The Duke's Dark Secret (Historical Victorian Romance) (6 page)

              Gertie cried out and began to wave her fists angrily. “Frank Durant, you get out of my restaurant before I call the sheriff!”

              “Sheriff Tate? He doesn’t care much what I do.” Frank yawned. “We have us an understanding, don’t you know? I’m an upright business owner, bring in a lot of business for this town. You… business ain’t so good anyhow.”

              Gertie huffed and returned to the kitchen.

              “Well, that sounds like a no, boys. That’s too bad. You may want to leave here, Miss.” He said, standing up. “Hate for you to see things get ugly.”

              “I will not.” Louisa folded her arms. She had no great loyalty to this place, but she’d made up her mind about Durant. “Someone needs to stand up to you bullies, and I intend to bear witness…”

              “Witness?” Durant snickered, grabbed his chair, and flung it across the room. Louisa flinched. “Girl, you get on over to the Lucky Star and get yourself a job as a dancer. Or get on out of town. My girls don’t need competition from a pretty face like your own.”

              She felt her fear rising, but stood her ground. “I’m going nowhere.”

              When she’d made her declaration, she looked to the door which swung up at that moment. Jeb Bradford strolled in, holding a pair of six-shooters. “Seems to be a bit of ruckus here. Y’all raisin’ a ruckus?”

              Frank Durant scowled. “This ain’t your affair, Jeb. You go poking your nose in another man’s business you’re going to be sorry. Or…” and here he smiled slightly. “You already forget what happened to that brother of yours?”

              Jeb cocked the safety on each weapon. “You sure you want to raise that point with a gun pointed at your head, Frank?”

              Durant put his hat back on his blonde head and grinned. “Good point. I’d hate to give Sheriff Tate a reason to hang you and miss out on all the fun. We’ll be back. You can’t save Gertie from all her problems, Jeb.”

              Jeb stepped aside from the path of the doorway and waved. Frank and his pals left, casting menacing glances as they passed the man. “High-stakes game you’re playing, Jeb. Hope it’s worth it.”

              Once they’d left, Gertie came out carrying a rifle she pointed towards the door. “Thanks, Jeb.” She offered with a smile. “Fetch you a coffee and bacon? On the house.”

              He nodded. “Happy to pay my way, Gertie. And I don’t mind the company.”

              Louisa stood up. She thought the man brave, but was still stinging a touch from the wrong her family had done to her. “I appreciate the sentiment and your earlier gallantry, Mr. Bradford. I’ll be heading back to my rooms. Then I need to sincerely get about looking for work.”

              Gertie set the rifle on the counter and raised a finger to her lips. “Things are pretty slow here, and I can only pay you a little bit every week until things pick up, but, I could use a serving girl. Could have you start as soon as tomorrow morning, if you like. You think you’d be up to waiting tables, Miss…”

              “Louisa Forest.” She strolled over to the proprietress and held out her hand. “It would be my pleasure.”

*****

              Ann Bradford stepped out onto the back porch of the Bradford home and rang the triangle. She hoped her brother wasn’t too far out to hear; it was impossible to say. They had a fairly large ranch, with plenty or property to keep an eye out on.

              As it happened, Jeb was nearby and practically ran up to the house. Ann smiled as she saw him. “Nellie finally calve?”

              “Yeah, that old girl had her calf this morning. It’s a heifer, thank God.”

              “That is good news!” She affirmed as the man kicked his boots clean by the steps. There was a small tub of water she had filled earlier, and he took the opportunity to wash his hands, neck, and face.

              “You go into town like you said you would?”

              “Sure did.” He quickly gave his sister the highlights of the confrontation with Frank Durant and his goons. She blanched at the mention of the name.

              “I wish you had shot him dead, Jeb. It pains me that man is still walking around after what he did to Thomas.”

              “Can’t prove it, and I’d be just as dead. Sheriff would see to that, like Frank said. I guess some little good came of it,” he added, noting that Louisa had found work. As he finished his discourse, the siblings went back into the house where lunch was waiting.

              They sat at the table, where Ann had provided a generous meal. Their uncle was absent, having gone into town on his own on some business. While Frank cut into a small roast to make a sandwich, he saw that his sister wore a troubled look on her face. “What now, Ann?”

              “I’ve been thinking. I can’t get that girl off my mind. Y’all didn’t do so fair by her, if you ask me.”

              He shrugged. “You act like you had no part in it.”

              “I didn’t! I told you that I didn’t approve of you misleading her.”

              “But you did say Tom should marry, didn’t you?” He was finding the beef tough to cut and, frustrated, stopped and sat  back in his chair. “Aw, you’re right. When you’re right, you're right. I guess it’s my conscience bothering me.”

              She leaned forward. “Maybe, dear brother, you’d feel a bit better if you told her your role in all this? If you’re going to keep running into her, seems you might clear the air.”

              Jeb considered this proposal. “I can see how that would be best. Lying is a sin, and I guess my not telling the whole tale is a lie of sorts.”

              “A lie of omission?”

              “That’s the phrase.” He sighed. “I’ll need to drop in on Gertie again sooner than later.”

*****

              Jeb rode into town the next morning and was surprised when he tied up his horse outside of Daisy’s to see dozens of customers inside. He was able to find a table and soon found there was a respectable wait for help. Eventually, Gertie came around to his table.

              “What can I get for you, Jeb?”

              “You mind if I wait for Louisa? I wanted to have a few words with her, if it ain’t too much trouble.”

              The woman gave him a knowing smile. “I’ll see she comes around your way.”

              After a short wait, Louisa walked over. She wore a plain, dark-blue dress with a long smock covering most of it, and a bow in her hair. She gave him a half-smile. “Ann makes a powerfully good breakfast. Surprised to see you here, unless you plan to fatten up a little before getting to work?”

              Jeb grinned. “Tempting to try more of Gertie’s fare for a snack, but I was hoping I might be able to talk to you during a break.”

              She glanced around at the tables. “You might have a bit of a wait. We’re not usually this busy, I’m told.”

              “Word of mouth about the lovely new waitress, I’m sure.” He suggested.

              Louisa gave him a skeptical glance. “I’m fairly sure it was that you stood up to Frank. People don’t care very much for him, it seems.”

              “So I may visit you during your break?”

              “I suppose so. Try around noon.”

              Jeb spent the morning visiting with folks in the town, people he’d come to know very well in the past decade. Though the banter was familiar and he was interested in their stories, he felt distracted the entire time. It was strange, and he couldn’t place where the feeling was coming from, but there was an unpleasant feeling in his stomach, a tension that shouldn’t have been there.

              When Louisa was finally free, he escorted her along the plank sidewalk of town towards the outskirts. There, the prairie ran directly up against the final building, stretching for long distances out into the fenced off ranges of the cattle ranchers. They stepped off the planks and strolled along the roadside, finishing up the necessary polite talk that such company called for.

              “I understand you’ve had little chance to acquaint yourself with the country since you’ve arrived. I thought it might be nice to see some of it.”

              “It is indeed lovely.” She agreed readily. The view of the Rockies in the near distance helped give the place a border; otherwise, it would have seemed as though a great sea of land stretched out before them endlessly beneath a blazing sun and big sky.

              “I fear I have something to confess.” He began, clearing his throat. “I am not proud of this, but you must know.”

              Louisa shook her head. “That is a shame. I had a more favorable impression from you from your act of courage yesterday. I suppose if you must say something upsetting, it would be best if you do so and do it quickly.”

              “Thomas wasn’t so keen to write, so it fell to me. I wrote the letters.”

              “I see.” She breathed in sharply, then let it all out in a single rush of air. “Fine. You were the one with whom I wrote. That which is done is done and there seems little point in dwelling upon it.”

              Despite her words, he could sense the disappointment and hurt in her voice. He didn’t understand why in the short time he had known her that it had already begun to regret his part in the matter.

              He apologized once more. “Had I realized how much it would wrong you, I’d have never agreed to it.”

              “I only ask that we never speak of it again. It’s past.” She let that sink in and then took his arm. “I’ve had to let a lot of things from the past go, Jeb. I don’t choose to live there anymore. I’m here, and I’m ready to see what my future holds.”

              “That’s a good way of seeing things.” He agreed, feeling warm and comfortable in her presence. The nervousness passed and he instead he felt he was right where he belonged. “You have, if you don’t mind my saying, Miss Louisa, the proper attitude about life.”

              “I do try.” They walked for some time before each of them had to get back to their work.

              As Jeb rode out on the range to check up on the livestock that evening, he thought back on the afternoon with Louisa. “I have to see her again,” He said to himself with a smile. He tried to think of a way to make that work.

              He was deep in thought as the riders crossed the plain, keeping close to the shadows.

*****

              Curly thought he had the drop on Jeb and lowered his rifle.

              “Not yet, you idiot.” Brock muttered. They were still a long distance away from their target. The sun was beginning to set. From long experience as a gunman, Brock knew he wanted to catch Jeb in the perfect light, from the right, safe distance. There were no heights from which he’d be able to shoot adequately; otherwise, he’d have chosen that approach.

              “I got him, though” Curly complained.

              Brock gritted his teeth. He wasn’t pleased to be working with these local guys. Johnny, the lean man to his left on the pinto, might have half a brain, but Curly and Ike were pure morons. He wished that Frank had let him work on his own.

              “You got him? Great. Wait until I give the word. If you miss him, it’s going to be your ass Frank takes it out on. Not mine.”

              “Yeah, okay.” Curly glumly agreed.

              “In fact, ride on the hell out of here. You’re getting on my last nerve. We’ll do this ourselves. You boys just follow my lead.”

              Curly turned his horse angrily and left. The man wouldn’t normally take guff from anyone, but Brock had a reputation as a skilled killer. None of them wanted to cross him.

              The three remaining men watched as Jeb rode along and finally stopped and got off his horse. The man was checking something on a sheep, possibly its hoof. Brock judged the light to be just right.

              “All right boys. Draw on him. After you take your shot, ride in and finish him if he don’t go down. We clear?”

              “You got it.” Johnny said, pulling out his gun.

              “Let’s go. Wait.” He saw a glint of metal flashing from behind the sheep.

              The gun blasted three times. He felt a sharp pain along his shoulder blade and a moment later Ike was spinning and falling off his horse.

              “Damn it!” He shot, but the shots went wide. Johnny’s missed their mark as well. Once it was clear they’d failed, they spurred their horses forward.

              It was less than ideal, but Brock felt reasonably sure he could still put the man in the ground. It’d be his fiftieth kill, and he hated the idea of missing that magic number.

              They closed the distance quickly, but from a stationary position with a dead sheep in front of him- one of them had apparently gunned down the sheep- he was taking his time and picking his target. Brock unloaded and was about to give Johnny another order when he saw the man was slumped over the neck of his horse. He slid and fell off.