CHAPTER 1
1880
Matthew Whittaker was ready to kick some ass and ask questions later. First on his list were his brothers, Mead and Morgan. The second butt he’d like to attend to was none other than Miss Laurie Dixon’s. Shit, his life was going to hell in a handbasket!
Swearing a blue streak, he grunted as he tossed another bale of hay onto the wagon and wiped the sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his shirt. Damn, the sun was brutal today and his brothers, neither Morgan nor Mead, were anywhere to be found. Nothing new there, he thought with a scowl as he placed his hands on the small of his back and arched.
Those two were thick as thieves ever since Mead returned from the hospital in Maryland. There was something damn strange going on between them and he was hell bent on finding out what they were up to. Mead left Kansas not able to walk and in terrible pain from a gunshot wound. It was in the same leg he’d injured in the war and he had a pronounced limp for years. Now he was like a brand new man, striding along with purpose, jumping into the saddle as though he’d never been out of it. He no longer used a cane and Matthew couldn’t recall the last time he heard him complain.
Mead’s recovery was remarkable. Everyone said so. Granted, the brand new hospital he’d traveled to was touted as the best in the country, and apparently it was true. Whatever treatment Mead received worked like a miracle, although he didn’t talk much about his time in Maryland. Only Morgan who knew the entire story, and he wasn’t saying much. Come to think of it, neither of his brothers seemed willing to tell him anything of import. It was almost as though they had a secret, one they weren’t willing to share, and it pissed Matthew right the hell off.
They’d done that bullshit when they were younger, telling Matt he was too young to know, or too immature to understand. It irritated him then, and it did now. Hell, he was a grown man. If truth be told, he was the one that kept the farm running the majority of the time, and it was hard work. Lately, he barely had time to get into town to see Laurie!
Ever since Morgan married Callie Mae, he’d been busy at The Duchess. In the beginning, they’d been going to sell it. That was the arrangement, but he guessed Morgan hadn’t counted on Callie Mae being so stubborn.
Matt smiled and tossed another bale onto the wagon. He could have told him, he thought, grinning. Most women will promise you anything to get that little gold band on their finger. All of them except Laurie Dixon, he admitted. Matt figured he’d have to drag her to the altar. The widow didn’t seem to be interested in becoming his wife, despite the fact that she had three growing boys to provide for. Hell, he could give them all a good life on the farm and Laurie could quit slaving over a hot stove and serving meals to every saddle bum who passed through town.
She was a pretty little thing too, hardworking and focused on keeping her little restaurant, The Blue Bonnet Café, in the black. There were some nights she looked as though she would keel over any moment from pure exhaustion, but she never wavered, he’d give her that. He thought she was probably the most stubborn woman in town until Callie Mae proved him wrong by refusing to sell her saloon after Morgan wed her.
Now that was funny, and he wasn’t the only one who thought so. Morg had been convinced his new bride would mind and obey him once they tied the knot, and it hadn’t taken Callie a week to change her mind. Now Matthew was stuck with most of the work at the homestead and Morgan was tending bar each night and trying to keep Callie Mae and her girls out of trouble. Every chance he got, Matt strolled into The Duchess just to remind Morgan he didn’t know everything there was to know about women.
Mead wasn’t much help either, but he hadn’t been for a number of years, lame as he’d been. Still, he could have been a bit more useful if he wasn’t working at the bank and chasing after Marilee Muldoon every night.
They were due to be married soon, but Marilee refused to leave Callie Mae in the lurch at The Duchess. His brother wasn’t happy about it, but he was blind sighted about the pretty southern belle and Matt wondered if he even knew which end was up.
Shaking his head, he climbed into the wagon after he’d tossed in the last bale of hay. Heading toward the barn, he decided he might have to look into hiring a hand. The place was prospering, just as his pa planned, but it was too much for one man if that man intended to have a life, and he most certainly did.
Who would have thought that both his brothers would end up kowtowing to a woman? Morgan was tough as nails, and Mead wasn’t far behind him now that he’d recovered. Still, they appeared to be led around by their balls. For a moment Matt pictured himself waiting table in The Blue Bonnet and gave a shiver. Nope, he didn’t mind helping out and he would have done about anything for Laurie, but he wasn’t going to do that! Once he got her to marry him, she’d settle down on the farm and be a proper wife and mother instead of working herself into an early grave. Of that, he was certain.
As far as the secret business between Morgan and Mead, he was determined to get to the bottom of it. Something was peculiar about that whole situation and every time he confronted them, they managed to avoid giving him any real answers. Well, he’d had enough of that too.
He’d followed Morgan to the stand of trees often enough to know things weren’t as they appeared. He’d seen the leather pouch Morgan protected as though it held the secrets of the universe, and the small metal discs he periodically placed in the grove well off the road. Usually, he came out of there reading something, and Matthew wanted to know what it was.
Who was leaving messages for his brother, and why? One night, he’d overheard Morgan and Mead talking quietly out on the back stoop. Who were Cara and Micah? Why had he never met them? Lately, both of his brothers had been hounding him to hurry Laurie along to the altar. Well, they didn’t know her as he did. They didn’t understand the sort of marriage she had with Floyd Dixon, or how skittish she was of tying herself to another man.
He’d spent that last two years trying to convince her he wasn’t heavy handed. He would never hurt her or the boys, but she still didn’t trust him. Not completely, anyway. Laurie was like a colt. She needed to be tamed to his hand, and it was going to take time. Was he getting impatient? Hell, yes, but he wasn’t stupid, and he understood that one wrong move could end his chances with her in an instant. He was not going to be pushed into making a mistake by his brothers. Hell, neither one of them had a good record.
Lillian Piersal had nearly snared them both. Not at the same time, of course, but still. That woman was pretty as a picture and so cold butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth; and at one time they’d both been engaged to marry her. Luck was with them both, as it turned out. Miss Piersal was now awaiting trial for drugging the girls who worked at The Duchess with laudanum and plotting to have them kidnapped. Matt thought it was a terrible thing to do and wondered if she’d be able to wiggle her way out of it. He certainly hoped not, even though the thought of sending a woman to prison didn’t sit quite right with him, either. Lilly had a mean, spiteful, maybe even evil streak, and he hoped she would be forced to leave town, but jail? That was a stretch for him to take in.
Pulling the wagon into the barn, he unhitched the horses and led them to their stalls, giving them an extra helping of oats. The unloading could wait until morning. For now, he intended to clean up, have a good meal with his mother, and head to town. Tonight might just be the night to have that talk with Mead and Morgan. The dodging and whispering had gone on long enough. He wanted some answers, and he intended to have them.
Emma Whittaker haddinner waiting when her youngest son came through the back door into the kitchen. His hair was still damp, and she knew he’d gone on down to the creek.
“Hard day?” she asked as she dished up a plate of ham, fried potatoes, and fresh green beans.
“Naw, nothing to worry about, Ma,” he lied after they said grace.
She could see he was tired. Tiny lines formed around his eyes from squinting in the scorching sun all day. His body had gotten leaner, the muscles in his forearms bulging each time he lifted his fork to his mouth.
“I was thinking today, Matthew,” she began. “Maybe it’s time we hired some help. Morgan is tied up at The Duchess, and Mead has his job at the bank. It’s not right for you to pull all the weight around here and we are doing well this year. What do you think?” she asked as she pushed a dish of applesauce closer to him.
“I’m thinking that’s a good idea,” Matt replied happily, adding the cool, sweet offering to his plate. “It’s not that it’s too much for me,” he assured her. “I’m fine,” he continued when she narrowed her eyes and snorted softly.
“Taint nothing to be ashamed of, son. I know what it takes to run this place. Your Pa and I did it for years, but even then, we often had to get neighbors in to help us harvest. You check around and see who you can find that needs the work. We don’t mind paying an honest wage.”
“I don’t know how Mead and Morgan will feel about it, but I’m all for it,” Matthew replied. “Someday I’d like to get back to courting Laurie Dixon.”
“And well you should before someone up and snatches that girl right away from you. Laurie Dixon is a good woman and mother. She deserves a husband who will care for her and those young’uns. I think you’d do a fine job of that,” she stated firmly.
