Heritage And Honor

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Outside the Broken Spur, Charley mounted Omega and kicked her into a full gallop. She wanted to get to the Bar M. Home. It would shield her from handsome strangers, who were a mixture of gallantry and boorishness. And it would protect her from Jesse, who was up to God knew what.

Charley took the main trail to the ranch. Trees lined both sides of the path, creating a canopy against the late afternoon sun. It didn’t take long for her house to come into view.

It was a large house. Two stories high and ornate in many ways, with its columns and numerous French doors. But it had always been home to Charley. A place she’d felt safe. She'd always felt loved growing up in the grand Bar M house.

Charley rode the short distance to the courtyard, thoughts still awhirl. Jesse was back. Her stomach tightened. Aunt Lydia would catch on that something had happened. Charley didn’t want to explain Jesse just yet. And she didn’t want to explain the stranger at all. He’d unnerved her.

He was a fine-looking man. Charley wouldn’t deny that: tall and bold, with green eyes that had stared straight into her soul. His clothing had stretched taut across muscle and sinew, touting power and virility. He emitted dominance. Damn him.

Charley dismounted in front of the veranda. I will not think of him. She tethered Omega to a post by the front steps. Cal, their most loyal ranch hand, would take care of her precious animal. Charley patted Omega’s rump, then made her way to the front door.

She closed the door with a soft click and looked around the grand foyer. No sign of her sister Katherine or Aunt Lydia. She crept across the marble floor to the parlor.

Once her boots hit the carpet, she walked to the liquor table near the French door. She poured herself a brandy and swirled the amber liquid in the glass.

Jesse Gardner was back.

She hadn’t seen him since he’d left five years earlier. She certainly hadn’t missed him. Leaving had been the best gift he’d ever given her, even if it hadn’t been of his own free will.

Charley didn’t blame him. Her father’s legal power and political influence were enough to scare the hide off a buffalo. And it had terrified Jesse. He’d already experienced the inside of a cell and didn’t want to go back. He had left without so much as a by-your-leave. Not that he’d needed Charley’s permission, but it would’ve given her satisfaction to see him shin out and never return.

Charley tilted the glass to her lips and tossed back its contents. She closed her eyes and savored the burn as it rolled down her throat. She touched the handle of her g*n. If he ever threatens me, my family, or this ranch again, I’ll take care of him myself.

Charley heard the swoosh of fabric. Opening her eyes, she turned and found Aunt Lydia swishing into the parlor.

“I thought I heard you come in.”

Charley smiled. “I always said you had a crystal ball hidden in your skirts, Aunt Lydia.”

“Fiddlesticks.” Aunt Lydia kissed Charley on her cheek. “Having known you all your life, it’s not hard to predict what you’ll do.”

“I suppose twenty-three years has given you sufficient insight.” Charley reached for the decanter.

Aunt Lydia gasped. “What happened to your wrist?” She reached for Charley’s arm. “Don’t roll your eyes at me, Charley.” Lydia clasped Charley’s hand and turned it over. “You have a bruise all around your wrist.” Her voice rose to a frantic pitch.

“We just determined that nothing gets by you, Auntie.” Charley pulled free from her aunt’s grasp and poured herself another drink.

“Enough of the brandy, Charley. What happened?” Lydia placed her hands on her hips and tapped her toe on the floor.

Charley swallowed her brandy. “Jesse’s back.” She looked into her empty glass and sighed. “He came to the Broken Spur and started some...um...trouble.”

Lydia raised her hand to her throat. “What? You let him get rough with you?” Lydia’s mouth hung open, and Charley gently pushed it closed. Lydia swung at Charley’s hand with both of hers as if swatting a swarm of mosquitoes. “This isn’t funny, Charley.”

“Who’s laughing?” Charley made her way to the sofa and sat with a big floof. “I didn’t let him. It all happened so fast. I didn’t have a chance to do anything. Then some stranger came over and defended me.” And had made her look incompetent.

“What did he do? This stranger, I mean.” Lydia sat next to her.

“He ordered Jesse to leave.” Charley tried to concentrate on what she was telling her aunt, but the stranger’s image kept forming in front of her.

“That couldn’t have gone well. What did Jesse do?”

Charley tightened her jaw. “He left.”

“What do you mean ‘he left’?”

“Exactly what I said. He left. He mumbled something and—” Charley waved her hand in the air, “—walked out the door.”

“That certainly doesn’t sound like the Jesse I remember.”

“Well, you never saw Jesse around a man like this.” Charley looked at her aunt. “He’s the type that commands respect with just his presence. He’s tall—taller than Jesse by at least four inches. He’s got broad shoulders and his voice...even Jesse couldn’t ignore a voice like that.”

Lydia grinned. “Handsome man then.”

Charley sat upright. “What makes you say that?”

“Oh, nothing.” Lydia pulled a loose thread on her skirt. When it came free, she rolled it into a small ball with her forefinger and thumb. “I just assumed with him being tall and broad-shouldered that he’d have to be handsome, too.”

“Stop that, Aunt Lydia.” Charley balled her hands into fists and squeezed. “Just because he’s handsome doesn’t mean he can poke into my business and start ordering me around.” She plopped back against the sofa cushions.

Lydia laughed. “Ah, so he is handsome, and he got you all flustered.”

“He’s as irritating as a saddle-sore.”

“Saddle-sore or not, no one gets you in a dander, Charley. Especially a man.” Lydia laughed, then turned somber. “But what are you going to do about Jesse?”

“I don’t know. I have to find out why he came back. If Father hears about it, he’ll come back from Washington straightaway.”

“What about Andy? He didn’t like what Jesse did to you any more than your father did.”

“No one liked what Jesse did, but that won’t stop him from thinking up another scheme. I need to handle this before Father finds out.”

Lydia patted Charley’s leg. “I have faith that you will not only handle it, but handle it skillfully.” She stood. “Dinner will be ready shortly. I'll see you in the dining room.”

Charley watched her aunt leave the parlor, but the clip-clop of hooves pulled her to the French doors. She lifted a curtain to peer out the window, and watched her brother Andy throw his right leg over his horse’s neck, land on the ground, and hand the reins to Cal.

She looked at her wrist. Damn it. She’d never be able to hide the bruise from Andy. She dropped the curtain and went to meet her brother.

Andy opened the door and entered the foyer. “Hey, sis." He tossed his hat on the foyer table.

“Hi, Andy." Charley crooked her arm. "Want to escort me to the dining room?” They entered the dining room, arm in arm. Aunt Lydia smiled as she placed dishes of food on the table. Katherine was already seated with a book in her hands. Without looking up, she bobbed her head, sending her blond curls to bounce around her heart-shaped face. Andy kissed Aunt Lydia's cheek and winked at Katherine, then sat at the head of the large mahogany table.

Aunt Lydia sat next to Katherine and tapped her on the wrist. Katherine placed her book to the side and obediently folded her hands. Lydia bowed her head and made the sign of the cross. “Dear Lord, bless this bountiful meal, these children I love, and Gerald and Constance. Thank you, Lord, for your numerous blessings on this family. Amen.”

Andy crossed himself. “Can you pass the beef?” Between mouthfuls, he said, “I found three more dead head today.”

“Three?” Charley wiped her mouth and looked at her brother. Tall and thin, his lanky frame disguised his solid muscular build.

Andy stared at Charley, his fork frozen midway to his open mouth. His hazel eyes homed in on her wrist. “What the hell happened to your wrist?”

“We can talk about that later. How many—”

“No, Charley, we’ll talk about it now!”

“Jesse’s back,” Lydia said.

Andy looked at Aunt Lydia. “What?”

“I was at the Broken Spur and he showed up,” Charley said.

Andy looked back at Charley. “He just ‘showed up’?”

“No,” Lydia interrupted again. “He also started some trouble, as you can see on her wrist. And some stranger chased him away.”

Charley would’ve laughed at Andy’s head jerking from left to right, but none of it was humorous. Dead cattle. Jesse’s return. Arrogant stranger.

Andy released his fork, making it bounce off his plate with a ping. “Jesse grabbed you and a stranger chased him out of Fred’s?”

“Yes, Andrew.” Charley wished she could shoot bullets from her eyes. Instead, she rolled them. “Without him, who knows what Jesse would’ve done.”

“Charley, that’s not what I meant.” Andy covered Charley’s hand with his. “I just want to know what Jesse’s doing back in town. And who is this stranger?”

“If I knew the man, I wouldn’t be calling him a stranger, now would I?”

Andy pulled his hand away as if he had petted a porcupine. “Guess not.”

“Your father won’t be pleased to hear Jesse’s returned,” Lydia said.

Katherine clapped her hands together. “Maybe he and Mother will come home. They've been in Washington for way too long.”

Charley shook her head. “Kat, that’s exactly why we need to keep this quiet.”

“Charley, it took the cowhands and me to threaten Jesse to get him gone the last time. And Father used every legal means at his disposal. I’m surprised Jesse didn’t land back in jail. Or did you forget?” Andy grimaced at her.

“And you called off your wedding,” Katherine said. “I would’ve died with the entire town talking about me.”

Katherine had been a sickly child, having contracted scarlet fever when she was only four years old. The long-term effects from the disease had left Katherine with a weak heart and an even weaker constitution. So yes, Charley could well imagine that delicate Kat would've died of shame.

Charley let out a deep breath. “I didn’t forget anything that bast—”

“Charley,” Lydia said.

“Aw, hell...heck, Aunt Lydia. You know darn well what I mean. And as far as the town is concerned, Kat, I wasn’t happy about their gossiping, but I endured.” Charley would never admit how mortified she’d been, but she held her head high every time she went into town. She refused to let anyone see her with her chin down or her shoulders slumped. She was a Mason.

“I understand your concern, Charley. However, your father would want to be informed, at the very least. Whether or not he comes home is irrelevant,” Aunt Lydia said.

Charley looked at her aunt. Lydia’s ash-blond hair was pulled back and fashioned into a knot, emphasizing her heart-shaped face and high, wide cheekbones. Charley felt a twinge of guilt at the creases on her aunt’s forehead, knowing she'd contributed to many of them.

“Aunt Lydia,” Charley pleaded. “I need to find out what Jesse’s up to first.”

Lydia wrung her napkin. “Charley, if something were to happen—”

“I can take care of myself.”

Andy flung himself back in his chair. “Like you did today?”

“That was a fluke,” Charley said slamming her fist on the table. It quivered, making liquid sway in glasses and dishes clatter.

“Remember yourselves,” Aunt Lydia said. “Charley, I’ll give you a few days. A week at the most. If you don’t find out what that scoundrel is up to, I’m telegraphing your father.”

“I agree with Aunt Lydia,” Andy said. “In the meantime, I’m having someone watch you.”

“Andy, I’m not a babe.”

“It’s for your safety, Charley. He got rough with you today, for God's sake. And he’ll pay for that. I promise.”

“Andy’s right. Besides, we have Kat to consider,” Lydia said.

Katherine glanced up from her book she’d picked back up and looked around the table. “Why do I have to be dragged into this? He didn’t bother me before.”

Lydia covered Katherine’s hand with her own. “There’s no telling what Jesse’s capable of, honey.”

Charley heaved a sigh. “I don’t want to discuss this anymore. Besides, I went to see the sheriff today about the prior dead cattle. He was no help.”

“Did you really think he would be?” Andy asked.

“Actually, yes, I did. He is the law in this town. We’ve found dead cattle on our property for the past five days. Someone’s butchering them, and it’s not Indians. They don’t kill cattle and leave them for the buzzards.” Charley traced the edge of her plate with a single finger.

“I’m gonna post more night guards,” Andy said.

Not looking up from her plate, Charley said, “We may have to hire a few more hands.”

“Will that be a problem?” Katherine's feigned interest in the ranch wasn't terribly convincing with her nose in a book.

Andy pushed his empty plate toward the middle of the table, leaned back, and winked at Kat. “It won’t be a problem, kitten. We have the best reputation in the state. That’s why the slaughtered cattle are so puzzling.”

“Do whatever it takes, Andy.” Charley pushed her chair back and stood. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll turn in early.” She left the dining room and made her way to the second floor. When she reached her bedroom, she went to her four-poster bed and sat down.

She yawned. It wasn’t that late, but she was tired. She felt as tight as a fiddle string.

Dead cattle. Jesse’s in town. Damn it all to hell.

Charley stood and took off her g*n belt, dropping it to the floor. Her boots, shirt, and pants followed. She pulled back the blankets and climbed onto the soft mattress, pushing her head into her pillow. If she could just stop seeing Jesse’s face, and the stranger’s eyes, she’d be able to sleep the kinks out of her body.

She rolled onto her belly and punched her pillow a few times for fluff. Who was she kidding? She wasn’t going to get any sleep.

Jesse may have tricked her five years ago, but he wasn’t going to do it now. She wasn’t naive anymore. No, she wouldn’t fall for him or his good looks this time.

Jesse had cut a swell figure with his brown curly hair and boyish grin. He’d been appealing, all right. He could charm an old woman out of her rocking chair. If only Charley had known he was a conniver when she’d first seen him knee-deep in the stream, trying to save a baby calf. She would’ve drowned Jesse then and there.

Instead, she’d helped him and got him hired at the Bar M. And by Christmas that year, they were engaged. Charley had been so excited to show her family her diamond ring. She’d wanted to die a slow, painful death when her father yelled at her.

“He just wants your inheritance, Charley.” Gerald Mason pointed his finger at her with fury. “He’s a criminal and not good enough for you. I can’t believe how stupid you’re acting.”

Charley squeezed her eyes shut. Her father’s words had come from his heart, but they’d been said out of anger and they’d cut deep. And what did she do when she was hurt? She acted out. She’d thrown herself at Jesse even more. Planned a spring wedding. Then she saw the Pinkerton report. He'd spent time in prison for robbery and swindling.

Charley rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Jesse had no scruples and, obviously, no fears, either. If he wasn’t afraid of her family or even the threat of more jail time, how would she get rid of him?

She bit her lower lip and tasted blood. The only thing Charley knew for sure was someone had begun butchering their cattle five days ago, and Jesse was back in town. She didn’t believe it was a coincidence.