Deborah Camp (4 page)

“Why, sure!” Jewel chuckled and carried her dishes to the washtub. “Long, long time ago, when I was even younger than you. Loved him like a rock, I did.”

“Like a rock?” Cassie repeated, shaking her head in confusion.

Jewel nodded. “Loved him hard,” she explained. “Hard and solid. Nothing could break my love for him. I love him to this very day.”

“You still see him?”

“No, he’s dead. Died a few years back.” Her eyes took on a faraway look as she stared at the shuttered windows.

“You kept up with him,” Cassie said. “Did you marry him?”

“No, honey.” Jewel’s breasts rose and fell with a heavy sigh. “My folks were agin it.” She blinked and smiled. “Listen to that, will you? I’m talking like Shorty. My folks were
against
it.” She focused her eyes on Cassie’s rapt
expression. “You should learn to talk like a lady. Shorty didn’t do right by you by not teaching you the finer things in life. How did he expect you to find a husband when you cuss like an ill-bred man?”

“I don’t cuss ’lessen it’s called for.”

“It’s never called for if you’re a lady,” Jewel said with a tiny sniff of reproach. “One thing my business has taught me is that to be treated like a lady one must act like a lady.”

Cassie turned from her, resisting the urge to question her lady ways. How could Jewel be a lady and a whore at the same time? Wasn’t possible.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking now, Cassie,” Jewel said softly. “I’ll tell you something. I’ve never been treated badly by a man. I’ve been spit on by so-called ladies, but never by a man. Men are able to separate the husks from the corn, but not women. They’re the worst at throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” She placed her strong hands on Cassie’s shoulders and began to knead the taut muscles. “You’re all worn out. I’ll clean up these dishes. You go on and get into bed.”

“No, I’ll—”

“Don’t argue with me. We’ll tackle this problem again in the morning. Get some sleep.”

“You sure? I don’t mind helping …”

“I’m sure.” Jewel smiled down into her face. “I’ll miss Shorty. He was sweet on me, wasn’t he?” She laughed at Cassie’s wide eyes and slack mouth. “Didn’t you think I knew it all along?”

“You never let on …”

“No use in encouraging him,” Jewel said, her hands dropping from Cassie’s shoulders. “He was looking to fall in love, and I couldn’t afford that.”

Cassie stood up and Jewel placed a hand alongside her face. The gesture brought a sheen of tears to Cassie’s blue eyes and a knot of emotion to her throat.

“Don’t you worry none,” Jewel whispered. “I’ll be here with you in the morning and we’ll work something out. You and Shorty have been kind to me, and now it’s my turn to help you out.”

Cassie nodded, unable to speak. She went into her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Jewel listened for the squeak of the bedsprings before she moved to the side of the cot again. Kneeling beside it, she ran the fingers of one hand through the man’s midnight hair, then felt his fevered brow. With the mischievous light of his brown eyes extinguished, she hadn’t recognized him at first glance. He looked different—older, wiser, and, at this moment, very ill.

“Rook Abraham Colton,” she whispered as a tender smile curved her rouged lips, “what kind of mess have you gotten yourself into?”

Cassie stood with her back to Jewel and the unwanted stranger and stared at the verdant hills that still blocked the light of morning. Somewhere the sun was shining, but it hadn’t climbed up far enough to cast its rays into the valley. Mountain mist rolled down the hills and pooled around the cabin that Shorty Potter had built with his own hands and by the sweat of his brow. Nothing much had changed since that time except for the new mound of earth with the crude cross sticking up from it.

Cassie wondered if she should build a little fence around the grave. Looks so forlorn, she thought with a sad smile. Needs something to make it look peaceful and revered.

“It’s too bad Pa couldn’t have been buried next to Ma,” Cassie said, mostly to herself.

“What’s that, hon?” Jewel asked.

“I was just ruminating …” Cassie drew in a deep, cleansing breath. Why had she thought that the morning would lessen her sense of loss? Pa was still dead and she was still alone. “I was thinking it’s a shame that Ma couldn’t be resting next to Pa. I don’t remember seeing her grave, but Pa said I visited it once when I was little.”

“It’s a ways to St. Louis,” Jewel murmured.

“Wonder what killed her?”

“She was ailing for a spell. Anyways, that’s what Shorty told me. Doctors couldn’t do much for her. She just kept getting sicker and sicker. Shorty said that he died a little when she passed over.”

“I know. He loved her—” Cassie glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “He loved her like a rock.”

“That’s right,” Jewel agreed with a grin. “Like a rock. That’s the best way to love somebody.”

“It’s the good ones that die,” Cassie said, staring at the lonely grave again. “The bad ones like that one you’re fussing over live no matter what.” She looked over her shoulder again, saw that Jewel was running a wet rag over the man’s furred chest, and jerked her gaze away from the repellent but strangely fascinating sight. “I’m glad you’re going that. It’d make me sick to touch him.”

“Well, you’re going to have to touch, young lady. I thought we agreed last night that you’d—”

“I don’t recall agreeing to nothing last night,” Cassie interrupted her. “You did a lot of talking, and I listened—that’s all.”

“Cassie, don’t be so stubborn! You know that we discussed me paying you to get this man back on his feet and in the pink again.”

“I didn’t say I would,” Cassie insisted. “I said I’d think about it. If it means bathing him and—and such, I don’t think I got the stomach for it.”

“Oh, fiddle-faddle!” Jewel puffed out an irritated sigh. “If this was Shorty, you’d bathe him.”

“He ain’t Pa.”

“ ‘Isn’t,’ Cassie.
‘Isn’t.’
” Jewel moved across the room to stand beside her. “What’s it going to be, girl? Are you going to starve out here, or are you going to take the money I’ve offered and be useful?”

“I don’t know …” Cassie closed her eyes, feeling a surge of self-pity. “I can’t think clear no more. I look out there and see Pa’s grave and everything seems so black …”

“Here, here.” Jewel placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her sideways until Cassie’s head dropped to her shoulder. “I know things look bleak. That’s why you should look on this man as a godsend.”

“Jewel …” Cassie began as her curiosity stirred to life again.

“Yes, honey?”

Cassie lifted her head and looked Jewel square in the eyes. “Why are you helping him? Is he a good customer, or do you know something about him that you’re not telling?”

“I told you last night—”

“I know what you told me, but it don’t make sense.”

Jewel averted her gaze and her expression was shuttered. “He’s a customer of mine, and I know he’s a good man.”

“Why not tell the sheriff about his misfortune?”

“Because I think Sheriff Barnes is an imbecile. Once that young man is on his feet, he can tell the sheriff all about it if he wishes. It’s not up to me or you.”

“And you think it’ll be all right for me to stay out here alone with him?”

“Why, sure. You’re in no danger. I’d be more worried about the critter who shot Shorty than I would be about that poor young man.” Jewel glanced over her shoulder at him and smiled. “He’s as harmless as a kitten right now.” Her smile took in Cassie’s worried frown. “You could buy seed and plant a garden with the money I give you. It’d be a start, wouldn’t it?”

“I suppose …” Cassie’s mouth dipped into a frown as she wondered if she was looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Jewel squeezed her shoulder and then let her arm slip away. “That’s right. You’re doing the right thing, honey.”

Cassie turned slowly and stared at the sleeping man. “I don’t want him in Pa’s bed.”

Jewel propped her hands on her hips. “You want him outside in the elements?”

“No …” Cassie glanced around the cabin and pointed to her bedroom door. “Let’s put him in there. I don’t want to have to look at him all the time while I’m working in here. It’ll drive me crazy.”

“Put him in your bed?” Jewel asked, her eyes widening with surprise. “You sure?”

“I’m sure. Help me get him in there.” Cassie went to the foot of the cot. “Did you take off all his clothes?”

“Sure did. It would be nice if you’d wash them up for him.”

“Why should I? He can wash ’em up if he wants ’em clean.”

Jewel shrugged and tucked her hands under his arms. “He’ll have to go around buck naked until they’re cleaned.”

Cassie pursed her lips and threw Jewel a belligerent glare. “I’ll wash ’em. Satisfied?”

Jewel smiled slyly. “Grab him under the knees.”

“When is he gonna come around?” Cassie grumbled as she helped swing him up and off the cot.

“Soon, I imagine,” Jewel said, grunting with the effort of carrying his weight. “Gotta break his fever, Cassie. That bullet has sent infection through his body.”

“I don’t know nothing about fevers and the like,” Cassie said, duck-walking toward her bedroom. Her shoulders burned, feeling as if they were ready to pop out of their sockets.

“I’ll tell you what to do.” Jewel waddled backward, glanced over her shoulder at the four-poster, then inched back until she was standing at the headboard. “Okay, let’s swing him onto it. One …” Jewel sucked in her breath and her eyes bulged. “Two …
three!
Lordy, lordy! That man is as heavy as a blacksmith’s anvil.”

“That’s the last time I’m moving him,” Cassie said, giving him a sinister glare as she struggled to catch her breath. She started to look away, then her gaze snapped back to him. The muslin sheet had fallen away, revealing a hairy, muscular thigh. Fascination wove through her, potent and alarming, and she whipped her head around and gulped for breath. She felt her face burn when Jewel chuckled knowingly.

“Never seen a man without his clothes on, have you?” Jewel asked. “They’re just as God made them, Cassie. No need to be ashamed to look.”

“He looks disgusting.” Cassie reached back a hand, grabbed the edge of the sheet, and flicked it over the exposed area. “Looks like an animal instead of a human being.”

Jewel laughed with delight. “Oh, you are precious, Cassie! You’ve got so much to learn.”

“Some things I don’t want to learn.” Cassie left the room and felt better when she had added sufficient distance between herself and the stranger in her bed. “What am I supposed to do with him?”

Jewel closed the bedroom door and Cassie turned to see that she had gathered up her clothing and was changing from her lacy dressing gown to the fancy dress she’d worn yesterday.

“Keep his wound clean and make him eat something. Soup would be good for starters. He needs nourishment. As soon as he wakes up, get something into his stomach. Food and drink will break his fever and fight off the infection.”

“He’ll probably shoot me for my trouble,” Cassie said with a jerk of her chin.

“I hid his gun in your bureau drawer. Top one, under your undergarments. By the way, you could use some new ones. Yours are dingy. I’ll bring some for you.”

“No, I couldn’t—”

“Hush up.” Jewel wiggled into her dress. “The girls are always throwing away perfectly good garments. I’ll gather them up and bring them. And you can’t stop me.” She grinned and turned her back to Cassie. “Button me up, Cassie.”

Cassie slipped the satin-colored buttons through the loops, her fingertips tingling with the touch of the fine material. So soft and slick, she thought, wishing her clothes felt that good.

“He won’t be much trouble,” Jewel promised. “I imagine he’ll be so grateful for your help that he’ll give you a big kiss.”

Cassie’s fingers tensed. “He ain’t kissing me!”

“Cassie, will you please stop saying that word? ‘Ain’t’ sounds as if you don’t know right from wrong. Just because Shorty didn’t care to better himself doesn’t mean you have to follow his lead.”

“He
isn’t
gonna kiss me,” Cassie said, stepping back from Jewel and letting her gaze wander over the woman’s full figure and the lovely frock that hugged it. “He’s all hairy and disgusting. Like a bear or something.”

“That’s one of the delightful differences between men and women,” Jewel said, pinning her flaming hair in order. “Men are hairy and tough, and women are smooth and soft.”

“I ain’t … I’m
not
soft,” Cassie interrupted.

Jewel smiled. “That sounds much better, Cassie, but you’re soft compared to that buck in there. You should feel his skin. It’s leathery and—”

“Stop!” Cassie flattened her palms against her ears and frowned at Jewel when the woman laughed at her. “It ain’t natural for you to be talking so.”

Jewel grasped Cassie’s wrists and forced her hands down from the side of her head. “It’s the most natural thing in the world, Cassie Potter.” Her hands slipped from Cassie’s wrists to pluck at the lace around her own cuffs. “Oh, I’m not talking about what goes on in my house. That’s just business. Animal urges and the like.”

“Animals,” Cassie said, folding her arms at her waist in a moment of triumph. “You just said what I’ve been saying. Men like him are animals.”

Jewel’s hands whispered down her satin skirt. “I’m talking about the special feelings that flow between a man and a woman when there’s nothing to be gained except what God intended,” Jewel continued as if she hadn’t heard Cassie’s denouncement. “If it was good enough for Adam and Eve, why isn’t it good enough for you?”

Cassie opened her mouth, found nothing to say, and closed it. Jewel delivered a cagey wink and swept her velvet purse off the table.

“Enough said. I’ve got to be getting back. The girls will be wondering what’s become of me.”

“You’re leaving?” Panic blew through Cassie, and she clutched at Jewel’s sleeve in desperation. “Stay for a while longer, Jewel. I’m scared to be alone with him.”

“Honey, honey”—Jewel patted her hand—“nothing to be scared of. He’s asleep, and he’ll be weak as a baby when he wakes up. Just do what I said. Tell you what—I’ll leave a little money with you and I’ll bring you some seed. What do you want to plant?”