by Reece Butler
“Jed and Clint are going to be so jealous when they get here,” said Riley between soft kisses on her shoulder. “I said I’d sleep on your floor to guard you. But, since we’re both on the floor, I wasn’t telling a fib.”
He reached for the blanket she’d used the previous night. He settled it around them. “Better get some sleep. We’ll be interrupted if Smythe staggers home, and again when Jed and Clint stop by.” He sighed. “Dang. If you’re not in your nightgown, with me fully dressed sleeping in front of the door, they might get too interested in you to tell Smythe off.”
He pulled away and padded to the kitchen to dampen a flannel with warm water for her. A few moments later, washed, dressed, and tucked into bed, she drifted off in his arms to the sounds of his soft snores.
Chapter Nineteen
“When I learned from Riley about Smythe’s plans, I was ready to cut off the man’s balls with a rusty blade, pickle them, and hand them back as a souvenir,” said Jed.
“Since you came all this way just after sunup, I expect you’re wanting help?” Beth Elliott placed another pile of flapjacks on the plate in the middle of the table. She pointed at them. “We were just finishing. More coffee?”
Jed didn’t need more encouragement. “Thank you for this. My belly’s a little too close to my backbone for comfort.”
He stacked three on his plate, leaving the other three for Clint. He poured table syrup on them and dug in. A small boy crouched at Trace’s feet, playing with blocks. Every now and then he’d bang one on his father’s boot, look up, and grin.
A small shriek erupted from over by the stove. Jed chomped on his tongue. Since he was in the presence of a lady, he held back the curse. Simon laughed and carefully lifted a very small baby from a cradle by the stove. He pressed it against his chest and made soothing noises.
“Is that your daughter?” Clint asked.
“Yes, this is Lily. She’s almost a month old.”
Simon smiled proudly and brought the tiny bundle over. He leaned her down to show them, holding her blonde head in his palm. Her body lay on his arm. Her toes didn’t even reach his elbow. He gently laid his other hand on her chest to hold her there. She yawned and blinked blue eyes at Jed.
Not sure what to do, Jed held out his smallest finger to touch the baby’s hand. She wrapped tiny fingers around him and held on. He looked closer. Each finger, maybe as long as a matchstick, had a perfect nail on the end, so small he could barely see them.
“Simon’s going to be carrying a big stick around in about thirteen years,” said Beth, smiling at Jed. “Any male who comes near Lily better have her best interests at heart.”
“Won’t just be Sy,” added Jack. He was Simon’s slightly younger twin. “She’s got an older brother, three older male cousins, and nine uncles to protect her.”
The baby released Jed’s finger and squawked. She screwed up her face, which started to turn red.
“Oops, Lily wants her momma.”
Simon swooped the baby over to Beth, who laughed and took her into the back room. James, a block in each hand, followed. Trace caught him and lifted him, jiggling him as a distraction as he brought him back to the table with the men. He broke off a piece of flapjack and handed it to the boy, who inspected it carefully before eating.
Jed finished his last bite of breakfast. Noticing the other plates by the sink, he carried his and Clint’s over and looked out the window. “Are Bridie and Meggie likely to come in? There’s something we need to talk about.”
“They’re with Amelia, helping take care of Keir and Gavin,” said Jack. “Auntie and Sunbird are visiting their family. The girls love babies, so go visit the MacDougals whenever they can.”
“Good. This is about them.”
The three Elliott men caught each other’s eyes. They sat straighter, and the relaxed atmosphere faded like mist. Ten minutes later, when Jed and Clint had answered all their questions, they were all on their feet, twitching.
“Ross is going to skin him alive unless we kill him first,” said Jack eagerly.
“Whoa!” Jed held up his hands. “We just want Smythe to think that,” said Jed. “Riley and Victoria heard him say girls and women are something to be sold to the highest bidder to put gold in his pocket. That isn’t proof of anything.”
“He threatened my daughters. I don’t need proof to leave him in a canyon for the cats and bears to find.” Trace’s ruined voice made the quiet words seem even more menacing.
“That would bring worse down on everyone,” said Clint. “We want to force him to leave Tanner’s Ford permanently, without destroying Victoria or the valley’s way of life. Sophie McLeod and Miss Lily have already talked to the Pinkertons about him. They’ve got other clients interested in a few things happening out here. If he’s dead, he won’t lead the investigators to the bigger fish.”
“We want the buyers, who use and destroy these girls,” said Simon. He leaned a shoulder against the wall and looked out the window. “Well, look who’s riding up.” He caught Jed, and then Clint, with a direct look. “Don’t say anything to Ross. We’ll tell him when it’s safe. We’d better meet him outside. He’s not so good in small spaces when he’s angry.”
Jed followed the others into the yard, though the Elliotts’ kitchen was bigger than the one on the J Bar C. Perhaps Simon meant that five large men, six with Ross, would make the room feel smaller.
“My ravens said you had visitors and maybe I should stop by,” said Ross. “Looks serious.”
One quick look and Jed felt like he’d been sized up and a decision made, all within seconds. Ross was raised as a Bannock warrior. He wore his long, black hair tied back with a leather thong. It fell straight to his waist. His skin was almost the color of a well-thumbed penny. That, his slender muscles, and hatchet nose were far different from his older half brother. Gillis was big and broad, red and hairy, and loud. Jed had heard that Ross could move like the ravens that were always near him. Silent when needed, fast, and deadly. Jed also heard about his legendary skill with knives.
“Need you to unburden yourself before we talk,” said Trace to Ross. “How many you carrying?”
“News that bad?”
Trace nodded. He held out his hand, palm up. Ross laughed. The pair of ravens perched on the barn roof made a “quork” sound as if in agreement.
“You think they’ll all fit in your hand?”
Trace smirked. “After you throw the others, I’ll hold the extra hidden one I know you carry.”
“You trust these men?”
Trace nodded. “Jed and Clint came here with a problem, and a solution. Not one we might like, but one we can live with. They’re part of our valley. Who knows, maybe one of their daughters will marry James, or one of your sons.”
Ross looked at Clint for a moment, and then Jed. When the black eyes met Jed’s, it felt like his soul shivered. He almost stepped back, the force was so great.
“You just peeled a nightmare off your back,” said Ross. “A man isn’t judged by those who create his body, but by how he molds himself in spite of them.”
A shiver ran down Jed’s spine. Ross’s eyes suddenly went from flat black to warm ebony. “Follow the father of your heart and your children will do well.”
Ross suddenly whirled to face the barn. His hands moved, and silver blades flew from under the back of his leather vest, behind his collar, inside his sleeves, and boots. When he stopped, nine knives quivered in the barn wall. The pattern had two eyes, a nose, four teeth, and two ears.
Trace lifted an eyebrow. “Beth can draw faces a hell of a lot better with a pencil.” He snapped his fingers and held out his palm. Ross unbuckled his belt and removed part of it. The last knife was only three inches long.
“Montana toothpick,” explained Ross. “So, what’s this all about?”
“Do I have to hold you back, or are you going to listen?”
Ross set his moccasin-clad feet shoulder-width apart, shook out his body, and nodded. “I’m lis
tening.” His whole body tensed, ready for anything.
Trace handed the “toothpick” to Simon. He walked right in front of Ross, staring eye to eye. He was two inches taller and broader, but he carried himself as if everyone would obey him.
“Smythe threatened to take Bridie and sell her to bastards like those that hurt Molly.”
The only reaction Jed saw was a slight widening of Ross’s eyes. No, the pulse in his throat thundered as well. He and Trace stared at each other for what seemed like minutes before Ross exhaled. He sauntered over to the barn. Jed and Clint turned their backs and carefully checked out the house. Where a man kept his knives was a private thing. Ross had moved too quickly for them to follow, but putting a knife back could take more time than throwing it.
When Jed looked back, Ross was reassembling his belt buckle. “I take it we’re not going to kill him. Yet.”
Trace shook his head. “There’s more involved. If he’s dead, he can’t lead us anywhere.”
“He thinks he’s a big fish, but he’s just bait,” said Ross. “Rumors are that he has powerful contacts back East, but they work through him. He hasn’t got their power or influence, but wants it.” He shook his muscles out and looked at Jed. “What’s your stake in this?”
“He threatened Victoria. Unless she marries him, he’ll hurt Bridie and Meggie, and get the governor to destroy how we run our lives,” said Jed. He was not going to tell anyone about Victoria’s past. It didn’t matter to him, but if she wanted anyone to know, she would be the one to do so.
“We think he’s running close to the line financially,” said Clint. “The only way to threaten him is to destroy his future plans. We have to make him believe he could be ruined if his business partners know that others know.”
“It’s not that the partners may find out,” said Simon. “They may be the ones buying the girls. Smythe has to believe these men will think they’ll lose even bigger deals because of their association with him.”
“Our plan, such as it is,” explained Jed, “is made of threats, bluster, and bluffing.”
“I’ll take care of the threats,” said Ross. “Been a while since I had a bit of fun.”
“You’ve got two brothers, a mother and aunt, and Daniel to help you and Amelia with two tiny little babies, and you’re so busy you’re stuck at home?” Jack scoffed openly at Ross being homebound.
Ross’s eyes glittered at the insult. “I’ll remind you of that comment when Beth has your first child,” he said softly to Jack.
“Smythe won’t abandon that house after putting so much money into it,” said Simon. “Who would want to buy it?”
“Mrs. Johnson wants to be with her grandchildren,” said Clint. “She might want to live in her own home rather than renting a room with Nora Dawes.”
“That woman acts like a mother to Ranger, Patrick, and Ben,” said Trace, “as well as a grandmother to Emma and Johnny.”
Jed, raised with only Clint, with Riley joining later, felt a stab of envy. He wanted Victoria to have a big family with them, so their children would always have someone. He remembered Trace’s comment to Ross, that they might one day be related through children not yet born. In so many ways, the families in the valley were becoming one. As far as he was concerned, it could only get better. But first he had to eliminate Smythe from Victoria’s thoughts, marry the woman, and work on all of them starting a baby with her.
“What if we meet at the jail after dinner?” Trace waited for Jed’s and Clint’s nods. “We’ll talk with Sheriff Barstow, and then have what Gillis likes to call ‘a wee chat’ with Mr. Frederick Smythe.”
They all looked up when Beth and James came out of the house. James pulled out of her hand and ran toward them, bare feet slapping on the dirt. Trace knelt down and held out his arms. James ran full tilt into him. Trace turned and whirled him around while he laughed. He ended up with his legs around Trace’s neck, clutching his father’s hair in his fists, delightedly looking down on them.
“Something tells me I won’t like whatever it is you talked about,” said Beth.
“Why would you say that?” Simon kissed her on the forehead, but only because Beth moved at the last moment.
“Because I see new holes in the barn wall.”
“We’re going to read the riot act to Smythe after dinner,” said Trace.
“Anything you care to tell me about?”
“We’ll talk about it tonight,” he replied. Beth grumbled but waved at James, nodded politely at Jed and Clint, and returned to the house.
“How much are you going to tell her,” asked Jed.
“Everything, of course,” said Trace.
“Woman’s too smart,” groused Jack. “She figures everything out and then gets mad at us for not telling her. It ain’t worth the aggravation to have her mad.”
“What Jack means is that a happy wife means a happy home,” said Simon.
“An angry wife means it hurts like hell to ride a horse,” said Jack. He adjusted his belt buckle to show what he meant. “And she quits making desserts. Gets uppity.”
“You planning to marry the lady, again?” asked Ross.
“Soon as Jed can find a preacher,” replied Clint. “Which means after next week, when Judge Thatcher and Lily, and Doc and Rosa, get married. That is, if they let us horn in on the ceremony.”
Jed realized the key to knowing Ross was his eyes. They almost danced when he looked over. “If you boys are going to be horny-mooning, you should have a look at Amelia’s pillow book.”
“It’s got drawings of every which way possible up to three men and a woman can have fun,” said Jack. He rubbed his hands and almost crowed like a rooster.
Jed blinked. He stood still, but if felt like lightning blasted through every part of his body. A how-to book of sexual positions?
“Let me give you some advice,” said Trace. He handed James over to Jack, who started a tickle fight with him. “Your wife is right. You are wrong, even when you’re right, so you might as well apologize right off. And she’ll be a lot more amenable to losing sleep if some of her chores are done for her, especially before bed.”
“Buy the biggest bathtub you can find,” said Jack.
“Rub her feet, her back, even her whole body. Sometimes it will put her to sleep, but when she wakes, she’ll be grateful,” said Simon.
“And make sure she has time with women friends. They’ll talk about us, and when you walk past they may look at each other and suddenly start laughing, but she needs more than just men and children.” Trace checked the angle of the sun. He held out his hand and shook hands with Jed. “We’ll see you in town. All that talk reminds me I haven’t kissed my wife properly today.” He waved at Clint and strode into the house. Feminine shrieks and deep chuckles erupted from the kitchen.
“Dang,” complained Jack, looking toward the house. “I was going to do that.”
“Why don’t I bring James to see his cousin Hope?” Ross held out his arms to the boy, who ran toward him, whooping.
“Gotta go, I’ve got husbandly things to do,” said Jack. He hurried after Trace.
Simon sighed like an old maid watching a courting couple. “Looks like dinner might be late.” He handed James up to Ross, who waved and rode away. The ravens circled the yard once and raced after them. They swooped down and around the pair on the horse, making James laugh. The ravens sounded like they laughed as well.
Instead of eagerly heading for the house, Simon bid Jed and Clint farewell.
“Beth and I slept with Lily again last night, or tried to,” said Simon in explanation. “Lily’s still feeding every two hours or so. I’ll let Trace and Jack have some fun time with Beth. I got to cuddle her all night, and sometimes, that’s even better.”
Jed and Clint walked their horses down the wide track to the road before speaking.
“You think Victoria will make me wait until the wedding?” Jed frowned at Clint. “Thinking about that book has got me harder than before the first time wi
th her.”
“She didn’t turn down Riley last night.”
“That’s right.” Jed nudged his horse into a trot. “It’s Riley’s turn to watch our cattle tonight, don’t you think?”
“Definitely,” said Clint, laughing. “You need time alone to ask her to marry you again.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” replied Jed. “Let’s head to town so we can talk with the judge about borrowing his preacher.”
“Race you!”
Chapter Twenty
“Are you sure Mrs. McLeod won’t mind?”
Victoria shifted her carpetbag to her other hand. She stood in front of the Tanner’s Ford Hotel kitchen door. The transom window above her head was open, releasing scents that reminded her of the few weeks she’d spent on the J Bar C. The best home she’d ever had, not that she had much to judge by.
Riley sighed and rolled his eyes. “Victoria, you have to get out of Smythe’s house before Jed and the others arrive. Sophie will be happy to see you, I promise.” He opened the door and stepped in. “Sophie, I brought you a visitor with news.”
Riley put his hand on her back and urged her through the doorway. Though she’d met the older woman at the picnic ten days ago, they hadn’t had much time to talk.
“Mrs. Adams, how lovely to see you again.”
Victoria blinked to hold back tears that welled at someone acknowledging she was still married. When Riley told her that the men would get rid of Smythe, sending him from the town forever, she cried in his arms. She blamed it on the worry from the last few days, especially yesterday’s unexpected meeting with Smythe. She was so tired and wanted to go home to the J Bar C. But only if Jed would marry her again, properly this time. She wanted him to promise to love, honor, and cherish her. She wasn’t sure about responding with love, honor, and obey.
Sophie shooed Riley out the door, set her in an armchair, and started a pot of tea. Victoria looked around the large kitchen. A stove that must be almost ten feet long sat against the outer wall. She sat in front of a long table, the sort she would use for rolling out pies, chopping meat and vegetables, and all the other homey things she’d loved doing for those two short weeks. It was so different to work in a kitchen she thought of as her own, rather than the places rented by her mother or sister.