“Well, no…”
“Then that’s all,” he says. Turning to the prostitute, he says, “Sally dear, will you get Miss Emily here cleaned up and back to Santa Ana? I’ve got to ride for Voss. I’ll pay you for your services when I get back to Atoka this evening.”
“Sure thing, baby,” Sally answers, as she stands up and walks in the nude over to him. “I know you will, and you know that I won’t let you forget to.”
“That’s right,” he says. “It sure was fun, Miss Emily,” Coleman says to the now crying young lady, lighting a match. “But now I’ve got to attend to your uncle,” he finishes, before lighting a cigarette. Turning to exit, Coleman closes the door behind him, drowning out the sounds of the weeping girl behind him. A strange feeling creeps into the very fabric of Dandy’s soul…a feeling that he has felt every time he’s been with a woman, but he has no way of knowing what it is, as he has never asked anyone else what it could be. He just assumes that it’s normal.
Chapter 5
The Arrival
Sarah Anne rides along in a cab, feeling as if she is boiling in the Texas heat, both figuratively and literally. When the train lurched to a stop at the Coleman station over an hour ago, she was less-than-pleasantly surprised to find that Coleman S. Darby was not waiting for her. She had ambled over to the ticket counter and asked where she might find him.
“‘Dandy’ Coleman Darby?” the man asked. “You can usually find him at the Hanged Man Saloon in Atoka. But word is he’s down at Voss right now, helping out one of the ranchers that he works for. Apparently, some rus’lers have been stealing cattle from Big Dave. Not very smart of them if he’s got Dandy ridin’ shotgun for him when he goes out after ‘em.”
“Well, he could have had someone meet me, couldn’t he?”
“I s’pose he could’ve…did he know that you’s comin’ today?”
“Of course he did!” Sarah Anne said, irritated. “He’s the one who bought my ticket, and sent it to me.”
“Well, if he know’d that you’s comin’ today, I’d suggest taking yer things to the Hanged Man. Ask fer Travis. He’s the bartender there, and he can point you to Dandy’s room, and then get the cabby to take you to Voss, Big Dave’s ranch house.”
Sarah Anne had thanked the ticket counter for his help, and sent a young boy for a cab. She had already gone to the Hanged Man and deposited her luggage in Dandy Darby’s rooms, which had the look of a room freshly straightened by housekeeping. The cabby was now taking her back through Coleman, as Voss is to the southwest of the county seat, which is where the train station is located.
She understands that a man must make sure that his business dealings are protected, but she can’t grasp why this particular man—“Dandy” as folks keep calling him—did not at least make sure that there would be someone there to meet her when she got off the train. Hopefully, he will be able to answer the questions she has when she arrives at the ranch she is heading towards…Big Dave’s place.
There is one thing that she has found about her potential husband that he had not told her in the course of their correspondence: he’s not a lawman, but a gunman. Dandy is a hired gun who only occasionally rides with the law, and always rides for the brand. He is the muscle behind the ranchers in Coleman County, protecting their herds which are valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. While she isn’t sure if she wants to be married to a gunfighter who has a profession every bit as bloody as the past which she has left behind in Kentucky. Before she buys a ticket going back home, though, she is planning to hear what he has to say for himself.
Chapter 6
The Reward
Coleman is standing on the porch of Big Dave’s ranch house, drinking a cup of coffee and watching the approaching dust cloud.
“There’s a cab heading this way, Dave,” he hollers into the house.
“What’s that, Dandy?” Dave asks, walking out of the house and taking a place next to the young gunfighter, wiping his brow with a white handkerchief.
“Cab on the horizon,” Coleman repeats, gesturing toward the approaching dust cloud with his metal coffee cup.
“Huh…I wonder who that could be?”
“Sheriff?”
“Naw, he said that he can’t make it down here today.”
“Did you hire any other guns that could be coming in a cab?”
“Naw. Jefferson wouldn’t have the money for a cab. Besides, he and Davis both have horses.”
“You hired those numbskulls?” Dandy asks, a note of irony in his voice. The twins Jefferson and Davis Garret are notoriously bad shots, but they are as tough as they are mean.
“Yeah, I did,” Big Dave responds, knowing that Coleman has no use for the twenty-four year old brothers who were named after the former president of the Confederacy. “There weren’t many who wanted to ride this time. Rumor has it that it’s the Doc Dawson Gang.”
This news is less than welcome to Coleman, as Clifford “Doc” Dawson has a reputation for killing the most feared of gunslingers. For his first kill, he had taken out another outlaw gunslinger, “Lucky” Jesse Spencer, with one shot in between the eyes.
Lucky had a reputation of being impossible to hit with a pistol bullet…he could actually dodge the tiny projectile it seemed. A former Confederate Army surgeon, Doc started out his outlaw career riding with the Lucky Spencer Gang after his medical license in Tennessee was revoked for taking indecent liberties with a female patient. Eventually, he came to feel that he was getting the short end of the stick when it came time to split money, and went to Lucky to ask about increasing his cut. When negotiations turned sour, Lucky reached for his gun, but Doc was faster, hitting him in the left cheek while firing from his hip. He then went and killed each member of the newly “unlucky” Jesse’s gang, taking over $5,000 of stolen money for himself.
Another time, he took out a U.S. Marshall in Crockett County who went by the name of “One-Eye” Ross. Old One-Eye had been the most feared gun-slinging lawman in West Texas to that point, until Doc rode into town. This, more than anything, has cemented Doc’s reputation for being the fastest gun in West Texas, and now it seems that he is planning to extend his reign of terror to the center of the state.
Dandy is not as scared as he is intoxicated with the thought of being the one to take him down, and takes the news that he may be going up against Doc Dawson in stride. He also knows that he is the only man in Coleman County with the speed to even think about going up against an outlaw like Doc Dawson.
The Coleman County sheriff isn’t good for much more than dragging the town drunks to the hoosegow to sober up. If he tried to face Doc, he’d be just another Texas lawman pushing up daisies. If the closest Marshal, Dusty Simpson in neighboring Brown County, tried to take him down, he’d likely end up dead as well.
Ol’ Dusty was once a feared gunfighter, but the closer he gets to retirement, the less anxious he is to face a slinger with a reputation like Doc’s. The Rangers have been looking for him, and the state has a $7,500 reward on his head, dead or alive, and some stagecoach companies and train lines have added an additional $1,500. That means that his head is worth $9,000 to the man who is fast enough to take him out.
Drunk with the prospects of $9,000 fattening his wallet, Dandy doesn’t notice that the cab has pulled to a stop in front of Dave’s house.
“Afternoon, miss,” Big Dave says as a beautiful young lady steps out of the cab. “Ta what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Yes, my name is Sarah Anne Tarter, and I am assuming you are Big Dave?”
“Yes, ma’am. How can I he’p ya?”
“I was told that I can find Coleman S. Darby at your home. Is he available?”
“Yes ma’am, I am,” Dandy says, answering her.
Chapter 7: The Meeting
“Am I to take it that you are Coleman S. Darby?” Sarah Anne asks Dandy.
“Yes, ma’am. That’s my Christian name. Most folks in these parts call me “Dandy,” though. What can I do fer you?”
“I told you, I am Sarah Anne Tarter.”
“Okay?” he answers, bemused. “How can I help you, Ms. Tarter?”
Looking at Dandy, Sarah is completely wrong-footed. Confused, she turns to Big Dave and asks, “Is he stupid or something?”
“No ma’am, he ain’t stupid. He’s just tryin’ to figure out just why it is that a pretty young thing such as yourself is lookin’ for him, is all. He ain’t used to it, you see. Truth be told, I’d like to know that myself,” Big Dave answers with a grin.
“You bastard!” Dandy says with a laugh, punching Dave on the shoulder before turning back to Sarah Anne. “Ma’am, to be honest, I have no idea who you are, or why it is that you’ve been looking for me, but unless you can go ahead and tell me, I’ve got to be on the lookout for the Garret twins. They should be here any minute.”
“You mean to tell me that you send me three letters, one of which had your picture in it for me to know you by, and you don’t know who I am?”
“Oh boy,” Big Dave cuts in, “Here we go again…”
“Pardon?” Sarah Anne says, confused.
“Miss Tarter, it seems that you’re the second mail order bride to come out here to marry a man who didn’t send for you,” Big Dave answers.
“What?” she says, completely flummoxed by now.
“What Dave means to say, Miss Tarter, is that this has happened before.”
“What has happened before?”
“About three months ago, a big time cattle owner in Atoka was at the train station waitin’ for a check from Chicago. Junior got his check, and a young woman from South Carolina asked for him, and he answered. He wasn’t married, you see, and they just got hitched and moved to Nebraska about three weeks ago. His ranch is still for sale, now that I think on it,” Dandy answers her.
“So, you’ve never sent me a letter?”
“No ma’am. I don’t make a habit of reading marriage catalogs.”
“Okay?”
“I’m guessing that you posted an ad to marry a Texan man?” Dandy asks her.
“No…I thought I was responding to your ad, actually.”
“You hear that, Dandy?! The matchmaker put an ad out there for you!” Big Dave says, bursting out in laughter.
“The matchmaker?” Sarah Anne asks, still confused.
“Junior figured out that somebody answered a mail-order bride ad in the San Antonio Star,” Dandy answers her. “The whole county has been buzzing trying to figure out who it is that’s writing letters and taking out ads for bachelors. Folks have taken to calling ‘em the ‘matchmaker.’”
“Oh…” Sarah Anne says, feeling like she has wasted the last two months of her life dreaming about a man who didn’t even know she was coming…which, strictly speaking, was true. “Well, I feel really foolish now.”
“Don’t, it ain’t your fault, darlin’. There weren’t no way that you could know that you’re being wrong-footed,” Big Dave said.
“This is what I get for writin’ that gawd-damned letter!” Sarah Anne exclaims, her Kentucky accent coming through much thicker than was usual, which is normal in situations of extreme agitation.
“Wait, what?” Dandy asks, shocked at hearing a lady of Sarah Anne’s bearing curse.
“If I hadn’t written that gawd-damned letter to ‘C. Darby,’” she says, “I wouldn’t be here looking like a damned fool!”
Causing Big Dave to raise an eyebrow, Coleman says, “Look Miss Tarter…I don’t mean no harm, but why not calm down just a bit, and let’s give it a go? After all, I’m not married, you’re obviously not married, and you never know what could come of us giving it a try.”
Sarah Anne stops to think this proposal over for a moment. Is this really any different than what I thought I was getting myself into? she asks herself. Really, it doesn’t. After all, the last letter that I got said that if it pleased both of us, we could discuss marriage.
“Okay,” she finally answers, “I’m willing to give it a go.”
“Excellent,” Dandy says in response. It’s not often I get a girl this pretty, he thinks, already planning to seduce her. And who knows, she could be the one to saddle break this old bronk…although that’s not likely!
Chapter 8
The First Conversation
“So where will you two be staying this evening?” Big Dave asks.
“The Hanged Man,” Coleman answers. “I practically live there.” But not for much longer if I can take Doc Dawson out.
“Yes, that will do fine,” Sarah Anne says. “My things are already in your room, Dandy.”
“How’d you get into my room?” Coleman asked, surprised.
“The barman…Travis, I believe his name was.”
“Oh. I’ll have to have a talk with him…”
“Are you complaining?”
“No! No, of course not!” Dandy responded quickly.
“Hold on, now! What about the job I’m paying you to do tonight, Dandy?” Big Dave cut in.
“Set the Garrets out on the range. Give both of them shot-guns, giving them the best chance to actually hit something, and we’ll see where we stand tomorrow morning,” Coleman answered, glancing over his shoulder at Sally Anne. “Miss Tarter and I need to get acquainted,” he said with a wink.
“Oh, all right, Dandy. But if either of those Garret boys gets killed tonight, their blood is gonna be on your head.”
“No it won’t. As long as they don’t do anything stupid, they’ll be fine. Just tell ‘em that I said to watch tonight. Don’t go trying to get after the rus’lers by theyself. That is the surest way to get kill’t, if it really is Doc’s gang.”
“Okay,” Big Dave answered, still seeming to be unsure. “Oh, go on, you two. I’ll see you tomorrow. Should I call on ya at the Hanged Man again?”
“If you do, I will shoot you through the door and go back to sleep.”
“Fair enough,” Dave said with a grin, turning around to go inside. “Now go on, git.”
Dandy quickly unties the knot that is holding his horse to the porch railing. “Can you ride, Miss Tarter?”
“Yes, I can. And Call me Sarah Anne, because I’m not goin’ to be callin’ you ‘Mr. Darby,’ now am I?”
“Well, now that you mention it, I think I would like it if you…” Dandy says before withering under Sarah Anne’s gaze. “No. No you won’t.”
“That’s right. Let me make something plain,” she says, “I am staying here with you only because it is the reason I came out here. I am sick of Kentucky, and the damn fighting that’s been goin’ on back home. To be hones,’ I expected that you would know who I am when I got here. If you are expecting to win me over in a day, use me to get your rocks off, and then send me on my way, you are sorely mistaken.”
Taken completely aback by the sudden outburst, Dandy answers, “No ma’am, Miss…I mean…Sarah Anne.”
“Good,” she responds. “Now, I am assuming that you only have the one horse?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then we can ride together. Get on, and I will climb on behind you.”
Shaking his head, Coleman places his left foot in the stirrup and swings his right leg over his stallion’s back. He then removes his left foot from the stirrup to allow Sarah Anne to make use of it as well. She takes hold of his hand, and places her left foot in the stirrup, and swings herself over the horse’s back as well, and they begin to ride for Atoka.
“So why did you answer my ad?” Coleman asks, curious.
“I thought you didn’t make the ad?” she answers.
“I didn’t…I just…”
“I know, I was just tuggin’ on your rope. To be hones’, I don’t rightly know why I did. I guess because I am sick of the fightin’ that’s goin’ on back home.”
“Fightin’?”
“Yeah, there is this lumber family across the West Virginia line that is feuding with a poor family in town I grew up in in Kentucky. I know folks on both sides of the fight, and it seems like the McCo
y’s daddy, Ol’ Randall, is off his rocker. They say he’s messed up in the head because of the war, but I think he’s just mean. Anse Hatfield is a much nicer man, and believe it or not, they were friends before Anse’s uncle killed Randall’s brother.”
“Why’d he kill ‘im?” Dandy asked, intrigued.
“Because the traitor had fought for Lincoln’s army, and had the nerve to come back from the war still wearing his Federal blue coat and cap.”
“Seems like he had it comin’ to him,” Dandy said, hoping she would expound some more.
ROMANCE: Badass Boss (Billionaire Alpha Bad Boy Romance) (Western Mail Order Bride Calendar Contemporary) Page 53