Much Ado About Miners Page 4

  Enough of those thoughts. She’d get through this. As her friend Lucinda McAdams always said, “A suffragist can meet any challenge.” And Iris would meet this one. Head on. Somehow, some way, she’d get that letter written and mailed, too.

  By the time Iris and her mother returned to the kitchen, Esther McKinnon was standing at the door. “Vivvie’s already outside on the wagon.” She smiled broadly. “And I have a surprise for you. Kade’s here!”

  Josh, Vivvie’s next older brother, and Cage, the youngest, stood beside Kade. A horse was tied to the back of the wagon, probably Kade’s. Oliver McKinnon took his wife’s arm. “Cage, take the ladies’ bags.” He kissed his wife on the cheek and helped her up to the seat, then walked around to the driver’s seat and climbed up beside her.

  The rest of them found purchase on various bags of flour and sugar—whatever would serve as a place to sit. Kade fussed over Iris’s mother, putting a saddle blanket over a couple bags of flour to form a nice seat for her. Iris sat on a small pickle barrel. By the time he finished, the rest had moved bags, crocks, boxes, and barrels around to make their own seats, and the only place left was a large bag of beans smack beside Iris. Kade settled on it, right next to her.

  “Do you have a gun?” he said, guarding a growling pillowcase that Iris knew contained an irate cat. Kade was eye level with her because her pickle barrel was about six inches taller than his bean bag.

  “Not funny. You know I regret it.” She couldn’t decide whether to put on her spectacles so she could see him more clearly, or let him stay a blur. Probably safer to leave them off.

  Josh laughed. “We heard you tried to blow off our brother’s head.”

  “You do know he’s bringing you a stray cat.”

  The wagon bounced over a rut, slamming Kade into Iris. He put his arm around her waist to keep her from falling off the pickle barrel. “Sorry.”

  His strong, warm hand gripped her gently, then he let go as if she were a hot poker. How many years had she dreamed he would hold her this way? Yet she always knew he’d never have the same yearning for her that she had for him.

  Had. Past tense. She didn’t need or want a man now since she’d spearheaded the Bonnet Consortium. At least, she wouldn’t after the bullion delivery paid off. Two weeks to financial independence. But his hand still had felt very nice on her waist.

  Three miles would be a long ride. Then she had to scheme with Vivvie so she could get that letter to Sheriff Adler written and mailed.

  * * *

  Kade’s dull headache worsened as the wagon jostled along. He should’ve stuck to his guns and ridden his horse, but his ma wanted him to stay with the family the first day. Bram would’ve. But Bram wasn’t here and Bram wasn’t shot in the head. He also didn’t have a beautiful woman teetering on a pickle barrel beside him. Sometimes Kade did get lucky.

  Iris perched on the barrel, straight-backed and chin tilted. He’d bet Phineas’s mule that she’d loosen up at the first hint of excitement. One thing he knew about Iris that she didn’t know about herself was her craving for adventure. As a young girl, she’d always been first in line at the rope swing and the first to jump in the creek. She’d been the one who wanted to hunt for ghosts in an abandoned mine, and the only girl in Virginia City who would even touch a toad.

  “So, Kade, tell us all about your life as a hired gun,” Josh said with a gleam in his eye that made Kade wonder what he was up to. “I suppose you had good training, what with the girls tailing you every minute of the day.”

  “Yep. If I could escape from my sister and Iris, no outlaw ever had a chance.”

  “Very funny.” Iris clenched her lips but Vivvie laughed.

  The wagon passed several men on horseback. Iris gasped and pulled Kade close and ducked down, which he didn’t mind at all. Sitting lower, his cheek was on her bosom, right where he wanted to be.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure,” he whispered, “and shouldn’t we do this when the family’s not watching?”

  “Hush and hold still.”

  “Hanky-panky going on over there?” Kade’s father frowned at them.

  Iris put her finger to her lips, silencing Oliver. His eyebrows rose, whether in surprise or disapproval, Kade didn’t know. Probably both, and his pa likely agreed with the sheriff that Iris wasn’t his to pursue. Kade respected their opinion of her and had no intention of trodding on his brother’s territory.

  Once the men were a hundred feet down the road, she let go. “One of the men who robbed the bank was with that group,” she whispered. “I even remember his name.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Scud. They called him ‘Scud,’ I’m sure of it.”

  “Scud Evans?” That was the name Kade had been trying to think of earlier and couldn’t remember. “He’s wanted in Colorado for stage robbery. General troublemaker. Has a bounty, but not that much. More bothersome than dangerous, they say.”

  “I consider it dangerous when he’s pointing a gun at me.”

  “Looks like he’s stepped it up a notch.” He handed the growling pillowcase to Cage and clambered over boxes and people, still none too steady on his feet, until he got to the driver’s seat. In a low voice, he said to his pa, “Drive another hundred yards and stop the wagon. I need to ride back and visit with Sheriff Adler.”

  “No, we’ll send Josh back to town,” Mrs. McKinnon whispered. “Doc said you need to rest and not move your head much. You’re home now, and I’m still your mother.” She turned around, her shoulders set.

  “Ma, you can’t send Josh. He’s used to working in a mine, not handling hard cases.”

  Pa held the reins taut. “Your ma’s right, but so are you. I’ll do as you say, but I’m not stopping until we get around the bend up there, and then I’ll have Josh saddle your horse for you and make sure you’ve got your seat.”

  “Fair enough.”

  A few more minutes put the wagon around the bend and behind a twenty-foot granite boulder, where his father pulled the team to a stop. Josh and Cage had the horse saddled in no time. Kade was grateful for the help but he’d be blasted before he’d let them help him mount. He stepped into the stirrup and let the swirling in his head calm down a few seconds before he swung into the saddle.

  “I’m going, too.” Miss Gardner hopped off the wagon, long skirts and all, just like the hoyden she used to be. Dust billowed around her but she ignored it.

  “Only one horse, and I’m on it.”

  “Then I’ll ride with you. It’s less than a mile and we’re not in a hurry.”

  “Iris, get back on the wagon this minute.” Mrs. Gardner had her arms crossed and her eyes blazing.

  “Sorry, Mama.” She turned to Kade and said, “You can either let me ride with you or I’ll walk. Your choice.”

  Her mother gasped. “Iris, what will people think?”

  “I have to talk to Sheriff Adler. You know what happened, and I’ll do my civic duty. I’ll stay at the boardinghouse tonight and come out to the McKinnons’ place in the morning.”

  Oliver McKinnon looped the reins around the brake. “Maybe I should turn the wagon around and we’ll all go back.”

  When did tailing one thief end up being so complicated? “No, you can’t do that. Evans’ll know he’s being followed.” Kade checked his rifle to make sure it was fully loaded, and decided not to put a sixth cartridge in his revolver. He gestured to Josh. “Lift her up behind me.”

  “It would be more lady-like to have her sit sidesaddle in front.”

  “If there’s gunplay, I want her behind me.”

  Josh chuckled. “If I had to haul a woman who’d shot me, it’d be more comforting to have her in sight.”

  “You got a point there, but I’m a slow learner.” He turned to Iris. “Hike up your skirts, Miss Gardner, because you’re riding astride.” She’d refuse, and then he could ride out and take care of business.

  She gave a quick nod. “Shut your eyes.”

  Josh did but Kade didn’t.

  Miss Gardner hitched up her skirts and petticoats, exposing her unmentionables. She batted at his boot so he took it out of the stirrup, and she managed to get her foot in. With Josh’s boost on her tush, up she went behind him. Then she tucked her skirts around her legs and grasped his waist.

  “Let’s go.”

  Lord have mercy. She mashed those nice round breasts of hers right into his back.

  * * *

  Thanks to Kade’s sense of duty, Iris found the perfect excuse to get back to town so Mr. Ivan M. Bonnet could compose and mail the letter to Sheriff Adler. Twenty minutes of close proximity was a small price to pay. She gave him her handbag. “Hang this from the pommel, please. My spectacles are in it.”

  He looped the strap around the saddlehorn and commenced to getting down to her actual purpose. “All right, Iris. Tell me why you have to get back to Silver.”

  She felt his chest rumble, warm and low, when he spoke. “To talk to the sheriff, of course. And you should address me as Miss Gardner.”

  “I will, in public.” He pulled the horse to a stop. “You’ve grown into a beautiful lady, but inside you’re still that sassy little girl searching for the next big adventure, aren’t you?

  “What’s that got to do with telling the sheriff what I heard and saw?”

  “Not one durned thing, I reckon, but I aim to find out.”

  He probably would, too. Just her luck—she’d kept Bonnet Consortium a secret from the whole of Silver City for over a year, but within a day, Kade McKinnon was nosing around where he shouldn’t be.

  “You always suspected me of shenanigans.”

  “And I was always right.”

  “Come on, we have to go. Why are we stopped? Are you all right? How’s your head feeling?”

  “Like it’s working too hard, and you’re the cause of it.” He took a drink from a canteen hanging from the cantle. “I heard something up ahead. Thought we might as well visit a spell.” He offered her the canteen, but she waved it off. Dirty-looking thing.

  “Shouldn’t we be talking a little quieter, then?” she whispered. The last thing she wanted was to ride up into the middle of the Scud Evans gang.

  “Animal variety. Noise is good, surprise is not.”

  Mrweow! A screech came behind a big clump of sagebrush. Iris hugged onto Kade, her heart pounding. The horse reared enough to almost tip her off the back end and Kade pulled leather to keep them topside. Just as the horse calmed a little but still stepping high, a ragged yellow cat ran out and jumped on Kade’s leg, clawing its way up to his lap.

  The horse reared high and dumped her backward. Her head clunked onto a rock on the hard-packed road, then Kade fell on top of her, squishing every remaining bit of air from her. The cat jumped on top of him. The light grew dim and she fought to maintain consciousness. But the effort was too much.

  * * *

  That dratted cat! How’d he get out of the bag? Kade pushed the cat off him and rolled off Iris. She lay still, her eyes closed and her head tilted back. He pressed his finger onto her neck to check her pulse—a little fast but her heart was beating. Her bonnet was askew and when he tried to set it to rights, he felt something wet and sticky on the back of her head. Blood.

  She needed a doctor. The wagon would be the best transport but it was as far away toward Dewey as it would be to take her back to Silver City. He checked her limbs for broken bones. Very nice limbs, although once she woke up, he was certain she wouldn’t thank him for his trouble. Once he was satisfied that she had no broken bones, he rounded up his horse. Luckily the old boy hadn’t run off. Kade always trained his horses to ground-tie, but that training didn’t always hold when attacked by a crazed yellow cat.

  The cat, no longer crazed, ambled over to Iris, oblivious of the havoc it had caused, sat by her arm and proceeded to lick himself. No wonder the thing had scars all over if it set off this much mayhem.

  He glared at the troublemaking feline as he lifted Iris and cradled her like a baby, wondering how he was going to get both her and him up in that saddle. The jostling must have brought her around because when he looked down, her blue eyes were staring at him.

  “You all right?” he asked.

  “Woozy.”

  He understood woozy all too well.

  “Think you can stand?”

  “Maybe.”

  “You hit your head and I have to get you to the doctor. Can you help me get you up on the horse?”

  She closed her eyes—not a good sign, and his arms were getting tired. He needed to either put her down or get her in the saddle.

  “Princess, I’m going to lift you on the horse now.”

  “Did you kiss me?”

  “Eh?” He couldn’t have heard right. “I’m standing you up. Can you put your foot in the stirrup if I help you?”

  “Mmmm.”

  He took that for a yes and stood her on her feet, still holding her waist. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. They held still for a moment. He knew not to make her move too much too soon. She’d only been out for a few seconds but a jolt to the head wasn’t easy to deal with—his head still ached. Besides, he kind of liked her arms hugging him like that. Iris was a beautiful woman and he was a red-blooded man.

  Enjoyable as holding her was, he had to get her to the doctor. “I’m gonna help you up now, princess.” He hoped the horse would cooperate. Even though the well-trained gelding seldom balked, he’d just had the fright of his life and was a bit on the skittish side. Kade said a few soothing words and patted the old boy on the neck.

  About eight yards from the road, a flat-topped boulder a little more than two feet high looked like a good bet for a mounting block. He whistled for his horse, who ambled to him with a cat escort. Apparently the two animals were now friends. With Iris in his arms, Kade clambered atop the rock, which took considerable effort, and somehow managed to convince the gelding to stand in the right spot along side.

  He brushed a few locks back from Iris’s face. “I know it’s not comfortable, but you sit right here and I’ll help you on after I mount,” he said, not sure if she really understood, but right then the cat vaulted into her lap and purred, rubbing his one ear on her chin.

  “What a nice kitty.” She petted the blasted cat as if the danged beast was a blessing instead of the devil’s spawn. No doubt about it, she’d been knocked senseless, because no one in their right mind would call that mangy cat a nice kitty.

  “The cat’s all right and so’s your handbag—it didn’t fall so your spectacles shouldn’t be broken. Want me to check them?”

  “Please.”

  He took the glasses out—no cracks. When he put them back in the handbag, a business card caught his eye. It was the card of Mr. Ivan M. Bonnet. Kade wondered why she’d have such a card, but maybe it had to do with business at the bank.

  After he stepped over the horse’s back and seated himself in the saddle, he shoved the cat away and hefted her onto his lap. The saddle wasn’t roomy enough for two people so he tried to make her as comfortable as possible. With her bottom nestled right down there, he knew the ride back to Silver would be none too comfortable for him, but he’d enjoy it anyway. It had been a long time since a respectable woman had sat in his lap. As in never.

  He held her waist with his right hand and the reins with his left. The dadburned cat jumped on the back of the saddle, and the horse flinched but didn’t set to bucking. Kade couldn’t bring himself to knock the cat off, and anyway, the thing had a head injury. All three of them did. With his own dull headache, he didn’t have the heart to make the cat walk.

  “You mind your manners, you mangy cat.” And he nudged the horse onto the road toward Silver.

  * * *

  Iris couldn’t think straight, but she knew she had to get back to the boardinghouse and write that letter for the Bonnet Consortium. Doc Mabry seemed in no hurry, though, and neither did Kade. Or the cat, who waited contentedly at the door. The saucer of cream Kade gave it probably had something to do with that.

  “Is she gonna be all right?” Kade asked.

  “Three hard heads, three matching bandages.” Doc made the final wrap on Iris’s head. “Her mother’s in town. I’ll send a message for them to fetch her.”

  “Nope, she’s out at my folks’ place in Dewey.”

  “You’ll have to take Miss Gardner home, then. I’ll have Ah San drive the two of you in my buggy. Make her stay quiet for a full day—not that you’re very good at heeding medical advice yourself.”

  Ah San was a jack-of-all-trades Chinaman who hired out for odd jobs around town, including retrieving and mailing her Bonnet Consortium correspondence. She’d tell him to return later in the evening and pick up her letter to Sheriff Adler.

  “She lives at Mrs. Brouster’s Boarding House. Go down Jordan Street and take a right on Morning Star Road. You’ll see a sign. But don’t expect a welcoming committee. Mrs. Brouster isn’t too fond of the male sex.” He glanced at the scraggly yellow tom and grinned. “She doesn’t like cats, either.”

  “That’s not my cat.”

  “Tell her Miss Gardner needs to sleep and will need some tending to. Then I want you and the cat you don’t have to go to your hotel room and sleep. You both need rest even if you don’t think so. Head injuries are sneaky devils.”

  The two men talked as if Iris wasn’t even there, or conscious. Or as if she were a woman who didn’t know her own mind, which well and truly irritated her. “Mr. McKinnon can get his rest. Ah San can take me home and I’m sure Mrs. Brouster will assist me.”

  Doc smirked. “I doubt you’ll give Mrs. Brouster proper instruction. Either Kade goes, or I go. I’ll stop by later tonight and check on you.” He took his derby off the coat rack. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll head over to the barber shop and inquire as to Ah San’s whereabouts.”

  Iris touched her bandage. The cut on the back of her head didn’t even require stitches. The doc had used her hair to tie her scalp together. It would be an awful mess to comb out once the wound had healed. The goose egg hurt when touched so she’d have to lie on her side to sleep.