A Bride for Frank, page 8
Maisie put Slade’s gun in the second holster and then she saddled Daisy before helping Frank break camp.
Once they were finished packing up, Frank saddled Demon and Slade’s roan and then helped Slade into his saddle, but he handed the reins of Slade’s horse to Maisie in case Slade decided to take off.
She knew Frank needed him to testify against Albert Haynes for sending Slade after her anyway and maybe for many other crimes. Maisie couldn’t imagine she was the only one he was threatening. Slade said he had very bad men working for him.
For the journey to Flagstaff, Maisie led the mule with their gear and Frank kept the reins to Slade’s horse.
They reached town after more than a four-hour ride. Getting out of the mountains took a long time even though the distance wasn’t that great, only about ten miles. They found the doctor, dropped off Slade, and then went to the sheriff’s office.
Frank knocked once and then entered.
The man behind the desk stood as soon as Maisie entered. “What can I do for you folks?” He was tall, taller than Frank and had brown hair streaked with gold. When he looked at her Maisie saw his eyes were light brown with gold flecks. Very unusual.
“Hi, I’m Frank Campbell and this is my wife, Maisie. We just dropped off a man at the doctor’s office. He’s been blackmailing my wife and threatened to kill both of us. We believe he killed the man inside the Kunkle mine in the mountains southwest of here.”
“I’m Jesse Tate, the Flagstaff sheriff. What else can you tell me about this man?”
Maisie held on to Frank’s left arm. “He’s a deputy sheriff in Prescott, and you might as well know that I went to prison for robbing the Prescott bank three years ago. I spent two-and-a-half years in prison.”
The sheriff cocked an eyebrow at this information and crossed his arms over his chest. “Go on, Mrs. Campbell.”
“He’s been blackmailing me since before that. He says he works for the Prescott bank president, Albert Haynes.” She stopped and took a deep breath.
Sheriff Tate stared at her and Frank. “Why should I believe you? The man is a deputy sheriff after all.”
Maisie looked up at Frank as her eyes teared.
Frank patted her arm. “My brothers and I run the Circle C Ranch outside of Prescott. We are well known for being honest, among other things. You can check with Sheriff Mike Knoll. According to Slade, the sheriff was beginning to suspect him, and he was on the run, from both the sheriff and Albert Haynes.”
The sheriff extended his hand. “Call me, Jesse.”
Frank cocked a brow but shook his hand. “Jesse.”
“I know Mike. He sent me a wanted poster on Slade. It came in today’s mail packet.” Jesse came around the desk and then leaned on it with the palms of his hands resting on the desk beside him. “But I wanted to know what you knew. I’ll put Slade in one of my jail cells as soon as Doc says he’s able. What will you two do now?”
Frank smiled and put an arm around Maisie’s waist. “We’re on sort of a honeymoon but we’ll be heading home now. Our ranch is north of Prescott, if you need us for anything.”
“Will do. You both have a safe trip back.”
Frank squeezed Maisie closer to him. “We will, now that Slade will be behind bars.”
“Keep aware of Haynes,” warned Sheriff Tate. “With Slade in jail, he might try to run or he’ll do the opposite and become even more deadly. He’s sure to have more men, maybe worse men than Slade, working for him. Your lives could be in danger. I’m sure Sheriff Knoll will do what he can to keep you safe, but you have to help him and be aware. Mike Knoll’s a good man. I’ve known him for a long time.”
Frank put his hand out to Jesse. “Thanks for everything. We’ll keep your words in mind.”
Jesse shook his hand.
Maisie nodded. “That we will, Sheriff…er…Jesse. Thank you.”
Jesse pushed off from the desk and headed toward the door.
Frank opened the door.
The sheriff held it open.
Maisie was ushered out of the office by Frank.
Once they were outside, she looked over at her husband. “Do you think we’re safe from Albert Haynes?”
Frank’s mouth was in a flat line, his brows were furrowed and his eyes narrowed. He took her hand in his. “No, we’re not safe. Not until Haynes is behind bars, too.”
“So what do we do now?”
After dinner with Eugenia, Albert Haynes called a meeting of his men together at her place. He couldn’t very well have his wife know about this. The twit couldn’t keep anything to herself. If it wasn’t for the iron clad trust her father set her money up in, Albert might have gotten rid of her by now, but he still enjoyed not having to pay the bills on her house. Her father had even put the house in the trust, and Albert hadn’t found a way around it. After all these years, he didn’t expect to. He wasn’t about to risk hanging for no reward, so Olive Haynes still lived.
Eugenia came up behind him, where he sat at the head of the dining room table, and rubbed his neck and shoulders. “You’re too tight, Albert. You’ve been hunched over that desk all day, and now this meeting tonight. It’s too much, my love.”
He put a hand over one of hers. “I must do this. I can’t let him escape, especially with my money. It would set a bad precedent, and the others might think they can steal from me, too.” He patted her hand. “I wouldn’t want anyone to think they can take what is mine.” He lowered his hand and examined the papers on the table in front of him.
“Yes, that would be bad.” She resumed rubbing his shoulders. “You know I don’t have a cent left from my husbands. I need that money from you, or I’ll have to marry some old codger again. Believe it or not, I’m tired of marrying just for wealth.” She leaned down and nuzzled his neck. “I’d like to marry for love.”
Albert laughed. “Given your history of getting rid of husbands? No, I think we’ll just continue as we are. I’m safer this way.”
She stood and huffed away.
He chuckled. He wasn’t a fool. As soon as she found someone with more money, old or young, she would drop him like a bad penny. He had no illusions. She would be with him only as long as it suited her to do so.
His men arrived and filed inside, the four of them taking seats around the dining room table. He’d made sure the curtains were drawn. Albert didn’t need for anyone to see him with this particular group of miscreants.
Most of them were rough looking…hadn’t shaved for at least a week and probably hadn’t bathed for longer. Except for John Riley. He was about five feet, ten inches, same as Albert, but he was only about twenty-five, had wavy, blond hair and light blue eyes. He was smitten with Eugenia and she was with him.
Albert knew she was seeing the younger man, but he also knew he could put a stop to it any time. It amused him, for now, to let her think she was putting something over on him.
“Gentlemen, we have a problem. Roy Slade has gone rogue. He’s decided he can take what is mine. One of my marks, recently got out of prison. She owes me $800 and I mean to have it. I sent Roy to get it, but he hasn’t returned. He’s either dead or trying to pull one over on me. I want you to find him and find her. Her name is Maisie Kunkle—”
“One of them lady bank robbers?” asked Horace Jones, one of his least intelligent men.
“Yes, one of those lady bank robbers,” said Albert with as much patience as he could muster. “Now, if I might continue.” He looked around the table. Everyone, except Horace, stared down at their fingernails, suddenly finding them very interesting. Horace sat there with a grin on his face like nothing was wrong.
Albert cleared his throat. “I want Roy and Maisie found. She’ll be with her new husband, Frank Campbell, who bought a mule and some mining equipment.”
“Hey, Boss,” said one of the older men. “Do you think old Donald Kunkle was tellin’ the truth about his mine?”
Albert narrowed his eyes at the man. “It would appear he might have been. Regardless, the widow owes me and I want her found. If she happens to know the whereabouts of her dead husband’s mine, that’s all the better. In either case, I want her brought to me, unharmed, and if that means you get rid of her husband to do it…so be it. Now get going.”
The four men filed out.
Eugenia entered the dining room and stood on Albert’s right. “I don’t know why you need to see her if you get her money. Eight hundred dollars is a lot of money, my love.” She leaned over and took one of his hands between both of hers and pressed it to her bosom. “What do you need that woman for?”
“Jealous, my dear?” He removed his hand from her grasp. “I want to see for myself one of the women who had the audacity to rob my bank. It turned out handy for me, because I could claim they took much more than they did, but I still want to see her.”
“I’ve heard she’s beautiful,” snipped Eugenia.
Albert clucked his tongue. “Jealousy is beneath you, my dear. I heard that all of them are beautiful, but Maisie has a twin sister who used to work in my house. I’m sure she’s the one who provided the information about what time I came to see you, and that’s how they chose when to rob the bank. Regardless, Lottie was a beauty. Much like you my dear…only ten years younger.” He pulled at both sides of his mustache. “I want to see if Maisie really is a twin of Lottie.”
Eugenia placed her hands on her hips. “So what if she is?”
He narrowed his eyes and smiled. “I might take her as a mistress, a live-in mistress.”
She fisted her hands and locked her elbows so her arms were stiff at her sides. “Albert. You can’t do that to me.”
“Why not?” He stood and took her by the shoulders. “You think to cuckold me under the roof that I pay for?”
Her eyes widened and her mouth opened only to close quickly.
“Yes, I know about John Riley. It has amused me until now. You will never see him again, or he will disappear.” He took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “And maybe so will you.” He squeezed. “Remember that, next time you think to dally with another man.” He spread his hand up, over her face and pushed her away. “Now, leave me. I don’t wish to see you anymore tonight.”
He was tired and didn’t want to have any distractions before he slept. Olive didn’t bother him. They had separate bedrooms, like the aristocracy in England. She liked to believe he was honoring her lineage, when, in fact, he just liked not having to sleep with her every night.
What would Olive do if she knew he was sleeping with Eugenia? Probably nothing. She was a little brown wren compared to Eugenia’s beautiful canary. Olive could never compete on that stage, but she did come from wealth…which she kept a tight rein on.
Her father taught her well in that regard. She never let Albert have control of that money. It didn’t matter that it was really his after they married, because her father kept it in trust for her or on her death her children. Should there be no children, it would go to her younger sister, Mellisande.
Now, there was a woman who tempted a man. Black hair and a figure that was curved in all the right places, but she loved her sister more than anything. If something happened to Olive, Mellisande would stop at nothing to find out what happened and why. And she didn’t like Albert any more than their father did.
Albert smiled. With good reason, but still, the knowledge stung. Well, he could put up with Olive. She either ignored or was ignorant of his activities and he would bet on the latter. She wasn’t Mellisande in either beauty or brains. Her naivety is the reason he married her.
As he gathered up his papers, he chuckled again. The papers didn’t mean anything, just something to put Eugenia off with if he’d wanted to. As it was, she’d made him angry. She could sleep alone tonight and for the foreseeable future.
No one got the best of Albert Haynes, not tonight…not ever. He’d make sure of it. Eugenia wasn’t the only one capable of killing someone.
Chapter Nine
John Riley headed to the stable directly from the meeting with Haynes. That was where Frank Campbell would’ve had to get a mule.
He dismounted outside the stable and went inside. The stable was open day and night, since travelers came and went at all hours.
Abel Jones, the owner, was a short man with a large stomach. He was balding and missing several of his front teeth. “What you want? You ain’t the type to stable your mount, so what you want?”
John rolled his lips to wet them and walked over to the man. He picked him up by the front of his overalls. “I want to know where Frank Campbell went when he bought that mule. And if you don’t tell me true, I’ll be back to settle with you.”
The little man’s eyes widened. “H…he…head…ded…north. Toward Flagstaff.” He pointed with his right hand. “That’s all I know. Honest, mister. That’s all I know.”
John released him. Albert thought he was so smart. Did he really think John would be interested in an old lady like Eugenia? She was okay, but he wasn’t planning on settling down with her…ever. He had his eye on a beautiful woman in Albuquerque. Her pa didn’t much care for John, but he’d change his mind when John showed up with all the money he made from these jobs for Albert. This was the last one. He’d saved every penny he could from these jobs, except what he sent to his mother for his ranch, but even he never thought about stealing from Albert.
If he could bring in Slade, he had a feeling Albert might be feeling extra generous. At least he hoped so.
He headed his horse out of town toward Flagstaff.
Maisie and Frank arrived back at the mine in time to set up the tent and heat some beans for dinner.
“Sure would have liked some of your biscuits with these beans, but maybe tomorrow?” He lifted his brows and fluttered his eyelashes.
She burst into laughter. “You look just like a puppy I had when I was a kid. And yes, I’ll make biscuits tomorrow morning. We should have enough for all day tomorrow.” She poured half a cup of coffee into the pot of water and stirred it around so all the grounds got soaked.
He sat on a log in front of the fire and rubbed his hands together. “Mmmm. Can’t wait. In case you haven’t figured it out or don’t remember, I love your biscuits.”
She put the coffeepot into the fire to boil. “I kind of gathered that.” She walked over and sat on his lap.
“Aren’t you afraid you’re too heavy for me?” His eyes twinkled with mischief.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Nope. I’ve seen and felt how you lift me when we’re making love. You can hold me with no problem.”
He grinned and placed his arms around her waist. “I guess my secret is out.”
She grinned. “Yeah, I’d have to say it is. What do you intend to do about it, Mr. Campbell?”
“After we’ve eaten, I intend to make love to you, Mrs. Campbell. What do you think about that? Does it meet with your approval?”
“All except the part where we make love after we eat. What about now?”
“You are an anxious little thing.” He nuzzled her neck and gave her ear a little nibble before sliding his teeth down her neck.
She bent her neck, exposing more of her skin to his questing lips. When he rubbed his four-day growth of whiskers along her neck, she shivered and giggled.
He lifted a brow. “Like that, do you? I’ll have to make sure I keep these whiskers so I can make you shiver in my arms.”
She reached up and cupped his jaw. “You do that just by talking.”
“You don’t say?”
He grinned like a kid whose parents bought him a piece of fudge for his birthday.
“I do say. And now that it’s dark outside what do you say we take ourselves into the tent and you make love to me?”
“I think that can be arranged.”
“I have to take the coffee out of the fire.”
He put his arms under her and stood, then carried her to the fire and bent down until she grabbed the pot and then straightened and swung around until she could put the pot down on the ground away from the fire.
“I’m ready now.”
He walked with her in his arms to the tent.
She smiled up at him, always amazed by his strength. I’m in love with my husband, something I never thought I could do, especially after the way Donald treated me. I wonder if he’s falling in love with me? How can I tell? He’s been good to me since the first day we were married. I know he doesn’t want the money. So what does he want? Could it be as simple as wanting a wife and children?
John Riley started out early from Flagstaff and followed the directions he was given to the letter. Seemed everyone knew about the mine and its supposed location, but no one had found it. Or if they had, they didn’t admit it.
He got to a point where the track wasn’t very good, and he had to dismount and walk to see if he could pick up the trail again.
After about a quarter of a mile through the trees, he saw what appeared to be an animal trail that led up the mountain. He followed it and found a tent outside what looked like a mine shaft.
He tied the horse off to a tree branch and walked the rest of the way up to the tent.
A fire had been burning but wasn’t now. He tested it with his fingers and found it was still warm underneath the dirt piled on top. They couldn’t have been gone too long.
Near the fire was a pile of dirt and one of fool’s gold. He’d tried his hand at mining and knew this mine wouldn’t pay. No gold, just iron pyrite.
He decided to wait until they got back and stationed himself on the left side of the mine entrance, but back aways so they wouldn’t see him when they came out.
Hours later, a woman who he assumed was Maisie, emerged first. She carried a bucket of rocks in her right hand and a lantern in her left. “Frank, I think we should make this the—”
John pulled his Colt and aimed it at Maisie. “Nice of you two to join my party.”
