Bad Company

Bad Company

  Carol Carson

  Copyright © 2012 by Carol Carson

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this work may be reproduced in any fashion without the express, written consent of the copyright holder.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed herein are fictitious and are not based on any real persons living or dead.

  What is woman? – only one of Nature’s agreeable blunders.

  – Hannah Cowley

  CHAPTER ONE

  Grand Fork, Kansas, 1888

  TRIXIANNA LAWLESS had never shot a man before, but a stranger with a drawn gun stood motionless in the shadowed opening of her front door. She knew she might not have another chance to save herself. As the sun nudged its head above the eastern horizon, she forced the hammer back on her dear departed papa’s Colt revolver. She squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger.

  The percussion reverberated in her ears. Nearly paralyzed with fear, she cracked one eye open. Her breath came in heart-stopping gasps. She could see by the bloodstain on his dusty shirt, she’d hit him high in the right shoulder. She watched, horrorstruck, as the man’s eyes widened in surprise.

  He opened his mouth, muttered, “Well, hell—” and pitched forward at her feet like a felled oak tree. His long body lay over the threshold, one half in her front parlor and the other half on the covered porch.

  She slapped a hand over her mouth to hold back a scream of downright terror. She’d killed him.

  Gingerly placing her weapon on the damask-covered foyer table, she crouched beside him and pressed shaking fingers against his neck. Finding a steady pulse beneath the warm skin, she thanked God he still drew breath. She scanned the deserted street outside, then grabbed his arms and hauled the lanky trespasser into her parlor, where he proceeded to bleed all over her best braided rug. She turned him over to examine his wound. It was then Trixianna noticed the star pinned to his shirtfront.

  In all of her twenty-five years, had she ever done anything right? The victim of her latest blunder—the sheriff of all people—lay unconscious on the floor.

  The bullet had torn through the side of his shoulder and, by some miracle, without seeming to inflict much damage—except indirectly now to the parlor rug. He bore a knot on his temple the size of a walnut, too. He was sure to wake with a pounding headache and a bad temper.

  She ran to the kitchen, grabbed several clean towels and dashed back to the unconscious man. She knelt beside him, and her hands trembled as she folded the towels. She placed one beneath his shoulder, and the other, she tucked inside his shirt. Pressing down, she prayed it would staunch the bleeding. She scanned his pale face in hopes of seeing signs of life. She loosened the tight grip he held on his gun, and replaced it in the holster strapped around his thigh.

  Groaning aloud, Trixianna sank onto the nearest chair. She’d lived here only two weeks, trying not to draw undue attention.

  She figured shooting the sheriff would draw undue attention.

  Sitting, fretful, she rationalized that there had been prowlers, Peeping Toms even. Their whispers had echoed outside her window for the past two nights and made her a mite skittish.

  Even so, she could hardly believe she’d actually pulled the trigger. She reminded herself that he did trespassed into her home with a drawn gun. And it was not even a reasonable hour of the morning! What could the man possibly have wanted? Even if he was a lawman, the man’s intent might have been to murder her in her bed. Or worse. She shuddered at the thought.

  Her mouth went dry. With her head propped in her hands, Trixianna fixed both eyes on her houseguest. Under different circumstances, she might have found him handsome. His face, bronzed and weathered from the sun, struck her as possessing a particular strength, and tiny laugh lines around his eyes hinted at a sense of humor. Thick, black brows almost met above the bridge of his straight nose. He needed a shave; black whiskers darkened his jaw. His body, long and lean, stretched almost the length of her parlor, and…oh, my stars. Her stomach fluttered and heat stole through her body, making her quiver from head to toe.

  Lord above! Was she actually thinking romantically about a man whom she had shot—who’d wanted to shoot her?

  The sheriff moaned, startling her. She bent over to peer close, her face mere inches from his. His eyes fluttered open, then blinked rapidly. They were a vivid blue and filled with bewilderment.

  She jumped to her feet and backed away.

  He lifted his head. Fine lines bracketed his mouth and eyes. “You’re under arrest,” he said, his voice raspy, “for attempted murder of an officer of the law, bank robbery and…ruining a perfectly good morning.” His head fell back to the floor with a thud. He uttered a muffled curse.

  “Sir, I have never robbed a bank,” Trixianna protested. Imagine accusing her of such a thing!

  He staggered to his feet, his left hand clutching his injured shoulder. “But it was you that shot me?” he asked, his voice thick and unsteady.

  “I did, sir, but you were breaking into my home with your pistol drawn.” She tried to look calm and betray nothing of her annoyance…or her fear.

  “I am the sheriff.”

  “That doesn’t give you the right to trespass.”

  He rose to his full height, his feet spread wide. He appeared a bit unstable, but he filled her parlor with a tall, imposing presence.

  Trixianna refused to cower. Even though her nose came only to the middle of his chest, she tilted her head up and scowled at him.

  He gave her a tight smile. “As the sheriff I can pretty much do as I damn well please.”

  “There’s no reason to use profanity, sir.”

  He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “Why shouldn’t I just lock you up and throw away the key, Miss West?”

  “My name isn’t West.”

  “Oh?”

  “No, sir, it’s Lawless.”

  He smiled again. “That’s for sure.”

  Honest to Pete! Attempting to curb her temper with such an exasperating, impolite man proved almost more than she could manage. She took a deep breath. Between clenched teeth, she said, “It’s Trixianna Lawless.”

  Still chuckling, he clamped a hand around her upper arm. “That’s a good one, Mad Maggie, but you’re coming with me.”

  He moved toward the door, tugging on her arm. Trixianna tugged back and dug in her heels.

  “My name isn’t Maggie, I haven’t robbed any bank, and anyway, I can’t go out without a bonnet.” She wrenched her arm free, sidestepping him.

  “Good Lord,” he groaned. His face paled as he grasped the door frame.

  Guilt assailed her when she saw his pain. After all, she had caused it. She stood a minute, thinking about what she should do, then plucked her bonnet off the peg by the door. She would accompany him, but only to see a doctor, and to get these ridiculous charges straightened out. She glanced at him. He glared back.

  “I’ll come, but not because I have done anything wrong. I see you’re having difficulty, and I wouldn’t want you to faint again.”

  He gritted his teeth, his expression implacable. “I never fainted.”

  “You most certainly did.” She propped her hands on her hips, defying him to disagree with her.

  “Humph.” Grumbling a mild oath, he sank to the knees. Blood seeped through his fingers.

  She bent over him, placing the back of her hand against his forehead. “You need a doctor, sir.”

  He slapped her hand away. “Quit calling me sir. It makes you sound like a lady and you’re no lady.”

  Trixianna straightened and cleared her throat indignantly. “I am a lady and I don’t rob banks. What would you have me call you then?”

  “Sheriff will do right fine.”

  Fo
r a man squatting on his knees, he seemed very sure of himself, thought Trixianna. His confidence hadn’t flagged a bit. She supposed a man in his occupation needed all the confidence he could muster. “Well, all right then, Sheriff, you do need to see a doctor.”

  Pulling himself to his feet, he yanked a handkerchief from a pocket, unbuttoned his shirt and placed the scrap of cloth against his wound. He pulled the bloody towel away and handed it to her. Grimacing, he glared at her. “It hurts like hell.”

  “I would imagine,” she commiserated, “although, of course, I’ve never been shot.” He seemed extremely rational for an injured man, but he must be confused in his head to think she could rob innocent people of their hard-earned money. Why, she was as honest as…well, surely as honest as he was.

  Sheriff Chance Magrane cursed the day he decided to arrest Mad Maggie West alone. One woman? How much trouble could one be? Now he stared at her, dumbfounded. About as much trouble as sporting a wooden leg in a roomful of termites.

  Even coated in Kansas prairie dust, she couldn’t weigh more than a hundred pounds, and she was at least a foot shorter than he was. But in the blink of an eye she’d managed to bring him to his knees. In fact, he’d been knocked senseless on the fool woman’s front stoop. He hadn’t fainted, however. How could he ever explain how a woman had gotten the drop on him? He’d be the laughingstock of Grand Fork, for God’s sake.

  What was she up to anyway? Already dressed in a prim—if not downright dowdy—gray dress, with her hair pulled up tighter than a banker’s purse, she looked like his spinster aunt, Tildy O’Hara. Hell, it wasn’t even six o’clock yet. Where was she going so early in the morning?

  She wore a worried look on her heart-shaped face, and rightly so. Her pink lips were puckered in an expression of concern. For his well-being? He doubted it. More likely, concern for her own hide.

  Two weeks ago Monday, Mad Maggie West had robbed the Dena Valley Bank twenty miles due east of Grand Fork. The telegram had described her the same way the wanted poster in his office did: red hair, green eyes, short of stature. The telegram failed to mention the freckles dusting her stubborn nose. There was little doubt in Chance’s mind, though, that he had the right woman. She was a dead ringer for the gal in the poster. The circumstances were right, too—a stranger in town with money in her pocket who kept pretty much to herself.

  According to B.J. Johannsen, the mercantile owner, she’d bought all his canned and jarred fruit. Then, his face as red as store-bought flannel, B.J. had explained how she’d purchased all the fancy ladies’ unmentionables in his store. Poor B.J. thought he’d be stuck with those “frilly, gol-darned frew-fraws” till Kingdom Come. There weren’t many women in Grand Fork, and the few that lived there bought sturdy, durable and in Chance’s mind, boring underpinnings.

  Personally, Chance liked to unwrap a woman and discover a little pink lace or red satin and silk. He hoped he’d never see Mad Maggie in those new drawers; that woman was already more trouble than she was worth. He hated to admit that he found himself attracted to her, especially those darn freckles.

  She startled Chance by reaching out a hand to him, coming dangerously close to his gun belt. He grabbed her wrist. Surprised by the delicacy of her bones, he loosened his grip but kept a firm hold.

  “Honey, don’t you ever reach for my gun if you know what’s good for you.”

  “Sheriff, I know your shoulder is paining you, but don’t be such a silly goose. I wasn’t reaching for your gun. I was merely trying to assist you.”

  “Silly goose?” Chance would have been insulted if it weren’t so damned funny. “Silly goose?”

  “It’s just an expression,” she insisted. She brushed a hand over her hair as if a strand had come loose. He doubted a strand, much less a single hair, could budge loose even in a spring twister. That bun was tight enough to make his already aching head pound harder.

  “I’m arresting you, Mad Maggie, so let’s just mosey on down to my office where I can lock you up. Then I’ll look up the doc so you can stop worrying about me.”

  She stomped a foot in a peevish show of temper. “Stop calling me Mad Maggie. I can’t go to jail. I’m innocent, and besides, I have things to do, you know. I’m telling you I’ve never robbed a bank.”

  “Never?”

  “Never!”

  “We’ll see about that.” He motioned her out the door.

  She started around him, albeit with no small amount of reluctance, her head high, her freckled nose twitching in obvious irritation. Chance figured she hadn’t put up more of a fuss because she had shot him. Of that she was definitely guilty. Though she did seem more agreeable than he expected.

  The walk between her home and the jail seemed about as long as an Easter sunrise service, particularly in light of the woman’s continual grumbling. Mistaken identity, never robbed a bank, upstanding citizen, and on and on. She talked all the way to the jail. He released a sigh of supreme satisfaction when he had her safely behind bars.

  Mad Maggie West. And Sheriff Chance Magrane had made the arrest and incarcerated her. Now all he needed to do was find her accomplice, and someone to verify the charges. Humming, he locked up his prisoner with a twist of the key and went in search of the doctor.

  Locked up. In a jail cell. Trixianna grimaced as the stale scent of unwashed bodies and what smelled like moldy cheese assailed her nose. There was another scent she didn’t recognize and, in all honesty, preferred not to know.

  She wasn’t frightened, even though her heart beat fast and her palms were damp. No. She was more perturbed than anything else. She knew she was guilty of nothing more than defending herself.

  Still, the fact that Grand Fork even had its own jail disconcerted her. How much crime could go on in one small town anyway?

  She recalled with irritation why she moved to Grand Fork, Kansas, in the first place. Because she’d needed to escape Abilene and hadn’t want to leave Kansas, she disembarked from the train at its first stop. What a stupid way to pick a place to live.

  For better or worse, though, Grand Fork was now her new home. A curious thing about the town—it didn’t have a fork, grand or otherwise. It was a typical small Kansas town, with one main street that was muddy when it rained and dusty when it didn’t. It boasted two mercantiles, a bank, a hotel, one restaurant, a hardware store, a livery stable and more than enough saloons. And a jail with two cells.

  “This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever laid eyes on,” Trixianna muttered. She grimaced as she arranged her skirt about her so as little as possible touched the lumpy straw-filled mattress. She looked around, assessing her surroundings.

  Aside from the bed, her tiny cell held only a chamber pot, a tin bucket and a three-legged stool. A loud snore brought her attention to the identical cell next to hers. Trixianna couldn’t tell the gender of the person inside since all she could see was a back, but because of his dress, she guessed it was a man. She did think she recognized the odor emanating from the body. “Phew!”

  He was sleeping off a drunk. Even in sleep he wore a hat, a moth-eaten, stained, ten-gallon hat of indeterminate color. Aside from the hat, however, he wore nothing but red-flannel underwear with a rip in the buttocks that displayed one lean, pale hip. The sight brought heat to Trixianna’s cheeks. She averted her gaze to take in the rest of her temporary abode.

  The sheriff’s office and jail had one small window covered in greased paper that allowed in very little light. The single room, though small, held a scarred, flat-topped, maple desk, surprisingly neat, and a swivel chair behind it. On the desk was a tintype of a young woman with her arms around…a goat? How odd. Beyond that was a pot-bellied stove, two wooden chairs, and a locked gun cabinet. Behind the desk the sheriff had nailed auction notices and wanted posters.

  Trixianna gasped.

  Someone had put her image on a wanted poster!

  Below the sketch of her face were these words:

  WANTED

  DEAD OR ALIVE

  MAR
GARET (MAD MAGGIE) WEST

  RED HAIR, GREEN EYES, SHORT STATURE

  FOR BANK ROBBERY, GENERAL THIEVERY AND HORSE STEALING

  $500 REWARD

  CONTACT SHERIFF IN DENA VALLEY OR ABILENE

  That indifferent lout of a sheriff had left Trixianna alone for over two hours, and according to the timepiece pinned to the breast of her dress, it was approaching nine in the morning. Where was the man?

  Although Granny had always told her it was unladylike to squirm, Trixianna found herself doing so. Beneath her posterior, the mattress complained. She grimaced in distaste and stood up. She stomped her feet once to bring a little warmth into them, causing them to ache worse. They felt like blocks of ice. The cold cell was damp, and no fire burned in the stove to warm the room.

  Making sure her snoring cell-mate was still turned away from her, she arched her back. She released a sigh of relief. If only she could relieve the chill in the jail as easily. She paced the wooden floor, hoping to bring feeling into her frigid toes.

  Her stomach growled, and she realized that the sheriff had hauled her away not only without a word of apology, but also before she’d had the chance to eat. Hot oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins. A cup of steaming chamomile tea. Her mouth watered, reminding her that her pies weren’t getting baked by themselves either.

  Sinclair’s Fine Restaurant’s patrons would be going without pies this dinner hour. Mr. Sinclair himself had informed Trixianna only Friday that business had improved considerably since he began serving her “delicious, home-baked pastries.” What would he say when she didn’t come round?

  Trixianna tugged on the ribbons of her bonnet, and in a fit of pique tossed it to the floor. Remorse pricked her conscience. An image of her granny shaking a finger at her and scolding like an outraged bluejay sent her scurrying over to pick it up and place it upon the cot. She smoothed the fabric with chilled fingers, and contented herself by imagining berating the sheriff when he returned…if he returned.

  How long did it take to get a little wound like the one she’d given him bandaged anyway? He should be finished and releasing her from this ridiculous situation…now.