The Ruination of Essie Sparks (Wild Western Rogues Series, Book 2) (25 page)

"You keep them eyes o' yours in your own head," Pink warned grumpily and, too late, Essie realized she was licking her lips. "This here stew is for them workin' girls out there, not for the likes of every Mary, Sue and Harry that comes knockin' at the back door for handouts. You get biscuits. That's it. Don't know how many times I gotta say it."

Essie shrugged. "Anyone who gives handouts to the hungry at the back door can't be nearly as grumpy as you pretend to be."

Pink huffed and sent her a narrow-eyed look before turning back to his stew, but she caught the hint of a grin there. "Mighty uppity for a gal who looks like she ain't et a solid meal in more'n a few days." He tossed her a small, fluffy biscuit from a pan cooling on a board.

"Oh! Thank you." Backing up against the door, she cradled the biscuit and wolfed it down like a hungry dog. Pink shrugged and went back to his work. She supposed there were plenty of folks in these parts who went hungry instead of striking it rich here as they'd hoped. How fortunate she'd been in her life to have always had food on her table. And how spoiled.

As she chewed, she purposefully turned her attention to the rest of the room to get her mind off the food. A long, oak-planked table occupied one side of the room, flanked by bench seats under a white-curtained window. The kitchen felt welcoming. Well, except for Pink's suspicious stare. But she'd wager it was the man's cooking that made this place feel more like a home than the brothel it was.

The door Lucy had walked through led to a finer room with carpets and crystal-hung lamps. She could see several settees and caught glimpses of men with half-naked women settled on their laps. Less than a week ago, she wouldn't have been caught dead in a place like this. But now she felt grateful for the sanctuary, temporary as it might be.

This was yet another first in a long line of firsts that had happened to her since she'd arrived in Montana. Standing inside a brothel.

Behind her, a female cleared her throat.

Essie spun to find a handsome, auburn-haired woman standing in the doorway of the kitchen, with the petulant Lucy at her side. The woman's indigo satin skirt gave an imperious swish as she entered the room but as she took in Essie's disheveled appearance, she slowed to a stop.

"Well," she said, "you wouldn't be the first girl who's fallen on hard times to knock at my door. Or even the first Cade has sent my way. Though Lucy tells me you're not looking for employment."

"I'm sorry to trouble you"—she glanced at Lucy—"Miss Warren."

"It's Ollie. And ain't no trouble. Any friend of Cade's is a friend of mine. What can I help you with, Miss—?"

"Sparks. Essie Sparks." She swallowed past the dry lump in her throat. She flicked a look out the window at where she'd left Náhkohe tied to the rail. Ollie followed her look.

The woman's lips parted in alarm. "That's his horse."

"Yes."

"Where is he?"

"Back in Coulson. He sent me to you for help."

"He... all right?"

She answered with an equivocal nod. "Can we talk privately?"

Without taking her eyes off her, Ollie said, "Pink? Would you take that Appaloosa outside back to the stable and get him out of sight? Rub him down? See he's fed an extra ration of oats. Looks like he's been through somethin'. Looks like you both have."

Pink disappeared outside to tend to the horse. As she watched him go, days of shoving aside the toll of their struggle seemed to pool in her legs. The shaking that began there seemed to move through her in a wave of fatigue.

Ollie took her arm and guided her to a bench at the table. "And you'd best sit down before you fall."

"May we speak privately?"

The madam tipped her chin at Lucy and the girl dutifully left the room.

"I would offer you something more comfortable—you look as if you might appreciate something more comfortable—but my comfortable seating is... occupied just now. Sit right there. I'll get you some stew."

The biscuit had only whetted Essie's appetite and against her will, she glanced at the pot on the stove.

Ollie moved with the grace of a woman at ease with herself, without apology or uncertainty. She was tall. Taller than most women, and big-boned in a handsome way. She was not what Essie would call beautiful, but something about the way she held herself reminded her of a girl she'd once known in school, who might have been a wallflower but for the men who always seemed to buzz around her.

Ollie set a bowl of stew down in front of Essie. The deliciousness of the fragrance nearly made her forget to use a spoon.

"Eat first. Then we'll talk."

The woman watched her as she wolfed down the stew.

"I'm afraid it's been a while since I had a good meal," she said when she finished, feeling almost human again. "Thank you so much."

Ollie folded her hands on the table. "Now, tell me."

Essie nodded. "This will probably sound far-fetched, but perhaps not if you know him."

"Go on."

She proceeded to tell her the story of their adventure, from the first day to the last. Ollie listened without a hint of judgment on her face until Essie finished at the part about leaving him behind in Coulson.

"First off," Ollie said, "I figured out who you were after one look. Your name's on pretty near everyone's tongue hereabouts, being taken by a Cheyenne renegade."

Essie felt herself color at the thought that she was already infamous here.

"Second, I am both relieved and dismayed to hear it was Cade did the taking."

"It's not... it wasn't as black and white as it sounds."

Ollie shrugged, as if she already knew that. "Let's pray it stays a mystery to everyone but you. And you say the boy ran away before Cade could get him? You're sure he wasn't hiding? I haven't heard one thing about a missing boy in all the gossip. Only that you were taken."

That surprised her. "I'm sure. He took his medicine bag with him. It was his only possession. He wouldn't part with it willingly. And if he took it, he meant to run. And then, days later we found it—well, we didn't find it, exactly. Cade's friends did. But Little Wolf had dropped it on the trail. And there were two others with him. Not Indian ponies. White men's horses. We fear someone took him. Cade thought he might have left the medicine bag behind like a... a clue. So we'd know it was him."

Ollie shook her head. "Two men, huh?" She glanced out the darkened window at the street traffic still passing by. "Well, regardless, I'd say Cade should've thought twice about going to take that boy in the first place, but it would do little good. He abides by different codes, that one." Ollie smiled. "And to tell the truth, I'm quite fond of him."

"Yes," Essie said, staring at her hands.

"And so are you," Ollie surmised. "Unless I'm mistaken. Quite a twist in a story that began with a kidnapping, no?"

"Please don't call it that. It'll do no good to call it that."

"All right. What do you need?"

Essie felt relief pour through her. "He needs new clothes. He might be recognized. He needs clothes that are not... Cheyenne. And mine... well, clearly..."

Ollie eyed her ruined things. "Uh-huh. I won't ask where the rest of your duds went."

"Cade gave me some money. But since, apparently, everyone is talking about me, I have to think about how to handle it." She pulled the money from her pocket and laid it on the table. "He didn't want to risk being seen with me. Not for his sake, but for mine. Especially with him looking—"

"Like a Cheyenne?" Ollie finished. There was no meanness in her eyes, when she said it. Only unexpected compassion.

"Yes."

"They think you're probably dead, you know. Most everyone. Or, at the very least, ruined and crazy by now."

She met the woman's gaze head-on. "If I am ruined, it's of my own doing. The crazy part? Maybe."

Ollie patted her hand. "Take it easy, sweetie. I can see that it would take a lot more than what you've been through to ruin you. Or make you crazy. Underneath that layer of trail, there's a formidable woman. Pretty, too. I'd hire you myself, if I thought you were meant for a place like this, but you're not. I can see that, too."

Her kindness surprised Essie. "I will take that as a compliment."

"As it's meant. I'm afraid your... ordeal... has been all the talk in Magic City for days now. If anyone knows it was Cade involved with the fiasco at the school, I haven't heard it."

"And I want to keep it that way." For reasons she couldn't fathom, her eyes watered as she said it.

Ollie studied her for a long beat. "Which presents something of a problem for you and him, no?"

With her hands locked together on the table, she said, "There is no me and him. There's only two people caught in a very... precarious situation."

Ollie sent her a knowing smile. "Precarious. That's one way to slice it."

Essie jerked a look up at Ollie. "It's the boy I'm worried about
.
I need to find him as much as Cade does. It's my fault he ran away. My fault he's probably fallen into the hands of... God knows who? There are bad men out there."

Ollie sat back in her chair. "But you don't see Cade Newcastle as one of 'em?"

"No." She dropped her face into her hands. "He never hurt me. Not once. And he could have."

"Yes," Ollie said. "Yes, he could have. But that's not the sort of man he is."

"I have to fix this, Ollie. For the boy and for Cade. No one can know he was the one who took me. And after we find Little Wolf... well, I'm sure that will be the end of things. Between us, I mean."

"I see."

"You can't." She got to her shaky feet and moved to the window, staring out into the darkened alley "And I'm not sure I understand either. I feel... as if whoever I was before has been flung about and scattered by the wind up in those mountains. Nothing is as it was. Nothing. Especially not me."

"That's how it is with men, Essie."

"Not men.
That
man."

Ollie put her hand over Essie's. "What can I do to help?"

"He needs food. Clothes. White clothes. You must—" She stopped. "I mean, if you would, could you go tonight? He told me morning is soon enough, but I'm afraid for him."

"And what about you?"

"He wants me to go to The Headquarters for the night, then board a train out of town in the morning. But I... I'm not going."

"Oh?"

She shook her head. "I intend to look for Little Wolf, with or without him."

The older woman looked at her long and hard. "Montana Territory is a rough place. I expect you know that already. It ain't for the faint of heart, or mostly, for women on their own. I speak from personal experience. The girls who work for me, they know. And I don't recommend lookin' until you find your last resort like they have. It's not up to me to tell you what to do. But I will warn you that a woman on her own ain't safe in a place like this. The best you could do would be to hop on that train and head back home. Leave what's happened here behind you. I can keep you here for the night, if you like, put you on a train in the morning and that'll be the end of it. I reckon it's what Cade is hoping for from me."

Essie stared at her hands for a long moment, then shook her head. "I know you're right. Of course you are. Logically. If I could go and live with myself, I would. If not for Cade, I would have been on that train days ago and turned my back on the boy because I didn't see I had a choice. But that was before. Now, everything is different. How I saw things. What part I played. As for Cade, all I could think about for the first two days was how I would get away from him. But now..."

Ollie tilted a sympathetic look at her.

Essie patted the pile of cash on the table. "There's enough here to get us new things. Ready-made things. If we could impose on you to buy them for us, I'll be gone straightaway. We don't want to bring any trouble down on you. I know this is asking a lot—"

Ollie stopped her with a hand. "See this place? It belongs to me. I say what happens here and what don't. And if we're honest, I owe Cade a debt I wasn't sure I could ever repay, so you've done me a favor, really. Now. What about the folks lookin' for you? You got family you want to tell you're alive and well?"

Her gaze drifted to the white-curtained windows. "I have no one. So you needn't worry. I'm on my own. But I'll be careful."

"Figured that's what you'd say." She got to her feet. "First things first. When Pink gets back, I'll have him draw you a hot bath. Then I'll see what I can come up with in your size." Ollie scanned her figure. "There should be something decent around here. Meanwhile, I'll get Cade some food and scrounge up some duds for him. You say he's at the Benson Bros. Livery in Colson?"

"That's right."

"And I'll bring Cade a fresh horse to ride."

What she offered was more than what Essie had expected. "Thank you seems insufficient after everything we've been through, Ollie. But... thank you very much."

Ollie shrugged. "You can thank me after this mess is all straightened around. 'Til then, none of us will be at ease. C'mon. Let's get you lookin' presentable."