Ride the Savage Land Read online

“Ladies.” Chance swept off his hat and held it over his heart as he leaned forward in a little bow. “It’s our pleasure and privilege to make your acquaintance, and may I say, being in your presence has brightened immensely a morning that promised to be nothing but dreary.”

  “Stop running your mouth,” Lorena said. “You’re not going to impress us, or charm us. But if you’re looking for work, you might be able to help us.”

  “What sort of work?” Ace asked, suddenly wary.

  “These ladies and I”—Lorena gestured to indicate her companions—“are heading west to San Angelo. Are you familiar with the town?”

  “Heard of it,” Ace said. “Haven’t actually been there, as I recall.”

  “But you could find it?”

  “Of course,” Chance said without hesitation, still smiling broadly. “We’ve traveled all over. We’ve very experienced frontiersmen.”

  Lorena snorted and almost succeeded in making it sound ladylike. “You two aren’t old enough to be very experienced at anything.”

  “You might be surprised, ma’am—I mean, Miss Lorena,” Chance said. His smile widened into a grin.

  Lorena turned to Ace. “You seem to be the more practical of the two. We need someone to accompany us to San Angelo and act as guides and, well, protectors, I suppose you could call it. Would you and your brother be interested in the job?”

  “We’re twins, actually, just not identical,” Ace said. “How about it, Chance? What do you think?”

  “Absolutely!” Chance replied. “We were leaving town and heading west anyway. The opportunity to travel in such lovely, charming company . . . why, we ought to pay you for that privilege!”

  Ace frowned and said, “Yeah, but we, ah, can’t afford that—”

  Lorena raised a hand to stop him. “Don’t worry, we’ll pay you. Give me a minute and I can tell you how much.”

  She turned and went back into the livery stable’s office.

  While Lorena was gone, Chance tried to engage in conversation with the other three young women, asking each of them where they were from. Jamie Gregory was the only one who really responded, explaining that she was from St. Louis.

  “How did the four of you ladies come to be traveling together?” Chance asked.

  “Actually, there are five of us. We left Agnes back at the hotel to keep an eye on our bags while we came to see what had happened to Mr. Keegan.”

  “Agnes?” Chance repeated.

  “Yes, Agnes Hampel.”

  Ace asked. “Who’s this Keegan fella?”

  “He’s the one who was supposed to take us to San Angelo. But I’m afraid he’s injured. A horse kicked him and broke his leg.”

  “All right.” Ace still felt a little lost. None of the women seemed to be related, so why were they going to San Angelo together?

  Before he could press for more of an explanation, Lorena came out of the office with some money in her hand. “We’ll pay you eighty-seven dollars and provide the supplies, since they’re already paid for and should be plenty for all of us. That’s all the money Keegan had in his pockets.”

  Patterson exclaimed. “You robbed him?”

  Lorena fixed the stableman with a stony glare. “He couldn’t stay sober enough to do the job he was paid to do. He doesn’t deserve the money. These boys do—if they take the job. And if we offer it.” She looked at Ace and Chance again. “I don’t know anything about you two. How do we know we can trust you?”

  Chance said, “Well, I’d like to believe we have honest faces—”

  “If I pay a visit to the local law and ask about you, what am I going to find out?”

  The brothers exchanged a worried glance.

  Ace said, “If there’s a possibility we’ll be traveling together, you deserve to know the truth, ladies. Marshal Courtright’s probably not that fond of us right now. In fact, we’ve been involved in some trouble recently, and he told us it would be better if we got out of town.”

  “In other words, you’re criminals,” Isabel snapped.

  “Not hardly!” Chance said. “There was this rattlesnake in a jar and a bet that I won, and this gunslinger and a crazy Indian—”

  “Hold on,” Ace said. “Let me tell it.”

  For the next few minutes, he did exactly that, laying out the events of the previous night. He didn’t try to sugarcoat any of it, either. He wanted the ladies to know what the situation was.

  When Ace was finished, Jamie Gregory said, “Well, that doesn’t sound like any of it was really their fault, Lorena. It was those other men who caused all the trouble, and they’re in jail.”

  “For a little while longer,” Ace said. “Marshal Courtright will be letting them out this morning.”

  “Except the Indian,” Lorena said. “He’s loose already.”

  “Yes, but none of them have any real reason to come after us.” A note of bitterness came into Ace’s voice as he added, “They already have all our money, and I doubt if they would go to the trouble of following us just because of a grudge over a bet.”

  Lorena considered that for a moment, then said, “You’re probably right. From the way you describe them, I’ve known men like this Shelby and Baylor before. They’re more interested in money than anything else. The marshal’s right about it being a good idea for you to get out of town, though. Out of sight, out of mind, as the old saying goes.” She looked at the other three. “What do you think?”

  “We need to get started,” Isabel said. “I wish things had worked out differently, but since they have not . . .” She shrugged.

  “They look honest to me,” Jamie added. “I think we can trust them.”

  “How about you, Molly?” Lorena asked the redhead, who hesitated before answering.

  Finally, she said, “We don’t have any other choice, do we? Mr. Patterson said it wouldn’t be safe for us to start out on our own, and I believe him. And we really do need to get started.”

  Lorena nodded and turned back to Ace and Chance. “I guess it’s settled, then, if you want the job.”

  “We’ll take it,” Chance replied instantly.

  After a second, Ace shrugged and nodded in agreement.

  “Try not to be so enthusiastic, cowboy,” Lorena said dryly. “Come on. I’ll show you the wagon.”

  It was a good-sized wagon with a long bed and a canvas cover over the back. A team of four draft horses went with it. Ace took a glance in the back and saw crates and bags of supplies, as well as bunks built along the walls, two on each side.

  Since there were five women going on this trip—although Ace and Chance hadn’t seen the fifth one yet—that meant one would have to make a pallet and sleep on the floor of the wagon bed. The brothers had their bedrolls and would sleep outside, of course.

  “Looks like a good sturdy vehicle, and the team is fine,” Ace told Lorena. “One thing worries me. Unmarried ladies traveling a couple hundred miles with two men . . . well, that may not do your reputations much good.”

  “Don’t worry about our reputations, honey,” Lorena told him. “You see, we’re already bought and paid for, and I don’t think any of the men who made the arrangements will want to back out on the deal.”

  “Bought and paid for? You mean—”

  “That’s right. We’re mail-order brides.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Actually, that wasn’t exactly the first thought that went through Ace’s mind when Lorena used the phrase bought and paid for—but once he considered what she’d said, it made sense.

  Chance said. “I’ve heard of such a thing, but I don’t reckon I’ve met a real, live mail-order bride until now.” He frowned. “But I don’t understand—”

  “Come on. We need to get that team hitched up,” Ace said, not letting his brother continue. He had a hunch Chance was about to say something indiscreet about wondering why such beautiful women had to resort to becoming mail-order brides in order to find husbands.

  That was a puzzle, all right, but it was also none of h
is and Chance’s business. Everybody had their own story, their own reasons for arriving at the places in life where they found themselves, and other folks didn’t have the right to pry uninvited into that.

  “Agnes is probably getting a little worried about us,” Lorena said. “Jamie, why don’t you and Molly go on back to the hotel and let her know what’s going on. Isabel and I will stay here and make sure these two don’t steal our wagon.”

  “Doesn’t the wagon actually belong to that Mr. Keegan?” Ace asked. “And if you don’t trust us any more than that, are you sure you want to go all the way to San Angelo with us?”

  “There are bound to be more suitable guides to be found in Fort Worth,” Lorena said coolly, “but it would take time to find one, and I want to get started. And the two of you need to be lighting a shuck, if what you told us is true, so it seems like fate brought us together.” She paused, then went on. “I’ve never trusted fate, not completely. We’ll all just have to get used to each other along the way, I guess. As for the wagon, Keegan can pay somebody to go to San Angelo and bring it back, once he sobers up enough. That’s his problem, not ours.”

  “Fair enough,” Ace said. “I reckon you’re not going to pay us any of that eighty-seven dollars until we get there, are you?”

  Lorena smiled. “That’s right, cowboy. Payment on delivery, so to speak.”

  “That’s fine. And my name’s Ace, not cowboy.”

  “You’ve punched cattle, though, haven’t you? Unlike your soft-handed brother here.”

  “Hey!” Chance objected. “I’ve worked cows, too.”

  “Not nearly as much as your brother, I’m thinking. No, you strike me as the sort who’s more at home sitting at a poker table in a smoky saloon. A knight of the green felt.”

  That put a smile on Chance’s face as he repeated musingly, “A knight of the green felt . . . I kind of like that. And to tell the truth, you’re probably right about us, Miss Lorena.”

  “If there’s one thing I know,” she said, “it’s men.”

  Ace figured it would be best not to ponder too much about that statement. Instead, he and Chance got busy maneuvering the horses into their places and hooking up the harness.

  When they were done and the wagon was ready to roll, Chance said to Ace, “Flip a coin to see who handles the team and who rides horseback?”

  “No need,” Ace said. “You pick, and I’ll be satisfied doing the other.”

  “In that case, I’ll handle the team.”

  That decision came as no surprise to Ace. He knew his brother was looking forward to sitting next to one of the women. Chance would be happy to have either Lorena or Isabel that close to him. Both were lovely.

  He was in for a disappointment. Both women climbed into the back of the wagon without even giving the Jensen brothers a chance to help them up.

  “We’ll ride back here,” Lorena said. “I believe Agnes, the fifth member of our group, grew up on a farm. She can probably handle the team once we pick up her and the others. That way you can ride alongside with your brother, Mr. Jensen.”

  As Chance stepped up to the wagon seat, he said, “You’d better start calling us Ace and Chance. You holler ‘Hey, Jensen!’, we won’t know which one you’re talking to.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Lorena said from the back of the wagon.

  Ace chuckled, which drew a quick glare from his brother, whose gelding he led to the back of the wagon and tied the reins there so the horse would follow. Then he swung up into the saddle on his chestnut and waved Chance out of the livery barn.

  Flicking the reins, he got the team moving, and the wagon rolled slowly out into the street.

  Ace saw Patterson leaning against the wall next to the office door with a dubious look on his face. He reined closer and said, “We still owe you for a couple nights.”

  “Send the bill to that Keegan hombre,” Chance suggested to Patterson from the wagon seat. “In a sense, we’re working for him now.”

  Ace shook his head. “You don’t need to do that.” He dug out a couple silver dollars he had gotten in change earlier and leaned down from the saddle to hand them to the stableman. “Thanks for taking good care of our horses, Mr. Patterson.”

  “Glad to do it,” Patterson said. “Come back to see me, the next time you’re in Fort Worth.”

  “Considering the way Fort Worth has treated us,” Chance said, “that may be never.”

  * * *

  Lorena gave Chance directions to the hotel where she and her companions had been staying.

  As he drove, Chance asked over his shoulder. “This fella Keegan—does he run some sort of mail-order-bride business?”

  “It’s called a matrimonial agency,” Lorena said. “He finds brides for men all over Texas and New Mexico Territory.”

  “He seemed like a respectable gentleman when we arrived,” Isabel put in.

  “Not to me. I know a drunk when I see one. I just hoped he could keep it under control until he got us to San Angelo.” Lorena blew out a disgusted breath. “Turned out he couldn’t . . . which comes as no real surprise. I learned a long time ago not to depend too much on any man.”

  “And yet you’re going to marry one of them,” Chance pointed out.

  “I have a business arrangement with one of them,” Lorena corrected. “I believe in business. How far it goes beyond that, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

  The street was busy, so most of Chance’s attention was focused on handling the team and the wagon. Ace rode easily alongside with his hat thumbed back on his head. Their visit to Fort Worth hadn’t worked out like he had expected, especially the last part of it, but to be fair, things seldom did. Trouble had a way of finding the Jensen brothers.

  “There’s the hotel, up there on the left,” Lorena said as she moved up just behind the seat and bent to look past Chance’s shoulder.

  “I see it,” he said. “There’s Miss Jamie and Miss Molly on the porch, too.”

  “You’re being pretty informal.”

  “We’re going to be traveling companions for the next week or so. No need to be stuffy during that time.”

  Lorena nodded after a second. “I suppose you’re right.”

  “The other lady, that’s, ah, Miss Agnes?”

  “Yeah. You can see why I said she can probably handle the wagon.”

  “I don’t mind driving—”

  “I’d rather have you and your brother on horseback. You can keep an eye out for trouble better that way and be quicker to handle any problems that crop up.”

  Riding close enough, Ace heard what Lorena said. He leaned toward the wagon and agreed. “You’re right, ma’am. I mean, Miss Lorena. But Chance and I can take turns driving the wagon if it turns out to be too much for Miss Agnes.”

  Chance was hauling back on the reins and bringing the team to a stop as Ace spoke.

  The dark-haired young woman heard what he said and asked, “Are you talking about me?”

  Jamie said, “I told you Lorena wants you to drive the wagon, Agnes.”

  Ace took his hat off. “Only if you think you can handle it, ma’am. I mean, Miss Agnes.”

  She definitely wasn’t a beauty like the others, but she had a pleasant look about her. At least, she might have whenever she wasn’t standing next to someone like Jamie Gregory, who was pretty enough to throw most women into the shade.

  “I used to drive a hay wagon,” Agnes said. “This can’t be much more difficult than that, I suppose.”

  “I don’t know,” Chance said with a smile. “A load of hay can’t complain if the ride’s too rough.”

  Agnes looked at him—and her face seemed to light up from the inside.

  Ace bit back a groan. He had seen that same expression on the faces of too many women too many times before. Agnes was instantly smitten with Chance, and sooner or later, one way or another, that usually led to trouble.

  But maybe not this time, Ace told himself, because Agnes, pleasant or not, certainly wasn�
��t the sort of woman Chance was inclined to pursue. That was a good thing. Like the rest of the women, she was already spoken for.

  “Those are our bags on the porch,” Lorena said.

  Without being asked, Ace dismounted and Chance wrapped the reins around the wagon’s brake lever, then jumped lithely to the ground. It didn’t take them long to load the bags into the back, next to the supplies.

  There was a canvas sling underneath the wagon for extra storage, but it wasn’t needed.

  Agnes stood next to the front wheel and the driver’s box and seemed to be waiting for something. When Chance walked by, she asked him. “Could you give me a hand, please?”

  “Uh, sure.” He took hold of Agnes’s right arm and steadied her as she used the wheel to climb up onto the driver’s box. She rested her hand on his shoulder as she made the final effort to climb to the high seat.

  At the back of the wagon, Ace helped Jamie and Molly climb onto the lowered tailgate, from which they were able to step into the wagon bed through a narrow aisle in the supplies and baggage. They sat down on the other bunks.

  “Are you ladies ready to go?” Ace asked.

  “More than ready,” Lorena replied. “It’s already more than an hour later than we were supposed to leave. Drat that drunken sot Keegan.”

  Chance untied his horse from the back of the wagon and stepped up into the saddle. Ace mounted as well and brought his horse alongside the driver’s box on the right side. Chance moved up on the left. Agnes had settled herself on the seat and grasped the reins in both hands.

  “Ready?” Chance asked her.

  “Oh, yes. Very ready.” She smiled.

  Ace said, “You’ll have to turn the wagon around and head west.” He turned his head to check the traffic in the street. “Looks like you’ve got room.”

  Agnes slapped the reins against the backs of the team and called out to the animals. They leaned forward into the harness. She hauled back on the lines to turn the leaders to the right. The wagon lumbered around and started west along Throckmorton Street toward the river.

  Crossing the Trinity required a jog in front of the courthouse up to Main Street, where there was a bridge over the stream. That meant they would go past the jail, too, Ace realized. He hoped Lew Shelby, Henry Baylor, Loomis, and Prewitt were still locked up.