Thirty-four

“Jake, this is beautiful! Just beautiful! Magnificent is an even better word. Hell, Sam said we’ve probably been on J&L land the last day or two.”

“Eighty-two thousand acres and growing,” Jake told her. “This was Lloyd’s dream, and he damn well deserves it after having my back for over three years in Oklahoma. He didn’t have to do that, but he did…for me. He’s a hell of a son. He has three kids now and another one in the oven.”

“Well, that doesn’t surprise me. What woman could stay out of his bed?”

Jake grinned, keeping Outlaw to a walk to rest the horse. “Sorry I’m such a mess,” he told Gretta. “We’ve been digging postholes all morning, and it’s damn hot—and you smell good, which makes me feel even worse. I like to be bathed and shaved when I’m around a beautiful lady.”

“And only a man like you would call me a lady.” Gretta grasped the arm around her middle. “You don’t really think I care that you need a shave, do you? I take great pleasure in being this close to the handsome outlaw,” she joked. “I’ll never forget how nice you were to me back in Denver.”

“At least you don’t need to worry about Mike Holt anymore.”

“Yes, well, you have quite an unusual way of making sure a man is dead.”

Cole rode closer to them, and Jake looked his way. “Ride on in and let Randy and the girls know we’re coming in and who is with us,” Jake told him. “Tell the girls I said to make some fresh lemonade. And it might be best that Randy has advance notice.”

Cole laughed, looking Gretta over. “I’ll let ’em know,” he told Jake.

Jake knew damn well that half the men at the bunkhouse had visited Gretta’s establishment more than once, and likely some of them had paid good money for Gretta herself. She was probably no more than thirty and still a fine-looking woman, with hair as red as Katie’s and brilliant blue eyes. “You tell the men to stay at the bunkhouse, Cole. No catcalls, understand? I don’t want that around Little Jake and my granddaughters—and it wouldn’t set well with my wife and daughter either.”

Cole grinned. “Well, you ridin’ in with Gretta there on the same horse ain’t gonna set well either.”

“Don’t you worry about that. Just get the hell on down to the homestead.”

“Can the men at least look at her?” Cole winked at Gretta.

Jake grinned. “I don’t think I’ll have much control over that. They’re grown men.”

Cole tipped his hat to Gretta and rode off.

“Jake, I didn’t come here to cause any hard feelings.”

“Don’t worry about it. Randy knows me better than I know myself. She won’t be upset. And Evie sits at the right hand of Christ himself. She’ll welcome you like a long-lost sister. Katie…well, she might be a bit intimidated. She worries about her weight, and now she’s carrying again. She’s a gorgeous, gorgeous woman, but she’s aware of how handsome her husband is, so I wouldn’t make any remarks about Lloyd around her.”

“Well, it won’t be easy, but I’ll be good.”

Jake rode up to Horse Creek, which the summer’s heat had dwindled from its normal rushing force to a gentle trickle. He reined Outlaw to a halt. “I’ve got to wash off at least some of this sweat and water my horse.” He dismounted and reached up to lift Gretta down.

“You sure you’re healed enough to be throwing me around like a bag of oats?” she asked.

“A bag of oats probably weighs more.” He led Outlaw to the creek to drink.

Gretta noticed his ivory-handled .44s hung in a gun belt around his horse’s neck. “Word is you were awarded ten thousand dollars for killing those bank robbers,” she told him. “Congratulations!”

Jake knelt beside the water and washed his hands. “None due. I wouldn’t even have taken the money if it weren’t for this ranch and Lloyd. This drought has depleted our grassland, and a neighboring farmer with a grudge set fire to one of our prime grazing valleys. Almost got himself hanged for his trouble.” He splashed water over his face and dripped some through his hair and over the back of his neck before going to his horse and untying his bedroll. “At any rate, I took the money in case Lloyd has to buy feed for the winter, but I didn’t feel right doing it since I was a wanted man myself once.”

He opened his bedroll and laid it on the ground, taking out a clean shirt that was rolled up inside. “Why are you here, Gretta?” he asked, removing his dirty shirt and tossing it onto the bedroll. “I know I invited you to come and see the J&L, but I’m thinking this isn’t a normal visit.” He faced her as he quickly pulled on a clean shirt. Gretta suspected he wanted to be sure she didn’t see his scarred back.

“You’re right. This isn’t just a visit.”

Jake buttoned the shirt and walked to his horse to fish out a cigarette and light it. “And?” he asked. “What’s the rest of the story?”

“I’d rather wait, Jake,” Gretta answered, sobering. “I need your whole family to hear me out. And if we take too long getting to the homestead, it won’t set well with your wife, so I’d best not take the time to explain just yet.”

Jake took a deep drag on the cigarette and grinned. “You’re probably right.” He looked her over. “How are things in Denver? Your clients treating you okay?”

Gretta shook her head and smiled rather sadly. “Only you would ask that. And the answer is yes. And so far, the city hasn’t closed me down, but I see it coming. The pious women of high society think it’s time to rid Denver of its embarrassingly sinful citizens. Little do they know that I’ve slept with half their husbands.”

Jake laughed, taking the cigarette from his lips. “You’re probably worth more as a good person than all of them put together.”

Gretta smiled softly. “That’s a nice thing to say. That’s what I love about you, Jake Harkner. You just put it right out there and say it like it is. I’ve never met a man quite like you.”

“And saying it like it is often gets me in trouble,” he joked.

Gretta shook her head. “Speaking of trouble, did you ever run into that Brad Buckley again after Denver? He seemed to have a real big grudge against—” Gretta nearly gasped at the change in his entire countenance. He turned and walked a few feet away. “Jake?”

“Shit.” He said the word under his breath, but Gretta heard it.

“Jake, what’s wrong? I’ve obviously hit a raw nerve. I’m sorry.” She walked closer, and when he turned, the darkness in his eyes was almost as bad as the night of the cattlemen’s ball. He tossed the cigarette into the creek and took her arm, leading her to the shade of a lone pine tree several yards away. He towered over her as he spoke.

“You need to know something, Gretta, and you need to know because I don’t want you saying Brad Buckley’s name in front of Randy or the rest of the family.” He kept hold of her arm. “I’m trusting you on this.”

Gretta slowly nodded. “How well do you know women like me? We keep men’s secrets all the time. I could destroy half the marriages in Denver if I wanted to, so if I’m told not to say anything, then I don’t. It’s that simple.”

He held her gaze for several long seconds, then let go of her and turned away. “The story is that Brad Buckley has disappeared from the face of the earth. None of us ever saw him again after the judge sent him off.” He nervously lit a second cigarette.

“And the truth?”

He didn’t answer right away.

“Jake, I helped keep your neck out of a noose last summer, and that judge said if you took the law into your own hands one more time, you would hang. What did you do?”

He sighed deeply before continuing. “We had a barn fire—a big one—last winter. It distracted me and Lloyd and all the help. We lost several prime horses and one of our best hands in the fire.”

“Which one? I knew a lot of them.”

“Pepper. Big belly. Old and kind of grizzly but a big heart. He liked to chew tobacco.”

“I remember him! He had an index finger missing from a roping accident.”

Jake turned to her, the remark making him smile a little. “You do remember your clients.”

Gretta grinned, hoping she’d helped allay his dark mood. “I keep a ledger.”

Jake grinned. “That could be pretty incriminating for some men.”

“Oh, believe me, it helps me get my way in what you might call the political arena of prostitution.”

Jake looked her over, his smile fading. “Brad Buckley and some other men set the fire to distract us”—he turned away—“while they dragged my wife off with them in the middle of the night.”

Gretta gasped. “Oh no! Oh, Jake, I’m so sorry!”

He said nothing for several long seconds. “We couldn’t go after them until morning because it was too dark to track them,” he finally continued. “They were men who’d worked for us, men we’d injured and kicked off the J&L, so they knew their way around the ranch. Long story short—we caught up to them at a line shack south of here. I won’t go into details, but we trapped them there and killed every last fucking one of them.”

“You killed Buckley, after that judge said to stay away from him?”

He didn’t answer right away. “Do you remember last year in Denver, when we left that jewelry store where I picked out my wife’s ring? On our way back, we talked a little more about Mike Holt and Brad Buckley. You said Brad was…a strange sort. That he only liked sex one way.”

Gretta put a hand over her eyes and walked a few feet away. “Jesus in Heaven,” she said softly.

“He forced oral sex on my wife. Him and one of the others. That’s something I never asked of Randy.” He growled the words through gritted teeth. “There are some things you just don’t ask of a woman like her. On top of that, they beat her pretty bad. It’s amazing she lived.”

Gretta noticed tears in his eyes before he turned away.

“I won’t even go into detail about what I did to him,” Jake continued, “except that I was ready to shove red-hot coals down his throat when Randy came out of that line shack with only a blanket over herself. She’d taken away one of the men’s guns, and she walked up and shot Brad Buckley herself. First in the chest, and then…in his face.”

Gretta shook her head. “Dear God,” she said softly.

“She looked at me and said that now no one could accuse me of killing Brad Buckley.” Jake’s voice wavered on the words. “Several of the men were there,” he continued, “and Lloyd, and the boys.” He threw his head back and drew a deep breath. “We have a pact. We burned that line shack and buried the bodies, and no one is ever to talk about it. As far as the outside world knows, Brad Buckley just up and vanished. And to be honest with you, I’m not even sure Randy remembers killing him. The whole thing affected her mind, and she wasn’t herself for quite a while. She never talks about shooting Brad, and I’m afraid to bring it up. She was so…horribly bruised and sick. And mentally…she was a mess for quite a few months. I lost her for a while there, but things are a lot better now. She’s gotten a lot stronger. Happier.”

“Jake, I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything. I just wanted you to understand why you can’t mention his name. They beat her so bad, but it was the other thing that just about destroyed her. We’ve finally…worked things out, so to speak. She’s eating better now and has gained a little weight, but she’s still too thin. Mentally, she’s pretty much back to her old self.”

“I have a feeling that if any man can cure a woman of that kind of horror, you can. Me, I’m not offended by something like that, but being beaten and forced, that’s another matter—and having met that beautiful, gracious wife of yours, I can’t imagine how awful that had to be for her.” Gretta walked up and touched his arm. “I’m glad you told me.” What am I doing here? she thought. This family has been through so much. “Jake, maybe I’d better just go back to Denver. You and your family need some peace.”

He turned and took her arm, leading her back to Outlaw. “No. You’re here now, and you’re welcome. We’re all grateful for your help after Lloyd was shot, and how you stood up for me. So you won’t be shunned by one person on the J&L. Randy understands.”

Gretta let out a little scream when he suddenly lifted her onto Outlaw again.

“But if we don’t get our asses to the house, all that understanding and forgiveness might not mean a thing. We’ve stayed here too long.”

Gretta grinned as he mounted up behind her and moved an arm around her again.

“My son will be coming along soon with the boys, and he’s going to wonder why this is all the ‘farther’ we’ve gotten.”

Gretta patted his arm. “Well, I’m just sorry for the reason we took a little too long. You okay?”

“No, but I’m used to being beat up and dragged around. I’ve grown a little numb to tragedy. I just hate it when it happens to others in my family, because it’s usually my fault. That’s something I live with day and night.”

“You’re a good man, Jake. It’s not your fault. There are simply evil people in this world, and we can’t do much about it.”

Jake urged Outlaw into motion. “Randy is a goddamn tough woman, Gretta, little and delicate, educated and sophisticated, kind and gracious—all the things I’m not. But she’s tough as nails. Inside, she’s a lot stronger than I am.”

He headed through the huge valley, kicking Outlaw into a faster lope. Gretta could see how he and Lloyd fit this endless expanse called the J&L—big and tough and rugged. How was she going to tell this family why she’d come? They needed some peace. If her reason for being here was for her alone, she’d go right back to Denver. But she had to think of her daughter. She had to think about her Annie.