Judith Pella, Tracie Peterson - [Ribbons West 03]

by Ties That Bind

  “I shall endeavor to be more worthy of your trust,” Jordana replied.

  The man, apparently satisfied, took up the sign from Rich. “Come on in, then, and let’s settle it.”

  After taking care of the room situation, Rich led Jordana to the front parlor to give her a chance to warm up before showing her upstairs to her room. It also made a more appropriate place for them to talk. “There’s a fireplace in here, and it doesn’t smoke as bad as the one in the back parlor.”

  Jordana smiled and began unwinding her warm woolen scarf. Rich watched her with a strange expression that seemed to be a mixture of awe and curiosity. Once she’d removed her bonnet and began unbuttoning her coat, she couldn’t help but question him.

  “You’re looking at me oddly, Mr. O’Brian. Are you still afraid that I’ll yet wound you?”

  Rich laughed. “No, I guess I’m still so shocked to see you here. I’d resigned myself to not seeing you for months to come. I figured you to be safe and sound in Sacramento.”

  “We tried to get west,” she explained, “but snow kept us in Ogden.”

  “Did you have a nice Christmas?” Rich asked.

  Jordana shrugged. “As nice as we could. We both sat pining for our loved ones, wishing we could be anywhere but Ogden. Poor Brenton was half heartsick from wanting to be with Caitlan, and he grew more surly than I can begin to tell.”

  “Being away from the woman you love will do that,” Rich murmured.

  Instantly Jordana thought of Rich’s dead wife. Poor man, she thought, but in the same moment she grieved for herself. He would always love another, and nothing Jordana did was going to change that.

  All at once, Rich grew excited. “Wait here!” he told her and hurried out of the room.

  Jordana removed her coat and had just taken a seat on the well-worn sofa when he returned. She noticed he had a small package in his hands.

  “I bought this for you. It’s a Christmas present,” he said, suddenly looking slightly embarrassed. “I suppose I was feeling rather sentimental, and when I saw it, I immediately thought of you.”

  Jordana took the package and opened it. “Why, it’s lovely, Rich.” Inside was a ladies’ jacket pin in the shape of a bumblebee. There were tiny rhinestones of gold and black decorating the bee, and gold trim outlined the entire creation. She grinned up at him. “Might I ask how this reminded you of me?”

  Rich smiled nervously. “I suppose because you’re so flighty. Always rushing from one place to the next, never landing long on any one spot.”

  “I thought maybe it was because bees have a stinger and you were thinking of my inability to keep from wounding you.”

  Rich laughed. “Well, sure. That too.”

  Jordana took the pin out of its box and secured it to her traveling suit. “I love it. It was very thoughtful, and whenever I see it, I shall think of the fun we’ve had.”

  Rich’s expression changed rather quickly. “You make it sound like that’s all behind us now. Like there will never be any more fun.”

  Jordana swallowed hard. “It’s just that I know we’re both very busy and you have your duties and now things have gone wrong.”

  “You keep saying that. Tell me what it is.”

  Jordana explained as best she could. She started by telling him about the telegram and then adding her own thoughts on the matter. “If Charlie’s had the chance, he’s no doubt taken this to anyone he thinks will listen. He was apprehensive about you when you were in Wadsworth, and no doubt he feels this information will confirm that he was correct in assuming the danger in trusting you.”

  Rich paced back and forth in front of the fire. “Very well. I need to contact General Dodge and explain before word gets to him. The only trouble is, I’m not exactly sure where he is. He was stationed along the line trying to press forward the Echo Canyon work, but earlier in the month he was desperately trying to make his way to Washington. Last I heard, he was due to come back through here after the first of the new year, but who can tell for sure if that was just conjecture or truth?”

  A man came into the parlor with Mr. Nader at just that moment. “O’Brian, this man needs to see you.”

  Rich recognized him as a UP man. He didn’t know the man personally, but he had seen him with Dodge on many an occasion.

  As Nader slipped out of the room the man asked, “Are you Richard O’Brian?”

  The question seemed completely unwarranted, but Rich nevertheless answered, “I am.”

  “I have instructions to take you to Fort Sanders, where you’re to be held until General Dodge makes his way back through.”

  “Might I ask why I’m to be taken there and held? Can I not just wait here? I mean, I want to see the general as much as I’m sure he wants to see me.”

  “No, sir. I have my orders. You’re to come with me.”

  Rich nodded. “Very well.” He looked at Jordana and shrugged. “I guess we’ll be at the mercy of Dodge’s schedule, but I’d appreciate it if you stuck close. I’ll send word to you when he gets here and will no doubt need you to explain some of this.”

  Jordana experienced a terrible sense of loss. “Are you certain he can’t remain here? We were just discussing our plans to find General Dodge. We want to talk to him. We need to talk to him,” she pleaded with the stranger.

  The man remained stern faced and unyielding. “I have my orders, ma’am,” he repeated in the same monotone he’d used with Rich.

  Jordana nodded. It would do little good to make a scene. She watched the man lead Rich away and quickly went to the window. Fingering the pin he’d just given her, Jordana observed the two as they marched down the street through the snow. Rich offered no resistance to his stern escort, and yet the man seemed to watch Rich as though he were the most hardened criminal in the world. With a sigh, she let the curtain fall back into place and took a seat by the fire. What was she to do now? Her worst fear seemed to have been realized. Although no one had used the word “arrest,” it was fairly apparent that was the case. As astonishing as it looked, General Dodge had arrested Rich!

  ——

  Rich had nearly lost his patience in waiting for Dodge. He knew this was a matter he could clear up once he actually had an audience with the man, but it was getting the man here first that stood in the way. Confined as he was to one of the furloughed officers’ homes, Rich found himself growing bored and increasingly frustrated. No doubt Jordana was the same. He thought of how she’d risked her life for him. Of how her face had been filled with sheer relief at the sight of him coming out of the telegraph office. He had been so surprised by her actions there—the warm embrace, the desperate hold.

  He knew without a doubt she cared for him, just as he cared for her. But to what degree, he had yet to discover. Thinking on this, Rich felt a sense of relief when a soldier appeared to announce that General Dodge had at last returned from Washington and would see him directly.

  “Private, I need to get word to Miss Jordana Baldwin. She’s staying at Nader’s Boarding. That’s on Fourth Street just south and west of the train station. I need someone to bring her here to the fort. Would you see to that?”

  “That’s a two-mile ride, sir,” the private replied. “I can’t leave my post.”

  “But surely you can get someone who can. Tell General Dodge that I said it was important. He should be willing.”

  The private reluctantly agreed and took his leave, while Rich waited to be summoned.

  But instead of bringing Rich to his own quarters, Dodge came to him. The surly look on his face told Rich that the man had been inundated with doubts about his business for and against the railroad.

  “Before you say anything,” Rich said, holding up his hand as Dodge began to unfasten the buttons on his heavy coat, “I want to clarify a few things.”

  “I figured you would have plenty to say,” Dodge replied dryly.

  “First, I’d like to wait until Jordana Baldwin can be brought here. She knows a good deal more about some of this
than I do.”

  “I spoke with the private and agreed to send him for her. She should arrive shortly. I fail to understand what part she plays in this, however.”

  “Jordana and Joe Baldwin are one and the same. Jordana donned male clothing in order to get stories for her New York newspaper. She found moving around as a man gave her a better reception than appearing as a woman.”

  “I can well imagine,” Dodge said, his eyes boring into Rich with a steely look of displeasure.

  “Please sit down and I’ll tell you whatever I can,” Rich continued. “But right up front you have to know that the things you’ve heard are only the reflection of my trying to get to the bottom of the Union Pacific’s attacks. I figure you to have already considered that chance, and the fact is, it’s true. I have done nothing to cause the line harm, and what I did do was merely to put myself into a position to learn who is causing our problems.”

  Dodge seemed to relax a bit and nodded. “I’m willing to see that as a possibility, but I’m going to need details and proof.”

  “I’ll give you what I can.”

  An hour later Jordana arrived, and the trio sat down together. Rich explained to Dodge how Jordana had come to figure into the situation. He told his superior of the Montegos and their actions against Jordana when they saw her as a threat to their plans.

  “Apparently they have something more in mind,” Rich replied. “I feel confident of it, in fact.”

  Dodge had grown considerably more quiet as Rich explained about Baxter Montego’s role in Jordana’s kidnapping. By the time Jordana repeated what she’d heard Montego tell the Indians, Dodge began shaking his head.

  “This is most serious,” he murmured.

  “Indeed it is,” Rich replied.

  Dodge met his expression. “More so than you even know. Montego is the one who brought your activities to my attention. He wired Durant and Durant wired me. I have had direct contact with Montego via telegraph, at least up until yesterday. I figured I’d have a chance to see him face-to-face today, but so far no one has been able to find him or his daughter.”

  Rich looked at Jordana. “What do you suppose this means?”

  “I think Montego wanted a scapegoat,” she offered. “I think he figured to pin all of his deeds on you.”

  “Yes . . .” Rich drew out the word thoughtfully. “I should have realized that the meeting I had with his henchmen came too easily. Montego probably saw my game from the beginning and turned it around to set me up for the fall.”

  “The only thing is, he didn’t plan on my being here to explain his part with the Indians,” said Jordana.

  “Has he given you any physical evidence of my participation?” Rich asked Dodge.

  “He said he could furnish me with papers, correspondences that would implicate you in several activities where episodes of destruction occurred upon the line. This is most alarming. The man is a good friend of Durant’s. He has been performing work for us all along the route. I hardly see an easy way to draw him out and call his hand.”

  Rich rubbed his mustache. “Well, I had thought by going to Montego and setting myself up as interested in creating sabotage against the Central Pacific that I would finally have the proof I needed to put Montego in jail. But now it’s clear my cover is no good. Jordana’s either. We’re going to have to figure out another plan. But we will catch them.”

  Dodge looked from Rich to Jordana and back again. “So you two are working together now?”

  “We’ve worked together many times and may yet figure a way to work this out while in each other’s company.” Rich glanced toward Jordana, his mustache twitching as he restrained the urge to grin. “Miss Baldwin has a great head on her shoulders, and I value her opinion. However, I do not wish to see harm come to her, and, therefore, it is my hope that her risk will be minimal.”

  “My risk will be whatever it takes to see this thing through!” Jordana declared unequivocally. “I’m sick to death of addlepated ninnies running the show. Crocker worries about what Dodge is doing, and Dodge worries about Stanford and Hopkins, and Durant worries about us all.” Jordana rolled her eyes. “I swear it is worse than a bunch of jealous women sharing the only single man at the dance.”

  An obviously reluctant smile bent Dodge’s stern expression, and though his mustache was now also quivering wildly, he managed to keep from laughing out loud. Rich didn’t bother to conceal his amusement. He was used to hearing Jordana speak her mind. Might as well let Dodge get used to it too.

  “There won’t be any time to waste,” Dodge said, growing serious once again. “We need to locate the Montegos, and we need to be at it immediately.”

  Rich and Jordana nodded. “We’ll do what we can,” they said practically in unison, as if they truly were a team.

  25

  Before Jordana realized it, the end of January had come and she was nowhere nearer to figuring out how to bring the Montegos to justice than she had been when she and Rich had stood before General Dodge.

  Laramie was suffering bitter cold, and Jordana had just about convinced herself to head back to California for the birth of her sister’s baby. After all, Rich didn’t seem to care whether she lived or died. He was seldom ever around to spend much time with her. And those times he managed to see her at the boardinghouse, Jordana found herself much too caught up in her own emotions to know exactly what to do with him. She wanted to confess her feelings, but how? Even if she told him that she’d changed her mind about marriage and children and that the thought of being more than friends with him was now appealing, who was to say he’d find this news favorable? After all, he’d made it clear that he had no desire to remarry. He carried an ever burning torch for his first wife, and Jordana was convinced she could never replace his Peggy.

  “Do you want to come see my new horse?” Rich asked one icy afternoon as he stomped into the parlor, melted snow puddling around his boots.

  Jordana looked up, surprised that he had bothered to include her. “What happened to Troublesome?”

  Rich grimaced. “We had, shall we say, problems in the area of command. Troublesome thought he should be in command, and I thought that privilege belonged to me. Since I had the bill of sale in my name, it seemed only natural that I be the one to effect a change.”

  Jordana smiled. “And what have you hooked yourself up with this time? Indian pony? Grizzly bear?”

  “A sweet-tempered gelding who was actually the mount of an army volunteer. The horse has been gun broke and trained to maneuver as silently as a horse is capable. He rides like a dream and yet has enough vim and vinegar that he rises to the occasion when the fight is on.”

  “What color is he?”

  “Why don’t you come out and see for yourself? I’m going to feed him some carrots. It will get you out of the house, and we can discuss our plans for the future.”

  Jordana reluctantly got up from her place by the fire. “Let me retrieve my things.”

  She was back within minutes doing up the buttons of her coat. She pulled on woolen mittens and wrapped a scarf around her head before nodding to Rich. “All right. Lead the way.”

  They walked across the backyard to the small stable. The only sound was that of the snow crunching under their feet. Jordana wondered if Rich had any new ideas in regard to the Montegos, or if he’d just used that as an excuse to get her out here alone. She had to admit his reasons were probably the latter. And what had he meant when he had said he wanted to discuss their future? The words left a knot in the pit of her stomach, but she forced herself to act nonchalant.

  Rich opened the creaky barn door and ushered her into the dimly lit stable. The smell of sweet hay and horses immediately assaulted her senses. It wasn’t at all unpleasant; in fact, Jordana had rather come to enjoy the smell. It took her back to days when she had been a child and they had visited her aunt Georgia’s horse farm near Washington City.

  “Here he is,” Rich said, putting out a hand to run along the flank of a chestnut gel
ding.

  “He’s beautiful!” Jordana pulled off her mitten, reached out her hand to the horse’s muzzle, and let him smell her scent. The white blaze on the horse’s forehead beckoned her touch, and once the mount sensed she was no threat, Jordana put her hand there and petted him very gently. “You’re right. His disposition is much better than Troublesome’s. What are you calling him?”

  “He came to me already named. My friend called him Scout.”

  “Sounds like an acceptable title,” Jordana said, growing ever aware of Rich’s presence as he moved to stand closer beside her. Hemmed in by the horse, the stall, and now Rich, Jordana had no means of escape. Why should that come to mind? she wondered. Why would I need a means of escape? Rich is no threat to me.

  But in that instant he reached out and touched an errant curl. “You know,” he said, his voice low and husky, “I think I’ve grown to like it short.”

  Jordana felt a thrill go up the back of her neck. Turning to face Rich, she forgot completely about the horse. “You’ve always teased me about it before now.”

  Rich’s eyes darkened in hue as he allowed her hair to curl around his finger. Jordana was afraid to breathe. She felt overwhelmed by the moment. Would he kiss her? Would he declare himself in love with her? And if he did, would she counter with her own declaration?

  Suddenly he stepped back. “I’m glad you are the woman you are, Jordana,” he said, appearing almost shaken by the brief experience.

  “You are?” Her voice squeaked over the question. She was both frightened and intrigued by his words. She watched as he reached up to touch the horse, his hand trembling quite obviously.

  He turned away, as if unable to continue with his thoughts. He walked away from the horse and went to where a single window allowed a muted shaft of light to come in through the poor-quality panes of glass.

  “You understand how it is for me.” He was staring out the window as he spoke. “You know now about Peggy. You know about the past. Another woman might be upset by my lack of interest in marriage, but you understand.”