Addie had just darted over and picked up Garland’s gun when Charley raced up.
He’d seen it all. He’d seen the two men speak to Addie; seen their slimy grins; seen her get mad; watched Garland dismount; could hear Addie’s angry holler, although he couldn’t discern the words.
His brain had screamed, Why? Why? For God’s sake, Addie, don’t irritate them! His brain should have known better.
When he saw her hide behind the cow and watched Garland pull out his gun, Charley drew his own gun, although he knew the gesture to be futile. He was too far away from them to aim properly, even if he could use a gun as well as he suspected these two desperadoes could. Charley was a musician, not a gunslinger. He knew he’d be taking a desperate chance if he tried to fire now. For God’s sake, he might hit Queen Elizabeth or, far worse, Addie.
Pausing only to kick Luther in the stomach to keep him down and grab up his gun, Charley hurtled the fence and charged over to Addie. She stood right next to Garland, waving his own gun in his face. Garland had started whimpering. His milk-soaked shirt clung to his skinny chest, and his eyelashes had clumped together from the moisture. He looked truly pathetic.
“You rotten coward!” Addie shrieked. “How dare you molest a lady and a cow?”
“Addie!”
She turned her glare on Charley, but her expression softened as soon as she realized who had addressed her. Her breast still heaved with left-over fright and present fury, however, and she couldn’t appreciate his concern quite yet.
She said, “Oh, hello, Charley,” and turned to continue lecturing Garland.
“You monster! You and your friend there are just a couple of no-good bandits. Why, I’ll bet you belong to one of those awful gangs who ride around terrorizing people in the territory. The both of you ought to be ashamed of yourselves!”
She whipped another look at Charley and cried, “Why, I’ll just bet these two are the ones who shot you, Charley!”
Garland snuffled. Peering up at Charley with a plea in his shifty eyes, he moaned, “Please help me, Mister.”
Charley gave Garland a disgusted look and said, “Maybe I’ll help Miss Adelaide tie you up, but I sure as the devil won’t help you, you piece of scum.”
Addie liked Charley’s descriptive word and picked right up on it. “You are scum!” she announced triumphantly. “That’s a perfect word for you and your horrible friend! You’re both scum! Why, I have half a mind to shoot you right now and save the world the trouble!”
Charley laid a gentle, restraining hand on her shoulder. “Don’t do anything rash, Miss Adelaide. I expect the law can take care of these two vermin.”
She liked “vermin,” too. “They are vermin, aren’t they, Charley?” She stared exultantly down at Garland. “You’re vermin and scum! That’s exactly what you are.”
Charley shook his head and hoped Addie wouldn’t shoot the poor wounded criminal. “I’ll go tie up his friend, Miss Adelaide. Please don’t shoot him in the mean time.”
“Well, all right, Charley, but he deserves to be shot. He scared Betsy something awful.”
“I reckon he does, but you know the law takes a dim view of shooting people.” Inspiration made him add, “Chivalry doesn’t hold with shooting an opponent while he’s down, either.”
Addie’s brow cleared as if by magic. “Oh, I reckon that’s right, Charley. Thanks for remindin’ me.”
“Think nothing of it, Miss Adelaide.”
Charley heard Garland blubber when he climbed back over the fence. Luther was still out cold. Charley hog-tied him and propped him up against the fence, then rejoined Addie. He realized with some surprise that his wounded arm didn’t hurt at all after this exertion. He chalked the fact up to Addie’s fine nursing.
“I reckon I should tie this pig up, too, Miss Adelaide.”
“I reckon,” agreed Addie. Since, however, it had been Garland who’d frightened her and she resented him a good deal more than Luther, she frowned when she said it.
“Kin I take the prickles outer my hand?” Garland whimpered.
Addie spat, “Cry baby!”
“I’ll tie your hands in front of you and you can pick ‘em out with your teeth,” Charley offered unsympathetically.
He bent to his task, using rope confiscated from Luther’s horse, which had meandered back to the fence after its fright abated. Wrinkling his nose, Charley said, “Phew! It smells like sour milk around here.”
“I expect it does. I threw the milk bucket at him when he tried to assault me.” Addie glared hard at Garland.
The thought of this miserable coward molesting Addie sent a shaft of anger careening through Charley. He jerked on the rope, precipitating a yelp of pain from the beleaguered Garland.
Addie sniffed haughtily. “Serves you right, you scummy vermin pig.”
She picked up the milk bucket and looked inside, hoping it might still serve its intended purpose. Frowning, she decided it was too caked with dust and she’d have to wash it out before she could finish milking Betsy. She blamed Garland and Luther and scowled at Garland, since he was at hand.
Charley had knotted his last knot and was emptying the chambers of the two scoundrels’ guns when the sound of hoof beats reached his ears. He straightened and turned toward the sound.
“Now who can that be?” Scowling, he squinted into the sun and hoped it wasn’t a friend of these two varmints.
“Maybe it’s more of the gang, Charley.”
“I hope not.
“Well, I’ll keep these two covered, and you can aim your gun at the rider,” she offered.
He looked down at her, amused. Little Miss Adelaide had apparently been reading too many novels. “You’re gonna cover ‘em with the milk bucket?”
Addie glanced at the bucket dangling from her fist and grinned. “Well, it worked on old Garland here.”
With a laugh, Charley said, “I guess it did at that.”
Addie’s grin tilted. “Oh, good grief. It’s Fermin. Always a day late and a dollar short, that man.” She narrowed her gaze. “Now, why’s he riding so doggoned fast? He’s going to hurt his horse that way.”
“Who knows why that man does anything?”
Charley’s eyes widened in alarm when he realized Fermin’s gun was drawn. When a shot rang out, he grunted, “Aw, hell,” and grabbed Addie right before he hit the dirt.
Damn it all, this was getting mighty old, protecting Addie from the addle-pated sheriff of Rothwell, New Mexico Territory. Charley was sick and tired of it.
A high-pitched, nasal, “I’ll save you, Miss Addie!” smote Charley’s eardrums, and he muttered, “Oh, good grief.”
Addie, spread out on top of him like warm butter, a condition he might have appreciated under different circumstances, asked, “What did he say?”
With a sigh, Charley murmured, “He said he’d save you, Miss Adelaide.”
“From what?”
Charley looked into her clear gray eyes and got lost for a minute. Her eyes sparkled like a pure mountain lake, and he had an absurd impulse to tell her so and then kiss her. Instead, he said, “From me, I reckon.”
Her eyelids wrinkled, squeezing her pretty eyes into a couple of foul-tempered slits. “Oh, good Lord.”
Charley sighed again when Addie slid off of his chest. He propped himself onto his elbow in time to see her stand up and flap her hands against her skirts to beat the dust out. Fermin’s mount slid to a pebbly stop just outside the fence, and Charley guessed he’d probably be better off remaining on the ground until Fermin put his gun away. He flattened himself out and hoped Addie’d take care of things quickly.
Fermin slid off his horse and landed with a thump, then clambered over the fence. Panting hard, he nevertheless managed to cry, “I’ll save you,” once more before dust kicked up by his mount choked him and he succumbed to a coughing fit. Peering up from his sanctuary on the ground, Charley frowned when he saw Fermin’s gun waving wildly as the sheriff tried to cover his mouth with his hand.<
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Charley covered his head and moaned, “Oh, my God.”
Addie marched up to Fermin and wrested the gun from his fingers. “Stop that before you hurt somebody, Fermin Small!”
Tears induced by his choking fit streaked the sheriff’s dust-covered face when he finally came up for air. “I’ll rescue you, Miss Addie,” he croaked.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Addie whirled around and stomped over to Charley. “Are you all right, Charley? That maniac didn’t shoot you, did he?”
Daring at last to rise to his hands and knees, Charley looked hard at Fermin Small. “Not yet.”
“Stay where you are, Wilde!” Fermin commanded. His command lacked authority, since Addie held his gun and he hadn’t regained full control of his voice.
“I don’t think so, Sheriff.” Charley climbed to his feet and dusted off his trousers. Shoot, this desert was dirty.
“For heaven’s sake, Fermin! What are you hollerin’ at Charley for when there are two genuine criminals tied up right in front of your eyes?”
Fermin’s squinty, furtive glance darted from Addie to Charley, and then took in the spectacle of Luther and Garland, trussed up like Christmas geese and propped against the fence. He swallowed hard and looked nervous for a minute before he composed himself. “Oh, Lordy.”
Then the sheriff shook himself and seemed to regain his composure. “Who’re they?” he asked in a suspicious, official tone of voice.
“They’re criminal vermin scum who tried to molest me, is who they are, Fermin Small, and I demand that you arrest them at once!”
Addie pointed to the two men with Fermin’s gun, and Garland mewled piteously and jerked to one side. Since he no longer retained the use of his hands and feet, his efforts succeeded in toppling him and he flopped over like a dead chicken. Luther was still not fully conscious. His head lolled to one side, one eye cricked open, and he looked stupidly at Addie, but he spoke not a word.
Fermin swallowed again, then said stolidly, “I’ll warrant they’s part of this varmint’s gang, Miss Addie.” He pointed a long, quivering finger at Charley, who glared at him.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Fermin,” Addie advised.
“It’s too late for that,” Charley said, disgusted.
Fermin glared back at Charley. “Don’t you give me no lip, Wilde.”
Addie, fed up with a day that had begun so beautifully and turned into such a travesty, finally decided she’d taken enough. Pointing Fermin’s gun directly at his middle, she said icily, “You’re the sheriff here, Fermin Small, until the citizens of Rothwell figure out what a mistake they made by electing you. As sheriff, you’d just better get these scummy vermin off my farm and into jail. They were going to hurt me, and if you don’t do your duty now, I’ll make sure every blessed voter in Rothwell hears about it before the sun sets on this day.”
Charley almost applauded.
Fermin looked peeved.
Luther rejoined the conscious world at that very moment. His head wobbled on his skinny neck when he lifted it and looked around with bleary eyes. He saw his friend on the ground next to him, pulling cactus spines out of his palm with his teeth, and slurred, “You took her yet, Garland? Is it my turn now?”
Through the dust and streaks of salt tears, Fermin Small’s face turned red. Charley cursed under his breath.
Addie, however, sucked in a gigantic gust of spring air and screeched, “What?” She stormed over to the trussed villains. “What did you just say, you miserable piece of hog swill?”
It looked to Charley as though Luther was having trouble focusing his eyes. He peered up at Addie uncomprehendingly and said, “Huh?”
“Don’t you ‘huh’ me, you filthy toad!”
And with that, Addie swung the gun and popped Luther upside the head. She didn’t hit him hard and her aim was bad, so the gun only skimmed his forehead, but it was enough to send him into dreamland once more. He collapsed like a house of cards. Charley ran up and grabbed Addie’s arm before she could do any more damage.
“It’s all right, Miss Adelaide. I think you’ve taken care of these two outlaws.” Keeping an arm around her shoulder, more for the protection of the criminal elements in the vicinity than for her own comfort, Charley led her back to the sheriff.
“You’d better get those men to town, sheriff. I’ll bring Miss Adelaide in to file charges tomorrow.” To Addie, Charley asked gently, “Is that all right with you, Miss Adelaide?” His hand closed softly over hers and she relinquished the gun.
Addie still looked mutinous. With a furious scowl for the sheriff, she said, “I don’t trust Fermin Small to get these men back to town. He’ll probably lose them on the way.”
“Now, Miss Addie—”
“Don’t you ‘Now, Miss Addie’ me. This is the third time in a week you’ve almost shot an innocent person.”
Charley mumbled, “Fourth.”
“Aw, now—”
“Fourth?” Addie spun around to gape at Charley, interrupting the sheriff without so much as a thought. “When was the fourth time?”
“In Phipps’ mercantile when I went to town last week.”
Whirling again, this time out of Charley’s arms, Addie stalked rigidly to Fermin, who looked quite hang-dog. Being so long, he carried off the expression especially well.
“All right, Fermin Small. I’ve taken all I’m going to take from you. Get these men off my farm right this minute. And if you want to stay in town after you lose your job, you’d just better not say another single word.”
Charley took the precaution of emptying Fermin’s gun before he handed it back to him and said, “I’ll help you load these men on their horses, Small.”
Fermin apparently decided not to argue with Addie and Charley any further today. After a moment, during which he looked like a schoolboy who’d just been asked to parse a difficult sentence, he mumbled ungraciously, “Oh, all right.”
Lugging Garland and Luther over to their horses and tying them to their saddles took a good deal of effort. Charley was in powerful shape from having worked hard all his life; Fermin was not so blessed. His long nose wrinkled and he complained bitterly about the smell of sour milk, but Charley found it telling that he had to do most of the work himself. Fermin wasn’t strong enough to lift either man, so he contented himself with tying their wrists to their saddle horns once Charley had lifted them to their saddles. The inequity of their efforts was not lost on Addie, who vilified the sheriff about his uselessness the entire time.
Fermin looked mad as a plucked owl when he finally rode away, leading Garland and Luther on their mounts. Garland whimpered, “Thank God. Thank God,” as they trotted off in the direction of Rothwell.
Luther didn’t appear to know what was going on. They heard him say, “Did I take her too, Garland? I don’t recollect,” and Charley had to grab Addie to prevent her from running after them and slaying the hapless Luther. She struggled for a second or two, then wrenched herself out of Charley’s arms and stormed away from him.
Charley frowned after the trio of departing interlopers. He wished to glory that Fermin Small would leave him alone. When he turned at last, it was to find Addie comforting Queen Elizabeth. Although he wasn’t sure it was a good idea, he walked over to her.
“Are you all right, Miss Adelaide? You’ve been through quite an ordeal today.”
“I’m all right.” She didn’t look at him, and her words sounded suspiciously thick.
“Are you sure?” He peered at her hard, but only saw the top of her sunbonnet since she didn’t lift her head.
Charley got a nod in answer, and he began to worry. Nudging her gently under the chin, he asked, “Are you sure you’re all right, Miss Adelaide? It would be natural for you to have a reaction now that they’re gone and you’re safe.”
With a big sniff, Addie left off petting the cow and lifted her tear-stained face. Charley’s heart gave an enormous lurch and he sucked in a breath. Oh, Addie. Oh, my darling little Addie. It took all of hi
s willpower not to grab her and hug her tight.
“I—I was real scared, Charley,” Addie confessed, as though it were a cardinal sin to have feared two vicious criminals who wanted to rape her.
“Of course you were. I was scared for you.”
Her drowned gray eyes opened wider. “Y-you were?”
“I sure was.”
“For me?”
“I like to have heart failure when I saw those men riding toward you out here in this lonely meadow, Miss Adelaide.”
“You did?”
“I did. I ran out here as fast as I could, but I was afraid I’d be too late. It—it scared the daylights out of me to think what they might do to you.”
“Really?”
“Honest to God, Addie. I was scared to death. I—I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.” He was embarrassed after his confession hit the air, no matter how true it was. He had no right to say things of such an intimate nature to a woman he planned to rob and abandon.
“Oh, Charley!”
When she flung herself into his arms this time, Charley knew he was a goner.
Chapter 13
“Oh, Charley.”
Addie’s whisper feathered into Charley’s ears, sugared his brain, coated his heart with candy fluff, drizzled sweet syrup through his soul, and ended up hardening his body until he thought he’d explode.
“Oh, my God, Addie.”
Although the words had been wrenched from him without his knowledge or consent, he sort of expected them to have a dampening effect on Addie. They did not. She heaved an enormous sigh and wrapped her legs around him, using the leverage to bring her face on a level with his. Thus positioned, she kissed him with renewed ardor. The fingers of one hand crawled up his neck and tangled with his hair, knocking his hat off. Her other hand began exploring the hard ridges of his muscled back.
Surfacing once for air, Charley groaned, “Oh, my God,” once before Addie’s lips conquered his again.
For years now, Charley’s life had been empty. The only thing in it worth a plug nickel was the band, and even the band had become more burden than joy since they’d left Georgia to face the rigors of life in the West.
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