Denver (33 page)

“Sorry, Mr. Knelville. I told your pa that if you want someone to guard your own goods, you’ll have to hire them yourself. Now, you can talk to a Pinkerton man if you want. I’ve got the name of one who works out of St. Louis.”

“All right, give me his name, but remember, Borden, you’re hired by the city fathers to control criminals. If you want to keep this job, see that it gets done!”

“Yes, sir!” Sheriff Borden snapped, his face flushing. He rummaged through his desk. “Just a minute. Maybe I stuck it in the cabinet.” He pushed back his chair with a scrape and went to a scarred cabinet that stood along the back wall. A cabinet filled with rifles was mounted on the wall beside it, and wanted posters hung next to the gun cabinet.

Reuben’s gaze drifted over the cabinet while his fingers drummed impatiently on the counter. Louisa was shopping and he wanted to be finished with the Sheriff in time to get back to talk to her. His gaze swept over the wall to the window onto the back, where the sheriff’s horse grazed in a small area fenced by rope.

Reuben’s gaze went back to the posters, and he stared at one. Something about it nagged at him. He
looked at the name: Tigre Danby Castillo. Wanted for murder, theft, bank robbery. Reuben looked again at the picture.

“Here’s the fellow’s name, Buster Brawne, with his St. Louis office address.”

“Doesn’t sound like a real name.”

Sheriff Borden shrugged. “Here’s his card. Take it. No one else is interested in a Pinkerton man.”

“Soon we can get things sent in here by rail. In the meantime, think it over, Sheriff. You might change your mind about putting a guard on the next stage. The election comes up in a few months.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Mr. Knelville,” he said in a tight voice.

Reuben left, letting the door bang shut behind him. He jammed the card in his pocket and climbed into his buggy. Life had taken a strange turn. Dan Castle had left town with the O’Malleys to tend the injured brother. Paddy was still in town, but Reuben hadn’t seen Brian, although he assumed the young man had gone with Dan and Mary O’Malley. To Reuben’s delight, the trollop, Dulcie, knew exactly where Dan was. Castle had taken time to tell her before he left, a bit of information Reuben might find useful.

As Louisa came out of a dry-goods store, Reuben slowed his team. “Good morning, Louisa.”

When she turned, he was struck again by her beauty. Since she had all but actually become engaged to Castle, Reuben had been comparing her to other women he knew. In all honesty, the only woman who could come close to Louisa’s beauty was the whore, Dulcie. And that amazed Reuben every time he stopped to think about it. Some of the whores he had known were pretty, some attractive, and some downright plain, but many of them looked as if life had been hard on them. Not Dulcie. She was beautiful. Naked or clothed. It pleased him to buy her favors, knowing she was Dan Castle’s woman, hoping it annoyed Castle. He couldn’t get much information out of her, but after the first time with her, he really didn’t care. He was also amazed that his taste in women was exactly
the same as Castle’s. He supposed it was simply a matter of having an eye for real beauty.

Reuben’s gaze ran over Louisa with what he hoped was a bold, blatant look of desire, because he knew how she loved to have him show that he desired her. He climbed down to stand beside her. “Shopping early this morning?”

“Yes, we wanted to finish before we made our morning calls.”

“And tonight is the Haskinses’ dinner. Have you heard from the wayward fiancé yet?”

Her eyes became stormy as she gazed up at him, her red lips pursing in anger. “You know I don’t care to discuss that, and if you want to talk to me, Reuben Knelville, you will kindly change the subject!”

“And your father, who is so taken with Castle. Has he heard from him yet? Or is he still out in the woods with Mary O’Malley?”

“I’m going now.”

Reuben laughed and took her hand, leaning down. “How I wished I were to be allowed to take you tonight. I’d steal a kiss, Louisa. A long kiss.” His fingers tickled her palm while he whispered in her ear.

He saw the anger in her eyes change to a look of desire. She was as hot-blooded as that tart. Sometimes Dulcie was more of a lady in her own way than Louisa. And Dulcie wouldn’t torment a man to death, something Louisa delighted in.

“Maybe I can escort you home if you indicate you’d like to let me,” he said. “Just a few kisses, Louisa, before you’re engaged.”

She slanted him a coy look, and he knew she would let him take her home tonight. “Perhaps, Reuben.”

“Perhaps you might like me to ask your mother if I can take you. Then I could steal two kisses?”

She laughed, a merry peal. “How could you talk Mama into that, when—” She stopped, and realized she had thought of Dan. The anger returned to her eyes and she lifted her chin. “You do that, Reuben. See if you can talk Mama into allowing it. Our carriage is right there in front of the confectionery.”

He smiled. Louisa would be his, never Dan Castle’s. He knew that when Castle returned he could make amends, but Reuben intended to cause such a wide rift between Dan and Louisa that Castle would never win her back. And Reuben had decided he wanted Louisa for his wife. She was the most suitable woman he knew.

“Very well, Louisa. You wait right here and let me talk to your mother.”

“I’ll go back into the store. You have five minutes.”

He laughed. “Always, you want to make life more difficult for me in any little way you can!”

“Why, Reuben, you make me sound cruel.”

“You
are
cruel like a little kitten who can cause only tiny scratches. I’ll show you a sweet cruelty tonight, Louisa, when I put my hands beneath your skirts!”

“Reuben! Stop that this instant!” She frowned and spun away from him, but he had done it enough to know it excited her, and she liked for him to talk to her about forbidden things.

He strolled half a block to the Shumacher carriage and knocked lightly, stepping inside.

“Mrs. Shumacher, may I have a word with you? Louisa has stepped back into the store.”

“Of course, Reuben. We’re going to call on your mother shortly.”

“She’ll be happy to see you. I know she counts you as her best friend. Mrs. Shumacher, this is a delicate question, but you’re an understanding woman and one whom I’ve known since I was a boy.”

“What’s troubling you, Reuben?”

“Under ordinary circumstances, I know you would refuse my request, but ordinary circumstances no longer exist. I’m invited to the Haskinses’ tonight, as your family is also. May I escort Louisa?”

She drew a sharp breath and gazed out the carriage window. She was so much like his own mother that Reuben found it easy to be with her and usually easy to please her. He knew when to speak and when to keep his silence.

“Yes, Reuben, if that’s agreeable with Louisa.”

“It’s agreeable. Thank you. Mrs. Shumacher. I know it’s a delicate situation.”

“Frankly, Reuben, I think the girl has such foolish notions sometimes. Simply because the man has become a bank customer, Mr. Shumacher has turned a blind eye to a ridiculous situation.”

“If I were about to become engaged to your daughter, I wouldn’t leave town with another woman, that I can promise you.”

“I know, Reuben. You’re reliable and trustworthy.”

Reuben smiled, his purpose accomplished. “I see Louisa returning. Thank you.”

He stepped down and strode across the boardwalk to take Louisa’s elbow in his hand. “You’ll ride with me tonight, and we’ll do just what I promised.”

“You’re a scoundrel, Reuben, and how you have Mother fooled! She thinks you’re a perfect gentleman. If she knew what you do to me, you’d be banned forever from my presence.”

“But she doesn’t know,” he said, turning her to face him, looking down at her breasts. “You’re beautiful, Louisa.”

“And you’re far too forward!”

“I’ll call at six, and for a few hours I’ll make you forget your betrothed.”

“One thing, Reuben,” she said, her temper suddenly flaring. “You’re not to mention the name Dan Castle!”

He smiled and helped her into the carriage, closing the door and watching the carriage move down Larimer.
Dan Castle
. The words rang in his ears. And he thought of the name on the poster.
Tigre Danby Castillo
. “Danby Castillo,” he said aloud under his breath, his gray eyes widening.
“Danby Castillo—Dan Castle.”

Reuben climbed in his carriage to ride back to the jail.

Hattie studied her dresses. Catalina had a marvelous seamstress who had made three dresses for Hattie. She studied the raspberry muslin, and amber crepon, and a deep blue grenadine.

She decided on the amber crepon and pulled it on. She then brushed her hair and began the arduous task of braiding it in the latest style, when she thought about Javier and how he liked it in a bun behind her head so he could take it down easily. She sat down on the rocker, running her hand across her forehead. Javier would be here this afternoon. It had been so long since they parted. Years of separation. And she finally answered his letter and agreed to see him. Since she had let down that barrier, memories had come flooding back, longings that she had tried to ignore. She was torn between burning anger that would never completely die, and a longing that would also be with her as long as she drew breath. She loved him. She couldn’t stop. They had had so many good years together, perfect years. They had a wonderful son. Javier seemed truly sorry, and he seemed to be trying to make amends with April. With Luke it was impossible.

Luke was a hard man, but Hattie understood why. That terrible day of the ambush had changed their lives forever. They had molded into different people. Luke’s gentle nature was tempered now by the hardness that had enabled him to survive. And she supposed the same was true of her.

Hattie unplaited her hair and twisted it into a bun, her fingers moving swiftly while her mind jumped to the present. She still didn’t know what she felt for Javier. Anger and forgiveness. Yet it was becoming more and more difficult to cling to her anger when she saw how happy April and Noah were. April’s life was full and good, and she had completely forgotten the past and forgiven Javier, so what was the point in clinging to something so far in the past?

Yet all of the lost years could come rushing back to Hattie so easily. And of all her grandchildren, there wasn’t a girl baby. How she dreamed there would be one like April, but there wasn’t. She adored the boys, and she knew the longing was simply for what had been lost to her long ago. If she stopped to remember, the pain returned, blurred, not as sharp as it had been in those first years, but unforgettable, and then she didn’t want to see Javier or talk to him.

She started to put on the necklace Luke and Catalina had given her—emeralds set in silver—but she lowered it and opened a drawer, rummaging deep to pull out the old locket of gold that Javier had given her long ago. It had a tintype inside; of Dan as a child. Hattie held it in her palm a long time and finally put it around her neck. It lay above the neck of the amber dress in the cleft between her breasts. She dabbed rosewater behind her ears and on her wrists and realized she was as dithery as a young girl.

She moved to the window to look down at the road, and as if her thoughts had conjured him up, she saw the familiar wagon come into view. The driver was hidden by a broad-brimmed black hat, but his long legs and arms were showing, and her heart began to race.

“Javier,” she whispered, watching the wagon turn into the yard. It stopped, and he jumped down, striding toward the front door and out of her sight, but she remembered well his long stride, his purposeful way of moving.

She went down the spacious hall, thankful for the grand house that Noah had given April. And now there
were plans to enlarge it. Hattie suspected April and Noah wanted another baby.

When she heard Javier’s voice, she paused. Memories flooded her mind. His deep tone seemed to reach out with invisible fingers and cling to her. She moved ahead more slowly, uncertain about their meeting. She turned the corner, and he stood talking to one of the maids. For an instant Hattie stared in shock, thinking it couldn’t be Javier.

It was his voice, but the man only yards away had thick white hair.

“Javier?”

He turned. His mustache was as white as his hair, both thick as ever, his black eyes seeming to absorb her into their depths. He looked older, and it hurt to see the change in him. There were lines in his face that hadn’t been there before, but he was as broad-shouldered and as masculine, and an undercurrent of excitement gripped her as she looked at him.

“Hattie!” he said, moving a step toward her and halting.

His one word set her pulse racing. Memories swirled like snowflakes, silent, constant, too many of them tumbling in her thoughts. “Come into the parlor,” she said, barely knowing what she told him. “I don’t know where April is.”

“I will fetch her, Señora Castillo.”

“Gracias, María,”
Hattie said, and motioned to Javier. He stepped aside, and as she passed him, she was aware of his big body, the clean smell tinged with a faint trace of tobacco that was so familiar to her. In minutes April joined them. The rest of the afternoon and that evening were spent in pleasant but—it seemed to Hattie—strained conversation. April and Noah were at ease, but Aaron was shy around Javier. Finally Javier left the child alone until Aaron’s shyness began to evaporate and he climbed onto Javier’s lap.

Eventually April put Aaron to bed, and April and Noah said good night, leaving Hattie and Javier alone.

Javier moved to the mantel to rest his arm against it as he turned to look at her. He had shed his coat, and
she saw how his shirt pulled across his shoulders. The muscles were still solid and powerful. “Hattie, I want you to come home with me.”

Hattie had known this was coming, she had rehearsed answer after answer, yet she had never been able to say yes.

She clasped her hands together, turning the plain gold band on her finger. She heard a rustle and looked up as he leaned down to pull her to her feet.