by Bobbi Smith
“I won’t,” she answered back.
Eileen had been waiting for her in the parlor, and she was smiling as Amanda came in. “Did I just hear Jack say that your father has hired him and he is staying on for a while?”
“Yes.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“You may think so, but I don’t.”
“If anyone can help straighten things out around here, Jack can,” Eileen said with confidence.
“What makes you think that?” She glanced at Eileen.
“Why, he’s a Ranger, my dear.”
“An ex-Ranger,” Amanda corrected, and then teased, “And I think you’re just glad he’s staying on because you’ve secretly fallen in love with him.”
“I’m afraid Jack might think I’m just a little too old for him.” Eileen was grinning mischievously. “But you, on the other hand—”
“Jack Logan is obnoxious and arrogant! I’d never fall in love with someone like him! Why, I can’t believe my father hired him to stay on and help with the line!”
“But as Jack just said, he is good with a gun, and judging from the looks of things, you need someone like that right now.”
Amanda knew Eileen was right, but it didn’t make her feel any better. She’d thought that after today Jack would be gone from her life, and once he was, she would never again be reminded of how disturbing his embrace had been. But now she was going to be stuck with him for what looked like weeks on end until her father had improved enough to go back to work!
The thought of working so closely with Jack was enough to make Amanda pray even harder for a miracle cure for her father. She glanced out the parlor door toward the stairs and wondered if her father was feeling any better yet.
“What are you thinking, Amanda?” Eileen asked. “You look like you’re up to something.”
Amanda grinned and looked a little embarrassed. “I was just wishing that my father was cured and that he would come walking into the room right now so I wouldn’t be caught up in all this. But I don’t think that’s going to happen, no matter how hard I pray.”
Eileen went to her and gave her a supportive hug. “You’ve been through a lot in the last few hours. Earlier today, you thought everything was going to be simple, and now your whole world has been turned upside down.”
Amanda sighed heavily, not realizing until that moment how upset she really was. “He could have been killed in that robbery. . . . Thank God he’s alive.”
“And that’s all that matters. I was thinking, Amanda—instead of my hurrying back to Philadelphia, why don’t I stay on here for a while and help you? I know you have Maria working here in the house, but I’ve done some nursing in my time. I’d be more than willing to help out until your father’s back on his feet.”
Amanda brightened at the prospect. “You wouldn’t mind staying on?”
“No, not at all. In fact, I’d enjoy helping you.”
“I have plenty of room here at the house, if you’d like to stay with us.”
“That would be fine. Thank you for the offer.”
“Let’s see about getting your things put away; then we’ll talk to Maria and see what needs to be done.”
Jack was scowling as he headed for the only hotel in San Rafael. He was tempted to stop off at a saloon and have a drink, but he controlled the urge. Drinking might have eased his mood for a little while, but it wouldn’t change anything. Come tomorrow morning, he’d still be here, working for Dan and dealing with Amanda.
Jack wasn’t happy with the way things had turned out, but there had been no other way to handle things. The Taylor Stage and Freight Line was in trouble. By taking over, Amanda had put herself in danger. He would guard her from harm, but he wondered if he could keep her safe from herself. Something about Ted Carroll troubled him, and he was going to keep an eye on him, especially when he was around Amanda.
He thought of Steve Laughlin and the Sheldon gang, and wondered how things were going in his old boss’s efforts to track down the escaped outlaws. He stopped at the telegraph office to send a wire to Steve in care of Ranger headquarters. He wanted to let his friend know where he was and what he was doing. There hadn’t been any point before because he’d been on the move, but it looked as if he was going to be staying in one place for a while now. If Steve needed him, at least now he’d know where to find him.
Jack claimed his bags from where he’d left them at the depot and checked into the hotel. His room was small and clean, and that was all he needed.
Jack headed to the sheriff’s office next to find out what was being done about tracking down the robbers. It proved a wasted effort, for little was known. Whoever had murdered Asa and the passenger had gotten clean away. The news troubled Jack. He wondered just who these men were that they could disappear without a trace. He ate a solitary meal in the dining room and then retired for the night.
* * *
Amanda and Eileen had a late dinner together and then made their way upstairs. Amanda made sure that Eileen was comfortable in her room, then stopped in to check on her father before going on to bed. He was sleeping, so she drew a chair up next to the bed and just sat with him for a while. She hadn’t been in the room long when he stirred and awoke.
“Amanda?” he said softly, as he opened his eyes to find her there.
“Yes, Papa. It’s me.”
“I thought I’d dreamed that you were back.”
“No, it wasn’t a dream. I’m here. I just came in now to say good night.”
“I missed you. I’m glad you’re home.”
“I’m glad I am, too.”
“Did you talk to Jack? I hired him to help you out with things.”
She gritted her teeth as she answered him. “He told me. Are you sure we need him? I think I could do fine with just Isaac and Ted helping me.”
“Jack’s a good man, and he’s a fast gun. You’re going to need someone like him. Isaac knows how use a pistol, but Ted—” He let the thought drift off, not wanting to say anything bad about him. Mona and Ted had been a great help to him in the last few weeks, always checking on him and worrying about him. He knew they both meant well.
“Don’t you like Ted? I thought he seemed nice.”
“He is. He’s just not used to life out here. He’ll come around, I guess.”
“I’m meeting with the three of them in the morning to arrange the schedule for the next few weeks.”
“Don’t do anything foolish. Make sure there’s someone good with a gun going on every run. I want those outlaws stopped, and once we catch them, I want them to pay for what they’ve done.”
“I’m sure the sheriff’s working on it. You get some sleep now, and I’ll let you know how the meeting goes in the morning.”
Dan nodded, wearied by the effort he’d expended talking. His eyes drifted shut. Amanda stayed a little longer, making sure he was comfortable, then kissed him gently on the cheek and slipped from his room.
Amanda entered her own bedroom and, for the first time that day, really felt as if she were home. Things were just as she’d left them after her last visit. That happy time seemed so long ago now. She started to get ready for bed and had just finished unbuttoning her dress when she caught sight of herself in the mirror over her dressing table. Amanda paused to stare at her reflection.
Earlier that day, she had had her future all planned out. She’d known exactly what she wanted to do and how she wanted to do it. The biggest problem she’d faced had been how to convince her father to let her go back East again to work for women’s rights.
Amanda gave a slow shake of her head. The woman who stared back at her in the mirror was not the same innocent young girl who’d stepped off the stage that afternoon. The woman who returned her regard in the reflection had grown up fast. Heavy responsibility rested on her shoulders. She had nearly lost her father to a murderous gunman, and he was still not completely out of danger. Her dreams of suffrage and marching for women’s rights seemed somehow frivolous now. Th
ere was no time for protesting. She was going to have to prove that she could do everything she said she could. She had to keep the Taylor Stage and Freight Line running.
Amanda turned away from the mirror, uncertain and a little frightened. She told herself there was no time to be afraid. She had a job to do and she was going to do it. It was time for her to get some rest. She had a meeting at seven-thirty in the morning, and she wanted to be at her best.
“We want Armita!” a drunken cowboy shouted from the bar.
“Where the hell is she tonight?” another demanded of the barkeep.
“She likes to keep you waiting. It makes you appreciate her more,” Cal, the bartender, said as he served them another round of drinks. “She’ll be along.”
“I been here over an hour already, and she ain’t come down yet.”
“She’s worth the wait,” Cal told them. “Since she’s been here, my business has really picked up.”
“Where did she come from?”
“She wouldn’t say, and I didn’t ask. She wants to be mysterious, I guess, and it sure is working. Look at the crowd in here tonight.” He was proud that the Silverado was packed.
“Armita sure is a good-looker.”
“Yeah, but she don’t mess with anybody. That’s probably why you all want her so bad,” Cal remarked.
“One of us’ll get her eventually. You’ll see,” the drunk said with a confidence born of liquor.
“You want to take any bets on that?” the barkeep asked with a smile. When he’d hired the hot little singer, she had told him straight out that she didn’t whore. She was an entertainer, that was all.
The cowboys mumbled something drunkenly just as Armita appeared at the top of the steps. The piano player saw her and struck a chord. The saloon went suddenly silent as all the men looked up at her. To a man they thought she was beautiful. With her raven tresses and flashing eyes, she was a cowboy’s dream.
Cody stood at the top of the steps in her disguise as Armita. With her hair dyed black and her skin darkened, she looked every bit the sultry, seductive temptress. Her gaze swept over the crowd below, but she was disappointed, for she saw no signs of the elusive Chica. The Silverado was the saloon the Sheldons had frequented the night the Rangers had caught up with them. In the days that Cody had worked there, though, she had never heard anyone mention Chica.
Determined to ask some pointed questions about the missing woman this night, Cody signaled the piano player to begin her first song. She started down the steps with a sensuous sway as she serenaded the men.
An hour later, Cody had finished her first act for the night and was making the rounds of the tables, flirting outrageously with all the customers. A big, burly cowboy named Harlen snared her around the waist and hauled her onto his lap.
“You sure you only want to make your livin’ by singin’?” Harlen asked, his words slurred.
He groped at her, wanting her. Armita was beautiful, and he had a powerful hunger for her. Before he could blink, Cody had drawn her knife from where she kept it strapped to her thigh.
“Keep your hands to yourself,” she said in a dangerous tone. “I would hate to send you home to your wife with a body part missing.”
“I ain’t got no wife!” he bellowed, red in the face.
Cody stood up and stepped away from him. “And you never will have one if I cut you up a bit. Armita is not a whore. Armita is a singer. I will sing for you. That is all.”
“Yeah, but you’re a pretty little thing.” The fact that she was so wild and dangerous excited Harlen even more.
“So are the other girls who work here. Surely you would enjoy one of them. Or maybe Chica? I have heard of her, and it is said that she knows how to please a man.”
“Chica? Who’d want her now?” he said in disgust.
Cody was surprised by his words. “I do not understand. I had heard she is very beautiful and very good to her men.”
“She was, until ol’ Hank found out about the other men she was layin’ and put it to her.”
She pretended ignorance. “I had not heard that there was trouble.”
“Put that knife away and come sit on my lap again, and I will tell you what happens to a woman when she plays the whore for too many men.”
Cody made quite a display of re-strapping her knife to her thigh. She lowered her skirts in a deliberately controlled but sexy move and smiled at him. The drunk was enthralled by the look she gave him, even as he was cautioned. She then moved sinuously back to stand right before him.
“We will talk, nothing more. I do not play the whore for any man. Tell me of Chica.”
“She was a looker, all right.”
“Was?” Cody suddenly feared the other woman was dead.
“She was Hank’s woman, but when the Rangers caught him, she thought he would never come back.”
“And he did?”
“He did. He found her with another man right after he broke out of jail.”
She shuddered deliberately. “How is the other man?”
Harlen laughed at her question. “Better off than Chica. Hank just killed him.”
“What did he do to his woman?”
“She ain’t nobody’s woman no more. He cut her up so bad, ain’t no man ever gonna want her again.”
“I think perhaps Chica should have carried a knife of her own. Then he would have been the one no woman would ever have wanted again.”
“You’re a feisty little thing, but even you wouldn’t be no match for Hank Sheldon. He’s the most deadly man I ever run into. He done shot a dog out front of the saloon one day, just ’cause it wagged its tail at him.”
“This man is your friend?”
“Hell, no! I stay as far away from him and his brother as I can.”
“I have not heard of them before.”
“Well, you’ll probably be hearin’ more of them. Since they broke out of jail they’ve been back here twice.”
“And Chica? What of her?”
“Who cares?” he said, shrugging as he took a drink. “No man would want her now.”
“Men like this Sheldon you just spoke of are dangerous. You will warn me if he comes back, won’t you?”
“You bet I will. I’ll just tell him you’re my woman. That way he won’t mess with you.”
Cody knew Harlen was no match for Hank Sheldon. Hank would shoot him down just like the dog he’d killed if it would get him something he wanted. She played along with his false bravado anyway. “Because of you, I feel safe now. You are a good man. I will sing this next song just for you.”
Cody signaled the piano player to strike up a tune. She moved away from Harlen, singing of a lost love.
For all that she was playing the seductress, her mind was racing, going over the information Harlen had just given her. She could bide her time there in the bar in the hope that the Sheldons would show up again, or she could go looking for Chica to see if the woman knew anything more of the brothers’ whereabouts. If he had hurt her as badly as Harlen had said, Chica might just be willing to tell her where she could find them. It was worth a try.
Cody looked around the room and spied Luke where he sat in the back at a table by himself, nursing a drink. She made her way through the crowd of men and ended up standing before him.
“You look lonely, cowboy. Shall I keep you company for a while?”
“I love beautiful women,” he said with a slight smile. “Have a seat.”
“No, I think I would prefer to sit on your lap. I enjoyed my visit with Harlen that way.”
“Well, don’t let me stop you.” He pushed his chair back and welcomed her against him.
“Make this look good,” she whispered.
Luke nuzzled at her neck while she mockingly attempted to ward off his caresses. “What did you find out?” he murmured.
“They’ve been here twice since they broke out. Hank caught his woman with another man and evidently hurt her pretty bad. She’s no longer a working girl.”
> “What do you want to do?” he asked, enjoying the game they were playing.
Cody pushed him away and looked indignant. “I want to find Chica. She may be more than willing to help us now.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“I’m going to slap you.”
“That’s better than using your knife on me.”
She followed through on her threat and slapped him as she stood up in anger. “You would do well to learn from Harlen. He was a gentleman,” she said loudly enough for the others to hear.
Luke just rubbed his cheek. He had to admit that Cody played Armita with style. She certainly had every man in the Silverado panting after her, himself included. He smiled crookedly as he watched her walk away from him. It was good to know she was his.
Chapter Eleven
“What are you doing here, Logan?” Ted asked, as Jack walked into the parlor the next morning a few minutes before seven-thirty. His presence there was an unpleasant surprise to Ted, and he wondered what the other man was up to.
“I’m here for the meeting with Amanda,” Jack told him as he casually took a seat on the sofa.
“Why? I thought you would be leaving now that you’ve brought her home.”
“I did, too, but when I talked with Dan yesterday, he hired me on. I thought I’d better show up today and hear what our new boss lady has to say.”
Ted wasn’t pleased with the news. Logan had a reputation as a fast gun, and he’d heard all about his years as a Ranger. The last thing he and his mother needed was an ex-Ranger sniffing around.
“Suit yourself,” he said with as much indifference as he could muster. “Whatever we do, it isn’t going to be easy.”
Isaac and Amanda entered the room together.
“Good morning, Ted, Jack,” she said in an authoritative tone. “Isaac arrived a little early, so we’ve already made up the schedules for the week. Ted, you’ll be driving the noon stage today, and Isaac will ride along with you as shotgun. I spoke with my father last night after you all had gone, and he insisted that each stage have an armed guard. We want to make sure no one else is ever again injured while traveling on the Taylor Stage and Freight Line. Can you be ready to ride with Isaac by noon, Ted?”