by Bobbi Smith
"The dog is with us, but I'll be more than willing to pay you for any inconvenience he may cause. Will an extra dollar cover it?"
Keeps almost licked his lips in anticipation of a dog as a paying customer. "That'll do it, but you clean up any messes he makes."
Chance tossed the money to him. It never ceased to amaze Chance just how powerful money was. No matter what the problem, money somehow always managed to solve it.
They said good night to Doug at his door and went on down the hall to Rori's.
"Thanks for helpin' me keep Jakie with me tonight, Chance," Rori told him as he unlocked her door for her. Her pulse quickened at the thought that he might want to come into her room again.
"Well, you two sleep tight, all right?" Chance pushed the portal wide so she could enter, but made no attempt to go in himself.
Rori's heart sank as he remained standing in the hall. "Chance . . . I . . . "
"Rori," he began in a gruff yet soft tone, "we can't let what happened this afternoon repeat itself. I'm your guardian. I'm supposed to protect you from men like me, not use you."
"But . . ." Rori wanted to yell at him that she didn't want to be protected from him, that she wanted to love him, but he didn't give her the opportunity.
"Shhh . . . don't say anything else. I'm going to take you back to Boston, and you're going to find a good man and have a good life."
Rori stared at him in aggravation for a minute. I've already found a good man! she wanted to shout at him, but she realized that it was still too soon to press her point. She rose up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek and then turned to go inside.
"Good night, Chance." She closed the door behind her. She wanted him, her body ached to be held in his embrace, but her pride refused to let her beg him for attention. If he didn't want her tonight, fine, but that was all going to change very quick.
Chance stood there staring at her closed door for a moment before continuing on down the hall to his own room. He went inside and stretched out fully clothed on his bed, all the while fighting down the urge to go back to Rori and spend the night making mad, passionate love to her. He couldn't do it. He wouldn't do it.
A knock at the door summoned him from his restlessness, and he opened it to find the maid bringing him his bath.
"How hot's the water you got there?" he asked sharply.
"This is hot."
"Well, take it back and bring cold . . . and lots of it."
"Yes, sir."
The sound of the crash brought Chance bolt upright in bed, and he stared around his darkened room, trying to decide where the noise had come from. It occurred to him suddenly that it must have come from Rori's room. He struggled into his pants, grabbed his gun and bolted for the hallway. He charged out of his room just as Doug did. Both men were barefoot, shirtless, and their hair was sleep-tousled. They exchanged worried looks as they stood there in the hall.
"No! Don't! Stop it!"
They could hear Rori's cries, and without hesitation, they booted her door open. Chance's heart was in his throat at the thought that she was in danger. They launched themselves into the room, guns ready. They intended to shoot whoever it was who was daring to hurt her, and they both froze, feeling like complete fools as they took in the scene before them.
Rori looked up at them and scowled. She was kneeling next to the bathtub that was in the center of her room, and she was trying to keep Big Jake from jumping out of the water. She was wearing her old clothes and was soaked from head to toe. Soapsuds covered her, and it looked like there were more suds on her than on the bedraggled, soggy mutt.
"Chance? Doug? What are you doing?" Rori asked, struggling to keep her hold on Jake.
"What are you doing?" Chance thundered, embarrassed and more than a little angry now that he knew she was all right. She'd just given him the scare of his life.
Rori shrugged. "Givin' Jake a bath. I decided that he smelled kinda bad, and if I was gonna be a lady, he was gonna have to be a lady's dog."
Chance and Doug groaned almost in unison as they slowly straightened up and lowered their guns.
"Ladies don't give their dogs a bath in the middle of the night," Chance dictated.
"Ladies do when they can't sleep!" she retorted.
Realizing how ridiculous they all looked standing there, the two men backed from the room.
"Good night, Rori," they said pointedly.
"Good night," she called lightly after them.
Chance closed the door behind them as they went out into the hall. He was glad to find that they hadn't broken the lock during their hasty entrance. He and Doug said good night once again, and he returned to his own room.
When he was stretched out on his bed once more, Chance found sleep impossible. All he could think about was how upset he'd been when he thought someone was hurting Rori and how he'd been ready to kill to keep her safe. It was a long, seemingly endless night for Chance.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Wearing her new green dress that had just been delivered barely an hour before, Rori stood quietly beside Chance as he spoke earnestly with Doug.
"It sounds like you've found what you're looking for."
"I'm going to ride out and take a look at it tomorrow. If it's as good a piece of land as they say and if the water runs year round, I'll buy it and start founding the western branch of the Broderick dynasty."
Chance chuckled. "Let us know what you do."
"Oh, I will. I'll write, and as soon as we can we'll come back to Boston for a visit."
The stage driver climbed up atop the waiting vehicle, and Chance knew the time had come for their final farewell.
"We'll be waiting to hear from you." He shook his hand and then embraced him.
Doug turned to Rori and hugged her, giving her his usual robust kiss on the lips. "Don't be afraid, Rori," he told her so softly only she could hear. "Everything's going to work out just the way you want it to, you'll see."
His statement puzzled her, and she drew back to look up at him questioningly. She saw a gleam of understanding in his eyes, and she wondered if Doug knew more than he was saying about what was going on between Chance and her.
"Really, Rori," Doug repeated in earnest. "Be happy." He kissed her once more and then grinned at her consternation as he released her. "You're going to be the toast of Boston, darling. I can't wait until Mother meets you. Take care." He touched her cheek gently.
"I will. Good-bye, Doug," she answered, and then Chance helped her into the waiting stage.
After handing Big Jake up to the driver, who'd agreed to let the overgrown dog ride up top with him, Chance turned back to Doug. They shook hands once more. He would have let go of Doug's hand, but his brother held on an extra moment, just to get his full attention.
"Take good care of her, Chance. Rori means a lot to me, and I don't want to see her hurt."
"I'll do what's best for her," Chance answered, frowning slightly as he wondered if the subtle threat he thought he'd heard in his brother's voice was real or imagined.
"You do that. Just make sure you know what's best," Doug counseled. The driver made an impatient noise, and Doug knew Chance had to get aboard. "Get going. Nilakla and I will come as soon as we're able."
"Bye, Doug."
With that, Chance entered the stagecoach and closed the door behind him. The driver slapped the reins on his horses' backs urging them to their pace, and they moved off on the first leg of their journey home to Boston.
Doug watched them go, wondering how long it would be before Chance came to realize just how much he loved Rori. It was obvious to him that his brother was crazy in love with her. He'd never known Chance to care so much about one woman. Why else would he have paid extra to let Jake stay in her room with her and why else would he have reacted so strongly the night before when he thought she'd been in danger?
Chance loved her all right, Doug decided, he was just too dumb to realize it. Doug only hoped that he didn't take too long to discover the
truth of his feelings. If he did, he had a feeling Chance would have a lot of additional competition for Rori's affections from the other bachelors in Boston. Rori was a rare find, and the man who won her would have a prize of great value.
When the stage had gone from sight, Doug turned away from thoughts of his old life and turned back to his plans for his future. Nilakla was waiting for his return. It was important that he see about buying the ranch and get back to her as soon as he could. He missed her terribly already and could hardly wait to be back in the warmth of her loving embrace.
Rori was nearly hanging out the window of the coach as she watched Phoenix fade into the dusty distance. She couldn't believe that she was actually leaving . . . leaving the territory . . . leaving the only life she'd ever known. Chance had told her that they would be in Boston in less than a month, and now that they had started on their way, it suddenly seemed all too real and all too threatening. Panic seized her. What was she going to do? How was she going to survive?
As quickly as the doubts came, Rori fought them down. This was what she wanted. She wanted to be with Chance. She wanted to win his love. She certainly wouldn't be able to do it if she stayed here and continued to live like she had. Now that Burr was gone, change in her life was inevitable.
Rori sat back on her seat and cast a nervous glance at Chance who was sitting next her. She was surprised to find him gazing at her sympathetically.
"Scared?" Chance asked, seeing the sudden look of fear in her eyes.
"No," she answered. Then admitted, hesitantly, "Well, maybe just a little."
"Don't be," he said calmly. "I'll be with you every step of the way."
She graced him with a tentative smile. "I'm glad."
Her smile went straight to his heart, and Chance was hard put not to kiss her, right then and there. It was difficult enough for him, sitting right next to her, his thigh pressed against hers. With every jounce of the stage, he was reminded of her nearness, and he knew it was going to be a very long journey.
Still, the alternative of not sitting next to Rori was far worse for Chance. Their companions on the trek north were two scurrilous-looking cowboys, and Chance wasn't about to let them any nearer to her than he had to. He didn't like the idea that the two were going to be able to sit there and leer at her all they wanted. An emotion he couldn't name ate at him. Rori was so lovely and so innocent that Chance wanted to protect her from the seamier side of life. He wanted this to be a trip she'd remember forever, an awakening of sorts, as he showed her the rest of the world. He wanted everything to be perfect for her. Above all, he wanted her to be happy.
There were times during the two and a half, interminable weeks of traveling in the stagecoach that Chance thought the trip would never end. What he had hoped would turn out to be a great adventure for the two of them had turned into endless miles of torture. His motives had been noble when he'd started out on the journey, but trapped as he was with Rori in the close confines of the coach, it had turned into pure hell.
The enforced intimacy had only proven to Chance just how much he desired her, yet there had been nothing he could do about it. He'd wanted it this way. He'd wanted to make sure there were others around to unwittingly chaperone, but he was slowly losing his mind over the fact that they had not had a moment alone together since leaving Phoenix. Meals at the way stations were rushed and crowded, and the nights spent there were even more difficult, for women slept in one room and men in another.
Chance had to admit that Rori was faring much better than he was. She went out of her way to make friends with the others on the stage, and while he attempted to join in her merriment, he found himself subtly resenting the way the others responded to her. At each stop, when some passengers got off and others got on, Rori initiated conversations and kept things from getting too dull. She treated him with the same easy camaraderie she showed the others, and it annoyed Chance, though he wasn't sure why. He had expected Rori to have difficulty maintaining the feminine veneer she'd acquired, but somehow she was carrying the whole thing off with aplomb, and he was pleased about that, he thought.
What Chance didn't know was that Rori was as nervous and unsure as she had ever been in her life. She was terrified of making a major mistake and looking like a fool in front of Chance, but she tackled the problem the same way she did everything else in life, head on. In her mind, she went over and over everything he'd taught her about ladylike behavior. When the stage made its stops, she waited for him to help her descend, and when they were ready to depart, she waited for him to help her back inside. When they ate, she handled her utensils with expertise and made sure to keep her bites tiny and feminine. Occasionally, she caught herself about to pepper her language with less than ladylike phrases, but somehow she managed to stop herself in time. The biggest problem she had was in adjusting to wearing skirts all the time. She was used to being able to walk freely without encumbrance, and the yards of material definitely hampered her movements. In a way, though, Rori realized it was probably a good thing, for she'd noticed in her observations of other ladies that none of them moved particularly fast. She would just have to remember to slow down, and everything would be all right.
Rori figured she was not doing too badly on the trip. She had made no major errors or blunders that called undue attention to herself. Only the tension that came from being constantly near Chance made it awkward for her. She loved him so much that it was difficult not to let it show. She tried to distract herself by engaging the other passengers in conversation, but Chance was always there beside her, his leg pressed against hers from hip to knee.
Rori was glad when they arrived in Denver, for she was hoping that there might be a layover there and some respite from being in such close quarters with Chance. To her dismay, their connections were perfect. The train that would take them to St. Louis was leaving that very same day.
Chance hurriedly made arrangements for Big Jake's transportation on the train and then sent a telegram to Boston informing his mother that all was well and that he'd be returning home soon. He did not give her an exact date of arrival, though, for he had some things he wanted to take care of in St. Louis and didn't know how long he would be. That done, they boarded their first-class car on the hotel express train and set out on the next leg of their journey home.
The opulence of the train car and the elegant meals served there by the courteous, uniformed porters greatly impressed Rori. She thoroughly enjoyed the trip except for the sleepless night she passed in the snug, curtain-shrouded berth that was so close to Chance's.
St. Louis. Despite the relative briefness of their day-and-a-half trip from Denver, Chance was beginning to wonder if they would ever get there. When they finally arrived, Chance whisked Rori and Jake off to the Planter's House, the best hotel in town.
Rori was completely amazed by the sights and sounds of the major metropolis. From the busy riverfront crowded with steamboats to the horse-drawn streetcars and the elegance of the hotel, she found herself overwhelmed with the new and different. She was leading Jake on a rope leash and staring around her as if she'd never seen the likes of it before, which she hadn't.
"Is Boston like this?" she asked Chance in amazement as they entered the sumptuous hotel lobby.
"Worse," he told her with a grin, "but don't worry. "You'll be fine."
Rori had her doubts as she watched the bustle around her, but her tight hold on Jake's leash was the only outward sign she gave that she was a bit nervous. She listened distractedly as Chance made the unorthodox request to allow Jake to stay in her room, and she was overjoyed when the clerk finally agreed. They went to their room to freshen up, and it was only a short time later when Chance came for her.
Rori was feeling a bit self-conscious about going out in public. She had managed to brush out her hair and wash up a bit, but her simple dress definitely showed the wear and tear of the last few weeks of hard travel.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked as they left Jakie behind.
"Chance!" she gasped, agog at the sight of so many things for sale. "What is this place?"
"It's a dry goods store, my dear. Anything and everything a lady could possibly need is available here. Let's see what we can find, shall we?" With a possessive hand at her waist, he led her on.
The next few hours were a wonderland of discovery for Rori. She had never imagined such fine things existed, let alone that she would own any of them. Dresses were selected, along with lingerie, stockings, an assortment of footwear, handkerchiefs, hats, and every other conceivable item she might need to ensure her immediate acceptance in Boston. Chance wanted to be certain that she lacked for nothing.
"Are you sure I can afford all this?" Rori asked at one point as she eyed the mounting store of goods he was selecting for her.
"Of course you can," Chance told her confidently, and he was rewarded with a brilliant smile.
By the time they finished shopping, they had so many packages that Chance had to hire a conveyance to take them back to the hotel. Once they returned to Rori's room, she began to unwrap everything with the enthusiasm of a young child at Christmas.
As he watched her excitement, Chance couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever really received any presents. She seemed thoroughly delighted with each item they'd chosen, and she handled them with great care, touching the delicate things almost reverently and smoothing any wrinkles she found from the large selection of gowns he'd insisted she buy.
Chance was glad that he'd picked so many different dresses for her.
Her wardrobe was extensive now and would get her through just about any social situation she might encounter during her first few days in Boston. All she really lacked was a ballgown, but he wanted her first dressy gown to be special, something created especially for her. As soon as they reached Boston, he would have his mother set up an appointment for her with her own seamstress. He knew the woman was very talented with a needle and thread and could no doubt create the perfect style for Rori, something that would complement her dark beauty and fit her slender, enticing curves.