Untamed Journey (39 page)

“It’s the maid, Ma’am. Mr. Robbins sent me
up. There’s some problem with the horses.”

At the sound of a female voice, and the
familiar name of the stable owner, Sue visibly relaxed but did not
let go of the pistol, as she cracked open the door.

The girl on the other side looked to be
barely a child, and when Sue’s quick scan of the hallway revealed
not a soul stirring, she turned her attention to the maid. “What’s
the problem?” she asked.

“I don’t know, Ma’am. His boy came over and
said there was some problem with the horses, and that you should
come over right away.”

“Darn fool,” Sue grumbled as she put on her
shawl. “I’d best see what he wants. He’s only my second customer,
and I need his good word to make a decent success of my
business.”

Ruth sat up and reached for her shoes, but
Sue immediately motioned her back to bed.

“Stay here. There’s no point in both of us
losing sleep. If he keeps me up with a colicky horse, you can do
the driving tomorrow.”

Ruth protested. “I can come with you. It’s
not safe to be out alone.”

The young maid chimed in, “Mr. Robbins’s
stable boy is waiting to walk you over. Seeing as it’s payday.”

“I’ll be fine,” Sue said. “Robbins’ boy may
only be fifteen, but he still towers over Jackson. No one will
bother a giant and an old woman. Get some sleep.”

Ruth sat back down on the bed, too tired to
argue.

“Lock the door behind me,” Sue cautioned.
“I’ll get an extra key from the owner when I return, so you don’t
need to wait up.”

Ruth nodded her understanding as she let
loose a yawn, exhausted from the emotional turmoil of the day. She
watched Sue follow the maid down the still-quiet hall. Once they
were out of sight, she shut and locked the door, testing its
security twice over.

Ruth returned to bed and fell asleep in
minutes, heedless of the noisy revelers in the street or the quiet
rapist lying prone under her feather bed.

Smith waited for Ruth’s movements to settle.
After her breathing evened out, he added another full five minutes,
then inched his way out from under the bed.

He knew he had at least another ten minutes
before the young girl and the old woman reached the stable. He’d
instructed the girl to explain away the missing stable boy with a
‘He must have got tired of waiting’ shrug, and then to offer to
walk with Sue. When they got there, there would be no sign of the
stable owner. Even if Sue refused to wait for his return, she would
still take another ten minutes to walk back to the boarding house,
giving Smith all the time he needed.

He crept out from under the bed, careful not
to brush up against the frame. With the noise from the street, the
creaking of the floorboards was barely noticeable. He knelt at the
side of Ruth’s bed, watching her sleep peacefully.

Ruth woke from a sound sleep disoriented and
instantly struggling for breath, as Smith placed a pillow over her
head.

He tied her hands, and then replaced the
pillow with a dirty kerchief and cutting rope. He shook Ruth
roughly as he pulled her to her bare feet and tight against his
chest, with a knife to her tender throat.

“Now you listen here. You be quiet, so I
don’t have to cut you. I’m taking you to your loving husband, just
like we planned. I’m not going to have Masterson at my back the
rest of my days, so I’m delivering you, as ordered. You can come
nice and quiet like, and I’ll be real sweet to you, or you can
fight me and I’ll cut your tongue out.” Smith snickered at his own
words. “Your husband might just appreciate you more that way, so
don’t tempt me.”

When she stared at Smith with hatred clear in
her eyes, he slapped her hard. “Nod your head that you believe me,
or I’ll have to show you how lucky you got the last time we
met.”

Ruth nodded her head as best she could with
her hair held tightly in Smith’s painful grip. As she was
half-dragged, half-carried down the hall and backstairs, her hopes
of calling for help quickly disappeared. The hallway was deserted.
The noise of the street would easily cover any muffled cries she
might make before he punched her into oblivion, or worse.

Smith mounted Ruth in front of him. Most of
the men on the street were drunk, or getting there quickly, and
paid them no mind. “You can try struggling or crying out, but ain’t
no one going to notice. And when we reach Frank’s place, you’d best
be extra quiet about our little trip out here. It’s my word against
yours, and he and I go way back. Besides, your good character ain’t
looking so sweet now. You’re a known liar. I betcha that handsome
fella you’ve been shacking up with don’t have any idea that you’re
married to someone else, huh? And Frank already thinks you’re a
money-hungry whore. He’ll never believe you if you start crying
rape.”

Since Ruth was securely gagged, Smith didn’t
expect a response. But he felt safer speaking his threats out loud.
It was true he and Masterson went way back. That history was why
Masterson was the only man who truly caused fear in Jasper
Smith.

With Ruth tucked securely in front of him,
completely helpless, he felt confident that she wouldn’t say a word
about the events on the train to Masterson. And if she somehow
escaped and went to the law for help, she’d get nowhere. Even in
the most civilized state in the Union, there was no such thing as a
man kidnapping his own wife, because no court in the land would
hold it against a man for dragging home his runaway bride.

“T
here’s no law
against a man kidnapping his own wife,” Sheriff Terrance Coleman
shouted, tossing a dusty hat onto his scuffed desk.

“Are you hearing yourself?” Sue demanded of
the hapless lawman. “It’s kidnapping, plain and simple. Ruth did
not want to go with that man – a man she only just met yesterday
afternoon.”

“That’s not my problem,” Sheriff Coleman
insisted. “There’s any number of mail order brides living right
here in this very Fort, happy as can be. Just because she hadn’t
met him beforehand, doesn’t make the man a criminal. She agreed to
the whole arrangement, didn’t she? She signed the papers. You said
so yourself.”

“Well, a body’s got to eat, now, doesn’t
she?” Sue snapped. “Her own flesh and blood practically sold her to
this stranger, and she should have every right to change her
mind.”

Sheriff Coleman wiped the sweat from his
aging brow, thinking dreamily of retirement. “I’m not here to
re-invent the laws of polite society, Ma’am. I can only enforce the
ones I have right here on paper. And unless you can prove to me
she’s in mortal danger from her own husband, there’s not a thing I
can do. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got prisoners to feed.”

Sue slammed her way out the door of the
Sheriff’s Office. She would have been run over by a team of horses
if Colonel Roe hadn’t raced after her and pulled her out of harm’s
way.

“Calm down, woman. You can’t help your friend
if you’re not thinking rationally.”

The Colonel’s authoritative tone penetrated
Sue’s fury and panic, and she sat down on the front steps of the
jail at the Colonel’s urging.

“Now let’s think this through,” Colonel Roe
urged. “Are you certain she doesn’t have any family nearby who
could intervene with her husband on her behalf?”

“I’m fairly certain. Her parents are both
dead, along with her only brother, in the War. She had been living
with an aunt for the past few years, but that hag was the one who
arranged the marriage. Ruth said Masterson told her yesterday that
her aunt had been paid a lot of money for the marriage, and he
wasn’t willing to give that up.”

“But I thought you offered Ruth a loan, to
pay him back?” the Colonel asked.

“I did,” Sue replied. “And he still refused
to consider an annulment. It doesn’t make sense to me. If the man
has money, he could arrange a marriage with any number of local
women. I don’t see why he’d resort to kidnapping an unwilling
woman.”

“A man has his pride, Sue. No one wants to be
refused by a woman. It could be as simple as that,” the Colonel
suggested.

“I don’t know.” Sue shook her head at the
explanation. “I didn’t like the look of the man the minute I met
him. I could tell he was lying, just not about what.”

“Let me do some investigating,” the Colonel
said. “I know most everyone in these parts, and the few I don’t
know personally have crossed paths with someone I do know. The name
Frank Masterson sounds familiar to me, although the Sheriff already
confirmed he’s not a wanted man.”

“What good will that do?” Sue asked, standing
to pace.

“We can find out where he lives,” Colonel Roe
explained. “Ruth was headed to the Fort on that train, right? Had
to have been – there are no other stops between here and where they
attacked the train. If a man had just bought a new wife, I suspect
he’d take her to his home first thing. So I’m thinking he can’t
live too far away. We can pay him a visit, once everyone has had a
few days to cool down, and make sure Ruth is alright.”

“You do that Colonel,” Sue replied. “In the
meantime, I’m getting Jackson.”

“He won’t be able to do anything more than
the Sheriff, Marshal or not,” Colonel Roe cautioned.

“He won’t come with his badge on, Colonel.
He’s in love with that girl. And she’s in love with him, I’m sure
of it.”

Colonel Roe slowly shook his head. “This
could get messy.”

“I’m counting on it.” Sue cracked a small
smile, knowing she hadn’t raised a quitter in Jackson.

S
ue made it home in
half the normal time, thanks to good weather and a reckless
disregard for safety. She ran her horse full out until she reached
the house, where she dismounted in a flurry of dusty skirts. She
dropped the horse’s reins, leaving the animal to find its own way
to the stable and water.

Sue rushed up the front steps of the house,
shouting for help. She nearly collided with Jackson and his cousin,
Samuel Wright, as they hurried out of the parlor at the sound of
her cries.

“Sue, what’s wrong?” Jackson demanded, as he
halted the breathless woman in her tracks.

“It’s Ruth. They’ve taken her. She needs your
help,” Sue insisted.

“Slow down,” Samuel cautioned the older
woman, at seeing her shortness of breath. “Come sit down and start
from the beginning.”

The three joined Emmett, Mike, and four
railroad men who had arrived at the ranch with Samuel that very
morning.

“Tell us what’s happened,” Jackson prompted,
sick to his gut at seeing the normally unflappable Sue in a panic.
“Where’s Ruth, and who has taken her?”

“We don’t have time to waste dancing around
your feelings, so I’m going to say it plainly. Her husband’s got
her.”

Jackson’s face went blank as Sue’s words sunk
in. “What are you saying?” Jackson demanded quietly.

“It’s not what you think, Jackson. She’s a
good woman and you need to listen to me carefully when I explain
things. You know you’re practically my own son, and I wouldn’t push
some no-account trash on you. Ruth is married, but it was all
arranged by her family. Or what passes for her family. A lone aunt
who was more concerned with pocketing a few dollars than seeing to
her niece’s welfare.”

“Arranged a marriage to an older man, did
she?” Samuel chimed in.

Sue nodded her head, “That’s exactly what
happened. And to a complete stranger the aunt had never even met.
Ruth told me – and this Masterson fellow didn’t deny her words –
that he sent a proxy in his place to Kansas City. Masterson didn’t
even have the decency to meet them in person. There was a hurried
proxy marriage, and Ruth was shipped off with a stranger – one who
wasn’t even her new husband.”

“That’s why she wanted off the train so
badly,” Jackson muttered, finally gaining some insight into the
woman he was already in love with.

“Can’t blame the girl for getting cold feet,”
Mike argued. “She’s young, and didn’t sound like she had much
choice.”

“That’s not the half of it,” Sue continued.
“The bastard her husband sent to fetch Ruth home attacked her in
her sleeping compartment, and tried to have his way with her.”

Jackson paled at Sue’s words, and immediately
began pacing, growing more frantic to learn where Ruth was.

“She fought him off,” Sue explained. “She
shot him with a pistol. With her inexperience, she thought she’d
killed him. Before she realized her mistake, the train was held up,
and well, you know the rest.”

“Are you saying this man didn’t die?” Jackson
questioned Sue’s hurried explanation. “Is he the one that has Ruth
now?”

“I’m not sure,” Sue confessed. “We went to
the Fort and delivered my grain. I took her over to O’Malley’s for
a spot of whiskey and this man marched right up to us, claiming
Ruth was his wife. It was clear to me that Ruth had never seen this
man, so my first thought was he was drunk. But then he said his
name was Frank Masterson, and Ruth went three shades of pale. She
may not have known the face, but she knew that name.”

“Did you say Frank Masterson?” Samuel asked
as he handed Sue a glass of water he’d brought from the
kitchen.

“Yes, that’s his name. Do you know him?” Sue
asked.

“Not personally. But I know of him. That’s
the name of one of the landowners who petitioned the railroad to
come through his homestead. But he lost the bid to a Senator from
Pennsylvania.”

“Are you sure it’s the same man?” Jackson
demanded.

“I can’t be certain, as I only met the man
once when he presented his right-of-way bid. Sue, what did he look
like?” Samuel asked.

“He’s a big man, about Jackson’s height, but
thick-necked. He’s got a ruddy complexion with brown eyes. He’s
maybe fifty or sixty years old. It’s hard to tell. And he had a
small scar down the side of his neck, here.” Sue dragged her finger
down the left side of her neck, from ear to collarbone.