No Place for a Lady (17 page)

Soon she was involved in trying to make sense out of the entries. Month-to-month entries were almost nonexistent. In some
places an entry of accounts received was recorded, but the thing
that really gave her a blow was the outstanding debts tucked in
the back of the) ournal. There were long-overdue bills to the mercantile store for feed, kerosene oil, and various tack and harness equipment, most of which Crystal had known nothing about.
There was an outstanding bill to the blacksmith for repair of a
wagon tongue.

But the most shocking of all was a sizable note signed by Kate
Morgan naming Jim McBride as the lender to be repaid by the
end of the year. Crystal was surprised not only by her aunt's poor
bookkeeping but that, as far as she could tell, Kate had made no
attempt to begin payments to McBride. Crystal had always seen
Kate as someone in control and methodical. But in this case she
was mistaken.

Maybe she could speak to McBride about the matter. If she
had a chance tonight at April's party, she would. Yet McBride
might decide to drive a hard bargain, and she might have to sell
him the ranch.

She was thoroughly depressed now, something that was so
out of character for her that she wasn't sure how to deal with
it. Kate had commented on her sunny disposition and how
her laughter made everyone feel good. What a joke. If Kate
could see her now ... She put her face in her hands and began
to cry.

She felt frustration at the mess Aspengold was in, and then
from acute homesickness. She longed to see her maid Lilly and
even Drew. She wanted to be able to take a ride in her new, shiny
buggy through the crowded streets of Atlanta and peruse the shops
on Peachtree Street, have lunch with Mary Jo and Charlotte, and
plan their next church bazaar. But the buggy, along with almost
every possession, had been auctioned off that fateful day. A sharp
longing for her family and home struck her, causing more tears
to fall.

Lord, please help me. I don't know which way to turn. Crystal
poured out her heart to God until her tears lessened.

As Luke crossed the yard on his way to the barn, he paused
as his attention was directed to the clothesline that held Crystal's
sheets fluttering in the breeze, alongside stiff white petticoats
that seemed to be standing on their own. He reluctantly dragged
his eyes away, feeling like he'd viewed something intimate and
personal, and looked up at the puffy clouds the color of pink
streaked with the pale blue sky. How he loved this country! There
was nowhere else he'd rather be.

He was about to continue on his way when he thought he heard
a whimpering sound. At first he thought it was one of the hounds,
but as he walked closer, he realized the sound was coming from the
house. He stepped lightly on the porch, tapped at the front door,
and discreetly opened it a crack. Across the room, yellow shafts
of sunlight filtered through the open doorway, placing golden
highlights in Crystal's dark head on the desktop.

"Crystal?" he whispered. "Everything all right?" He moved to
stand near the chair and reached out to touch her head lightly.

She jerked her head up and sniffed, wiping her tears with the
back of her hand. Her face was swollen and tearstained, green
eyes glittering, and her lashes were wet against dark circles under
her eyelids. "Not really. I think I just had my first bout of real
homesickness;' she managed to croak between hiccups. She rose
to stand and face him.

Crystal looked directly into Luke's blue eyes, unable to tear her
eyes away. Her feet felt glued to the floor, and she was wedged
between Luke and the desk with nowhere to go.

He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head back to
look deep into her glistening eyes, then leaned down and covered
her quivering lips with his own. His thin lips were soft and caressing. Crystal felt an exquisite shock numb her very being. His hand
touched the small of her back, gently pulling her to him until she
felt his hard chest against hers. She felt safe here and wanted to
stay in his arms. She leaned against him and closed her eyes.

When he released her, he said in a hoarse voice, "After you get
things settled here, you can go back to the South. I can help you
see to selling the ranch. I'd buy it myself if I had the money. If
you like, you can leave next week. You don't have to stay till the
trail drive. Me and Rusty can handle things for you" He took a
big step away from her.

Crystal noticed his ragged breathing. She jerked herself back
to reality, straightened her shoulders, and pressed her unruly hair
back into its pins. So the kiss was to cheer her up. It hadn't meant
anything to him. Why should she be surprised? Obviously, a kiss
was something he handed out as easily as the peppermint candy
he had given her.

He picked up the cold cup of coffee and said, "Goodness, this
stuff is awful. Come on. I'm going to make up a decent pot of
coffee for once." He headed toward the kitchen, and she walked
stiffly behind him, not knowing what else to do.

"Now you just sit there and relax." He motioned for her to sit
at the table.

"I'm not leaving, you know. Not yet. I never back down on
my word;' Crystal said. She watched his movements about the
kitchen while he ground fresh coffee in the mill and proceeded
to boil water.

He looked completely at ease in the kitchen and seemed familiar
with the cupboards and their contents. He took out two cups and
saucers and placed them on the table. He reached in the cupboard
and removed a large tin that was hidden from view in the back.
Inside were dubious-looking sugar cookies. Luke placed them on
a plate between the two cups.

The smell of coffee permeated the small kitchen, and Crystal
waited patiently with her hands folded in her lap. She watched
him dart from one side of the kitchen to the other. His long legs
moved with alacrity, and his spurs made a tinkling sound. He was
small hipped, and his britches were well-worn and snug, and his
shirtsleeves were rolled up past the elbow. He stood near the stove
with his weight on one hip, making certain the coffee didn't boil
over. He removed the pot from the stove and placed it alongside
the milk and sugar on the table.

Outwardly he appeared calm, but inside, Luke's thoughts were
running a mile a minute as he thought back to their brief kiss.
It had felt so nice, so right. Why hadn't he felt that way when he
kissed April? What was he thinking, doing that? He wasn't sure
what it meant, but when he'd looked at the curve of Crystal's face
tilted up and watching him, his heart had begun to thump hard
against his ribs.

He poured the coffee and sat down to join her. He pushed his
hat to the back of his head and crossed his outstretched legs in
front of him. "See if you don't like my coffee, and if you do, I'll
teach you how to make it:" He winked at her. "This is the quietest
you've ever been."

When she smiled back at him, he felt funny in his stomach.
Probably the greasy breakfast. He was glad that he was sitting across from her, or he might be forced to kiss those quivering lips
again. "Too bad we don't have one of those good pies Carmen
makes. That would just be perfect."

She wasn't about to tell him that those had been her pies, not
Carmen's. With his hat pushed back, she could get a better look
at his face. His skin was richly tanned from the many hours in
the saddle, and his wide forehead was low with two permanent
wrinkles around his eyes from squinting in the sun. She liked
the way his long fingers curled around the cup that he held in
one hand. As he munched on a cookie, the crumbs caught in his
moustache.

Realizing that she was staring, she sipped her coffee and took
a bite of the cookie. "Very good, I must admit"

"I'm glad you like it. Made that batch of cookies up myself.
I kinda have a sweet tooth. We gotta teach you to cook while
you're here"

Crystal laughed. "I can cook a couple of things. Wait until you
taste my skillet cornbread and red beans:'

"You need to learn how to make sourdough biscuits"

"What's that?" She looked up into his blue eyes.

"Sourdough? Well, next to the Bible, sourdough is the most
important possession on the frontier. You can make flapjacks
and biscuits with it, patch a crack in the cabin, treat wounds, and
even make brew."

Crystal wondered if that meant the Bible held some importance
to him. "I've never heard of sourdough"

"Well, it was a popular item and a staple with the prospectors
during the Yukon gold rush. They carried their starter dough
buried in flour or in pots strapped to their backs:"

"Why didn't you try mining? Maybe you'd have struck it rich
and been able to have your own ranch."
"

I did. Went to Leadville and Central City when I was just
seventeen with dreams of getting rich, but all I wound up doing
was working hard, spending every cent in gambling halls, and
kicking up my heels. I was young and stupid. 'Bout the only strike
I ever made was pyrite:'

"And what, pray tell, is pyrite?" Crystal was enjoying this exchange of conversation.

"It's called fool's gold because it's usually mistaken for the real
thing. Anyhow, a lot of people did become millionaires. Others
squandered their money like it was water. Ever hear of Horace
Tabor?"

She shook her head. He stood, reached for the coffee, and refilled their cups with the scalding liquid.

"He started out with a third of a grubstake and wound up
almost instantly rich and purchased a dozen or so more mines.
He was lieutenant governor back in 1878 for six years. He built
the Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver. Yep, he was very rich."
Luke paused in his story and reached for another cookie.

Crystal felt very content to be sitting here talking like friends instead of having their usual banter. This was an interesting new side
to him that she wanted to know better. "Well;' she nudged, wanting to hear the rest, "what happened to this rich Horace Tabor?"

"Let me see ... He divorced his wife and fell in love with a
woman called Baby Doe, who was also divorced. He met her on
one of his trips to Leadville and lavished her with fine things. I
heard tell from the stories that he gave her a $7,000 wedding dress
and a huge diamond worth close to $100,000."

Crystal gasped. "Really?"

"They live in Denver now, and I hear his businesses and mines
are all but petered out, except for the Matchless Mine. It seems
he mortgaged all his real estate to develop new mines and has
fallen on hard times"

Crystal sighed. "It sounds romantic but sad"

"Feeling better now? You have a party to go to tonight, and you
don't want to go with a swollen face, now do you?"

"Are you and the boys going?"

"As sure as a snowstorm in February. Wouldn't want to miss
it. We can all ride together"

"Actually, josh will be coming to escort me" Crystal saw Luke's
jaw tighten.

"Oh, I see. . " He wanted to ask her about Drew. It had been
nagging him ever since the night she was unconscious, but now
wasn't the time.

"About the ranch ... I meant what I said:" He looked across
the table, and their eyes locked for a long moment. He started to
say something else, but decided against it and shifted in his chair,
causing it to creak in protest. "You don't need to worry. Not after
all that you've gone through:" It was almost a carbon copy of what
had happened to her in Georgia, and he was concerned for her.

"I'll be okay, don't worry. Once I get everything figured out.
God has never let me go begging:" Crystal sighed again, moving
to place the dishes in the sink. "You've made me think about
something other than my troubles for a little while:"

Luke watched as Crystal assumed her dignified air, her back
and shoulders set in their usual determined way. He had to admire her resilience.

Friday at six o'clock sharp, josh came up the dusty drive in a shiny
new buggy with a pair of high-stepping thoroughbreds. Crystal
was just completing last-minute touches to her hair, but upon
hearing the horses rattling to a halt out front, she picked up her
white straw hat and hurried out to greet Josh. He was impeccably
dressed in a tan suit with a brown silk cravat and his usual tan
Stetson hat. Crystal noticed a red blotch where his stiff white collar rubbed his throat, and it continued to creep up his neck when
his eyes fell upon her as she emerged from the house and waited
on the top step of the porch. She wore a lavender silk dress and
knew that it enhanced her creamy white shoulders. This time her
bosom barely peeked from under the edging of ribbon circling
the scooped neckline.

After setting the brake, he climbed down to where she stood
waiting. He extended his large, squarish hand to hers and lifted
her up to the shiny buggy.

"You are going to be the prettiest one at the party tonight."
Josh's eyes twinkled.