An Agent for Ruby

by P. Creeden

  She plucked the rose from his hand. “And he took your word for it?”

  “Well,” he said with a hand rubbing the back of his neck. “Not entirely. At noon, we have an appointment with the owner to come to the saloon and show him your talents.”

  Her stomach twisted a bit at the thought. Nerves. “I’ll be sure to put on the best possible show.”

  He nodded, his face glowing with pride. “I’m sure you will. But there’s only one thing that worries me. Do you happen to know the sort of songs that are often played in saloons? I wasn’t certain, so I felt that perhaps we should visit the music store in town and look at some of the scores for the songs that will go best in the tavern.”

  “You’ve thought of everything,” she said, her eyes going wide. “I didn’t realize that there were specific songs for taverns.”

  “Well, I doubt you’ve been inside many saloons, right?” He huffed a laugh. “And of course I think of every possible problem that might occur. I’ve been an agent with the Pinkertons for nearly seven years--much of that time working on cases where I’ve had to be undercover of some sort.”

  Her eyebrows raised as she nodded.

  His smile widened as he offered her an elbow. “Then may I escort you to breakfast, my sister?”

  Heat rushed to her cheeks at the thought of it. She’d never had a big brother growing up, but knew without a doubt that Johnny would have made an excellent one. However, that wasn’t the sort of feeling she was developing for him. She slid her hand over his forearm, relishing in the delight of his warmth. She enjoyed too much the fact that he kept his stride just the right pace to stay with her as they walked. And as they sat at breakfast, their conversation never had a dull lull in it. Somehow, they both fit each other like hand and glove, or bread and butter. Even as they walked toward the music store in town, he was excellent, gentlemanly company, taking the side of the walkway nearest the road and keeping an eye on everything that went on as well as explaining to her how she should do the same.

  When they reached the music store, he released her beside the scores of music sheets displayed on the shelves. She touched each delicate paper gently, already realizing their rarity in the harsh environment here in the west. The air was drier, and so was the paper. Everything seemed more fragile, more brittle here. The gentleman minding the store came up to them with a smile on his lips. “What can I help you with today?”

  To Ruby’s surprise, Johnny pulled out a harmonica. “I’m looking for Oh Susanna! and maybe few other tunes that I can play on this.”

  The man lifted a brow, but nodded and started leafing through the shelves of music. Ruby backed away to allow the man room and came to stand next to Johnny. She leaned in toward him and whispered, “You play the harmonica?”

  A half smile reached his lips while he winked at her.

  Her heart leapt toward her throat, and her cheeks reddened, betraying her feelings for him. She cleared her throat and looked away. Then suddenly, she realized that it only made her look guiltier. If Johnny was any good at reading her, which he seemed to be, he completely knew what she felt for him. And as someone once told her in her sorority, the one who falls in love first is always the one with the most to lose in a relationship.

  The music store minder came back with six leaflets of paper. “I chose five more songs that are similar in nature to the one you mentioned. Turkey in the Straw, Buffalo Gals, Down by the River Liv’d a Maiden, and a couple of Irish ballads that are often popular on both harmonica and fiddle. Are you able to read the music?”

  Johnny took each leaflet and handled them gently, just as she had, and her heart fluttered again. She’d not realized that her partner had such a love and respect for music. He nodded to the store minder. “Yes, these will be do fine. Could you find me five more and set them aside? I’ll be back tomorrow to pick those up.”

  “You’ll learn all this music in a day?” the man asked.

  “Well, not exactly learn,” Johnny said with a smile. “It’s more of a refresher for me. I’ve played all of these songs before, but need to remember the exact notes.”

  The man nodded with a smile of appreciation. “Excellent. That will be twenty cents for these.”

  “Thank you,” Johnny said while handing the man a quarter. “And don’t worry about the change.”

  The man’s smile stretched into a grin. “Thank you, sir.”

  After a few moments, they were leaving the store together and heading back toward the hotel. Ruby studied the leaflets of paper. “I’m happy to say that I’ve heard Buffalo Gals and Oh Susanna! before, so it won’t take much to get them memorized and ready to sing this afternoon. How many of these others do you think I should know?”

  “We’ll try to get at least one more memorized.”

  “We?” she asked raising a brow.

  He nodded. “Even though they have a pianist ready to go at the saloon, nothing gets people dancing a jig and as excited as hearing a harmonica. You’ll see.”

  “So you you were serious about wanting to get the music right for your playing too?”

  His face twisted as he tilted it back and forth and shrugged. “No, not really. I already know the songs. But I figured it was better to just tell the man the music was for me instead of for you.”

  She blinked up at him, her heart stuttering in her chest again. Was there ever a moment when they were together where he wasn’t protecting her or thinking of what would make her life easier? She’d never met a man like this one. Were all the true gentleman in the east gone? Were they only to be found here in the west now? She placed a hand to her chest and attempted to calm her heart. If she wasn’t careful she’d definitely be the one with most to lose in this relationship.

  After practicing in Ruby’s hotel room for a couple of hours, John Mark was certain of two things that he didn’t know before--Ruby had the voice of an angel, and she was a musical genius. This was going to work out much better than he’d imagined before. When they arrived at the saloon, not only had Ruby already memorized all six of the songs that they’d bought at the store, she performed them with a grace and style he’d not expected. The mask she wore to hide her true feelings came out in full force. John Mark hardly recognized her. Her eyes became haughty and her mannerisms were flirty, but full of such grace it made her untouchable. She seemed like a siren or nymph, ready to steal men’s hearts with her song. He loved every minute of it until he realized that the tavern owner and bartender enjoyed the show as much as he did. Then he didn’t like it one bit. He suddenly wanted to hide Ruby away and keep everyone from looking at her the way they did.

  A feeling he was quite unused to struck him. Jealousy. But somehow he knew that Ruby wouldn’t appreciate being treated that way. Then John Mark remembered that he was supposed to be playing his harmonica, and then started in on the music with greater fervor. It added to the show and had both the men slapping their knees as they sat on their stools. When they’d finished with only the first song, both of them stood and clapped their hands. The owner shook his head. “You’re hired. You sing like a nightingale. It’s not going to be hard to get men in here at all once they hear about you. What should we call you?”

  “Rose,” Ruby said. “Rose Red.”

  The man laughed and nodded. “Like the fairy tale? That’s perfect. And the harmonica playing goes well with it too. Can you accompany the piano while she sings?”

  John Mark smiled. “That would be my preference so I can keep an eye on my sister.”

  “Sounds good then. We’ll pay the two of you four bits a night, and then you get a share of the tips. We set a jar on the piano and the boys can put in it what the will for the players. Half the jar goes to the house. The other half is split three ways then--one share for the piano, the harmonica, and the singer. Fair enough?”

  “Fair enough,” John Mark said as he stood from his stool and approached Ruby with a elbow out. “What time should we be back this evening?”

  “Seven o’clock. We need
to get the word out that you’re here. So if you can perform at seven, nine, and eleven for one hour each, that should be enough to get the crowd started.”

  John Mark nodded as he helped Ruby down from the stage. “We’ll be back a little before seven then.”

  “Excellent. And Rose, please wear red if you’re able.”

  “I have just the dress,” she said with a smile. Then John Mark escorted her out of the tavern and back onto the street.

  She suddenly squeezed his arm, making her look down at her to see if something was the matter, but instead she smiled up at him and squealed. “We did it.”

  He huffed a laugh. “No, sweetheart. You did it all on your own. You really didn’t need much help from me.”

  She flushed at the moniker he’d used, and heat filled his own cheeks, as he’d not meant to use it. It had just come out of its own accord. Then she leaned against him hard as if to push him a bit. “Nonsense. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”

  He shrugged. “Then I’m glad to have helped.”

  Then a yawn twisted her face, and she covered her lips with a gloved hand. “Oh! Excuse me.”

  He started walking, guiding her back toward the hotel. “Not at all. In fact, I’m just as tired as you are and we have a long night ahead of us. It would be better if we both spent some time in repose, even if we don’t actually sleep. I’ll be back to get you at five-thirty for dinner before we go to the saloon. Will that be all right?”

  “Is it possible to get a small something to eat in the hotel room? I’d rather not dine in my red dress.”

  His brows raised as he nodded. “Of course. I’ll order something light and have it brought up at five-thirty then. Will that work?”

  She nodded and the squeezed his elbow. His steps became lighter as they made their way through the lobby of the hotel. John Mark certainly didn’t mind the feel of Ruby on his arm or the fact that she seemed to appreciate every little thing that he did for her. Somehow she noticed them all. His heart soared as he thought of how she smiled differently at him than she did at the other men in the tavern. Was it too much to think that she actually was growing affection for him? He hoped not, because, without a doubt his affection for her seemed to grow exponentially each moment that they spent together. All he wanted to do was protect her and keep her safe through this mission. Because the thought of a kidnapper or anyone laying a hand on Ruby made his stomach turn and anger set fire to his core.

  Chapter 11

  Ruby’s red dress practically lit a fire in the hearts of all the men in the Fort. At the seven o’clock show, the tavern was little more than a quarter full, but by eleven, there was standing room only. John Mark played his harmonica while Ruby danced a little jig on stage with the song, lifting her dress just enough so that her feet wouldn’t trip on the hem, but men below whistled and catcalled about her showing her ankles. John Mark frowned and shook his head, glad that she was wearing stockings and not encouraging the behavior with bare skin in any way. The top of the dress, however, was a different story. The low cut neckline didn’t expose any of her cleavage, but it her long neck and collarbones were enough to drive the men mad for her.

  The red rose in her hair matched her dress almost perfectly, but her own beauty paled the rose’s. Most of the crowds sang along with her ballads in the end, and Ruby’s haughty stage presence helped the men keep their distance from her. She seemed utterly unattainable, unapproachable--which made John Mark feel better. The men admired her greatly, but kept their distance from her like a bunch of shy boys with a crush on a school teacher. At the end of the first night, John Mark took her hand and helped her down the stage. The pianist, George Bagley counted out the money in the tip jar and tossed half of the proceeds back in then he split the remainder four ways. Each of them finished the night with almost three-fifty richer. George laughed and shook his head. “I was making less than half this with the last singer, and there was no harmonica player to split with. I bet we’ll make even more once word gets out.”

  Mr. Steele, the owner of the tavern, came over. “That was quite a show you put on. I don’t think the boys hardly noticed that you played the same six songs in each of the three shows. Do we have more songs in your repertoire?”

  “Yes,” John Mark answered. “We’ll bring in the music for a few more tomorrow, if that will do?”

  “It’ll do for me,” George said with a smile, stuffing his dollars in the breast pocket of his vest. “I’ll see you both tomorrow night.”

  Mr. Steele put out a hand for John Mark to shake. He took it and then guided Ruby out the door of the tavern into the night air. The weather had turned a might bit chilly and the sky had a bit of cloud cover over the stars.

  “Think it will rain tomorrow?” Ruby asked, looking up.

  He looked down at her and smiled. “Maybe,” was the only answer he could give. He could barely even speak. In the starlight... in the gaslight... in any light, Ruby looked like an angel sent down to earth. He was proud to have her on his arm, and wanted to be so much more to her. He wanted to protect her like this for as long as he could.

  She leaned in toward him as they walked. “How many nights do you think we’ll need to do this before we attract the kidnappers?”

  His heart sunk toward his stomach. In the flush of excitement from the shows they’d put on, he’d nearly forgotten that he was a Pinkerton Agent undercover. Nearly forgotten that there was a mission to be completed. Nearly forgotten that the whole goal was to use Ruby as bait for kidnappers. The thought of anyone touching her in a threatening way made him feel nearly violent himself.

  He’d barely had any warning.

  The scuff of a boot behind him.

  The sound hardly registered in his mind before pain struck the back of his neck and head and stars crowded his vision. He fell forward, his arms not listening to him, not catching him. Before he slammed his cheek against the wood of the walkway. And then the last thing he saw was the rose that fell from Ruby’s hair and landed just in front of his eyes before he heard her scream and everything went black.

  “Shut up!” a gruff voice said with a deadly tone to it, just before he grabbed the girl by the collar and shook her. “I don’t want to hurt you, but if you don’t find a way to stop sniveling, things are going to get very hard for you.”

  Ruby’s jaw tightened as her anger grew. She’d learned at a very young age that to control fear, she needed to convert it to anger. A fearful person is often paralyzed and unable to act in a way to get them out of a scary situation, but an angry person--whether she was angry with herself, her situation, or with someone else--could do something about the pickle they were in. Ever since she’d been ripped from Johnny’s arm, Ruby had been watchful.

  Johnny. Her heart rent in two at the memory of him lying on the boardwalk in front of the general store. She hoped someone would find him quickly and get him help. She hoped he wasn’t hurt badly. And her anger grew at the men who’d taken her captive, but she needed to not act rashly. Mother had sewn pockets into each of her daughter’s dresses as they’d grown up and had never stopped. Even though this dress was for a dance that she’d gone to when she was in university, her mother had even sewn pockets in it. And there in that pocket, Ruby had put her derringer. She remembered the story that Savannah had told her where she’d used her derringer in a similar way to solve her first case. This time, it was Ruby’s turn, but she would bide her time until the opportunity arose that she could use it and get herself free as well as the other girls who were being hidden in the barn with her.

  They weren’t far from the center of town. At the first farmhouse past the fort, the kidnappers had taken her and placed her with the other four girls they’d stolen from the saloons in Texas. There were three of the men that she’d seen so far. The one who’d been left behind to watch the girls and the two that had taken her from Johnny. They were all large, burly men. The sort who were used to intimidating others out of fighting with them. They’d already done t
hat with the women. Even though the women in their possession outnumbered them, there was no argument about whether to behave or not.

  “Is this enough? There’re six of them now. At a hundred for each girl, we’ll be sitting pretty on a big old wad of cash,” the shorter one with glasses said with a gap-toothed grin.

  “Yeah it’s enough. We don’t want to get any more of them because it will be too hard to handle while we head south,” the bigger one answered as he spit tobacco to the side of the barn. “Get the girls ready, we be long gone from this town before the sun rises.”

  Ruby frowned.

  “South?” one of the girls squeaked. “Where are you taking us?”

  The bigger one had a bit of dark spittle dripping down his chin as he spat the words, “I already told you to shut up. I also promised you that I wouldn’t be so nice next time.”

  He lifted a hand to slap the woman, and the woman flinched, crouching away from him. Ruby couldn’t take it. Her hand reached for her pocket and she set her palm on her small pistol as she shouted, “Stop! Don’t hurt her!”

  The man’s dark eyes were shaded by the high bridge of his eyebrows over top of them. He leaned forward so that some of the light from the lantern dispersed the shadows from his face. “Well if our little songbird hasn’t started singing. For a while there I thought you might be mute.”

  She swallowed hard and shook her head, but didn’t say another word.