The Duchess and Desperado Read online

  As if aware that he was being watched, however, he paused and looked between the two cars, right at her. Sarah was close enough to see a pair of green eyes studying her from the top of her modish hat to the tips of her buttoned kid boots.

  He must have approved of what he saw, for a slow smile spread over his beard-shadowed, lean face and warmed the green of his eyes. He let the band of leather that connected the two saddlebags slide back on his forearm, which enabled him to touch the brim of his hat in a manner of greeting. Then he resumed walking and was lost to her sight.

  Sarah felt heat rising up past the pleated edge of her cloak. She’d been looking at him—staring, in fact—and the cowboy had caught her at it and stared right back! Why, his grin had been cheekier than a Cockney beggar’s!

  She’d been stared at before, especially since coming to the United States, but somehow his bold, direct gaze had affected her differently. For the life of her, though, she could not say why she found his look energizing rather than merely annoying.

  In any case, Sarah reminded herself sternly, she must not waste time gaping at the locals. She needed to ensure the safety of her mare. Walking down to the front of the car that she knew held Trafalgar, she was in time to see the door slide back and her groom emerge, bending to extend the wooden ramp down onto the ground.

  “Ben! How did she weather the journey?” Sarah called out.

  “Well enough, your grace, though she didn’t fancy that other train pulling in next to this one,” Ben Huddleston, her wiry old groom, informed her. “Been tossin’ and plungin’ about these last few minutes, she has.”

  Sarah could hear the thudding of hooves as Trafalgar protested against the boxcar’s walls. “Well, bring her out. She’ll settle down once she gets out of confinement, I’m certain.”

  Ben doffed the tweed cap he was never without. “Yes, your grace.” He disappeared back into the depths of the boxcar, and Sarah could hear the groom speaking soothingly to the high-spirited thoroughbred, and the mare’s snorting, stamping retort.

  Sarah smiled. Trafalgar had always been a fractious traveler, and the groom’s advice had been to leave the hunter at home in Herefordshire. “The sea voyage alone will shatter her nerves, Duchess, not to mention all the roamin’ around that barbarous country. Why not breed her, your grace? By the time you come home, the foal could be weaned and you’ll be back chasm’ the fox on your mare again.”

  “Are you more worried about the mare’s nerves or yours, Ben?” she had teased him. “I wouldn’t think it fair to impose on Trafalgar the very thing I’m trying to escape myself,” she had added lightly, and laughed as the implication of her last remark had brought a blush to Ben’s cheeks. “Well, it’s true. My uncle is pressuring me to marry and so is the queen, but having just reached my majority, I can’t imagine why I should settle down meekly and marry whoever the queen thinks suitable for me! I want my favorite mare with me, and so she shall come. She’ll do fine, you’ll see.”

  What the Duchess of Malvern wanted, she got, and the tall bay thoroughbred had been brought along. If anyone’s nerves had been shattered in the course of the ocean voyage and the “roamin’ around” the United States of America, it had been Ben’s, not Trafalgar’s.

  As she waited for her mare, Sarah glanced down the track, but she could no longer see the dangerous-looking American. Too bad, she thought wryly. He had probably never seen such a fine horse as Trafalgar in his life, and she had imagined his eyes widening as he glimpsed her with her handsome hunter. She had been sure he would be impressed.

  C’est la guerre, as Thierry would have said. Why did she feel any need to impress such a man, anyway? She was the Duchess of Malvern, and she had the world at her feet. Once she was reunited with her dashing Thierry, she would indeed have everything!

  Then, plunging, whinnying and trying to rear, Trafalgar was led down the wooden ramp by Ben, who had blindfolded the horse. Even so, he had his hands full making sure the mare neither careened off the side of the ramp nor did him an injury, and Sarah rushed forward, heedless of the groom’s protestations that she’d get her traveling costume dirty.

  “I don’t know why you bother blindfolding her, Ben,” she chided as she whipped the dark cloth from underneath the bay’s halter and took the lead rope from her groom. “She’s not a whit easier to handle—easy there, girl! Easy... See, you’re out of that nasty boxcar and onto solid ground, and I’ll see that you rest in a big loose stall tonight with plenty of grain to eat....” It never mattered what she said, only that she kept talking to the skittish thoroughbred.

  But this time, even her soothing voice didn’t seem to be working its usual magic

  Just then a shot rang out from somewhere in the milling throng on the station platform, a shot that whistled right over Sarah’s head and embedded itself in the wood of the boxcar. The mare went wild with terror, rearing and nearly yanking Sarah’s arm out of its socket. The screams and shouts of the crowd blended with the frightened whinnying of the thoroughbred as it plunged and kicked. Then, as Sarah struggled to keep hold of the lead rope, another shot rang out, kicking up the dust right in front of the toe of her right boot. The surprise of the second shot made Sarah loosen her grip on the rope—only for a second, but it was enough. Trafalgar gave a mighty toss of her head, yanking the rope out of Sarah’s hand, wheeled and went galloping down the tracks, with Ben in hot pursuit.

  A weight hit Sarah from behind, knocking her flat a heartbeat before a third shot whistled by her. She heard the wood of the boxcar splinter with the impact of the third bullet. For a fleeting moment she had the ridiculous notion that one of the mountains had somehow moved and fallen on her...and then a voice drawled, “Lady, don’t you have the sense to hit the dirt or take cover when you’re bein’ shot at?” and she realized that it was the dangerous-looking American who had tackled her and knocked her into the dirt, covering her with his body.

  Sarah thrashed beneath him, trying to free herself. “How dare you? Get off me, sir!” she demanded. “My mare—I have to catch my mare!” Out of the corner of her eye she could see a blur of movement. People were fleeing the station platform in panicked droves, while others had likewise flattened themselves on the ground.

  “Forget your mare for the time bein’, lady!” he ordered, dragging her to her feet with one hand, holding his drawn pistol with the other. “We’re going to take cover until we’re certain the shootin’s stopped.” He pulled her along with him until they had reached the other side of the boxcar.

  “Stay there,” he said, flattening her against the side of the car with his forearm while he inched around to where he could see the station platform again.

  “But I have to see that—”

  “Stay there,” he ordered over his shoulder. Then, after a silent minute of scanning the crowd, he said, without looking back at her, “Everyone’s runnin’ to and fro like chickens with their heads cut off. I couldn’t see where the shots came from, and now I don’t see anyone with a gun.” He turned back to her. “Why would anyone want to shoot at you, lady? Who are you?”

  She heard Alconbury and Lord Halston calling her, but ignored their cries for the moment. “You think someone was shooting at me?” she asked incredulously. “My good man, I hardly think anyone would have a reason to shoot at me. I’m but newly arrived in your city, a British subject—” Standing just inches from him, she had no difficulty seeing him clearly, and she saw him raise an eyebrow.

  “There’s folks that’d argue about my goodness,” he drawled, his green eyes mocking. “I thought you didn’t sound American. So who are you, and what’re you doing in Colorado Territory, and why is someone shooting at you?”

  She resented his interrogation. “I’m not accustomed to introducing myself to a stranger, sir.”

  The green eyes narrowed. “I just saved your life, and you want to stand on ceremony?”

  She realized he might well be right. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid that being frightened makes me a trifle cross. I sp
oke more sharply than I intended,” Sarah apologized. “I think you did save my life, and I’m very grateful. My secretary will see that you’re suitably rewarded, Mr.—”

  He hesitated for a moment, then growled, “Morgan Calhoun, and there’s no need to be talkin’ about any reward. It was just the right thing to do.” His expression softened somewhat. “I reckon you’re entitled to feel a mite cross at bein’ shot at, too. Most females would have had hysterics. Oh, and I’m sorry about dirtyin’ your fine clothes, ma’am....”

  Sarah managed a tremulous smile. “No apologies are necessary on that score, certainly. I’d rather be a bit soiled and alive than an immaculate corpse.”

  Morgan Calhoun grinned at that, but still seemed to be waiting for something, and after a moment she realized what it was.

  “Oh! How remiss of me! My name is Sarah Challoner,” she said, and was about to add her title when Donald Alconbury, Lord Halston and Celia ran panting around the side of the boxcar.

  “Your grace! Are you...all right? Were you wounded?” demanded her secretary.

  “Who is this ruffian?” Lord Halston asked, pointing at Calhoun. “Unhand the Duchess of Malvern immediately, fellow!”

  Morgan Calhoun stared at Sarah. “A duchess? You’re a duchess?”

  She nodded. “The Duchess of Malvern, actually. Yes, Donald, don’t worry, I’m quite all right, thanks to Mr. Calhoun, here.”

  Morgan looked back at Lord Halston, then down at his own hands, one of which still held his drawn pistol; the other held nothing. “I don’t reckon I need to ‘unhand’ what I’m not touchin’ at the moment, fellow,” he retorted, bolstering the pistol. “Who’s he?” he asked Sarah, indicating the indignant Lord Halston with a nod of his head.

  “Lord Halston, may I present Morgan Calhoun,” Sarah said. “Mr. Calhoun, my uncle, Lord Halston. Please stop glaring at Mr. Calhoun, uncle—instead, he deserves our thanks. Had he not thrown me to the ground, that last shot might well have put a period to my existence. And who was shooting at me, anyway?”

  Frederick, Lord Halston, muttered something that may have been an apology, then said, “None of these incompetent idiots seems to have a clue who fired the shots, though one woman said they seemed to be coming from one of the upper-story windows in the station, and the train officials went up to check. I think we should make arrangements to leave immediately, your grace. Obviously someone in this barbaric settlement—” he wrinkled his nose as he looked around “—means you harm.”

  Sarah ignored his suggestion. She pointed down the track, where her groom led her trembling bay mare. “Oh, good, Ben’s caught her. Bravo, Ben!” she called.

  “Duchess, I don’t know what in thunder you’re doin’ here, but Lord Whatsis may have a good idea about leavin’,” interjected Morgan Calhoun. “Somebody’s obviously taken exception to your arrival.”

  Sarah heard Halston’s growl of indignation at the ridiculous name, then she turned back to the American. “Nonsense. We’ve only just arrived, and I have no intention of getting back on a smelly, noisy, dirty train—or any other form of conveyance. I’m here on a goodwill tour on behalf of Her Majesty the queen, you see, and people are expecting me. Departure today is out of the question.”

  “But Duchess, someone hasn’t got any goodwill for you,” Morgan Calhoun noted with maddening persistence. “Surely there’s plenty of other cities you could spread that goodwill in.”

  “Perhaps your rescuer is right, your grace,” Donald Alconbury murmured.

  “Nonsense, we’re made of sterner stuff than that, are we not?” Sarah said. “I have no idea why someone seemed to be shooting at me, unless the person mistook me for someone else? Yes, surely that’s it.”

  She saw Alconbury and Lord Halston exchange a look, as if they knew something more, and was about to challenge them about it when Calhoun spoke up again.

  “I don’t reckon so, Duchess. You don’t look like anyone else in these parts,” Calhoun argued, with a meaningful glance at the more humbly dressed women on the station platform.

  As she looked in the direction he had nodded, she saw several well-dressed men threading their way through the milling, pointing crowd toward them.

  “I believe the welcoming committee’s finally caught up with us at last,” she murmured.

  A tall, thin, worried-looking man with a mustache and a bearded chin, dressed in a frock coat and carrying a stovepipe hat, led the quartet that charged down onto the tracks and threaded their way between the boxcars to reach them.

  “The Duchess of Malvern, I presume?” At Sarah’s nod, he said, “Your ladyship, I’m terribly sorry to be late, and sorrier still when I was informed of what just befell you. I’m John Harper, the mayor of Denver.” There were beads of sweat visible on his balding forehead when he bowed.

  Sarah heard Lord Halston clear his throat, and swiftly darted a quelling look at him, guessing he was about to inform the mayor of Denver that a duchess was properly addressed as “your grace,” never “your ladyship.” Americans had no knowledge of how to address the peerage, and there was nothing to be gained by pompously shaming them in public.

  “Mr. Harper, I’m pleased to make your acquaintance,” she said, offering her hand. He hesitated, as if he did not know what to do with it, then shook it instead of kissing it. Sarah hid a smile. “It was a rather startling welcome, but I am convinced it was a case of mistaken identity, and so we shall forget it.”

  She didn’t miss Harper’s gusty sigh of relief, as if he had feared to be held responsible. “Yes, obviously no one could wish to shoot at you, ma’am. It must have been a mistake. But we shall take every precaution for your safety while in our fair city.”

  Sarah bestowed a deliberately dazzling smile on the mayor, aware that Morgan Calhoun watched her curiously. “I am so pleased to include Denver on my tour of America. Your scenery is magnificent, sir.”

  Harper beamed, as if the mountain range behind them was due to his own hard work. “Thank you, Duchess,” he said, then belatedly remembered to release her hand. “I’m sorry to be a few minutes late in meeting your train. The press of duties, I’m afraid. Governor McCook sends his regrets, too, but of course he will have the opportunity to apologize in person at the reception supper tonight at his residence. I’ll be there, too, of course, and you must make me aware of your slightest need. Denver doesn’t have a real British duchess visiting every day, you know,” he finished enthusiastically.

  “I will look forward to it,” she said, struggling to look regal rather than amused.

  “In the meantime, her grace is tired from the journey, of course,” interjected Lord Halston in his officious way. “Has transportation to her hotel been arranged?”

  “Of course. Just this way to the carriage, ma’am, and you can tie your horse to the back. She’s a high-spirited thing, isn’t she? And there’s a wagon to follow behind with your luggage and that of your party—”

  “Yes, but just one minute, before we leave,” she said, and turned back to Morgan Calhoun. “Mr. Calhoun, I’m in your debt. Would you be so kind as to call upon me this afternoon at five for tea? Lord Halston will have your reward ready for you then. Uncle, where is it we are lodging?”

  “We have a suite of rooms at the Grand Central Hotel, your grace, but I don’t think—” began Lord Halston even as Calhoun was protesting, “There’s no need for any reward, Duchess—”

  “Well, we can discuss it when you come, can we not?” Sarah interrupted, giving Calhoun her brightest smile. “Please come, Mr. Calhoun, won’t you? I’d very much like to thank you properly.”

  Calhoun’s face was a study in indecision. “Well, ma’am, I don’t thi—”

  “I mustn’t keep them waiting longer,” she said, nodding toward her party. “At five, then, Mr. Calhoun?” Without waiting to see if he nodded or shook his head, she turned and walked in the direction of the waiting carriage.

  Chapter Three

  “Why on earth would you encourage such a ruffian, niece
?” Lord Halston said, once the carnage conveying Sarah, her secretary, her dresser and himself had pulled away from the station. “Why, for all we know, he could be in league with the sniper.”

  “What an absurd thing to say, uncle. If that were so, he could have killed me behind the boxcar, couldn’t he?”

  Sarah frowned, but it didn’t discourage Lord Halston. “You heard the man,” he said. “He didn’t think there was any need for a reward, and I quite agree. He was just doing the decent thing—and rather too enthusiastically, if you ask me. It wasn’t at all necessary to throw you to the ground, in my opinion. Your dress will never be the same again. And Sarah,” he added, forgetting the presence of her secretary and dresser as he addressed her with the familiarity of a relation, “it’s not at all the thing to have such a man calling on you, as if you owed him anything more than the thanks you already gave him....”

  Once he began fuming, Uncle Frederick could go on and on like a clockwork toy that refused to wind down. Sarah held up a hand. “Uncle, do stop. I’m getting a headache all over again! And I do not agree—I think saving a life requires much more than a civil thank-you,” she told him as she gazed out the window at the mostly brick buildings of the young city She’d read of a fire several years ago that had destroyed much of the town, causing Denverites to use brick when they rebuilt. The streets, however, were still dirt.

  “He said he wouldn’t take any money,” Lord Halston persisted.

  “Perhaps we shall persuade him to change his mind, uncle,” Sarah said, proud that she sounded serene and unruffled. “But if we do not, we shall at least treat him to an excellent meal. It looks as if it’s been a good while since he’s had one.”