AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I would have been surprised if he didn’t.”
The doctor nodded, then proceeded to open the door. Wade saw Chuck Rhodes lying on a bed, his crooked body stretched out beneath a blanket. He looked upon Wade with leery eyes. Turning to the doctor, he said, “If you could please give us a few minutes.”
“No problem. Take all th
e time you need.”
“This won’t take long.”
Wade waited until the door shut quietly behind the doctor before he turned his attention to the old man. He was still watching Wade with wariness.
“I am only going to say this once old man, so listen carefully. I’m not repeating myself.” Wade worked hard to keep his rage under control. “The doctor says you can leave at any time. When you do, I want you as far away from the Circle H as is humanly possible. If I so much as see your scrawny ass within a mile of my property I won’t hesitate to shoot you down like the animal you are.”
Chuck Rhodes retreated further back on his bed, his eyes growing round with fear as his crusty voice crackled, “The beast will kill you all.”
He looked hard and long down at the old man then said, “If you ever so much as touch her or go near her again, I will gladly tear you apart myself.”
He turned and left the old man cowering in his bed. He left a few bills for the doctor’s assistance then bid farewell before pounding the boardwalk toward the saloon. Far too early for a drink, but Wade didn’t care. It had been one hell of a day. His mind kept going back to the scene in the dining room. It still seemed so surreal. He couldn’t grasp the concept that the boy was gone.
As suspected the bar was empty with the exception of a few faithful card players at a back table. The bartender greeted him and offered to make his usual. Wade nodded, then took an empty stool. Removing his hat he placed it on the counter and ran a hand through his hair.
Just as quickly, the hat was plucked up and dropped on the top of a head of wild red curls. “My, don’t we look all fancy this morning.”
Wade glanced down at his attire and remembered he was still dressed for breakfast in the homestead with Kathleen. He gave Marion a nod in greeting before thanking the bartender and throwing his drink back in one gulp.
“Bit early to be in town, ain’t it?” She raised her painted face and looked at him seductively from beneath the brim of his hat.
“I had an errand.”
“Heard about old Chuck Rhodes.” Raising a hand, she ran a finger up and down his arm. “Got into a fight with one of the ranch hands.”
“What else did you hear?”
“Nothing else much. Except he gone crazy in the process.” Marion lifted her leg and hooked a heel on one of the rings on his stool. “Says there’s evil lurking up in that mountain.”
Wade looked away and gestured to the bartender to fix him up another drink. Marion came closer and lifted the lock of hair behind his ear to run her tongue along the skin beneath it. “Said there’s a beast roaming your ranch and she gorged on his wretched body.”
He studied the liquid in his glass and gave the glass a swirl.
“Said she wouldn’t be satisfied until she had consumed each and every one of you men up there.”
Throwing the last drop of his drink down his throat, he went to get up, having heard enough.
“Not leaving so soon, lover?” She stepped away, but gave him her best pouty look.
He reached out and removed his hat from her head. “I’ve got to get back.”
“Now, Wade, don’t insult me.” She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him slightly. “That prig of a boy of yours hasn’t gone and influenced you in the opposite direction, has he? Haven’t gone all moral on me, now have ya?”
This made him pause. The memory of his last visit to the saloon came back to mind. A visit where a boy refused to have adulterated sex with a prostitute and went racing out into the freezing night after witnessing an indecent scene in Wade’s room. A boy who was not a boy, but a girl. His lids came down hard and he felt a surge of disgust wash over him. He couldn’t comprehend the reason why, after all, he had no idea at the time the boy was actually a girl in disguise.
“Some other time, Marion.”
He left the bar without looking back. Leaping upon Sty’s back, he headed out of town. He followed the trail that led through the Durand Pass to the valley where his ranch sat at the foot of Mount Louis. A mountain that had been something of beauty and tranquility since he was a child. Today, it held fast a secret that imprisoned the memory of a young woman.
He took his time along the rocky and, at intervals, steep path and allowed his mind to wander back over the past two weeks trying to recall anything that should have hinted at her true identity. Hell, unlike his sister implied, he wasn’t that primitive to not recognize the difference between a boy and a girl. Truth was, maybe there were signs that he chose to ignore. The biggest coming to mind was his male reaction when in close contact with the boy. He had shrugged it off as the boy’s youthful form and his own hankering need for female companionship. Hell, he was getting older and his body didn’t have the control it once did. Where in actual fact, it was his body recognizing the womanly shape of a female body beneath his own.
But she hardly seemed like a woman, contrary to Kathleen stating as much. She was far smaller than any he had ever seen. Not much taller than five feet and less than a hundred pounds, it was no wonder she could easily pass as a boy. If she possessed any female curves, she hid them well under the oversized men’s clothing. Her face was pale and sunken, showing off a very good bone structure. On a boy, it seemed unhealthy. On a girl, it was a mark of beauty.
