Tracking ruby, p.10
Tracking Ruby, page 10
“Of course, I am,” Sophie replied, with the slightest toss of her head.
She followed Jesse slowly realizing that she knew nothing about the house or even where she was in it.
In a moment they were at the head of a staircase, and she felt more confident. This she knew at least. In a minute they were being shown into a breakfast nook and greeted by their host.
“I am so glad to see you again, I trust you slept well.”
“Yes, thank you...I am so sorry for becoming absent last night it was far from my intentions...”
“You are too kind to my little May. She feels sorely for her mother, and your kindness did her a world of good. I am just sorry it inconvenienced you so.”
“It didn’t bother me, she is such a sweet child.”
“Ah, she is my pride and joy, I just wish I could make her happier here. She is so discontent and restless always wishing for her mother.”
“It is a lonely feeling,” said Sophie softly.
“I am sure it is, but I hope you won’t mind staying here a few days while your brother and I do business. I’ll try to keep May out of your way, she is a child fond of doing her own thing.”
“Oh, I don’t mind at all.”
Mr. Carlson smiled at her in a way...her heart stirred inside her chest, and she glanced away feeling a warm blush rise to her cheeks. Why, do I feel so? It makes no sense at all.
“I hope you will consent to me giving you a house tour when breakfast is all done. Your brother tells me you are very fond of books, Pride and Prejudice in fact.”
Sophie giggled a little and glanced at Jesse, had he really been paying that much attention the night he was arrested? “Yes, I am very fond of books, and I like to think of Jane Austen’s books as dear friends.”
“Tis a good thing. I hope my daughter grows up to be just like you. Good books and a sound education make for a beautiful woman. One, who is always wanted in society.”
Sophie found herself blushing again. Jesse interjected his unwanted voice into their tête-à-tête.
“Or makes for a very dull companion who keeps their nose in a book the whole time, very unsociable creatures are bookworms.”
Heat burned up to her ears and Sophie glanced down at her tea stirring in sugar and cream without saying a word in her defense, though she wished for something biting to speak to him in return. Nothing came, and Jesse had the last word as much as it irked her.
“Well, I am sure you will someday see the benefits of an intelligent woman Jesse. One to be at your side, and help you all your life long.”
“So far it hasn’t helped me one bit, she’s always turning her nose up at men because they aren’t as swanky as what is it? Mr...Mr...” Jesse looked at Sophie for help, she buttoned her mouth. “Mr. Dancy?”
“Darcy.” She couldn’t help but correct him.
“Yes, him. Not all men are created equal my Sophie dear.”
“But a girl can have her hopes.”
Jesse muttered something under his breath as he took his first sip of straight black coffee, Sophie grimaced and turned back to her cup of tea.
In a few moments, the men started talking about business matters which frankly Sophie didn’t care to understand. Instead, she stared moodily out the ceiling to floor windows taking in the beautiful scenery that opened before her. She had never seen some much glass in one place before, and the mountain range beyond was impressive in the late morning light.
At last the meal was over with, and Sophie found Mr. Carlson offering her his arm. “Please permit me, I’d love to show you the house.”
“Of course, I’d love to see everything.”
He smiled again, and her heart beat in that queer fashion.
JESSE WATCHED AS THE two strolled arm and arm, watching them made him feel uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. Sophie, wise as she was in her own right was no match for Mr. Carlson, sly cunning and handsome as a fox with his slicked hair and spry ways. Carlson was hunting, his prey was pretty and innocent Sophie Brown and her supposed fortune which he, Jesse had created for her.
Things were going to be sticky, each ranch hand seemed to be armed to the teeth, guns, bullets, knives, and what did he have? Charm and a fake fortune, he admitted to himself. And a girl who has no idea we just fell into the lion’s den because she thinks you’re the lion. How could you let this happen?
He watched as Sophie ran her finger delightedly over the bindings of the books, his throat tightened as Carlson watched her with a smile. The desire to throttle the man once and for all and have it over with struck him, but it would never do. He, Sophie and little May would never make it out alive like that.
May, he didn’t even want to go there, her little heartbroken eyes, so full of everything else in life made his heart ache. But the tour was done at last and, little May came tripping in dressed to perfection. She latched onto Sophie’s hand and looked up at her with a honey-sweet smile.
“Will you come play with me?”
Looking down at her Sophie giggled nervously as she shied slightly away from Mr. Carlson. “Do you want to read some books?”
Apprehensively May looked up at her father.
“Of course, May, run along and pick some books out to read with Miss Morgan.”
In a moment they were both gone, and Jesse found himself alone with the man who was his enemy.
“So, what do you say if we get down to business?”
“Sounds fine,” said Jesse with a restless roll of his shoulders. He was more than itching to get to work, and the fact that Sophie and May were both safely out of the way made it all the better. “I want to see all these plans. I like to make investments where I know exactly what is going on. Too many of the men I’ve known have been ruined by not paying attention.”
“Of course, when people make sure they are educated. So how old is your sister exactly?”
For a moment Jesse had to stop and think. He didn’t even know that much...but she had told him his mind reached quickly back through their short acquaintance. “Eh, sixteen. She’ll be seventeen this June, and unbearable as ever I am sure, probably worse. Have you noticed women tend to worsen with age?”
“Oh, you are quite wrong, the older they are, the more beautiful they become. Everything gets better with age, wine, cheese, women...”
Jesse nearly gagged on the man’s words he wanted to shove him against the wall and make the light of day disappear from his eyes for a very long time...maybe never again.
“Ha! I doubt it,” he said sarcastically.
“Well, here are the plans I was talking about...you see the train would run here.”
“I thought, that this land was forbidden country?”
Carlson raised his eyebrows, “Well–” he coughed and stuttered. “It won’t be very soon, I have it on a guarantee that all of those issues will soon disappear. You might say I have an insurance policy, and from what my informants tell me. There is gold in these mountains.”
Jesse raised his eyebrow skeptically, “Gold?”
A smile crossed Carlson’s face, and he laughed softly. “I see you’re a man that needs proof,” he said, opening a drawer and pulling out a small black pouch and poured them out onto the table. Small nuggets rolled out onto the table glistening even in their rough form.
Jesse scooped up a small piece and examined it. Gold it was, beautiful solid gold.
“The expert I hired said that any man who invested a thousand dollars stood to triple his fortune when it’s all over, and that was being modest. There is a precious gold in these hills, gold that would make us rich, people would flock here. And once they’ve flocked there will be town and cities. We’d be treated like kings Jesse. What do you say? Would you like to be a king?”
Jesse smiled, hiding the feeling that was growing in the pit of his stomach. “I’d be honored.”
“Shake?”
Jesse thrust his hand into Mr. Carlson’s and wanted to twist him apart. After a firm handshake he withdrew and examined the map closer. “So how much would you suggest investing in a large plot of this fortune and kingdom?”
“How much can you spare?”
“Well, I have ten thousand I could easily put at my disposal...”
“Why, stop there? How about making your sister a queen?”
Jesse’s mouth twitched, “I wish, her inheritance cannot be touched until she is married, though she could certainly profit from such an investment.”
There was a long moment of silence.
“I must say I am almost loathe to say this due to our short acquaintance, but I feel I must. Let me make your sister a queen. Ever since I saw her I must admit, I’ve infatuated with her. She is beautiful, intelligent, sweet, and most of all, my daughter seems to have fallen just as much in love with her as I have.”
Jesse struggled not to let his fists fly, his jaw tightened, and he managed to crack a smile.
“Ah, I don’t know my sister is pretty set in her ways...”
“Let me woo her. I can tell she is falling, give me a few days to prove that we have something between us. Besides, I have to go to Europe this fall to do business with investors, and what girl like her wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to go abroad, to see the land of England and Austen for herself? To be treated as a royal queen; besides who would be better to leave in charge of my investment than my own brother-in-law. Oh, please tell me I haven’t spoken in haste...it’s just that your sister has made herself so dear to me in such a short time, I almost cannot bear the thought of being without her.”
A war was colliding in Jesse’s chest. The part he had chosen was the indifferent brother, he should be overjoyed to get Sophie off his hands. Instead, he wanted to question and pin the man against the wall, to fire a thousand questions at him to see how he reacted, to strangle the truth out of him. The smile on his face wanted to bend downward in rage, but he held it upward, forcing it to widen.
“Well, if you think you can win her, you can certainly have her.”
“Shake on it?”
“She’s all yours,” he said, thrusting his hand once again into Carlson’s firm hand, his stomach turning, and heart twisting at his treachery. Oh, God, help Sophie.
“Thank you, brother, you won’t regret it.”
I already do.
Mr. Carlson went around to the other side of the desk, and started shuffling papers around, “Now if you are sure about the amount you want to make in your investment, I’ll draw up the papers and have them ready for you to sign tonight or tomorrow.”
“Sounds perfect to me, now how would you suggest a future king spend his afternoon.”
Mr. Carlson laughed. “Well how about we spend it together, I’ll show you around the ranch...and maybe we can ride into town. I have a telegram or two to send and mmm...”
“I can wire for the money to be sent to you. The bank will take a painful amount of time to do it anyways.”
“Yes, that would be splendid, and I can pick something up a little something for your sister perhaps?”
Jesse shrugged, it wasn’t going to be skin off his back if the man decided to buy something for Sophie.
They left the room, and Jesse found themselves standing in front of the library’s glass doors, watching Sophie and May. The smile that curled Mr. Carlson’s lips angered Jesse, he balled up his fists in his in his pockets, for a moment he glanced around considering taking him down right then and there. He would take Sophie and May outside, and say that they were running for the doctor...Carlson would be dead or at least knocked out. He could take the plans, and they would ride away for dear life. What was keeping him from doing it?
Jesse glanced at back at Sophie and May, Ruby May, she was smiling at them and waving, Sophie turned to glance over her shoulder and the sweet consciences girl she was, she blushed and turned back to the book they were reading.
Jesse withdrew his hand from his pocket...
“Hey, Boss!”
“Yes, Stevens?” said Mr. Carlson, stepping towards his ranch hand.
Jesse slipped his hand back into his pocket. I’ll protect you, Sophie, I’ll get all of us out of this somehow. I am in just a little deeper than I thought I’d be. Keep May safe for me. Win her heart, so she trusts us when the time comes...it’s going to come sooner than you think...but it won’t be soon enough for me.
In a moment Mr. Carlson was at his side, “Are you daydreaming?”
With a pang, Jesse realized he’d been staring at Sophie and May something that a brother certainly wouldn’t have been doing. “I just can’t wrap my mind around Sophie being the queen of a place like this. It’s so unlike her.”
Mr. Carlson laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, “I think it’s more your sister than you know, but come, my men, are saddling some horses for us now. We’ll ride into town first since that business is more pressing, I’ll give you a tour tomorrow before the sun makes it too warm to ride out.”
“Excellent, excellent,” said Jesse, feeling as if somehow he had just sealed his death warrant.
Chapter 15
Sophie was comfortably curled up on the sofa in her room reading, May had gone down for her nap, and it was delicious to have time to just sit and read a book with no one to nag or interrupt. Just read, it was a divine luxury.
Unexpectedly, Jesse was leaning over her his hands resting on the arm and back of the sofa, crowding her personal space.
“Argue with me,” said Jesse, in a whisper.
“What?”
“Argue with me,” he reiterated firmly looking her in the eye.
“No.”
“Yes!”
“I will not.”
“Come on, Sophie be reasonable.”
“I am, I don’t want to argue.”
“I am not arguing with you, I want to discuss it.”
“Of all the arrogant, inconsiderate things to do, you are blaming me!”
“Inconsiderate! You are calling me inconsiderate! You’re the one who’s not cooperating.”
“Me!” Sophie said setting her book aside. “I am doing everything I can!”
“No, you are not.”
“How dare you accuse me like that!”
“So, you are blaming me for all of this.”
“Of course, I am! Who else is there to blame?”
Jesse turned around waving his hands in frustration, “You, you need to stop this! You are squandering my fortune!”
“Your fortune?”
“You know that father said I wasn’t to touch your money, it’s for your dowry. But look at you, how much did that red silk dress that you wore last night cost? How much!”
Sophie stuttered in her answer, she couldn’t remember, Jesse had told her not to worry about the price. She had protested, she knew by now that he was having this conversation for some insane reason of his own and that it probably led to some purpose.
“See, you don’t even know! I know because I am the one who got the bill, it cost thirty dollars, and that diamond necklace.”
Sophie’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that, like it’s hardly an expense. Do you know what I could do with thirty dollars!”
“Swindle it!” Sophie charged back at him weakly. This conversation was quickly going over her head.
“And those diamonds.”
“They were a gift!”
Jesse growled something inaudible.
Sophie tried to think of a place to lead the conversation, it felt as if she was grasping at straws. Her mind paged through Jane’s Austen book. I wish I had a comeback.
Trousseau. Yes! That word could save her.
The word made her smile. “If you think you can just get rid of me by finding some lonely western man far away from civilization to marry me off to you, you are an idiot. I still have to put together my trousseau, and of course, I want it done back east.”
Jesse had turned to her his eye lit up and smiling at the way she had fired into the conversation, his eyebrows were lifted as he searched for an answer, his whole face frowned.
“Your trousseau! Are you kidding me, you have enough clothes for three lifetimes, and there is no way you are going to Lady Mason’s to have it made.”
“Where else would I go?”
“You have enough.”
“You have no idea what a girl needs; I hope you never get married.”
“Hey! Don’t you mess with my personal life,”
“You think that little Charlotte Gingham will make you happy. You are blind.”
“She’s a fine girl.”
“I hope she makes you eat your heart! And don’t tell me that she won’t marry you because I am still in the house.”
“Well she won’t, you two fight like cats.”
“She doesn’t have a cent to go with her beauty.”
“At least you have money to make up for your puny appearance.”
“There is nothing wrong with the way I look!”
“Then why haven’t any men proposed?”
“They have I just wouldn’t have them!”
“What! Did you even think to ask me?”
“I am the one who has to live with them, I have no idea why I should have to ask you.”
“Sophie, you are hopeless!”
“Me, hopeless! You’re the pathetic one, dragging your sister out the west to get her and her fortune off your hands.”
“I’ve had it!” said Jesse walking away and slamming the door.
Sophie stood in the middle of the room puzzled. How did I get dragged into all of that? What was that all for anyway? She wanted to laugh, but sat down in a huff and instead and tried to focus back on her book. Jesse was vexing, the thought of making his wanted poster made her smile just a little, the frown appeared again. That thought wasn’t half as consoling as it should have been.
Wanted dead or alive...Somehow that didn’t sound right. As much as she disliked the man she didn’t want him dead. Certainly not dead. Their conversation replayed in his mind, something was wrong. It had showed itself in his eyes, he was checking in on her, he wanted to make sure she was okay...but why? If brazen Jesse was scared, what did that mean for her?
