Tracking ruby, p.5
Tracking Ruby, page 5
“I don’t think so, she’s not really your type,” interjected Jesse standing up.
“Don’t think she’s my type aye? I think she’s the perfect type for me.”
“Whatever you say, I am going to fetch my horse and bedroll for the night. Where are you going to tie her up for the night?”
“Over there, in that cavern yonder.”
“Then if you don’t mind I’ll escort her there.”
“I’ll come with you,” uttered Sam barely making it to his feet.
Sophie’s heart drooped. What did he have planned? Maybe if I can get one of his guns, but I can’t shoot him. At least I can’t look at him right after I’ve shot him. I just can’t and what about the others. It would be a bloodbath. The very word blood made her neck tingle.
“Miss Brown,” Jesse Garrison said standing before her offering her his hands. “May I assist you.”
“You certainly may not I am quite capable of taking care of myself if you don’t mind,” she said tossing her head in the air and pushing herself from the ground. She retreated far away from him as she could.
HE WATCHED AS SOPHIE kept her distance. She wanted nothing to do with him, that was obvious, and he couldn’t blame her, but he needed to tell her something, and if they weren’t close that wasn’t going to happen.
There were other reasons he wanted her close, he didn’t like the way the men looked at her. She didn’t like it either. They had to get out, and tonight but, she’d have to trust him, just a little.
“I’ll get the rope,” hiccupped Slippery Sam as he staggered off.
The cave wasn’t deep, and as Sophie turned to face him, he stopped. The walls had echoed their steps, it was a good guess that anything louder than a whisper would echo back outside. Slippery Sam was just stepping into the cave, he’d have to move fast.
“It was a pleasure to see you again Miss Deputy Brown,” he said taking her hand to kiss it. She tried to wrench away.
He stopped and looked into her eyes and shook his head. Stepping forward and pulling her into his arms, he cradled her neck in his elbow. She was stiff as ice in his arms. Jesse mentally winced he was shocking the poor girl, and his heart twisted in his chest. For a moment he hesitated in his choice, but he had made his move-he must follow through.
“I can help you, don’t fall asleep,” he whispered and kissed her cheek swiftly and softly.
She pulled away, and he let her go. Sophie fell to the ground looking at him in sheer horror and disgust. He wished she wouldn’t look at him quite so.
“What were you doing? Take yer hands off my girl,” said Sam withdrawing his gun from the holster, and deliberately cocking it.
“Your girl? I am not letting you touch her, the likes of you aren’t worthy of her.”
SOPHIE HAD NEVER SEEN anyone draw so fast. Jesse fired. For a minute Sophie thought that he had missed entirely as Sam stood there with a half-stunned look on his face then dropped to the ground, and Sophie saw blood in the dim light. Her heart flip-flopped in her chest and the all too familiar tingle shot through her neck, there was the sound of profuse shooting in the distance, and the world went black for Sophie Brown.
JESSE STEPPED INSIDE the cave as the shooting started. He wasn’t about to make himself the target of a wild shooting match.
Then there was the sound of wood breaking, frightened hooves, then screams, screams that made him shiver. He glanced at Sophie, his mouth twitched half amused, half grateful that she was unconscious, hoping that none of this would scar her. But now he guessed her secret. Blood, the very sight of blood was enough to send her into a faint.
“Poor creature,” he murmured. The cave echoed his sentiment
Once the stampede had left the ravine Jesse went to collect his horse. Turning his eyes away from the terrible incident.
Jesse was grateful he’d tied his horse up a considerable space from the cave entrance; hopefully, he hadn’t gotten caught in the stampede.
His horse was waiting, uneasy but waiting. Quietly he calmed him with his voice and gentle touch.
Leading him into the ravine, Jesse tied him near the cave and went to retrieve Sophie. Jesse noticed the money on the cave floor. It had fallen out of Slippery Sam’s pocket when he fell. Reluctantly Jesse stooped to pick it up, a few of the corners were stained with blood. He winced, he’d have to get rid of that sooner than later. Tucking the money in his pocket he went to Sophie, she was rousing from her unconsciousness.
“Pa?” she murmured her voice blurry and uncertain.
“You’re going to be all right Sophie, you just need to rest.”
“Pa?”
“You’re safe Sophie, just rest.”
Her hands reached out to him, slipping childishly about his neck, she rested against his chest.
He pressed his cheek against her dark hair. Her vulnerable innocence made his heart ache, and he gathered her into his arms. Aching for something gone.
He was torn. Did he take her home? It was the safest place for her but, he would most likely be arrested and thrown in jail as an associate of the Smithson Gang. Or did he...could he take her along? She could help with his cover, and he needed the law on his side of the matter. Though that might take some persuasion. But he couldn’t just let her loose. If she made good on her threat to make a poster of him. It wasn’t something he could risk.
“I am sorry Sophie, but you don’t give me much of a choice,” he whispered. “You’re coming with me.”
Putting a half-conscious Sophie in the saddle, he mounted behind her. Pulling her back against his bruised ribs. The fact that she was exhausted was evident in the way she sagged against him with every step of the horse. Her arms crossed and head resting on his shoulder, her breathing slipped into a deep regular rhythm that rose and fell with the walk of his horse. He was glad she was comfortably settled. At least it made one of them comfortable, he gritted his teeth. It was going to be a long ride if he was going to get out of reach of her father and their posse by morning.
The morning was a hint of grey on the horizon behind his shoulder when a large town loomed before them. He guessed by the size they were in Middleton, they had traveled nigh twenty-four miles it was a reasonable distance for the night, and he was bone tired, and his pain tolerance had reached its enduring point. He could go no further without blowing his temper.
Outside, of the towns shadow, he unpinned Sophie’s deputy star and slipped it into his pocket.
There was no reason why they should really know who she was, exactly like no one needed to know who he really was.
Pulling his horse up at the hotel, he slipped to the ground, pain rippling through his tortured body. Sophie was tipping in the saddle slowly coming to her senses. Reaching up he pulled her into his arms. If it was possible, he was going to keep her sleeping. No scenes for him, not this early in the morning, not with his temper in the shape it was. Stepping through the swinging doors of the hotel, the sleepy clerk’s head perked up with interest.
“A room please, at once for my wife and I,” he lied. It was the first thing that came to his mind to solve his problem.
“Right this way, sir,” said the clerk with a nod of his head up a set of stairs and down a hall, he unlocked a door and Jesse walked through, carefully setting Sophie on the bed. She hardly stirred, and Jesse turned to face the clerk, pulling the wad of cash from his pocket he handed the clerk several bills.
“This should cover the room, the care of my horse, and food and a bath for later. Also, more blankets, a lot of blankets. We do not wish to be disturbed.”
“Yes, sir, of course, sir,” said clerk with a nod. “Just a moment sir.”
Turning Jesse looked at Sophie, she had curled up into a ball, her hands tucked beneath her head. The bed looked soft and inviting, and he wished it was his to lie on. A man never took a bed when the lady was involved, but would she even notice that she was sleeping on the carpeted floor?
There was a knock at the door.
“Blankets sir,” said the clerk popping his head in.
Jesse took them and nodded him away, and locked the door. Grabbing a pillow from the bed, Jesse threw it all in a heap on the floor. Sitting on the edge of the bed he discarded his shoes. He glanced at Sophie’s dirty boots and pulled them off of her feet. Pulling down the blankets he tucked her in.
“Night Sophie,” he whispered and sank to the floor beside her. He barely remembered his head hitting the downy feather pillow and pulling the blankets over him.
Chapter 7
The soft feather mattress pulled at her to stay asleep, the warmth of the comforter made her wish to sleep forever.
Then the memories of the night before flashed through her mind.
Was that a dream, or did father rescue me? This mattress is softer than mine. Where am I?
Sophie was wide awake. Sitting up in bed Sophie swung her feet over the edge of the bed onto braided rug where a pillow and a folded quilt rested. Her eyes flashed about the room, and she caught sight of Jesse Garrison leaning over a sheet of paper at the desk, the scratching of the quill pen seeming the only natural thing in the room.
Memories flashed over her, her capture, him walking into the outlaw camp–the sound of guns–blood. Her knees felt weak as her stomach turned, and her head felt dizzy. Her last thoughts had been Pa. But if her Pa had come to rescue her, then, where was he? Why were Jesse Garrison and she even in the same room? She glanced around for a gun, any gun. They weren’t in sight, and they certainly weren’t around her waist.
Her heart palpated in her chest on a quivering beat. Glancing at the door, Sophie realized she’d have to make a run for it, in bare feet, with no horse, no guns, no idea of where she was. Glancing at the open window where Jesse sat writing she knew instinctively that this was not her hometown of Littleborough, but someplace entirely different.
She’d have to chance it–and hope all worked out.
As she moved to stand up, the bed moaned, betraying her.
Jesse spun around, and Sophie sank back down to a seated position on the bed, her fingers twisting the blanket with one hand.
“Morning Sleeping Brown,” said Jesse. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” Sophie managed stiffly.
He smiled, “Glad to hear that, we’ve got some work cut out for us today. How do you like the sound of shopping?”
Sophie wrinkled her brow, what in the world was he talking about, had she been transported to a different life?
“Where is my pa? Was he hurt in the shooting?”
Jesse’s face sobered “He wasn’t at the gunfight if that is what you are wondering.”
“But...”
“I started that.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I’d be more than happy to prove it to you.
“Where’s my gun?”
“I have no idea, but I have a proposition for you, Miss Brown.”
“A what?”
“Proposition, it’s when...”
“I know what it is. I don’t understand your meaning of it.”
“I need your help; I need the law on my side.”
Sophie looked at him icily, “What for? What have you done?”
“Remember I said I was going to recover some family treasure? A jewel to be precise.”
Sophie nodded.
“Well, I am going to need some help. I know he won’t just give it to me. He doesn’t even know who I am or what I look like, that is why I was sent to retrieve them, but I need your help, recovering them.”
“You mean stealing them, don’t you? You’re a thief aren’t you Jesse Garrison,” Sophie said rising on the bed slightly, mentally calculating how many strides it would be to make it to the door and was it bolted, and if it was how long would she have before he could prevent her leaving. She was going to have to make a scene and risk everything, even her reputation. Jesse Garrison would probably be hanged–her title of deputy would be enough to condemn him on the witness stand if she could only get to the door.
“I am no thief Sophie Brown,” his voice was softer than it had been, catching her attention, she glanced into his eyes–they were staring right at her as if they could stare through her. “I need your help because it’s more than a one-man job, it could use a woman’s touch, your touch.”
“So, what is the plan?” Sophie asked casually. If he was relaxed, he might not be ready for her to bolt when the right time came. She slipped her feet to the floor and prepared to run.
“You and I pose as brother and sister, when we meet the man who stole my family’s jewel.”
“What kind of jewel is it?”
“Rare, precious, irreplaceable one of a kind, it’s held in very high regard, and affection.”
Affection for a jewel, really? “Who were you writing to?” she asked changing the subject abruptly, he was too focused on her if he would just turn around; she might get the chance she needed.
He glanced at the paper on the desk, Sophie realized he was not going to turn—this was her chance—she might not get another.
Bolting from the bed, Sophie launched herself across the room to the door, she jerked the bolt from its place and turned the handle, pulling the door open. She stepped forward, towards her freedom.
An arm circled her waist, turning her away from the door, it slammed shut, and the bolt slid into place. Sophie pounded her bare feet into Jesse’s boots. He widened his stance, his arm tightened as the other circled around her pulling her arms against her chest.
“Let me go,” she squirmed against him, searching for leverage.
For a moment he released her spinning her around to face him, she lunged away to find his hands locked around her wrists, even as she twisted them.
He stepped towards her and she stepped away only find her back against the wall, there was no place to go. She kicked his shins and lunged towards his hand trying to bite his hands.
“Ow, hey stop it!” he said moving forward, pinning her leg with his, and pushing her hands against the wall making sure to keep his distance from her teeth.
“You are a little tigress, aren’t you?”
“Let me go, I demand it–you’re under arrest–I’ll have you hung for this.”
Jesse threw back his head and laughed, his eyes dropped to a more serious light, and his voice was solemn as he spoke. “I need you to listen to me Miss Sophie Brown I need your help, and I am not going to let you go until I get it.”
“Then you are going to have to stay like that forever. I hope you are comfortable.”
“The same to you, I intend to hold out as longer than you.”
Sophie tried to wrestle her way out the situation only to find herself still pinned to the wall like a butterfly.
“What will the hotel keeper say, when he comes to check on our room, they’ll get curious if we don’t show up eventually.”
“They’ll think nothing of it. I told the clerk that we are married.”
“Why you!” she struggled harder, but her limbs were growing more uncomfortable and weak by the minute.
“How else could I get a hotel room for both of us? Besides, I was worried about you.”
“Worried about me! Liar, you are an outlaw–I should have never released you.”
“You didn’t have much of a choice, and I am not an outlaw.”
“Liar.”
“Is that your favorite word or something?”
“No, it’s the truth, at least when it comes to you.”
Giving no warning sign, he spun her around sending her flying across the room, she stumbled and landed on the bed.
Sophie turned toward Jesse ready to come back at him. He stood in front of the door, blocking her way of escape.
“Stop right there,” Jesse said holding up his hand. “Let’s start all over. I want you to hear me out.”
Sophie glared at him.
“Good morning Sophie.”
She wanted to wash his mouth out with soap, hard, strong lye soap, maybe he’d choke on the bubbles or even on the bar of soap.
“Aren’t you going to say good morning to me?”
“Morning,” she said through gritted teeth.
“How did you sleep?”
How did I sleep? What kind of a question is that! “Fine.”
“Good. I am glad to hear that.” There was a long awkward pause, and he looked directly into her eyes. “I am not an outlaw. I do not break the law. I will not. But I am doing something that requires all my attention, and you are not helping. The lives of good and evil lay in the balance of what I am doing, and I need your help. Please give it to me Sophie. Help me save my family.”
His words tugged strangely at her heart. “Save your family by rescuing a jewel?” Sophie asked sarcastically.
“The most precious kind, that there ever was. I wouldn’t ask you if I could do it alone, and God knows I would rather I didn’t involve someone, but I need you, Sophie.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“You can choose to come of your own free will,” he said quietly looking up into her eyes.
“And if I don’t.”
Jesse took a deep breath and walked away, “I am not sure if I can do what I need to.”
“And that is what exactly?”
Jesse took a deep breath. “I need the law on my side. This man is blackmailing my family.”
“Then he should be arrested.”
“He should be, but if my uncle doesn’t go through with his demands, someone will die.”
“And this gem will save your family?”
“Yes.”
“It sounds strange to me, I don’t understand.”
“Trust me, when you see it, you will understand entirely.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You can arrest and hang me.”
Sophie’s mouth twisted that sounded appealing. “But why me? Why not get a professional detective or even a Pinkerton to help you?”
“He said if anyone on the outside got involved, he’d destroy the jewel instantly.”
“Then why risk pulling me in. I am on the outside, if he finds out...”
“But who would guess? A young woman, dressed in silk is a deputy.”
