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He sighed and tossed the canvas away, then headed back around the building to get the buckboard wagon. If he drove back out of town and came around the fenced off area Percy let the horses roam, he could have everything loaded up within the hour, which would give him extra time to get reacquainted withthe town before having to head back home. If he was lucky, he’d be able to find Betsey and have that long overdue talk they needed to have. Today was as good a day as any to grovel and beg for forgiveness but something told him it would take more than a simple apology. Noah may have forgiven him with just a few apologetic words but he didn’t think Betsey would. The hurt he’d seen in her eyes that day under the willows was too profound and couldn’t be undone as easily.
The memory of her tear stained face filled his mind’s eye as he jumped back up on the buckboard and gave the reins a jerk to get the horse moving. He’d seen Betsey’s face as she cried nearly every night for the past year and he hated himself more every time he did. Had he not had the fight with Noah … it was hard to tell where they’d be now. He knew Betsey had feelings for him. Hell, he’d known it since he was ten years old. She’d followed him around for years and even though he’d hated it at first, the older he got, the less it bothered him. Their friendship had shifted quickly and he’d gone from smiling at her shy looks to seeking her out and the moment he’d laid her down under those willows and they’d both had their first taste of flesh, he’d become a man possessed. He hadn’t been able to get enough of her. The taste of her kisses made him starved for more, the sweet scent of that flowery soap that clung to her skin lingered on his own long after he’d seen her home at night. He’d sought her out, searched town for her, and took her to the creek with anticipation singing in his veins and truth be known … it had scared the hell out of him. The moment he realized how much he wanted her, he’d pulled back. Tried to distance himself and nothing worked. He’d craved the sight of her.
Looking back on those couple of months he’d spent with Betsey, he knew that’s why he’d been so irritated at everything and everyone. Why he’d let an argument with Noah turn into something ugly that he’d never be able to forget and those feelings he’d felt growing where Betsey was concerned was why he’dlashed out at her and said things he was ashamed to admit to now. Why, even after all this time, he wanted to run to the willows that grew along the bank of the creek to see if she was there waiting for him even though he knew she wouldn’t be. The fact she probably never would again made his heart clench tight. He’d messed up bad and the thought of Betsey hating him now was a hard truth to swallow. One he’d have to live with even if the very thought of her made his blood sing through his veins and the longing he’s lived with for close to an entire year nearly choked him. It took him months too long to accept how much he wanted her and now he had to find a way to make her forgive him because the simple truth of it was—Betsey Atwater was his. She always had been.
Much to Betsey’s disappointment,the saloon was packed and growing more crowded by the hour. It wasn’t even late enough in the day for most of the cowpokes around here to even head into town yet but every table was full, every chair occupied, and not a single space around the bar was big enough to get another man in.
The noise was deafening. The liquor Vern sold filled nearly every glass and as the cowboys got louder, the tension in her shoulders grew tighter.
“Look at ‘em.” Ruby stepped up beside her where she lingered near the stairs and thrust her chin toward the room. “Good for nothing scoundrels, every single one of ‘em, with nothing better to do than swill whiskey, cheat at cards, and try to fuck anyone willing to lay down with them, assuming they’re sober enough to even find their pecker.”
Betsey grinned. She’d been thinking the exact same thing but didn’t dare voice aloud. “Hopefully we don’t have a repeat of last night.”
Ruby rolled her eyes. “Spare me from idiot cowboys who think with the wrong head. Don’t you worry none about those old bastards. If they get out of hand, Vern will shut the place down again.”
As true as that may be, it didn’t make Betsey feel any better. She threw a smile Ruby’s way as she pushed off the stair railing she’d been leaning on. “Let’s pray they’re so drunk they’ll part with their coins without a second thought.”
She pushed down her breasts, tucking them in a bit so the low bodice of her dress didn’t show more than she liked. Vern had given her one look when she walked in the door and she knew she’d have to change her dress for one of the more scandalous dresses the other girls wore. It made her feel cheap and dirty like most people in town thought she was but she realized thoughts didn’t put food on the table so she’d shove her milk-swollen breasts into a tight dress and use them if she had to.
The crowd was thick as she made her way through the room and she only got grabbed once but a well-placed hand to his face made him let go. The laughs from his friends added to the noise and Betsey’s head was pounding by the time she made it to the far side of the bar and climbed the three steps up to the raised platform the piano sat on.
The small stage ran the width of the room but wasn’t very wide. One wrong step would have her falling headfirst into the tables below but so far she’d managed to stay upright.
Enus gave her a look in acknowledgment when she stepped up beside the piano but didn’t say anything. He never did. She wasn’t even sure he could talk. Not that she really cared. Like everyone else in this place, she spoke to them when she had to and forgot about them when she left at night. “Let’s start with Sweet Joan and go from there. It’s not like they even listen much so I’m not sure it even matters.”
He gave her breasts a lingering look before laying his fingers over the piano keys and played the first notes. The music wasn’tloud enough to drown out the crowd but as long as Vern paid her every week she couldn’t care less who actually heard her.
It took several verses of the song for anyone to turn and look at her and once she had their attention, she stepped away from the piano. The dress was drawing their attention tonight, just as Ruby said it would. She wasn’t sure how she felt about all those men staring at her but did what Ruby told her to and grabbed her skirt and lifted it high enough for the men in front to see her thighs over the top of her ribbon-tied stockings before turning and giving them her back. One coy look over her shoulder and another swish of her skirts and the first coin hit the stage. It usually took them three songs before those old saddle bums were drunk enough to start tossing them tips. Maybe the rowdy crowd wouldn’t be so bad after all and if the only thing it took to get them to toss up their coins was a glimpse of her stockinged legs, then she’d give them a show and walk out tonight with full pockets come closing time.
She smiled and shook her shoulders, leaning enough her breast swayed and as the crowd grew louder, the coins kept coming.
Chapter Five
Aaron raisedone arm and wiped his brow on his shoulder, then replaced his hat. Loading the wood planks by himself hadn’t seemed like much of a task but the damn things were heavier than they looked. He was lifting the last one when Percy came around the side of the building and ran over to help him lift it.
They sat it on the wagon with the others, pushed it toward the front and spent the next ten minutes securing it so it wouldn’t jostle off and end up on the ground on his way home.
His thumb was bleeding from where he’d dropped one of the boards on it laying it up in the wagon and he had more splinters than he could count but it was a small price to pay to right the wrongs he’d done in the past.
He blew out a breath. “Thanks, Percy. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get the last one up before the sun went down.”
Percy laughed and leaned a hip against the back of the wagon. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get out here sooner.”
“That’s fine. I know you were busy.”
“Speaking of,” Percy said, “Caleb mentioned you were looking for work.”
“I am.”
“I can use you. Heaven knows I’m turning into an old man doing this alone. Caleb helps but with his ma sick now, he’s getting here later every day and having to cut out sooner in the evenings. I need someone I can depend on to be here and run the place when I can’t.”
They spent the next half hour hashing out the particulars of the job and when Percy walked away, Aaron was gainfully employed. His first full day back in town was turning out to be a little bit too good to be true.
He started around the wagon and grabbed the side of the seat to climb up when someone yelled loud enough the sound traveled all the way down the street. More shouts followed, then laughter and he turned, realizing the noise was probably coming from the saloon. But what in the world was going on down there to make them that rowdy so early? It was late afternoon, almost supper time if he had to guess but still too early for the saloon crowd to be so wound up.
Aaron left the wagon and headed around the stable. The horse would be fine long enough for him to grab a drink besides, after all the heavy lifting he’d done, he deserved a drink.
The crowd on the street was again blocking most of the sidewalk, even more so the closer he got to the saloon. The women in the upper rooms were hanging out the windows, the men on the street calling out things rude enough he was surprised the good people of Willow Creek still allowed it to go on in the center of town.
