Much Ado About Madams (28 page)

Not when he found out her mother had been lynched for murdering his father.

* * * * *

Fannie smiled at the departing Miss Sharpe. “A lot happened in Silver City betwixt our Reese and her, and you damned well don’t need to be a whore to know what,” she muttered.

“
Huh?” Gus cocked his head and grinned at her. He always acted like he knew something no one else knew, and it drove her plumb berserk.

Playfully, she swatted him on the butt. “Don’t just stand there, Gus, get them buckets of hot water upstairs to pour Miss Sharpe a bath. I’d bet she needs one.”

He grabbed her by the waist and spun her around. Kissing her on the cheek, he said, “Yes, ma’am!” He strode off to do her bidding, whistling a bawdy tune in time with his jaunty steps.

She caught her balance and her breath, too. That man! Some day maybe he would want to give her a poke, not just smooching and talking. The others would be downright shocked if they knew Gus had never even wanted a poke—except she was sure he did. But why didn’t he ever ask?

The autumn breeze picked up and reminded her how cold she’d gotten standing out there like a dimwit. The skin on her arms prickled and the cold blew right down her front. She dashed inside to grab her cloak, then marched to the barn on a mission—to see if Reese had fallen in love with Miss Sharpe. No doubt, the schoolmarm loved him, but it had to go both ways. Once he realized he loved her, he’d want to get married up.

In the barn, Fannie watched a minute as Buster chomped on oats while Reese brushed him down before she made her presence known. Those two were a lot alike, Fannie thought with a silent chuckle. They both enjoyed their grub, and they both were plumb spirited when they smelled a filly. Of course, Reese was mighty particular, but she supposed he’d not let a good one get away.

“
Good to see you’re in one piece.”

Reese jerked around, apparently jarred from his own deep thoughts. “Yeah, well I didn’t even have a chance at Hannibal Hank. If I’d gone after him, Lucinda would’ve been alone, and I didn’t know if they’d circle around and nab her while I was gone.”

“
It’s good you chose life over revenge.” But she was horrified that her scheme put him in that situation. If she’d had any idea at all that Hank was still around, she’d never have set it up. “Titus told me all about it when he brought Midas back.”

“
How is Midas?”

“
Ha!” she laughed. “Ain’t nothing wrong with him that a good woman can’t cure. The bullet just creased his arm, but he needs to build his blood back up. He’ll be fine—Chrissy’s been fussing over him like a mother bear. He ain’t lacking for tending, that’s for damn sure.”

Reese threw the currycomb into a bucket and shoved his hat back on his forehead. “Good.” He chuckled. “I never saw Midas back down from anyone, but Lucinda sure got him dead to rights. Before she knew who he was, she threatened to shoot off his man parts.”

So he’s calling her ‘Lucinda’ now. That’s a good sign
. “She’s tougher than she looks.” Fannie dragged her toe through the dirt. “Did you have a good time in Silver?”

“
We need to talk about your little matchmaking schemes. Fun and games are all right but when you put someone in danger like that, it’s got to stop.”

She watched for him to give away any tender thoughts, but he acted no different than if he’d just got back from riding the range. In fact, that very aloofness alerted her the most. Yup, she was looking at a man in love.

She stifled a smile and waved as she turned to go check out Miss Sharpe. The ladies nearly had it made—they’d each saved over five-hundred dollars that he didn’t know about, they could all read and sum enough to get by, and their boss had fallen in love with a respectable woman.

Their plan had worked!

* * * * *

“
Dinner?” Lucinda questioned as she looked at the roast venison and potatoes. Sadie had always served breakfast at eleven or noon and dinner at four. It couldn’t be any later than one o’clock, but this food was definitely dinner, not breakfast. No matter what meal or what time, though, this food smelled heavenly.

“
Hell, we et early this morning, waiting for Titus to get you home,” Sadie explained as she slapped a big hunk of venison on Lucinda’s plate and went on to serve Fannie. “He took his sorry-ass time, he did.”

Lucinda let the curses go, not wanting any attention focused on herself right then. Everyone at the Comfort Palace except Reese, Midas, and Chrissy had gathered for the meal. She had to be careful to shield the change in her life from being detected by people whose very livelihood depended on their abilities to read other people’s actions. Still, a respectable lady wouldn’t let such foul language slide.

“
Please...”

“
The road was washboard and rutted all the way, in case you hadn’t figured that out,” Titus interrupted.

Chrissy bounded down the stairs, and everyone at the table looked her way, including Lucinda, even though she chided herself for such bad manners. Still, she applauded Chrissy for distracting people’s attention away from herself.

“
I’ll fix a plate for Midas,” Chrissy announced as she hurried into the kitchen.

Titus laughed and pointed his fork at her. “You’d think both his legs was busted, the way she’s fussing over that boy. I’m thinking it’ll take him quite a spell for him to recover, what with all this attention.”

Lucinda wondered why having good care would prolong the recovery time. It really didn’t make any sense.

Chrissy faced him holding a plate heaped with food. “He
ain’t
a
boy
!”

They watched her walk up stairs. Her chin stuck out indignantly as she balanced a plate in one hand and a coffee cup in the other while trying not to trip on her skirts.

“
Midas don’t have a chance of a dead fly in a trout pond,” Petunia said.

Trinket winked at Titus. “I think he kinda likes being a dead fly.”

He appeared to shrug off her remark, but Holly studied him intently. Lucinda had noticed Holly glowing under Titus’s attentions. In fact, Reese and Chrissy were the only ones in Dickshooter who could readily tell the twins apart. Lucinda wondered if the twins loved their admirers, or if they just wanted free services.

She thought not. In spite of her original opinion of Midas taking advantage of Chrissy’s delicate progress, she now knew that the twins cared for others a lot more than they let on. Chrissy and Holly would do well with them as protectors and husbands. But did Midas and Titus have marriage in mind? That, she doubted.

Reese strode in, taking off his coat and hat and tossing them on the bar as he approached the table. No sooner had he sat, than Sadie placed a plate before him and plopped a slab of venison and two scoops of potatoes on it. “Sadie, darlin’, you’re going to make me fat as a pig.”

Darling. Darling!
He called Sadie darling. Lucinda stabbed the meat on her plate with a fork, then sawed it into little pieces with her knife.

A low, meaningful laugh emerged from Fannie. “Looks like there’s lots of dead flies around, these days.”

* * * * *

In the weeks following, Lucinda did her best to maintain a proper schoolteacher’s demeanor, despite her frequent memories of her wonderful night with Reese in Silver City. Usually, she succeeded. However, when Reese looked at her with those warm, blue eyes, she melted inside every time. Her breath quickened and her heart lurched when he came near, and passionate ache tormented her privates with just a glance at his broad shoulders and capable hands. She wished he’d spend more time at his ranch.

Her courses had come right on schedule, which had relieved her stress considerably, although a small niggling pang of disappointment was there, too.

Someone knocked on the door. “Yes?” she called.

“
Time for class, Miss Sharpe.” Holly’s voice had cleared up finally.

In a mere two months, Holly had gone through all the readers she’d brought to Dickshooter, and now read books from Lucinda’s own private collection. Her writing exceeded most of the students at Miss Hattie’s, and her math skills surpassed Lucinda’s own. Yes, she was very proud of Holly.

“
I’ll be down in two minutes.”

Lucinda tucked the unruly blonde locks into the lopsided bun and smoothed her skirts. She’d miss this place. By March, she’d receive three-hundred dollars from the ladies, and a hundred-sixty dollars from Reese. After she paid him the two-hundred for school supplies, there’d still be ample money to get back to...to where?

Dismissing the question to be pondered another time, she picked up her lesson plan, books, and slate, and headed for the classroom—Reese’s office.

The ladies, already seated with their knees together, chins up, and backs straight. Miss Hattie would have been proud. They greeted her with smiles. She smiled back. “Did you all get your homework done?”

All the ladies nodded except Chrissy, who lost her smile and dropped her gaze to her hands. Lucinda decided not to call attention to Chrissy’s reading struggles. “That’s wonderful. Let’s review.”

Fannie interrupted. “Miss Sharpe, we took a vote and decided not to have class until after Hannibal Hank leaves the territory, what with all his shenanigans and such, but you’ll still get paid for the whole month.”

Lucinda scanned the room and didn’t see a single expression of dissension. “All right, ladies. In that case, we’ll go over our homework and I won’t assign more until next week.” Meantime, she’d see if Chrissy would accept some private tutoring.

Petunia stood to speak. “Last night, old man Linstad told me that he’s missing more cows,” she reported, “about a dozen or fifteen, he says.”

Felicia shook her head in disgust. “You’d think the rustlers would have more sense than that because they’ll surely be caught. But the cattle can’t be too far on account of the weather’ll be turning shortly.”

“
We’d better keep heads-up on this,” Fannie warned, “because our Reese is under suspicion.”

Felicia smirked. “Honey, there’s some things I can’t do heads-up unless I flip my gents upside-down.”

Lucinda couldn’t understand how Felicia could joke about something so serious. The lingering suspicion endangered Reese’s future, and, in fact, his very life.

Just as class wrapped up, Reese backed in dragging a large cabinet with eight compartments, each with a door labeled for one of the Comfort Palace ladies, including Lucinda. “Good afternoon, ladies.” He dragged it to the corner of the room and shoved it into place. “I thought you might need someplace to keep all the school supplies your teacher ordered.”

Fannie threw her arms around him and gave him an affectionate hug. “You imagine right.”

Lucinda looked away, not wanting to see him hugging another woman. Not that she had a right, but a woman could only take so much, even a spinster suffragist. She would always remember his tender lovemaking, even though nothing would ever come of it.

Her heart nearly pounded out of her chest and tears sprang to her eyes. Where, oh where did Miss Hattie’s lessons on composure go? She hurried out of the office in a most unladylike fashion hoping she hadn’t made a complete fool of herself.

She’d already played the fool, though. No decent woman threw herself at a man the way she had in Silver City. That was completely senseless.

She bumped into Felicia half the way up the stairs.

“
Where are you going in such a hurry?” Felicia asked.

Her gentle tone so shocked Lucinda, she nearly dropped her books. But her throat ached and her breath caught. She struggled to compose herself, finding it harder to fight kindness than Felicia’s normal embittered demeanor. She worked on acting nonchalant. “Just to my room. Class is over.”

Felicia took her books and turned around. “I think you need a woman-to-woman chat.”

Lucinda sighed. She sure hadn’t fooled Felicia, but the last thing she wanted to do was confess her feelings for a brothel owner to one of his employees. Felicia nudged her elbow, and the only way not to call attention to herself was to concede.

Lucinda trudged up the remaining stairs, taking her time in order to gather her wits and compose herself as much as possible, given her emotional state. She’d not let on about what had happened between Reese and herself—that secret was theirs to share, and the only thing she’d ever have of his to keep now that she knew she wouldn’t have his baby.

As soon as they entered Lucinda’s room, Felicia plopped down on the desk chair. “I know you’re aching for a man—a certain man. I’ve seen that look a hundred times.”

Blindsided by the outright announcement of her own secret thoughts, Lucinda could only stare at her.

“
There’s no help for it,” Felicia continued. “I’ve been through this myself. Most of us have. I survived, and you will, too.”

Lucinda tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Tears threatened, but she fought them back. At least she finally succeeded at something. “I never intend to marry. I will pursue the suffragist cause until every state and every territory in the United States has granted women the right to vote and hold office.”

“
Oh, I don’t doubt that for a minute.” Felicia smiled and stood, running her index finger down one of the scars on her right cheek. “But just remember this, your heart doesn’t pay any heed to what you look like or what your brain wants. Your heart only yearns for happiness, and when it finds the man that can make that happiness complete, it forces you to fall in love. You have no control over it.”