Eden

CHAPTER TWO

“SOUNDS LIKE I’VE GOT a new housekeeper,” John said to Molly, “if you’ll keep her for the night. I’ll come back in the morning to get her. I’ll need to talk to Bill Stanley before I bring her out to his ranch, make sure he understands the circumstances. I won’t make a move that will jeopardize my standing with him.”

Molly cast him a measuring look and then as if she found his words to be all that was truth and honesty on his part, she nodded. “I’ll keep her here tonight, safe in my bed, with my door locked. But you’d better be on the up and up, John Roper, or I’ll skin you. Understand?”

John nodded, meeting her gaze. He’d not put it past the woman to do just as she threatened. Molly was as honest as the day was long, even given that she worked in the kitchen of a saloon, she was known as a woman to be respected. That he bore the same reputation was knowledge he prized, for his honor was not questioned by any who knew him.

The girl would be safe with him, for he had no need of a woman in his bed, his masculine instincts long since subdued by the memory of the woman who had forever left him with anger as his companion. The wife he’d buried six years ago had been unfaithful, her acts of immorality documented by the men who had received her favors. Then she’d left him to run off with another man, and the disease she’d gained from her acquaintance with him had brought her to an early grave.

He’d taken care of her needs during the days of her illness, hiring a widowed lady to nurse her, a woman who had lived in the same room with Sadie, tending her until the day she breathed her last. And then, with her burial, a solitary moment he’d shared with no other person but the local undertaker, he’d cut his ties and traveled from home. Two years of wandering had brought him to the north country, and here in the Dakota Territory, he’d found work and a place in which to bury his past.

No, an attachment to any women was the last thing he wanted, and only the basic goodness of his upbringing had prompted him to offer this fragile child a place to live. His mama would roll over in her grave if she thought that a son of hers would turn his back on someone in need.

John Roper was known as an honest man, a good man with a horse and handy with a gun. There was little about him that could be considered soft, for he stood tall, broad-shouldered and yet lean. With dark hair and eyes, he knew he presented a picture of masculinity that appealed to women, and yet he felt little need of them, only an occasional visit to a widow who had been more than welcoming when he deigned to visit her.

So now he settled his hat on his head and made ready to take his leave from the kitchen where Molly reigned, cook and general overseer of the women who lived and worked under the roof of Tom Loftin’s saloon. A woman who watched him now with eyes that questioned his motives.

“You’ll be back in the morning? And you’ll guarantee this girl a safe place to live?”

“That’s what I said, Molly. You’d ought to know enough about me to know that I don’t tell lies or make promises I can’t keep. I’ve been around these parts for a while, and you won’t find anybody to point a finger at me.”

She shrugged. “You’re right there, John. And it don’t look to me like this child has much choice. Not for now anyway.”

His gaze scanned Katie’s face once more and his words were kindly. “Do I need to know anything more about you, Katie? Is there anything that would stand in the way of you working for me. I don’t even know where you’re from, now that I think about it. I’m not about to do anything illegal here, so if there’s anybody with any ties on you, speak up.”

“I can tell you where she’s from,” Molly said. “I knew when I saw her that she was familiar, and after watching her for a few minutes, I figured it out. She’s been livin’ at the Schrader place outside of town for a dozen years or so. Ain’t that right, girl?”

Katie nodded, her eyes wide as Molly spoke words that amazed her. How the woman knew anything about her was some sort of miracle, she thought, and she waited silently to hear more.

“She looks like her mama,” Molly said. And Katie closed her eyes, her mind turning back to the days before she had gone to live with the Schraders. In just such a kitchen as this she had eaten meals and spoken with women around a table such as this one.

“Have I been here before?” she asked, her voice soft, her heart pounding in a rhythm that threatened to choke her.

“Just think about it a minute and you’ll remember. You’ll know you have, girl,” Molly said. “You’re old enough to remember the days when you lived upstairs with your mama.”

Her mind flooded with almost-forgotten thoughts, Katie sat at the table, stunned by the words Molly spoke. “I was a little girl, wasn’t I? Surely not more than five or six. But I remember you, I think.” And the vision of a younger Molly filled her mind, a kindly woman who had fed her and held her in her ample lap.

“Why would she have lived here?” John asked, his tone dubious, his look skeptical. “And why was she sent to live elsewhere?”

“This was no place for a young’un, and when her mama died, the boss looked for a couple to take her and give her a home.” Molly was silent a moment and her eyes touched Katie’s face, perhaps noting the swelling on one cheek, the bruise that bloomed in purple splendor on her jaw. “It looks to me like he chose the wrong place for a child.”

The door leading into the saloon opened and the bartender stood in the entry. “What’s goin’ on back here, Molly? John? What’s this gal doing here? Is she lookin’ for a job? We don’t take on kids, Molly and well you know it.”

“She’s not lookin’ for a job, Tom. Just a place to sleep for the night, and I’ve already offered the other half of my bed. She’s just hungry and John brought her back for a meal.”

The man, Tom, looked at Katie with awareness dawning in his eyes. “Who is she?” His tone was strident, his words harsh.

“Just who do you think she is?” Molly asked, her chin tilted up as if she offered it as a target. “You know damn well who she is. One look at that face oughta tell you.”

“What’s she doing here?” Tom’s face reddened, his eyes sparking fire as he stepped into the kitchen and closed the door behind himself. “She don’t belong here.”

“I already told you,” Molly said. “She was hungry and John brought her in for a meal.”

“You know what I mean,” Tom said harshly. “She don’t belong here,” he repeated, more sternly this time. “Where’s your folks, girl?”

“I don’t have any folks,” Katie told him staunchly. “I lived with the Schraders outside of town for a lot of years, but they’re not my folks.”

“Well, they’re all the folks you’ve got,” Tom said, stalking across the kitchen, his eyes never leaving Katie’s bruised face. “How’d you get here?”

“I walked. I didn’t intend to come in here, but a man frightened me out in front and I got pushed through the door into the saloon and this gentleman offered me a chair.”

The gentleman in question shot a grin at Tom. “She looked hungry and frightened, and you know what a gentleman I am, don’t you, Tom?”

“You’re a cowhand, is what you are, John. And what are you plannin’ to do with a young girl like this?”

“Maybe you’d better sit down while I tell you about that,” Molly said with a look of warning. “You’d might as well know, Tom.”

“All right. I’m sitting.” Tom pulled out a chair and sat in it, his eyes never leaving the girl across the table from him. “Now tell me what’s going on.”

“This little gal is gonna go to work for John Roper tomorrow. John here said he’s got a cabin out at the Bar-S ranch. Bill Stanley gave it to him as part of his wages out there. So he’s gonna take Katie home with him tomorrow morning and make her his cook and housekeeper.”

“Katie? Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Tom examined her minutely, her face and slender form, the rough, tattered homespun of her dress, the dark hair that hung down her back in a ragged braid. And then he turned to John with a shake of his head and words that growled with anger. “She don’t look old enough to know much about keeping house, John. You sure you know what you’re doin’?”

“No.” John laughed softly. “I probably don’t, but I’m gonna do it anyway. I can’t see sending her back to where she came from, Tom. It don’t look like the folks who were responsible for her have taken very good care of their obligation, does it?”

“No, I can’t say that it does,” Tom agreed, his eyes dark. And then he eyed John again. “What will Bill Stanley say when you bring her home with you and put her in your cabin? Won’t he wonder—”

“Maybe,” John said quickly, before Tom could finish his query. “But I’ll explain things to him. There won’t be a problem.”

Katie felt her head swimming, her attention splintered between the three people who seemed to be settling her future for her, her eyelids drooping as the heat of the cookstove penetrated her clothing and the food she had eaten weighed heavy in her stomach. She drank the last of her milk and set the glass down on the table.

“Could I go to bed now, ma’am?” she asked Molly quietly. “I’m pretty tired.”

“I’ll take her up,” Molly said, motioning toward the open staircase that led upward to the rooms overhead. “I’ll see you in the morning, John. Unless you change your mind.”

He shook his head, lifting Katie from her chair, his eyes widening at her flinch as his fingers clasped her wrist. One big hand under her elbow, his head bent to speak softly into her ear. “I won’t change my mind, little girl. I’ll be here in the morning. I promise you won’t be abused again, by anyone. Can you trust me? Will you go with me?”

She looked up at him, at the strong features, the dark hair, the sharp eyes that seemed to see within her, that offered kindness she had not thought to find here tonight.

“I’ll go with you,” she said quietly. “I’ll do anything you want me to.”

HOW HE’D GOTTEN INTO this fix was a conundrum, John thought, his mind filled with plans for the morning to come. But there was no way in hell he’d leave that bit of a child in the hands of whoever had dealt her blows that left bruises. No one deserved treatment of that sort, and certainly not a young woman. And for a moment he wondered at what her clothing must conceal. No doubt more of the same, and that thought only served to make him even more certain that he’d decided to do the right thing.

His mama would roll over in her wooden casket should he turn his back on a woman in peril, especially one so vulnerable and in need of the simplest of human care.

And if he found that the Schrader fella had abused her in another way, he’d be looking him up and handling it for himself. The memory of her reaction to the touch of his hand on her arm thinned his mouth, and he wondered what sort of peril she had faced in her years with that family.

If it took putting his life on the line, he’d see to it that she was tended to and cared for as a young woman should be. He didn’t know much about girls of her age, only the memory of his younger sister, a much-cherished and loved child. More than once he’d been cast in the position of protecting her from harm, whether from a balky horse or young boys intent on teasing, as boys would.

His scant knowledge of women had come later on, when as a husband he’d faced the knowledge that the woman he trusted had abused that trust and found pleasure with other men. Perhaps he’d been molded by that, for he’d held himself aloof from females, from those who cast their eyes upon him and offered themselves. He wasn’t husband material, apparently, if his past could be relied on as a record of his skills in the art of marriage.

But he’d guarantee he could do a better job of looking after this female, this small waif without anyone to look after her and protect her, than her erstwhile guardians had done. And there was something about her that had hit him hard, right where a man was most vulnerable.

She was frightened, her face bruised, her body no doubt skinny from lack of a decent diet, and yet she had a beauty that appealed to him. Maybe not just her beauty, but the valiant effort she had made not to cry, not to show how frightened she was. He’d caught a glimpse of his younger sister in Katie, had experienced a backward look at the girl he’d once felt deserved his protection. He’d known in those first few moments that Katie was worth his attention, as his own sister had been, and now he was in this over his head, for he’d committed himself to looking after her.

And that, he decided with a grin, wasn’t all bad. For he suspected that she held the ingredients of a house keeper within that slender form. And that was what he needed. And when she was healed and whole again, she might be willing to consider something other than what he could offer, perhaps a marriage with one of the other men who worked the ranch, or a position in town with a decent family.

Now he rode up to the small cabin Bill Stanley had allotted him as a part of his salary and looked at it in the moonlight with eyes that saw the sagging porch, the bare windows. He knew that the interior wasn’t much better than what anyone passing by could see. The front door swung open beneath his hand and he stood in the darkness, smelling the musty scent of field mice and the odor of wood smoke from the fireplace.

He’d might as well settle in for the night, he decided, ignoring his own empty stomach as he found his bed in the back room. The blankets that covered his bed were warm, the mattress was wide and the room was as clean as a broom and mop could make it under his hands. He wasn’t much of a housekeeper, but he’d quickly managed to clean it up enough to take possession of it as a resting place at night. Preferable to the bunkhouse where an assortment of cowhands slept and ate.

Now he thought of bringing a girl here, a woman really, for most females her age were either already married or planning a wedding. Marriage had probably not entered her head, for she had not likely seen much of an example of happiness between a man and wife out there on the Schrader farm.

Maybe, someday, when she had healed, both in body and soul, and felt ready to be on her own, he’d talk to her about the years to come, help her to face a future that would in all certainty be better than the past she’d left behind.

His eyes closed as he tugged the blanket over his shoulder, and he wondered if his little waif was asleep yet. He tried to imagine her in Molly’s bed, and laughed aloud as he visualized her in the cook’s nightgown. She’d swim in it, her slender form lost in the enveloping folds. He’d have to buy the child a nightgown of her own tomorrow, he thought sleepily as the weariness of hard work claimed him for the night.

“I’LL BE BRINGING BACK a woman today, Bill, and moving her into the cabin. I’m thinking I need a cook and housekeeper, and I’ve found a girl who needs a place to live and a warm spot to land for a while.” As news went, it was an eye-opener, he thought, as Bill Stanley shot him a look of doubt.

“What are you talking about, John? You can hire one of the men’s wives to keep your place clean. There’s always one or another looking for bit of income if that’s what you need. I can’t imagine you getting a woman to move into your place, doesn’t sound like something you’d do.”

John laughed shortly. “It’s not, come to think of it. But this girl is down on her luck, and she’s been abused by the folks she was living with. Once I get her something decent to wear, I’m gonna bring her back here and turn her into a housekeeper.”

“Who is she?” Bill asked, obviously dubious of the proposal John had made.

“Her name’s Katie. Don’t know if she has a last name or not, but she ran off from the Schrader place outside of town, to tell you the truth. From what I understand from Molly down at the saloon and what the girl herself told me, she was given to the Schraders a dozen or so years ago, and they’ve been using her as a servant ever since. She showed up at the Dogleg saloon last night. Molly, the cook there is taking care of her for me until I can get into town this morning and pick her up. I’m gonna bring her here to live in the cabin you gave me.”

His jaw firmed as he faced his employer, aware that Bill was a man of principle, and the plan for Katie’s welfare might not hit him well. As if he expected a harsh rebuttal, John stiffened his neck and waited for what Bill Stanley had to say. The man was fair, a good man with a prosperous ranch, and his choice of John as his new foreman had been a surprise. John was only thirty years old, but most men would have thought twice before taking a chance on a man so young to run his operation.

But Bill Stanley had a reputation for being smart, and apparently he’d found something in the man standing before him that merited his approval, for he’d not hesitated when the last foreman left to buy his own place and set up business in the next county. Now he tucked his hands into his trouser pockets.

“If you’re sure of your ground you’re welcome to bring her here, John. It’s time and past for you to settle down.”

John laughed and shook his head. “I’m not marrying the girl, Bill. I’m hiring her. Don’t get the wrong idea here. I’ve got no need for a wife, but having somebody to keep my place clean and cooking decent meals for me sounds like an idea I can handle.”

Bill nodded, but his look was still cautious. “Well, if you’re sure this is a good idea, we’ll just have to see how it works out. And it sounds to me like she’d be tickled to death to have a spot of her own to claim.”

John nodded his agreement. “I just wanted you to know what’s going on, Bill. I didn’t want you surprised when I show up later on today with a woman. This way you know right up front what my plans are. I hadn’t planned on moving anyone into the cabin with me right off, but maybe Katie can make it more of a home than it is now. I’ll have to think about adding on a room, though. I’ll need to give her a place of her own.”

“There’s plenty of lumber in the barn, and I’d think the men could lend a hand if you start with a building project. We’ll see how it goes,” Bill said. “I’ve never known you to be devious, John, so I’ll trust you on this.”

John turned and mounted his gelding, taking up the reins and swinging his mount in a half circle. “I need to be in town early on. Molly will be thinking I’ve abandoned the girl if I don’t move along.” he said, tipping his hat brim in a small salute as he rode from the ranch house.

He wondered at his own actions as he rode, thinking back to the night before, the sight of the small female who had burst through the saloon door with fear lighting her features. He knew that his intentions were at least aboveboard, and not those of the men who looked for a fast and furious joining with a woman there in the Dogleg Saloon.

As he thought of the young girl who awaited him in town this morning, John nudged his gelding into a faster pace. It was past breakfast time already, and Katie would begin to wonder if he was a man of his word, or perhaps she’d hope for the opposite. Maybe she’d changed her mind by this morning, and wouldn’t be willing to fulfill her part of the bargain they’d made.

John Roper had lived a lot of years with only his own company, and now he was about to change all that and take on the responsibility of a woman in his house. The thought was a bit daunting, he thought, but not without merit. It would be good to come in at night from the range and find a hot meal waiting for him.

He pushed aside the memory of big eyes, of long hair and a slender form. “I’m looking for a housekeeper,” he reminded himself. “I’ll treat her as I would my little sister.”

CHAPTER THREE

THE SALOON WAS QUIET when he approached the front door and he heard only the tinny sound of the piano as the man who tickled the ivories, as he called it, practiced for the night to come. John pushed his way into the barroom and nodded at the man behind the long bar.

“Tom.” It was a single word of greeting, and Tom’s brief nod was all the reply he had expected. His long strides brought him to the kitchen door and he pushed his way within the room, his nose pleased at the fresh aroma of coffee and of bacon frying on the stove.

“Morning, Molly,” he said by way of greeting, and was not surprised at the smile he was offered by the cook. “Is my new housekeeper up and ready to travel?”

“She’s washing up now. I gave her something else to wear. That dress she had on wasn’t fit for wearin’. It was clean, but that was about all you could say for it. And what she had on underneath it was pretty pathetic. Especially the bruises that had her all colors.” Her gaze was sad as she faced John. “She’s just a girl, John. She’s been abused and misused, and it hurts me to see such a thing. I’m hoping your good sense will recognize that she needs help, not the attentions of a man.”