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  Sam decided he would stay there a while and think on it and see how his heart felt later. He spent days examining the couples of which Burning Tree spoke. The longer he stayed, the more his eyes were open to the possibilities. His one question rested on Riley; would she come here to be his wife?

  ***

  The lawyer seemed taken aback that Ethan Morgan was even considering turning a ranch into a bordello, but as legal counsel he merely cautioned him.

  “It’s highly irregular, and once the law moves that direction things could change for you in a hurry, but right now, I see nothing stopping you from doing it. Is this what Riley Morgan wants?”

  “As a matter of fact, she plans on living there, and running the ranch, she just wanted some company. She’ll be alone out there and this will solve her problem.”

  When the lawyer frowned, she added, “Besides, I really can’t take her back with me to Boston, she’d be lost living there. It’s another world there.”

  The lawyer shrugged, his bushy brows nearly meeting as he spoke. “Well, I guess that’s settled. But I must warn you. Even though you two have the land and money back, you could still face problems with this Harry.”

  Riley nodded. “I think I have some evidence that Harry was involved in a stage robbery not long ago. I think we won’t be having any more trouble with him.”

  “I’m glad everything worked out for you. And I appreciate you settling my bill before you leave for your home in Boston.” The lawyer smiled and stuck out his hand when he saw Riley counting the money out.

  “The Morgan’s always take care of their business.” Riley twitched her mustache and, with a handshake, left.

  She headed for the Sheriff’s office next.

  The sheriff was a tall, broad man of middle age, but agile enough to get about well on his own, Riley decided, when she witnessed him handling a drunk cowboy who was looking for trouble. The Sheriff wasted no time in throwing him in the jail and locking him up.

  Then he came back toward his desk and glanced at Riley.

  “Do you have any proof of this accusation that you are making?” The Sheriff finally acknowledged her as Ethan Morgan and Riley nodded.

  “Of course I do. He wore silver spurs like my cousin told me about in her letter.”

  “You mean your cousin told you about his spurs in a letter? Why would she do that?” the Sheriff questioned.

  “She wanted me to recognize him when I arrived at the ranch and beware of his devilry.” Riley smiled. “She wasn’t sure she’d be there when I got to the ranch or not and she didn’t want me getting shot for one thing.”

  “I see. Alright, if I send a posse out to round this Harry up, we’ll check out your story. You might have to testify if you want to send him to jail,” the Sheriff insisted.

  “Just get word to my cousin at her ranch then.” Riley nodded and left.

  “I’ll do ‘er. And will any of the other ranch hands need arresting?” he asked.

  “I’d expect they were all in on it. My cousin was outnumbered or she would never have run,” Riley acknowledged after careful consideration. “Oh…one other thing I should mention, Sheriff. The cook put a snake in the bed of an old ranch hand out there, name of Gordy. A poisionous snake. It was intentional. Riley was pretty tore up about that, she’d known old Gordy for years.”

  “Well now, that’s serious. Thank you for all the information sir, and give my regards to your cousin.”

  Riley tipped her hat and smiled then left.

  Back at the whorehouse, Miss Tilda was busy with a regular of her own and Riley had to wait to tell her the news. She was almost bursting at the seams to tell someone. But after eating, she went to her room and lay on the bed.

  She had to admit she missed Sam more and more every day. She wondered if he got to Arizona yet and if he was all right. She wondered if he missed her as much as she missed him. Before she knew it, her eyes closed and she was dreaming about meeting up with Sam again. It was a pleasant dream and she didn’t want to wake up, but a knock on her door had her scrambling half-asleep to answer it.

  “So how did it go today?” Miss Tilda burst into her room.

  Riley tried to shake herself awake. “It went fine, Miss Tilda. The lawyer said there was little anyone could do as long as I approved and since there was no law out there. But that when the law did come things could change.”

  “I’d expect that anyway. I wouldn’t sit there on your ranch forever anyways. Well, now I’m gonna put it before the girls and see what they think. If most are a mind to follow, then we’ll go with you when you are ready. If not, I guess we’ll have to do some thinkin’ on it. But are you sure you wanna do this?”

  Riley nodded. “Yeah, I’ve thought about it a lot, and I think it will be kinda nice havin’ you there. I can still ranch, run things like I always do, but we’ll have to lay down some rules about the cowboys I hire.”

  “I guess you aren’t too familiar with a whorehouse, but I already have a lot of rules laid out and most know them. Won’t take no married men, no sick men, no city officials either, too much trouble with that.” Miss Tilda chuckled.

  “Fine, I’ll let you run it the way you see fit, then,” Riley said quietly.

  “Riley, what’s wrong with you? You seemed to have a lot of steam and fire when you first came to us, but now it’s like…I don’t know. Almost as if you’ve given up. I can’t put my finger on what’s wrong.” Miss Tilda’s face showed concern.

  Riley shrugged. “Everything is fine…I just miss Sam.”

  “Would you have married him, if’n he’d asked?” Miss Tilda asked.

  Riley looked up at her, studying her kind face for a long while. “Sam and me…we never did anything, except he kissed me a few times. Marryin’ a black man ain’t legal and Sam is the kind of man that would seek recognition of that marriage. But I think deep down he just don’t think the lines can be crossed even though he has sister that married a white man. That man was Lee Nelson, a special man in Sam’s eyes.”

  “Really?” Miss Tilda asked. “I would think that bein’ raised with a black and white situation he would be more for it.”

  “Sam seems to define things as black and white with no gray areas in the middle. He is a just and true man. But I’d never chase him again, or go with him unless he wanted it.”

  “And…did you like his kisses?” she kept probing.

  “Oh yeah…of course I did. Sam is so gentle, so…well, I ain’t never met another like him. Probably never will either,” Riley admitted. “But even though his kisses were heaven, it was when he sat up all night in the pouring rain with Nodog by his side, watchin’ after me because storms scare me, that impressed me more than anything. I knew I loved him then…”

  “But he never touched you?” Miss Tilda’s brows knitted.

  “No…”

  “And did Sam like those kisses?” Miss Tilda asked, pulling her robe tighter.

  “I think so…why?”

  “Because if he liked them, and he didn’t take the advantage of you, then he must have thought a lot of you, Riley.”

  “That don’t make much sense, Miss Tilda.”

  “Oh yes it does, Riley. And when you are older and wiser, you’ll see why. Oh yes it does.”

  Riley peeled the mustache off her face and pulled her jacket off and laid it nicely on the bed. “I’ll probably never see Sam again, and it’s best if I try to wipe him out of my mind. ‘Course I can’t really do that, just push him to a small dark corner of my mind is all.”

  “Maybe…maybe not. He certainly could have had his choice of women here the night he came about. He didn’t take any offers though. He wasn’t even interested; I could tell.”

  “Sam was preoccupied keepin’ me safe all the time. He didn’t have time for nothin’ else. He’s a very decent man. Wouldn’t allow thinking that he could fall for a white girl. But for some reason I didn’t have a bit of trouble dreamin’ about him…” Riley blushed. “There will never be another for
me…”

  “Just from what you’re tellin’ me, I think Sam was in love with you. Really in love.”

  Riley looked down at herself then at Miss Tilda. “Why on earth would he? Half the time we were together I was supposed to be a boy or a man. I never had pretty clothes like you, Miss Tilda. And Pa always said I was plain to look at. Once I proved myself as a ranch hand, he never treated me like a girl again. And Sam…he just has such a soft heart for anyone in trouble. No, now that I think on it, I’m sure he just felt sorry for me…”

  Miss Tilda shook her head. “Love isn’t measured by clothes or looks, Riley. It’s measured by your own heart and what you feel about a person. You’re wrong Riley, and I hope someday I can show you…”

  “Goodnight, Miss Tilda…” Riley called to her as she was leaving.

  “Night, Riley…”

  ***

  “You’re in love, aren’t you Sam?” Hattie smiled at him as he stared into the campfire.

  “What? What are you talking about?” Sam asked as frustration climbed his back.

  “You can’t hide it, you know.” Hattie came closer and sat by the fire and Sam. “I should know. I tried very hard to hide my feelings for Lee when we first met. I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about me falling in love with a white man, especially after how we were raised.”

  Sam glanced at her. “The looks you two were sparkin’ off, anyone could tell.” Sam chuckled as he nudged his sister’s shoulder and laughed.

  “Tell me about her…” Hattie encouraged.

  “How could I start? Riley was this very unusual girl that appeared out of nowhere one day when I least expected it.” Sam smiled in reflection. “She wasn’t some knock out beauty, and yet there was a purity, an angelic look on her face all the time. Like you couldn’t look at her and not see it. Maybe it was the innocence I saw in her eyes. I don’t know. But she appealed to me almost from the moment I laid eyes on her. She was child-like in some ways, terrified of storms, and yet she could be hard as nails too. She was little and I don’t know…vulnerable. You felt like you just had to wrap your arms around her and hold her. Hard-headed as a bull though.”

  “Then your Riley was no ordinary young woman,” Hattie concluded.

  “No…there was nothing ordinary about her. Even Nodog took to her.”

  Hattie smiled. “I’d like to meet her someday, Sam.”

  “I don’t know if she’d come here and live…” Sam said aloud, amazed that he could put into words what was troubling him so.

  “Does she love you?”

  “Yeah…I think she does.” Sam sighed.

  “Do you love her?” Hattie laid a hand on his.

  “More than I want to admit.” Sam eyed Hattie.

  “Then you should ask her, give her the choice,” Hattie confirmed.

  “But she’s a woman of means, Hattie. She has more money than I could count,” Sam explained. “Why would she give up all that, to come here?”

  “So, what has money to do with how she feels?” Hattie asked.

  “Have you ever once been sorry you fell in love with Lee?” Sam asked, staring into his beautiful sister’s eyes.

  “Not once!”

  Sam nodded silently. “She’d have so much to give up.”

  “Would she? Remember one thing Sam, a woman thinks with her heart first, no matter who she is. If she really loves you, she won’t hesitate to come…” Hattie got to her feet and stared down at him. “Ask her Sam, for both your sakes.”

  Sam smiled.

  Chapter Eighteen

  It took two weeks to get everything packed up to go, but Riley helped Miss Tilda do it and all the girls were for it. When they arrived at the ranch, it was deserted. The door swung open with the wind, batting against the frame of the door as it opened and closed. The barn door was open too. No one was there. She figured the Sheriff had done his job and she was rid of Harry once and for all. Feeling the freedom of moving about her ranch once more, she mentally assessed what she might need in the way of supplies, as Miss Tilda and the girls went to work on cleaning the place out. There wasn’t a cow or horse on the property. Harry had taken everything, it seemed. She had learned her lesson, this time she would really size the men up before she hired them. She’d go on her gut feeling about them and hope she was right.

  Within a couple of days, she had notices posted on tree trunks all over the valley about the girls being there. She had visited enough neighbors to know she had a lot of work ahead of her, there were a lot of questions by the ranchers and all were eager to see them get settled on her ranch.

  She found a makeshift grave in the cemetery and figured someone must have buried Gordy. The lone wooden cross looked forlorn. She’d buy him a stone; he deserved at least that much.

  “Sorry Gordy, I should have been there for ya.” She shook her head and let a tear fall.

  Friend acquainted himself quickly of the property and followed her about.

  The sunflowers still bask in the sun, as she sighed heavily of losing her beautiful roses she had planted last year.

  Things were not the same anymore. Gordy was dead, her cattle gone, not a hand on the place. It looked so different to her now.

  A couple of days later, she was cleaning out the kitchen when she heard voices, she wondered if Miss Tilda had come down early. But to her dismay when she came out, she ran right into Harry.

  “Well now, lookie here. Miss Riley isn’t dead after all,” Harry snarled as his partner came inside behind him. They were both drunk.

  Jarvis pulled his gun and Harry approached her. “We thought you was dead.”

  “Not hardly.” Riley swallowed hard as Harry pulled his gun on her and pointed it at her.

  “That’s too bad, ‘cause we was getting to like it here.” Harry laughed.

  “I see you made yourself at home and made a mess of the place,” Riley fumed.

  “Well now honey, if we’d have known you’s a comin’ we’d have cleaned up better.” Harry winked at Jarvis.

  “Get out Harry, and don’t come back,” Riley ordered. “Get out before they throw you in jail where you belong.”

  “But honey, I jest told you, we like it here.” Harry laughed again. “Besides,” He pointed the gun at her ribs. “We’re callin’ the shots now. It’s too bad you didn’t die already…‘cause I hate messin’ the place up again after you got it cleaned up.”

  “The Sheriff in Dallas is after you, Harry.”

  “Yeah…we done run into him once, but we got away, me and Jarvis. Now what for is he chasin’ us?” Harry moved the barrel of the gun to her head.

  “The stagecoach robbery…” She sighed heavily.

  “The stagecoach robbery? Well now, how would he…or you for that matter know about that?” Harry laughed.

  “I was there, Harry…I recognized your spurs…” She stood her ground.

  “You were there? But there was only one lady there… and it weren’t you,” Harry spouted.

  “Don’t matter, I was there,” she repeated.

  Harry looked puzzled then he lowered his gun.

  “Ain’t we gonna do her in?” Jarvis asked, his yellow teeth bearing in a sarcastic grin.

  “In due time, Jarvis. Don’t be in such a rush. First, we’ll get her to fix us some vitals, then we’ll do her in.” Harry pushed her with the gun barrel. “Go on, rustle us up some grub, Riley.”

  “Fix it yourself!” she yelled.

  “Unless you want me to blow your head off now, fix us some grub…” Harry ordered, as he cocked the gun.

  Riley finally relented and went into the kitchen. She considered getting a knife after them, but was sure she’d only get one of them before they got her. Maybe a pot of hot water would help. She went out back to the well and drew some water, then began heating it on the old stove. She stocked the wood so she didn’t have to chop wood to fix their meal, but she wished she could stall longer.

  She peeled some potatoes and stirred the beans she put on that morning to c
ook. Then she got out a skillet to make some cornbread.

  Both of them came into the kitchen to watch her every move. Getting to the knife now was impossible.

  Friend came inside to sniff them out and began growling and snarling at them.

  “Call ‘em off,” Harry demanded.

  Riley called Friend down and waited for a better time.

  Friend whined and sat beside her at the stove, all the while snarling at the two men.

  “You cut your hair, Riley, it don’t become you.” Harry laughed. “No, I liked you better when it was long enough to curl my fingers into it. ‘Course, you wouldn’t let me do that back then, would ya?”

  “No…”

  “I almost had your money ‘til that cousin showed up and mucked up the works. I know the old man hid some around here too, but I never did find it,” Harry snarled at her. “That’s how come we held up the stage, we gotta pay taxes on this place or we won’t have it long. Want to tell me where it’s hidden? I might reconsider and not put a bullet in you, if you did.”

  Riley stiffened. She wanted to stall for time, but no one was coming to rescue her, so what good did it do? Harry was going to kill her and that would be that. Miss Tilda would come down those stairs at noon, she’d be dead, and the ranch would be full of outlaws.

  She needed to act but she wasn’t sure what to do.

  Without a plan in her head, she picked up the hot water and flung it, hitting Jarvis in the face and hands.

  “God almighty,” Jarvis yelled and danced about the room trying to comfort himself. He headed for her first, then turned and holding his hands carefully he headed back to the table. “Where’s the damn butter? Shoot her Harry, shoot her now.”

  Harry drew his gun and held it on her as Jarvis danced about in pain and agony.

  “You want to die right now, Riley?” Harry asked, his face screwed up as though trying to figure out whether to help Jarvis or kill her.

  Riley put the pot back on the stove off the hot burner.