“Gabrielle?” Her mother put her hand on Gabby’s shoulder. Through the cotton, her mother’s skin felt cool against her heated flesh.
“I’m all right, Mama. Too much sun I think.” A lie, of course, but her mother wouldn’t understand how a man could take away Gabby’s self-control.
“You shouldn’t be walking around town, especially in those trousers.” She clucked her tongue. “It’s bad enough the town thinks you’re odd, don’t give them more reason to.”
Gabby glanced up at her mother, a petite brunette with light blue eyes and kinky curls. She stood at least six inches taller than her mother, and weighed almost twice as much. Her mother looked like a china doll, all tiny and delicate, an illusion to be sure since she was anything but delicate. She told Gabby often that some giant must be in her papa’s lineage for her to be so big. Gabby didn’t care for the comparison, particularly since there wasn’t anything she could do about her height or the width of her fanny.
“First of all, I wear trousers for protection. Second, I don’t care what people think of me.” She watched for the expected play of emotions on her mother’s peach-colored skin, first a pink blush of displeasure, then the steel of anger. “There are new strangers in town, just so you know. Mayor Wolcott hired gunslingers.”
“It’s about time, I say.” Her mother folded her arms beneath her breasts. “Phineas should have done it long ago. It was obvious the Rangers weren’t going to help us. This town has become a den of evil.” She tsked, disapproval in her expression. “You met these men? Alone and unchaperoned?”
“Yes, Mama.” Gabby rose to her feet, the rush of blood leaving her head making stars sparkle in her eyes. “I lived to tell about it too.”
“Don’t be smart with me. What did you find out about them?”
Gabby rolled her eyes. “Mama. Are you listening? These are gunslingers, not men I met at the Sunday social. All I know is there’s four of them, they’re Southern, possibly from Georgia or Alabama, and they have good quality horses. Their names are Gideon, Lee, Zeke, and”—she swallowed—“Jake.” Gabby hoped like hell her mother hadn’t heard the pause or realized that his name came out in a breathy rush. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“Well, you know an awful lot about these men already. How were they dressed? Are you sure they’re gunslingers?” Mary Rinaldi was very intense when she latched onto something, almost relentless.
“They had clothes on. That’s all I remember.” Gabby clenched her teeth to keep from confessing how much meeting them, meeting him, had actually knocked her off balance, way off balance. Most young ladies might share that with their mothers, but not Gabby.
“You’re being disrespectful now, Gabrielle.” Her mother tapped her foot. “I want to see these men for myself to get an idea of who they are. First, I’m going to see Phineas.”
She whirled around and disappeared around the back of the house, leaving Gabrielle gratefully alone. After another five minutes of controlled breathing, she finally felt better. It wasn’t fair to be blessed, or cursed as the case may be, with her father’s Italian passions. From the time she was a little girl, she continually got into trouble for telling her mother exactly what she thought. Fortunately her father always took her side, preventing an all-out war between the two females in his life. It didn’t stop the fights entirely, but Gabby eventually learned to temper her emotional chaos with logic.
Of course, logic had completely deserted her today. She’d find it again, as long as she kept away from Jake Sheridan, and her mother, as much as possible.
Jake watched the crowd of women like a man at the circus. There had to be at least twenty of them crowded around Gideon, Lee and Zeke. If it weren’t for the horror-filled expressions on their faces, Jake would’ve laughed like a hyena. Apparently, Phineas had gotten the word out to the townspeople that he’d hired four men, four unmarried men. Jake had been taking care of some personal business for a few minutes and when he returned, he found the horde had surrounded its quarry.
Gideon’s eyes met his. “Help me,” he mouthed with a frantic look around him. Out of all the Devils, Gideon felt the most uncomfortable around women. He was taught to be respectful to women, but to keep his distance. His mother had been a cold, exacting person who took great pains in avoiding being alone with her only son. Lee, Jake, Nate and Zeke had been Gideon’s family instead. Women had been few and far between for their former captain.
Not so for Jake, in fact it was the exact opposite. With five sisters, and dozens of girl cousins, Jake was surrounded by the softness of femininity his entire childhood. His mother’s husband had stayed far away from his responsibilities as a da, leaving the burden of feeding and clothing the family to Jake. Charm for women was something he had in abundance, and using that gift brightened his soul and brought a lightness to his heart.
With a big grin and a wink for Gideon, Jake pushed back his hat and stepped into the fray. This was something he could do and do well.
“Ladies, good afternoon!”
All of them stopped talking and turned to face him. Ranging in age from twenty to sixty, they all had one thing in common—want in their eyes. Of course what they wanted probably differed from woman to woman, nevertheless, they wanted something from the Devils. It could have been protection, loving, or perhaps they had a missing sister or daughter. Jake knew desperation when he saw it.
“My name is Jake Sheridan.” He swept off his hat and bowed low. A few titters met his gesture. “These are my friends and business associates, Gideon, Cornelius and Ezekiel Blackwood.” Lee’s face promised severe retribution for throwing his hated first name out to the pack, however, he tipped his hat when introduced as the others had done.
“As I’m sure you’re all aware, Mayor Wolcott has hired us to, ah, service the town. We’re going to be staying down at the end of the street in the empty house, so please be sure to keep your unmarried females a respectable distance.” He stepped around them, still smiling, noting the expressions of desire, need and hunger on their faces. “If you need assistance with anything, we would be happy to help you with whatever you need. Now how about we agree to meet you one at a time in Cindy’s restaurant in an hour? We need to wash up and look presentable for you ladies.”
A few pink cheeks, one or two chuckles, and some whispers came from the crowd. One short woman with kinky brown hair walked forward. Something about her eyes was vaguely familiar.
“My name is Mrs. Rinaldi.” She nodded in greeting. “What exactly are you going to do to service the town?” She gestured to the other ladies with her arm. “We’ve lost most of our young men to the war and each of us needs help in one way or the other. Will you be able to help all of us?”
The familiarity in the woman’s eyes reminded Jake of a certain tall dark-haired woman. With the last name Rinaldi, this had to be Gabrielle’s mother, even though physically they were complete opposites. However, she obviously had a spine of steel like her daughter, and her question was a valid one, but it wasn’t up to Jake to answer. He looked to Gideon.
“Yes, ma’am, we will help all of you.” Gideon eased away from the women to stand next to Jake. “As Jake said, we’ll be meeting with you one by one down at Cindy’s restaurant in an hour. We can write down what everyone needs and then do our best to get it all sorted out.” He smiled weakly.
Jake held a laugh in at the great captain of the Devils cowering in front of twenty women. It was a moment he’d remember for quite some time.
“I want to say thank you to all of you for coming to welcome us to Tanger.” Jake tipped his head toward Lee and Zeke. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to get to our new abode and get ready for our meeting.”
The ladies didn’t move to allow the men to pass, but neither did they stop them. It was almost eerie the way they stared, with so much need and a hundred other emotions in their eyes. A chill ran down Jake’s spine at the thought that these were
only the first batch of citizens who needed help, many more could arrive at any minute. Whatever the Devils got themselves into might be much deeper than they expected.
Gideon groaned in his ear as they turned to their horses. “Jesus, I thought for sure I’d end up in front of the preacher in under five minutes.”
Jake snickered. “You are a prime specimen of man, Mr. Blackwood.”
“Shut up.” Gideon smacked Jake on the shoulder as they mounted.
They carefully made their way around the crowd of women and put the horses into a slow canter down the street. No one made a move to follow them, a blessing to be sure, although Jake had an itch between his shoulder blades that begged to be scratched. That meant one thing, someone was watching him. He hoped to God it wasn’t someone who had seen his image on a wanted poster somewhere and was right then running to the telegraph office to find Captain Nessman. He hadn’t thought about that bastard in almost an hour, but it all came back in a rush as the creepy feeling spread throughout his body.
Jake just barely resisted the urge to turn around and look. Someone in the group of women knew him or of him, he was sure of it. Which one remained to be discovered. Perhaps their meeting with the women might uncover who it was. Until then, Jake would be on his guard, tenser than a whore in church.
They kept up the pace all the way down the street, not stopping until they reached the house, or at least what was left of it.
“What the hell is this?” Lee snorted.
The house wasn’t a house at all. It appeared to be what was left of a barn or a shack, perhaps used to store cotton. The doors hung crookedly on the hinges, there were no windows to speak of, and quite a few of the boards were rotting.
“Welcome home.” Jake shook his head. “Are you sure this is the right place?”
“Phineas said it was the brown house at the end of the street just past the livery. This has got to be it.” Gideon slid off his horse with a pained look on his face. “I’d hate to think what it looks like on a bad day.”
After stepping inside, they weren’t too disappointed because the expectations had been low enough to begin with. Phineas might have considered this a house, but it was a hovel with four walls and a roof, just barely livable. There was evidence of mice and other critters, a few tick mattresses that had seen better days, two lanterns, a battered cookstove, one table but no chairs, and a vase with purple wildflowers in it.
It was the wildflowers that threw Jake for a loop. Someone had come between the time they spoke to Phineas and when they arrived, no more than three hours, and put the flowers there. He doubted Elmer or Phineas would have made the effort. Flowers were the mark of a woman, and his stupid heart hoped it was the one woman who’d completely captured his attention.
Gabrielle.
Jake hadn’t been able to shake the image of the woman out of his mind. She was no shrinking violet for sure. Gabrielle stood nearly his height, with the darkest eyes he’d ever fallen into. Her hair was dark, thick and long in the braid that swung on her back, with unruly curls escaping the tight plait. His hands itched to feel it, knowing it would be like silk sliding through his fingers. He shifted uncomfortably in his trousers as arousal bubbled deep within his gut. Jake took his eyes off the flowers to try and gain control of his wayward thoughts.
“Well it smells like shit, it looks like shit, I’d say it’s on par with a Yankee prison camp.” Lee laughed without humor. “Maybe Jake can find one of his honeys to clean the place.”
Jake ignored him and opened the door wide to pull in as much fresh air as possible. The smell of ancient piss in the building was enough to make his eyes water. Gideon checked the mattresses while Zeke investigated the shadowy corners. Lee, as usual, stood by and complained. There was going to come a time when someone would take offense at so much negativeness and kick his ass six ways to Sunday. Nate had done it once back in Grayton a few months ago. Jake had watched with grim satisfaction, now he could only stand by and listen. He truly felt bad for his friend for losing an arm, but he’d meant what he told Lee about not using his arm as an excuse.
Life was for the living, for the here and now, not for the past and ghosts. If only Jake could follow through on his own advice instead of sinking down into the black pit of hell his mind had become. Ghosts had become his constant companions, pulling him back from life each time he tried to escape. He ran a shaking hand down his face and took a deep breath. Now was not the time to succumb to his self-made torture chamber. After a few more minutes, he felt in control again, desperate to find something to do besides think.
Jake went to the back of the house and found a small hinged opening six feet off the ground. It wasn’t a window, but it was something. With some effort, a few splinters, and more than a handful of curses, he got the damn thing open. Dust coated his face, went up his nose and all over his clothes. Apparently the previous tenants were too short to reach the small door or they didn’t care for fresh air because that thing hadn’t been opened in decades.
He coughed and waved his hand in front of his face to clear the air. The sweet scent from the meadow behind the building gave him some relief until he noticed the purple wildflowers. Acres and acres of them covered the ground. Jake had a mental image of lying down in those flowers with Gabrielle, surrounded by the intoxicating scent of the blossoms.
Dammit, couldn’t he keep his mind on something other than Gabrielle Rinaldi for more than five minutes? What the hell was wrong with him?
“Sometimes I forget what beauty is.” Gideon’s low voice made Jake jump a foot. His gut clenched so hard, a burst of bile coated the back of his throat. With considerable effort, he managed to swallow the whimper. He hadn’t even heard his friend coming, a very bad thing considering Jake was wanted by the U.S. Army, even if the charges against him were falsified. Gideon looked out on the meadow full of flowers with a wistfulness Jake had never seen from his friend before.
“I know what you mean.” Jake breathed in deeply, pulling some of the innate perfection of the blossoms into himself. “I often wonder if beauty exists beyond the simplicity of nature, ’cause man sure as hell ain’t beautiful.”
After a shared moment of silence, they glanced at each other and smiled. Jake shook his head.
“Pretty soon you’ll be convincing me to spout poetry too.” Gideon snorted and slapped Jake on the back.
Jake waggled his eyebrows. “I can teach you how, you know. Ladies love a poem now and then.”
“That’s all right, I’ll leave that to you.” Gideon held up his hands. “I ain’t good with the ladies, and some bad poetry won’t help.”
“Are you two going to help us get this pigsty clean or not?” Zeke called from the corner. “I’d like to be able to at least sleep here tonight without any mouse shit stuck to me.”
They all chuckled then got to work making the house livable. Jake used the word house with a grain of salt, because it was more a shack than anything, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. After forty-five minutes, and a cloud of dust thick enough to kill a horse, they called a halt to the cleaning.
“We need to get down to Elmer’s and meet all those ladies Jake promised we’d service.” Zeke raised one blond eyebrow. “I don’t think even he can handle twenty-five of them at once.”
Jake burst out laughing. “No, I’ve had three at once, but twenty-five is beyond my limits.”
Lee stared at him, his brown eyes wide. “You’ve had three women at once?”
With a wink, Jake headed for the well pump beside the building. “Ask me another time and I’ll tell you the whole story.”
Behind him, he heard Lee ask his brother if Jake had been serious. Whether or not he was ashamed of it, Jake had been telling the truth. He’d indulged in the pleasures of the flesh as often as possible. It was the one thing he was really good at, besides thieving, and it got his mind off what a lousy hand God had dealt to Jake. Pract
ice in sensual pleasures had honed Jake’s skills to an art form. Lee had no idea the kinds of ecstasy he could have with two women or even three. One woman was likely all he could handle until he got a lot more experience. Jake suspected his friend had only been with a woman a couple of times during the war, and absolutely none since he’d lost his arm.
The four of them washed up quickly, although there was still plenty of dirt left on their clothes even after a dunking in the cool well water. It couldn’t be helped and they were late for their meeting with the Tanger ladies. When they arrived back at Cindy’s, the crowd had grown in size. There had to be at least thirty-five if not forty women waiting. They stood around chatting amongst themselves, creating a noise not unlike a beehive.
Jake glanced at his friends and noted identical expressions of grim determination with a smidgen of fear. He swallowed the chuckle that threatened to escape and dismounted.
“Good afternoon, ladies.” He smiled widely. “I’m so glad to meet so many of you.”
Lots of the ladies nodded and murmured a greeting. He saw distrust mixed with hope in their eyes and prayed he and the Devils would be able to help them. One woman in particular, a tall blonde, stared at him with an intensity that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. She was about forty if he had to hazard a guess, in nice store-bought clothes. He’d do well to figure out who she was.
“We’re going to go inside and we’d appreciate it if you could come see us one at a time. That way we can give each of you a fair shake.” Jake and the Devils stepped inside.
Elmer stood just inside the door with a scowl on his face. “What are you doing, Sheridan?”
“I figured it was a good place for the ladies to speak with us. You are first on the list, Elmer.” He shook the older man’s hand. “We’re going to do our damnedest to find Cindy.”
Jake, Devils on Horseback, Book 2 Page 4