Gold Dust (21 page)

“I’m surprised you’re acquainted with the sun,” Katy replied. “I figure you haven’t seen it much before this. Lucky for you
that most of your business is at night. Women look younger in moonlight,
you know?”
She finished with a mimic of Maude’s favorite phrase.

Maude pouted her lips. “At least some of us look good in moonlight. Others don’t look good in any light at all.”

The rest of the afternoon followed a similar script. Jonah stayed with Andy and the pack train, keeping well clear of the
catfight in front of him. How a man could spit in death’s eye
as Jonah had done the previous night and run like a yellow dog from a sorry creature like Maude was beyond Katy’s understanding.
Maybe he didn’t want to run. Maybe he liked this pathetic excuse for a woman. Maybe she wasn’t a pathetic excuse for a woman.
Katy hadn’t given much thought to what a woman should really be. She’d had very little interest in the subject until she’d
met Jonah.

Their total progress that day was the short distance to Stone House, and they were grateful to make that landmark before dark.
They had climbed above the tree line, and here the landscape consisted of hummocky alpine grasses and jumbled rocks. The stark,
rocky summit loomed above the gigantic boulder that gave Stone House its name. Glaciers crawled down several of the side valleys,
one with its crevassed snout not far from where they camped for the night.

They set up the tent in the grassiest spot they could find. Knowing there would be no timber for a fire, they had carried
some with them from Sheep Camp. While Jonah and Andy unloaded the horses for the last time—beyond this point pack animals
were unable to go—Katy started the beans heating. There was little game in this rocky meadow for her or Hunter to bag for
supper, so she had to dig into their provisions. She contemplated the possibilities of making a batch of biscuits that were
edible, then discarded the notion.

While everyone else worked, Maude arranged herself artfully on a slab of granite and watched. She showed no interest in removing
herself to the sporting ladies’ camp, which was up the trail and on the other side of the landmark boulder.

“I’m going to wander around and try to find someone to buy the horses,” Jonah told Katy. He wiped his muddy hands on his trousers.
Katy noted that Maude’s eyes followed his every movement. No doubt she wished those were her hands instead of his rubbing
over the hard muscle of his thighs.

“Are you all right?” Jonah asked Katy. “You look flushed.”

“I’m fine,” she snapped.

“I’ll go with you,” Maude purred, rising elegantly and sinuously
from her seat. “There’s nobody better than me at haggling and selling.”

“I’ll bet,” Katy agreed.

Jonah arched an amused brow in Katy’s direction. She sent him back a look that spelled out jackass as plainly as if she’d
shouted it.

“Come ahead then, Maudie. You’re welcome to stay for dinner before you go back to your camp.”

“Stay for dinner? Oh you silly boy. I’m staying for much more than that.”

Jonah grimaced as Maude took his arm. “Now, Maude,” he cautioned as they walked away together, “don’t you think that…” The
rest was beyond hearing.

Damn Jonah and his polite city manners,
Katy thought. Didn’t he know that the only way to get rid of someone like Maude was to apply a boot to that well-upholstered
backside?

Andy plunked himself down on a rock beside the fire and sniffed at the simmering beans. “You want me to mix up some biscuits
to go with that?”

Spit! Even the kid was a better cook than she was.

“No thanks. You’d better go brush out those horses if we’re to sell them.”

“Yes’m.” He made no move to go, however. As the dusk deepened, he continued to sit and stare into the fire. “Uh… Miss Katy?
You gonna hire some Indian packers to get all this stuff to Lake Bennett?”

“Yep.”

“I know some good packers that hire out of here. Ones that won’t cheat you at the Scales.”

Nine hundred vertical feet above Stone House was a plateau and a set of large scales, where hired packers reweighed then-loads
and adjusted the prices. Katy had heard stories of them adjusting the prices drastically in their favor.

“I could hire you some fine, honest packers. And I could be a lot of help on the trail, and the river, too. I’m handy at about
anything.”

Katy saw the longing in the boy’s expression. She felt a pang of sympathy.

“Miss Katy. I stand on my own two feet, and I don’t like askin’ folks for help, but I sure would be grateful if you didn’t
make me go back with the horses. There ain’t nuthin’ for me in Dyea, and now I don’t even have a job with Decker. I got to
get to Dawson.”

Katy’s own longing to be somebody, to do something special, to seek adventure and independence were mirrored in Andy’s pleading
brown eyes. She wished she could grant his plea, but she couldn’t.

“Andy, we don’t have enough provisions to take on another person.”

“I don’t eat much! Honest! And me and Hunter could bring in game, just like you was doin’ down in the woods. You could teach
me how to use that little rock sling, of yours. I’d learn real fast.”

“Andy…”

“And you wouldn’t have to worry about me once I got to Dawson. I could find a job there and make enough to stake a claim and
get me through the winter. Please, Miss Katy…”

Just then Jonah and Maude returned. “Ah, beans!” Jonah said, rubbing his hands together with gusto. “Smells good.” He looked
pleased with himself. Katy wondered if he’d gotten a good deal on the horses or a good deal with Maude. Her stomach soured.

“Beans again?” Maude commented. “Goodness! Didn’t we have beans for lunch?”

Katy ignored her. “Did you sell the horses?” she asked Jonah.

“Got twenty-five dollars for them, which is probably more than they’re worth. A trio of three fellows headed down to Dyea
said they could use them. Said they’d take good care of them.” The smile he sent Katy was gently teasing for her worry about
the horses—teasing, but understanding, too. The trail from Camp Pleasant to Stone House was littered with the
carcasses of pack animals that had been turned loose to fend for themselves after their usefulness was finished. She should
have known that Jonah would place the horses with someone who would do well by them. He cared about such things.

“Twenty-five bucks ain’t much,” Maude said. “You coulda got more from those Injuns who wanted ‘em for meat. Those fellas been
makin’ good money up here packin’ goods back and forth. Rhona and me hired our Injuns in Dyea. Figgered they’d be cheaper
there.”

“These men came from Dawson,” Jonah continued. “They said all those rumors we’ve been hearing about no more claims to be staked
on the Klondike aren’t true—yet—but the good ground is going fast. There is a concern about Dawson having enough supplies
to get everyone through the winter. You were right to insist we bring so much with us.”

Katy smiled, her heart swelling ridiculously at such a small compliment. “Of course I was right. Have I steered you wrong
yet?”

Miffed at being ignored, Maude insinuated herself between them just as Jonah was reaching out to—to do what, Katy would never
know, because an intruding, formidable bosom came between them.

“She steered you wrong on those beans,” Maude said with a giggle. “Cain’t you smell ‘em burning?”

“Omigod!” Katy rushed to the cookfire to rescue dinner.

“That’s all right, honey,” Maude said. “I have to get my stuff from Rhona anyway, and I’ll bring over some of the best baked
beans and bacon you ever tasted.”

Jonah rolled his eyes heavenward—out of gratitude or frustration Katy couldn’t tell. “Maude, you don’t need—”

“Jonah, sweetie!” Her voice suddenly turning pleading. “I’m a woman tryin’ to redeem myself. You wouldn’t turn away from me
after pulling me from that flood, would you?”

“I really think that—”

“You come along and help me get my stuff.”

“I… I have to work on an article. Maude, I think you should—”

“Ta-ta, then. Work away. I’ll be back soon.”

Jonah shook his head in bewilderment. “Lord above. A freight train would be easier to stop than that woman once she sets her
mind on something.” Still shaking his head, he ambled toward the little creek of glacial runoff to wash.

Andy slid his eyes cautiously toward Jonah, then sidled over to the fire. Katy wasn’t sure if the firelight was playing tricks
with the boy’s eyes, or if the light of mischief gave them their devilish sparkle.

“What would you give for Maude to go back to her own camp for good?” he asked Katy quietly.

A slow smile spread across Katy’s face. “A lot,” she said. “I’d probably be so grateful that I’d offer someone a job for my
entire stay in the Yukon.”

Andy’s brows twitched upward. “You would, huh?”

“I’d manage it somehow.”

“You got yourself a hired hand, Miss Katy. You just wait and see.”

From the look in Andy’s eyes, Katy could almost feel sorry for Maudie-the-Northern-Star. Almost, but not quite. Jonah Armstrong
was going to be rescued from the clutches of that buxom, blond she-devil, whether he liked it or not.

“This whole trunk is yours?” Andy fingered the bright dresses, hats, and petticoats with rapt appreciation. The satin was
bright as gold. Flimsy feathers dyed to colors no bird had ever dreamed of trimmed sleeves, hems, and saucy little hats. Andy’s
mother Gloria—Glory, she liked to be called—had once had nice things, soft and colorful and trimmed with feathers and sequins,
but as she’d grown older and lost her looks, her clothes had gotten more meager. The food had gotten meager, too. Cheap liquor
had been the main course of every meal, and between meals as well. By the time Andy had left, Glory had all but forgotten
she had a kid.

Maude slapped at Andy’s hands. “Get your grubby little fingers off that. And yes! These are all mine. What do you think I
am? Some kind of pauper?”

“No, ma’am!”

“I do right well for myself.”

“Yes, ma’am. You sure do.”

“Not that the work’s easy, mind you. But it’s one way for a girl to get ahead in the world. Now I seen the light, though,
boy. I’m gonna get morals—and a man to go with ‘em. A permanent man.”

“Mr. Jonah?”

Maude laughed. “Naw. Your Mr. Jonah ain’t nearly rich enough, sonny boy. I owe him is all, and he’s a good looking sonofabitch,
ain’t he?”

Andy considered. “I guess.”

“Jonah gets the prize until we get to Dawson and I can find me a rich gold king.”

“Rich is mighty important,” Andy agreed. “I’m gonna be rich once I find gold in the Klondike, and then I’m gonna tell the
world to go to hell.”

Maude’s eyes twinkled. “Well then, maybe I oughta latch onto you, boy. You’re not as well growed as Jonah Armstrong, but in
a few years, you might be quite a prize.”

Maude might be surprised at just what kind of a prize, Andy reflected wryly. “I don’t go in fer girls.”

“That’ll change with you grow a man-sized set of balls, honey.” She sent a robe, satin slippers, and a pair of boots sailing
in Andy’s direction. “Put those in that bag. I’ll leave the trunk for the packers here. I’m helping to pay them, so they can
damned well continue to haul my stuff, you know?” She pulled a dress from an untidy pile on the floor of the tent, then a
wrinkled skirt and blouse, a petticoat, corset, and flimsy chemise. “This trail may be a sonofabitch, but I’ll be damned if
I’ll start looking more like a man than a woman—like that drab little bitch who calls herself Jonah’s sister.”

“You don’t think Miss Katy is Jonah’s sister?”

“In a pig’s eye! If she’s Jonah’s sister, then I’m the Queen of Sheba. And I ain’t. I’m not worried none, though. A little
brown stick-girl like her ain’t exactly competition for the Northern Star, now, is she?”

Andy guessed Maude hadn’t seen the way Jonah looked at Miss Katy. If that wasn’t brotherly affection in his eyes, then the
poor sod was well on the road to being smitten. “I guess there’s competition and then there’s… uh… competition.”

Maude scowled. “You gonna help here, or just stand around yammerin’?”

Andy helped Maude gather up the things she indicated. A polished wooden hairbrush and comb set. Hairpins, face creams, a lace-bedecked
corset, bloomers that sported ruffles from waist to ankles. The silky material of a lacy pink chemise snagged on cracked and
dirty fingers. “This is sure pretty.”

“Thank you,” Maude said, rescuing the chemise from Andy’s hands. “If you’re really, really nice to me, I might let you see
me in it someday.”

“No, thanks. I seen plenty of ladies in stuff like that. Don’t do a thing for me.”

Maude propped a hand on one generous hip, the chemise dangling from her fingers. “You’re a cool one, ain’t ya, boy?”

Andy shrugged. “So’s you. You’re all right, Maudie. I do admire a lady with guts. Guts and looks, too. It’s no wonder you
done so well in the world.”

Maude dropped a pair of boots into the bag they were packing. “Yeah. I done well enough.” She shot Andy a suspicious look.
“What do you mean, guts?”