher rank appeared to push him aside.
After repeating her story to several different soldiers Jacie was ushered across the parade ground and up some steps and into the office of the post commander.
"Actually, I am not the regular post commander," Captain James Logan explained. "But the colonel, unfortunately, is suffering from the gout and has taken to his bed, putting me in charge for the time being. So what can I do for you, Miss Calhoun?" Like every other man at the fort who had seen her, he could not help staring in fascination.
Again Jacie repeated her story, only to realize the man was not listening to a word she was saying as he stared at her with an odd sheen to his eyes and a silly grin on his face. "What is wrong with everyone around here?" she demanded irritably. "I'm trying to tell you why I came all the way out here and you act as if you don't hear me. I came all this way to find my mother, and I need your help. Don't you believe me?" She slammed her hands down on the desk in exasperation.
Captain Logan licked his lips unconsciously and blurted, "Miss Calhoun, I presume you aren't married. Otherwise you wouldn't be traveling alone in such dangerous territory. So would you—" He drew a sharp breath, held it, then plunged ahead. "Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
Jacie reeled as though he had slapped her and could only stutter, "What—what on earth do you mean? Have you lost your mind?"
"No. Quite the contrary, Miss Calhoun, I'm thinking very clearly by asking you before someone else does. In case you didn't know it, unmarried women are scarcer than hen's teeth in these parts. I'm surprised you haven't already had a proposal between the gate and here. Most women are taken within an hour of arriving at a post, and even the homeliest are married in less than two weeks.
"And you, Miss Calhoun," he added with an ardent smile, "could never be considered homely."
She began to squirm uncomfortably in her chair. "This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. I was at Fort Smith last week and I assure you I received no proposals, for heaven's sake."
"Fort Smith has no shortage of women, I hear. But we do, and I repeat, I'd be honored if you would allow me to court you."
He rose and hurried around his desk intending to drop to his knee before her in formal proposal, but Jacie quickly stood and snatched her hands away as he reached for them. "Captain Logan," she said crisply, "I will thank you to restrain yourself. I have no intentions of marrying you or any other man on this post. I have a fiancé waiting for me back in Georgia."
To cover his feeling of humiliation at her blunt refusal, he sneered and said, "Well, I would like to know what kind of man would allow his fiancée to travel alone. And why didn't he come with you to aid you in your search?"
"I don't want to talk about my fiancé," she replied, ire rising. "Now, are you going to help me find my mother or not?"
He returned to his chair, realizing she was not the sort to be pushed. But he had all the time in the world, because he was not about to let her go. The best thing to do, he reasoned, was stall while pretending sympathy and willingness to assist her. "Forgive me," he said, mustering a tone of sincerity. "Suppose you give me all the details concerning your mother and I'll see what the army can do for you."
Jacie sat down and started over. She was gratified to see he was all business now, making notes of everything she said.
When she was finished, he looked at her in wonder. "You realize, of course, that we have no proof that the woman who ran away from here is your mother."
"You can ask questions. Surely there's someone around who would remember."
"It's possible, but not likely. A story like that would be passed along, and I've never heard it."
"Do you know of any soldiers who might have been stationed here at that time?"
He shook his head. "None of them have been here over two years at the most, including the colonel. But I'll ask around."
"And so will I." She started to rise, but he motioned for her to remain seated. She did so, frowning in anticipation of his repeating his proposal.
"Let me tell you something about our life here, Miss Calhoun. It's stark, and we hunger for any reason to have a social. Not many of the men who are married have brought their wives out here. In fact, there are only ten wives, but they are constantly trying to find ways to break the monotony for all of us. They put on plays and musicals, charade parties, a dance now and then." With a chuckle, he added, "I've even seen my soldiers so desperate for recreation that they dance with each other."
"Well, what does all that have to do with me, Captain?" Jacie asked suspiciously.
"Word spreads quickly, and I'm sure even as we speak, the wives are planning a ball in honor of your arrival. So what I want you to do is concentrate on that and forget about your mother for the time being. Let me make some inquiries. It will take some time, but I can assure you I'll do anything I can to help you find her. How's that?"
"That would be fine," Jacie responded woodenly, "except that the only clothes I have with me are this bedraggled outfit I'm wearing and a buckskin dress. I hardly think your men would want to dance with an Indian."
He laughed. "Don't be so sure. And don't worry about your clothes. Necessity makes our ladies resourceful. They try to stay in fashion by copying Paris gowns from old magazines, only to find themselves sadly outdated when they go back east, but it doesn't matter here. They always manage to look lovely, and I'm sure someone will be able to loan you a gown. Lieutenant Cogdale's wife is about your size, I believe."
Jacie attempted protest. "Thank you, but I didn't come all this way to dance, Captain."
"No one is suggesting that you did, but surely you can reason that if the men feel sympathy for you, they'll be motivated to help you in your plight. You must be compassionate toward them, as well. So how can you deny an evening's pleasure to men like myself, who are starved for the company of a beautiful woman?" He flashed his most beseeching smile.
She knew she had no choice. "Very well, but I want to begin the search right away—"
He bolted to his feet again. "You say it's been ten years since a woman you think might have been your mother has been seen. A few more days won't make any difference, and you need some rest." He held out a hand to her and this time she took it. "I'll have you shown to comfortable quarters and your lunch delivered. By this afternoon you will feel better, and I'm sure the wives will be inviting you to take tea with them so you can get acquainted and make plans for a bail."
Jacie gritted her teeth. The last thing she wanted was to socialize, but if it meant the army's cooperation, so be it.
The buildings of the fort formed a U inside the surrounding wooden fence. The hub of activity—the offices, mess hall and dining room, infirmary, and a small chapel—was situated in the bottom of the U. On one side were the barracks for the unmarried soldiers, and opposite, accommodations for officers and those who were married.
Jacie's escort wore the two yellow chevrons on his sleeve that denoted his rank of corporal. He led her to a sparsely furnished room at the very end of the officers' side of the post. There was a bed, a washstand, a table with two chairs, and a bookcase with limited reading material. Nonethel
ess, it was cheery, with yellow ruffled curtains framing windows looking out on the parade ground, and the bed was covered with a quilt of bright red, white, and blue squares.
The corporal apologized about the door being to the rear, rather than in front like the doors of the other rooms, explaining, "This was the arsenal before somebody had sense enough to realize it was dangerous to have it so close. So a new one was built out back, and the ladies of the post decided to turn this into guest quarters—not that we have many guests," he added with a grin. "Who'd want to visit a godforsaken place like this?"
"I do," she said plaintively, "if it means finding my mother."
"Yeah, I heard about that." He took off his hat in a gesture of respect. Like everyone else who had been avidly discussing it, he was sure Miss Jacie Calhoun had come a long way for nothing. Looking about the room, he asked, to change the subject, "Can you think of anything that might make you more comfortable? The captain said to give you anything you want."
"Information." She looked him straight in the eye, not about to let him go so quickly. "Have you heard the story about a white woman running away from this fort to go back to the Comanche?"
He wished he had, because he thought Miss Jacie Calhoun was about the prettiest girl he had ever seen in his whole life and knew then and there he was in love with her. "The wives will probably have a dance for you. Would you save a place for me on your dance card, Miss Calhoun? I can't remember the last time I held a woman in my arms and never did know one as beauteous as you."
Jacie stifled a sigh. She did not want to hurt his feelings but neither did she wish to encourage him or any other man on the post. "I'll see what I can do," she said, then, aware she'd get no information from him, decided the best thing to do was get rid of him before he, too, proposed. Guiding him to the door, she bid him good day.
She was too excited to be tired, and when the promised lunch tray came, she ate ravenously, then set out on her own to explore the post and begin her own inquisition of everyone she met.
She started at the livery stable, where she noted several uniformed men who stood away from the others. She could tell by their long black hair and copper-colored skin they were Indians working as scouts. Undaunted by the fierce way some of them looked and the fact that they seemed to be ostracized, Jacie intended to question them as soon as she finished speaking with the regular soldiers milling about. After all, she reasoned, Indians in these parts would probably know more about a white woman living among their kind than the soldiers at the fort.
But Jacie did not get that far.
She did not even have time to question the soldiers, because the moment she was seen leaving her room, it was reported to Captain Logan. Immediately, he dispatched Mrs. Cogdale to fetch Jacie to take tea, also requesting that the ladies of the fort keep her occupied so she'd not be free to roam about.
Jacie was not at all pleased to be squired away, but Amy Lou Cogdale was so sweetly persuasive she could only yield to her invitation.
As the two women walked away, one of the scouts shrank back from the others, drawing his horse with him in preparation for leaving. A Comanche, his name was Gold Elk, and the soldiers of the fort had no more regard for him than they had for any of the Indians employed to track other Indians, but he seemed more civilized than the rest, somehow. Peaceful, someone had observed.
In reality Gold Elk was peaceful, for he was one of Luke's most trusted warriors, and it had been his turn to be at the fort working as a scout in order to overhear any news that might be important. Now he was sure he had heard some, because Luke was going to be very interested to hear about the young woman who was claiming to be the daughter of Sunstar.
Chapter 13
There were times when Luke was tempted to go to the commander of Bird's Fort and tell him about the vulnerability of the post.
True, the gate was secured, with sentries around the clock, but a weak point existed to the rear. The fifteen-foot wall made of two-inch-thick upright logs was mostly left unguarded there due to the clear-cut area beyond. It was not considered a threat that Indians would dare swoop down and attack from such an open area, for their approach would be seen by the sentries at the gate as they regularly looked in that direction during the day.
At night, soldiers marched up and down along the wall every so often, alert for any sound or sign of movement.
But what was not known, and what Luke had no intention of confiding to anyone, was that there was a spot in a far corner where someone could slip through by moving aside a log that had been deftly cut toward the bottom. All an intruder had to do was wait for the soldier to make his passing round, then slip inside.
Luke kept the secret for several reasons. Most of all, he liked having undetected entry and exit should he need it, but he also knew how starving Indians had made the passageway in the first place, so they could sneak in and steal food—not enough at one time for it to be missed but enough to satisfy their hunger till they could find other sources.
So it was through the wall that Luke sneaked on the night of the ball held in the white woman's honor. He could have dressed in his uniform and entered through the front gate like any scout, but the soldiers never completely trusted the Indians. They watched their every move, and Luke knew they would never have let him lurk about the dining hall, where tables and chairs had been pushed aside to make room for dancing. If he wanted to get a good look at the woman claiming to be Sunstar's daughter, he knew he would have to call on all his cunning to avoid being detected as he spied on the festivities.
It was a dark night, the moon hidden behind thick clouds as a light drizzle fell.
Luke waited till the soldiers made their rounds, then slipped inside, crouching and moving swiftly, silently along the wall to a rear window. Raising up cautiously, he peered inside. He had spied on socials before and knew what to expect. The ladies, their fancy gowns a rainbow of color, huddled together when they weren't dancing with their husbands, while the men gathered around a table where food and punch was served.
But this night, he saw at once that things were different.
The women were clustered together but not conversing with one another. Instead, they stood almost in a straight line, staring across the room at the menfolk, who were not hovering about the refreshments but instead were gathered around something. Someone.
Then he saw her.
Black hair piled in ringlets on top of her head, a few long tendrils curling down to her bare shoulders, she wore a soft pink gown of material he knew was called satin.
Luke's eyes narrowed as he tried to absorb her every feature from such a distance.
She was beautiful, and he could see that every man in the room obviously thought so, too—especially the one escorting her to the dance floor. Luke recognized him as Captain James Logan, a man he was not particularly fond of, known for his hatred and mistreatment of Indians.
Music from a small band drifted through the window to catch on the night wind and serenade the wilderness beyond, but Luke focused only on the woman. He knew she had to be the one Gold Elk was talking about.
"I heard her with my own ears," Gold Elk had told him. "She knew all about how Sunstar came to be with us, how she ran away from the fort to return to us. Now she has come to find her, to take her home."
Luke told him that was crazy, that she had to be looking for someone else. All of Sunstar's family had been killed, something he did not like to think about. But that was long ago, when his father's band was warring against the white man.
Gold Elk had been worried nevertheless. "But if it is so, Sunstar would want to go away with her. Then who would heal our people? Many would die without her, for there is no one else. Our number grows smaller."
Luke had been forced to agree that that was true and reminded him they were needed at camp to help with preparations for winter. Figuring they would have heard if the soldiers were planning any kind of maneuver in their direction during the coming months, he knew it was a waste of t
ime to hang around the fort any longer. Still, he was curious about the woman. So he had instructed Gold Elk and Sharp Knife to return to the camp but warned that they should not repeat the story to Sunstar. Gold Elk gave his word and they were off.
Now, as Luke watched Captain Logan dance the woman closer to the window, he searched for a resemblance to Sunstar but could see none. That didn't really mean anything, because he couldn't remember what Sunstar looked like when she had first come to them so many years ago.
But he was not concerned with the possibility the girl might be telling the truth.
He just wanted to hear her story, then tell her himself that she was crazy and send her on her way before the drums of gossip reached Sunstar's ears.
He settled down to wait.
* * *
"You have to marry me," James Logan said fervidly as he held tight to Jacie's arm.
They were outside the door to her room, and he knew protocol was being strained by his standing in the dark with an unmarried lady, but competition for her hand was fierce, and he was desperate for a wife.
"We won't always have to live here," he rushed on. "I hate it myself. I've already asked to be transferred back east. I thought I wanted to make the army my career, but I don't. Not anymore. My father has a store in Boston. We'll live there after I'm discharged and—"
"And I thank you," Jacie cut him off, "but it's out of the question." Her head was still spinning to realize how frantic the men were for wives. She had received five proposals in the last three hours. When she confided her amazement to Amy Lou Cogdale, Amy Lou had assured her it was all quite normal, admitting that her husband had proposed to her within twenty minutes of their first meeting, and she had accepted.
"I'm not going to give up," Captain Logan warned, forcing a jovial tone as he fretted over how to make her change her mind. He reasoned her fiancé back in Georgia could not mean much to her, else she would have insisted he journey with her.
"And neither am I," Jacie retorted. "I'm here to find my mother, not to be courted, Captain Logan. So I would like to talk with you first thing in the morning about how the search is going to be conducted. I'm tired of waiting."
Tin-Stars and Troublemakers Box Set (Four Complete Historical Western Romance Novels in One) Page 109