Memphis

by Sara Orwig

  “There will be. We have to get to Stuttgart and back to Hopefield.”

  He walked back through the train, moving with the swaying motion of the car. He passed through the baggage car and O’Malley was gone. Caleb glanced at the press, the trunks and boxes and crates. He went on to the next car, but the nagging feeling remained. He was almost back to the engine when he realized what bothered him. The baggage car smelled like tea roses.

  He frowned and stared out the window at the landscape without seeing it. He looked over his shoulder and went back to the baggage car. He opened the door and stepped inside and stood quietly looking at the crates. The train swayed, the rhythmic clack of the wheels muffled with the door closed. He inhaled and looked at the stack of trunks, walking to squeeze against them and look around them. He moved to a stack of crates and did the same. He walked to the press and moved around it, looking at the canvas draped over it and over something between the crate and the wall and his heart thudded.

  He reached down and yanked up the canvas.

  Chapter 23

  “Damnation, Sophia!” He hauled her to her feet.

  Sophia gazed into furious green eyes. “Don’t be angry with your brother. He didn’t know.”

  “Hellfire! It’s not Rafe who I’m angry with! You and your damned reporting!”

  “I’m here now, sweetie,” she said, smiling at him.

  “How the hell did you get here?” he demanded.

  “Stop swearing at me. I came on the ferry at the same time you did.”

  “Oh, Lord, no!” He closed his eyes and opened them. “I should have known. I should have watched. Sophia, I could just shake you until your teeth rattle.”

  She smiled at him and leaned forward to kiss him on the mouth. “My sweet. You always want to shake me and we always end up doing other things,” she said provocatively.

  “Confound it, don’t try to soft-soap me, Sophia.” He glared at her.

  “I’m here. You can’t put me off,” she insisted.

  “I’d like to put you across my knee.”

  She laughed. “Caleb,” she said coaxingly. “Forgive me.”

  “Damnation! I should have locked you up and given Rafe the key!”

  “Stop swearing.”

  “You’d make a saint swear.”

  “There’s not one thing you can do about my being here,” she said petulantly. She stared back at him, biting her lip to keep from smiling. He looked fierce and angry but she knew he would get over it in minutes.

  “If I don’t get away from you, I will shake you.” He spun around and pointed his finger at her. “At Stuttgart, you’re going off this train.”

  “You’re going to leave me alone in Arkansas where Dunstan can find me and I won’t have any protection?” she asked sweetly.

  “You’re enjoying yourself.” He ran his fingers through his curls. “You come ride up in front where I can watch you all the time. If shooting starts, get down.”

  “You know if shooting starts, I’ll help.”

  He caught her up to him. “You get down,” he said in clipped words. “What do you think I would do if you were hit?”

  “What do you think I would do if you are?” she shot back.

  “Lord, sometimes I wish I had never fought at Shiloh. Sophia, you have been trouble since that first moment.”

  “But it’s trouble you like,” she argued, gazing up at him. Caleb looked down at her. He was angry, terrified for her safety.

  “I’m going to punch my brother when I get back to Memphis. He was supposed to watch you.”

  “I told him I was going to change clothes to go with Amity to the Stantons’, so don’t be angry, because you know he wasn’t going to watch me change. Rafferty and Amity were both waiting in the other room and Mister Therrie and Chantal were waiting for us, and the Stantons expected all of us. So don’t blame him. I went out a window.”

  Caleb glared at her and wondered if the rest of his life would be stormy because of her. “I’m going to tell Darcy to marry a woman who is docile and obedient and scared of him.”

  Sophia ducked her head against Caleb, sliding her slender arms around his waist. He drew a deep breath and wrapped his arm around her. “Damn, I’ll be scared now for you. I couldn’t have fought a war with you at my side.”

  “Then let me stay back here in this part of the train.”

  “No, you don’t.” He took her hand and started toward the door, pausing to look down at her. “You’re on this train, but you damned well better do what I say now. If I tell you to get down, you get down.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Sophia!” he snapped, knowing she was happy to be with him, his temper strained. He didn’t want her in danger. Now he had to worry about her as well as the train. He strode forward through the next car with Sophia in tow and saw the startled look on O’Keefe’s face and in the next car, the same surprise from Sweeney. Caleb didn’t give an explanation. He took her forward to the engine and pointed to a stool. “You sit down there.”

  She sat, suddenly looking subdued. Jonah glanced at her. “Miss Merrick?” He frowned and looked at Caleb questioningly, his thick black brows arched.

  “She slipped on board this morning and was in the baggage car.”

  Jonah shook his head and frowned.

  Caleb looked at her. “At Stuttgart, I’m paying someone to stay with you and you are getting off this train. I’ve got four more of my men waiting there who were going to ride back with us, but two of them will stay with you.”

  “Caleb, you can’t leave me in Stuttgart.”

  “Oh, yes, I can. After the first official run into Hopefield, we’ll be safe. I’ll come back and get you, Sophia.” He gazed outside, feeling a mounting uneasiness. Sophia unsettled him and he was worried. Trouble would come, but he didn’t know when.

  In Stuttgart, he could ask the sheriff to keep her under lock until he could get back. He would pay and it would be worth it to know she was safe. He watched trees flash past. Would she be safe there without friends or family? he wondered. He looked down at her and felt anger and fear. Rafferty O’Brien would hear about letting her get away. Caleb wanted to swear and shake her. The door opened and Drake Sweeney and Sean entered, Sean’s gaze going to Caleb and Caleb knew something was wrong.

  Drake swung up his rifle, pointing at Sophia. “All of you drop your weapons now. Slow this train or she gets the first shot.”

  Feeling shock, Caleb dropped his pistol, staring at Drake Sweeney who had worked as hard for him and since the fight with Darcy, had been as cooperative as any other worker. Sophia placed her revolver on the floor and Sweeney yanked one from a holster belonging to Jonah. The train slowed, the wheels screeching on the rails as they lost momentum. Sweeney motioned to Sean. “Get off now,” he yelled.

  “Jump?”

  “Now!” Sweeney raised the rifle and Sean disappeared out of the car. Caleb saw him rolling away from the train, tumbling on the ground. One of his men was safe.

  “Where’s the rest of my crew?” Caleb asked.

  “Either dead or I let them escape back down the line,” Sweeney answered flatly. “I’m the only one they can identify and I ain’t going back to Memphis.”

  “Why are you doing this, Sweeney?”

  “I sold to the highest bidder. For what I’m getting paid today, Mister O’Brien, I’ll be a wealthy man.”

  Caleb looked outside and saw the riders appear in view and he felt a tight knot in his chest. He had handpicked his men; men he felt he could trust, men who could fight and shoot. Instead, he had played into Trevitt’s hands. And Sophia was with him. It made his blood run cold and his mind raced. Sweeney stood with his rifle aimed at her heart and Caleb couldn’t take the chance. Sweeney was an experienced fighter. He stood out of reach, his back protected by machinery, his gaze constantly shifting from one to the other.

  “Now one at a time,” Sweeney said, yanking Sophia to him. “Keep your hands high and get out. Jonah first.”


  Jonah emerged from the train and a shot rang out. He crumpled on the ground. Sweeney nudged Caleb as Sophia cried out and knelt by Jonah.

  “You bastards!” Caleb snapped, looking down at Jonah’s still body.

  “Move! Get her up or I will,” Sweeney ordered and Caleb took Sophia’s arm. They stepped through high grass. Dunstan Trevitt dismounted and came forward. Other men held guns pointed at Caleb.

  “Well, well,” Trevitt said softly, smiling broadly. “Little Sophia. I didn’t expect this. I just thought I’d get my rival, Major O’Brien, the Secesh raider. But this is a pleasure. Had to take her along with you, didn’t you, Reb?”

  “What are you going to do with us?” Caleb asked.

  “This changes my plans,” Dunstan said. “You lose. I know that, Rebel. That train of yours won’t make it back to Hopefield.

  “Tie them,” Dunstan said, and a man stepped forward, tying Caleb while three men kept their rifles aimed at Sophia. Next they tied her wrists in front of her.

  “I’ll sign the whole line over to you if you’ll let her go,” Caleb said firmly.

  “No!” Sophia exclaimed, looking at him. He didn’t look at her or shift his gaze from Dunstan who arched his brows, resting his hands on his hips.

  “That’s a tempting offer. No woman is worth a whole railroad. Not even the plucky Miss Merrick. Is that what you wore when you went to Shiloh?”

  She lifted her chin and didn’t answer.

  “You’d sign your railroad over to me?” Trevitt asked.

  “Everything. I own land beyond Stuttgart to the Louisiana line.”

  “This is tempting. And something I hadn’t expected. Of course, once we got back to town, you could say it was done under coercion.”

  “It would be binding. You have witnesses, and I made the offer of my own free will.”

  Dunstan stood still as if thinking it over. His brown hat sat squarely on his head. He wore a long brown coat over his blue shirt and black pants. Dunstan shook his head. “Love. Women are soft in the head about love, but men usually can keep an even keel. Not you, Rebel. You offer me everything you own for her.” His gaze ran over Sophia. “You must be even more fun than I thought, Sophia. There are a lot of us who’ve been out working on a railroad and we can use some fun and enjoy a pretty lady.”

  “There are two engines, one hundred miles of track in place, two depots, and all the land,” Caleb said. “That’s a lot to pass up, Dunstan, even for revenge.”

  Dunstan looked at Caleb, and Sophia wondered if he were really considering the offer.

  “You’ll have Heaton’s million dollars,” Caleb continued. “You’ll have two railroads, and you can compete with anyone in the country. You would have two hundred miles of track ready to use.”

  Dunstan looked at them, giving Sophia a slow perusal that made her skin feel clammy.

  He glanced at Caleb. “It’s a tempting offer, only I don’t see how we can reach an agreement. It would mean getting contracts and riding into town and then I would run a risk of losing both of you.”

  “Not much risk with Sophia as hostage,” Caleb suggested.

  He seemed to weigh it, walking closer to look at her. “I’m tempted to try, but how could I explain the sale to everyone in Memphis? It doesn’t sound reasonable, does it?”

  “It doesn’t matter. If I sell you the railroad, it’s yours. Completely. You’re passing up a fortune, Dunstan.”

  Dunstan rubbed his neck as he looked at her. “I don’t know how I can convince people. I have an alibi for my time right now. And revenge is special. I’ve waited a long time, O’Brien. When you escaped, I didn’t get the promotion I wanted. And Sophia here”—he walked to her, lifting her chin—“is ready for a wedding, aren’t you?” He slid his hand beneath her shirt.

  Caleb lunged at him and Dunstan spun around, his fist lashing out and catching Caleb on the jaw, sending him staggering.

  “You hit a man who is tied!” Sophia yelled at him, her heart pounding. “Take the railroad and let us go! He’s right. It’s a fortune and no one can dispute it if it’s signed over to you.”

  “No,” Dunstan said, looking at her. “He has a partner who could stop the deal easily. My brother-in-law.” He nodded to Sweeney who walked forward and kicked Caleb.

  Sophia screamed. “Stop it! Stop, Dunstan, and I’ll do what you want.”

  Sweeney yanked Caleb to his feet and held him, pulling back his fist to hit him again.

  Sophia screamed, feeling faint, her head spinning. “Stop! I’ll go with you. I’ll do anything,” she cried.

  “No, Sophia,” Caleb said in a rasp. His mouth bled as Sweeney hit him again. He doubled over and groaned.

  “Stop him!” she screamed.

  Dunstan stepped in front of her. “I have a cabin on the Mississippi east of Chatfield. If I let him live, you’ll stay with me for a week and do whatever I want?”

  “Yes!” She heard a groan from Caleb. “Leave Caleb alone.”

  “Sweeney,” Dunstan ordered. “Hold him here. We’ll ride to the cabin. I want privacy.”

  “He has to be all right at the end of the week,” Sophia demanded.

  “Sophia, he won’t abide—” Caleb tried to get up.

  Sweeney leaned down to hit him again.

  She closed her eyes, feeling faint and ill. “Please, anything—”

  “He’ll live. Put her on my horse. She wants to go with me, O’Brien. She loves you enough to do anything I ask. I’ll get my revenge now,” Trevitt proclaimed.

  A man moved forward to throw her over his shoulder. She saw Dunstan talking to Sweeney as Caleb lay still on the ground. She was placed on the horse, the man running his hands over her, thrusting his hand between her legs and grinning up at her. She swung her foot and kicked him. He yelped and grabbed her leg, holding her tightly while he squeezed her breast.

  “Leave her alone!” Dunstan snapped. He mounted behind her, pulling her close against him and flicking the reins. She tried to peer around him at Caleb, but she couldn’t.

  Her heart felt as if it were breaking in two. She hated Dunstan Trevitt in a manner she had never felt toward anyone before.

  “I hate you,” she spat out.

  “But you’ve made a bargain and if you want to find him alive, you’ll keep it.”

  “I’ll keep it,” she said, defeated.

  He thrust his hand forward to unbutton her shirt, pushing it away and ripping the chemise, cupping her breast in his hand. Sophia felt tears wash down her cheeks and bit back any sound. She had made a bargain with a devil and she would have to keep it. He laughed. “I told you, Sophia, you would do just what I ask. Before this week is out, you will always do what I want. You won’t marry him. He won’t have you and you’ll be too humiliated to go to him.” He caressed her and she felt his arousal press against her.

  “Turn around here and kiss me,” he ordered.

  She turned her head and he leaned forward, his tongue thrusting deep. Her stomach churned with loathing and suddenly she gagged and pulled away.

  “Vixen! You’ll stop that.”

  After half an hour’s ride, she thought about escape. If she could get a horse, she might get help for Caleb. And it might be the only chance either of them had. “I need to relieve myself. Please, Dunstan.”

  “No.”

  “I’ll be sick, Dunstan.”

  “All right. I’ll stop, but be quick. You can’t run away from me, so don’t try.” He lowered her to the ground and dismounted.

  Sophia went through bushes behind a tree. As soon as she straightened her clothes, she called to him, “Just a minute, Dunstan.” She moved away. Her hands were tied in front. It was hopeless to run and would make him angry, but she had to try.

  She broke into a run, bushes tearing at her.

  “Sophia!”

  She slid down an embankment and ran across a creek, racing up the other side, hearing crashing behind her. She dropped down behind a bush and lay still, gasping for breath, her heart
pounding.

  “Sophia, dammit!”

  He splashed through the creek, and his footsteps receded. She was frightened to move, frightened to stay.

  She prayed Dunstan would keep his word and let Caleb live. They were at his mercy. Thank heaven she had come along, or Dunstan would have killed Caleb at the train. Her body was the only thing standing between Caleb living or dying—unless Dunstan had lied. She felt cold with terror.

  Finally she didn’t hear him. She stood and moved cautiously. The trees and brush were thick and hid the sunlight. She circled bushes and faced Dunstan.

  Chapter 24

  Caleb rolled over as hands picked him up roughly. Someone hit him in the side. Fists pounded him and blackness swamped him. He stirred as hands lifted him and he squinted through one eye. They moved him to the engine of the train and dropped him on the floor.

  Sweeney nudged him with his foot and Caleb squinted up at him. “Hear that, bastard? We’ve destroyed your bridge. This train—with you in it—is going to plunge into the river in minutes. That pretty little woman of yours will do whatever Major Trevitt wants, because she’ll think you’re alive.” Sweeney’s voice was sly. “When the week is over, he’s giving her to me. I’m going out West and take her with me.”

  Caleb tried to move while Sweeney laughed. “Goodbye, Major O’Brien.” He swung his gun butt, and pain exploded in Caleb’s head.

  Caleb’s eyes fluttered. He moaned and rolled over, pain making him cry out. Sophia. Memory returned and he struggled to move. Everything hurt, but he had to survive to save Sophia. He struggled upright trying to clear his spinning head.

  Staggering, he struggled to his feet. Sweat broke out and he felt sick, knowing he was on the verge of fainting. The landscape flashed past, and he realized they had jammed the throttle and left him on a runaway train that would go into the St. Francis in minutes. A wave of dizziness buffeted him and he shook his head, staggering to the brake. The silver coil of the river showed through the trees. The bridge was gone.

  Where were his men who had been at the bridge? Had they all been killed? Were they held prisoner?