Demanding Satisfaction [Bride Train 9] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

She’d loved Ambrose but gave him up so he could become a judge. After over twenty years of loneliness, he’d found and married her. There might be gray at Judge Thatcher’s temples, but he had the vigor of a man half his age. Lily pressed her knees together demurely. They were a matched pair, as she couldn’t get enough of him, either. She still couldn’t understand what it was about the man that made her almost swoon.

Having found love as well as incredible sex, Lily didn’t want her friend to continue to endure a cold bed. At their advanced age she and Ambrose would never create children, but there was no reason for Sophie not to fill her womb. And, she added to herself with a smug smile, enjoy the process thoroughly.

“Too bad Mr. Gibson didn’t wait for breakfast.” Sophie spoke the words primly though two spots of pink appeared on her cheeks. She smoothed a wrinkle on her kitchen dress as if the gesture was terribly important. “Max could have gotten your news before he rode out.”

“He’s gone to Bannack City?”

“Is that where Mr. Isaac is?” asked Sophie. At Lily’s confirming nod, she wrinkled her nose in annoyance. “Mr. Gibson said his orders are to find proof against Frederick Smythe and Judge Stickley.” She exhaled and sank back in Lily’s blue-and-gold Queen Anne chair.

“And anyone else who might be involved.” Lily poured her special oolong tea into Sophie’s cup. Knowing how many hours a day Sophie stood, Lily motioned for her to put her feet up. Sophie sighed gratefully and lifted her feet onto the low footstool. It was upholstered to match the chair.

“Unfortunately,” said Lily, pouring herself a fragrant cup, “Montana Territory is far more interested in protecting mines and railroads than vulnerable children and women.” She lifted a well-shaped eyebrow. “Especially when the women have been forced into a life no man could tolerate. Yet they have no compunction about using them to slake their own lusts!”

Lily took a calming sip of tea when Sophie looked at her in surprise. She rarely let herself get upset, but this was close to her heart. She knew how lucky she was to be alive. Her happiness at being married to a man who knew her past and loved her anyway made her even more eager to help others who never had a chance at joy.

“Don’t mind me,” she said, setting her cup back on the saucer. “But you’re right. I’d counted on having Mr. Gibson in town for a few more days so I could get his opinion on my plan.” She sipped, looking over the rim of her cup at Sophie. “Or perhaps you would prefer I used the word ‘nights’ instead?”

A pink flush stole up Sophie’s face before she quickly put her cup down with a rattle. She choked and patted her chest to clear it. Lily nodded to herself. She’d figured the two of them would be attracted. She could read both men and women and, now that Sophie was free to react as a woman rather than an automaton, Max’s strong male presence had captured her.

“Lily!” Sophie admonished, “I’ve said very few words to Max, and Sam—” Eyes wide, she pressed her fingers over her mouth.

“Sam?” Though Lily perked up at Sophie’s reaction, she sat back in her chair and folded her hands as if calm and relaxed. “Who, pray tell, is Sam?”

Sophie’s smoothed her skirts again, avoiding Lily’s eyes.

“I just found out their secret last night. Max and Sam are identical twins. And I do mean identical.” She looked up. Her color had deepened and her eyes were bright. “Unless Sam flirts. He has quite a smile while I’ve only seen frowns from Max.”

“He flirted with you?” Sophie nodded, her face flaming now. “Did he kiss you?” Another nod.

Lily had been friends with Sophie since 1864 when a very young Mrs. Amos McLeod moved to a town suddenly bustling from gold fever. It was a strange friendship, the wife of the hotel owner and a madam, but there were few other women. Eudora Jennet, wife of the banker, turned her nose up at Sophie because she was thirty years younger than her wealthy husband. Of course, Eudora refused to admit that Lily existed.

But Sophie had knocked on the back door of Lily’s home with fresh baking in her hand. She’d asked an uneasy Rosa if she could visit. Sophie was only eighteen, still a bride, and uncertain. Their friendship had blossomed in the years since. But though Lily and even Rosa had managed to find husbands, Sophie had been forced to walk the straight and narrow. Perhaps Sam could persuade her to stray farther than a kiss. Or perhaps he already had. Lily pursed her mouth, unable to totally hide her smile.

“What parts, pray tell, has Samuel Gibson kissed? Or did he do more?”

Sophie groaned and dropped her face in her hands. Lily was pleased Sophie admired Sam enough to enjoy him. She clashed with Max, but that was to be expected of two strong-minded leaders. Sophie had assisted many women new to Tanner’s Ford to change their status from old maid to happily married. It was Lily’s turn to do the same.

An added bonus to the wives in the nearby valley was that they shared three strong husbands. It was an open secret that Sophie was jealous. Learning that Max had a brother, one who wasn’t as fussy, was good news. If both Gibsons wanted Sophie it was best they not learn of her plan to catch Isaac until too late to stop it. They’d be furious, but Lily hadn’t lasted this long, surviving politics and intrigues, to allow a set of Pinkerton twins to stop her.

She heard Rosa and Grace enter the kitchen. Both walked quietly, having learned to tiptoe around angry men. Neither spoke. Grace, having had her tongue cut off, only made guttural sounds, and Rosa said little at the best of times. Both also had secret smiles when they entered the room. Though she’d undergone years of horrific abuse at the hands of a brutal gang, Rosa had healed enough to marry Doc Henley. It was a miracle that they were expecting a baby in the spring. Lily rearranged the lemon slices as an excuse to drop her eyes. Rosa would be furious at Lily’s happy but wistful tears for her.

She blinked them away as other feminine voices came up the stairs. Molly Sinclair and Sarah Unsworth, now Mrs. Luke Frost of the Circle C ranch, had stayed with Lily while they recovered from being held in a Bannack City whorehouse. Rosa, while helping the two younger women recover, had healed most of her own mental wounds. Doc had done the rest.

Molly had been kidnapped at fifteen, the rest of her family murdered. She’d been kept untouched until the day she turned sixteen. Her introduction to sex was not terrible, but a few days later the man holding her sold her to Mr. Isaac. Only recently had they discovered the man who’d held her captive was the town mayor, Orville Rivers. Trace and a few others believed it was Frederick Smythe who’d organized it all. While Mr. Isaac had hurt Molly, he’d restrained himself enough that she could recover. He’d then sold her to a Bannack City brothel.

Sarah had come West to find marriage. She’d become engaged while on the train to a handsome, attentive man who seemed to be everything she wanted. But her fiancé had something other than wedded bliss planned. She’d been drugged and found herself at the mercy of the same madam as Molly. She’d fought, and had been beaten and branded by Mr. Isaac.

When Lily discovered where Molly was being held, the people from Tanner’s Ford went in to rescue her. Jessie Elliott, who’d found the remains of the Sinclairs, insisted on going along. Sarah had been kind to Molly, who insisted she also be rescued. Sarah’s fiancé later received frontier justice at the hand of one of the city’s madams when he tried to do the same thing to the woman’s innocent sister.

Since Mr. Isaac wore a mask and both women had had their eyes covered when he was in the room, they could not identify him by sight. They did, however, have clues from his voice and the aroma of a distinct cigar. Grace, who’d cared for Molly while she was held at the mayor’s ranch, might also know something of Mr. Isaac, who they’d discovered was a frequent visitor to the mayor’s ranch. Grace was desperate to learn to write so she could give them more information to catch Isaac.

“Welcome, ladies,” said Lily as Molly and Sarah entered the room. She gave them time to settle and greet each other before beginning.

“I have news.” That captured their attention. “An acquaintance of mine, Miss Ruby, sent word that Mr. Isaac is in Bannack City. We’ve got to catch him before he disappears again.”

“Miss Ruby?” asked Sophie with a frown.

The others, except Rosa, also gave Lily blank looks. Though everyone knew she’d run a brothel in town for many years, few mentioned it. But Lily was not going to hide her past when speaking up could catch the man who was brutalizing and killing women.

“Miss Ruby owns a saloon with a dance floor and a brothel.” Lily hesitated a moment before continuing. “Ruby used to work at the Cheyenne Social Club in Wyoming. It was a parlor house and therefore very exclusive. She did well and left with a grubstake before her looks faded. She owes me a favor.”

Actually, Ruby owed Lily her life. She’d been caught walking on a sunny day by a miner who wouldn’t take no for an answer. He’d already raped her and was strangling her when Lily found them. She always carried a pistol in her reticule. One shot and the problem was solved. Ruby had worn a silk scarf around her neck for the next few weeks. No one cared about another dead man.

“How can this woman help us entice Mr. Isaac to crawl out from under his slimy rock?” asked Sarah. Her hand dropped to her hip. Though no men but her three husbands and Doc had seen her brand since Isaac had put it on her, Lily knew Sarah still felt shame. He’d branded her with the letter
I
as if she was part of his herd of cattle.

“He’s far too intelligent to fall for a ruse,” said Lily. She looked at Grace, just starting to bloom after a life of abuse. Rosa and Sarah were pregnant, and Molly was far too young to help. She turned to Sophie, the only one of them able to take on the disagreeable job that needed doing. “Someone has to work at Ruby’s Saloon and pretend to be uncooperative. Mr. Isaac will be called to administer punishment. When he arrives, he’ll be caught.”

“No!” blurted Rosa.

Sarah joined in, shaking her head. They, along with Grace and Molly, had turned pale. Sarah frowned as if thinking hard. Lily held up her hand.

“Ruby agreed that whoever we sent would be just a dancer,” said Lily quietly.

There was more to it, of course. While most men were pleased to just hold a woman for a few minutes, there were always those who demanded more. Dancers had to follow the rules just like anyone else, and Ruby was a hard taskmistress. But she paid well and was fair as long as no one crossed her.

“Ruby’s Saloon has a wooden floor outside where women dance. With shortened skirts to show her ankles, a couple of buttons undone, and hair down, she’ll dance with the men who hire her. When a man tries to touch more than her waist, she’ll get angry. Ruby will then set up Mr. Isaac to be captured when he’s called to discipline her.”

“No! That’s, that’s…” Sarah gasped like a fish, unable to find the right word.

“That’s what I’d call an adventure,” said Sophie quietly.

Lily released her breath. “I hoped you’d think of it that way.” She gave a faint smile and patted Sophie’s folded hands.

“You can’t send Sophie to a whorehouse!” insisted Rosa. “She’s a quiet widow who’s never been out of town since she arrived here as a bride years ago!”

“That’s exactly why I must do it,” said Sophie quietly. She met the women’s horrified looks straight on. “If Amos hadn’t agreed to marry me, I would have been forced into such a life when I was seventeen.” She swallowed, dropping her head to avoid the eyes of her friends. “Other girls aren’t so lucky. I have to help them.”

“You don’t know what could happen to you,” said Sarah equally quietly. She was pleating her handkerchief, over and over again.

Lily took Rosa’s cold hands in hers. Only the two of them knew the hell Rosa had suffered for years, though Lily suspected she’d kept things far worse buried deep. When she was twelve, her father had sold her to a gang of Comancheros. She’d been their slave, forced to do whatever they wanted, beaten and starved, until Lily rescued her at eighteen. That was almost fifteen years ago.

“Ruby will watch to make sure Sophie’s as safe as possible.” Lily looked at her friends. “She won’t be treated as you were.”

“I have no knowledge of what you’ve endured,” said Sophie quietly. “But I’ve been living here, safe, for years. I’ve kept my hair tightly braided, my buttons snug, and have tripped over my long skirts too often to count. I want to do something important for once in my life.”

“But you can’t—”

“Rosa, you’re Doc’s wife,” continued Sophie. “You’ll be a mother come spring. The same with Sarah. I’ve seen Molly bat her eyes toward Ulysses Tanner at the mercantile.” The young woman blushed, confirming the rumor. Sophie turned to Grace. “From what Billy said to Daniel, who told Amelia, Paddy O’Keefe is looking to give his son a mother.” Grace couldn’t speak, but her smile suggested she approved. “I wish you well with your men, but they would never allow you to put yourself in harm’s way, even if you wanted to. I, however, have no one to get upset by my actions. I love dancing, yet rarely have a chance except at Christmas and weddings. And,” she added grimly, “I have something to prove to myself. No one is going to stop me.”

“Max Gibson might,” said Rosa.

Twin spots of pink appeared on Sophie’s cheeks. She straightened her back and met Rosa’s look straight on.

“Mr. Gibson will be upset at me interfering with his plans. I, however, don’t care what he thinks. He left town before breakfast. I understand he’s put aside his attempts to locate Mr. Isaac on orders from his superior. He has no claim on me and is not part of this discussion.”